Phantom Manor Fleming, it was decided that the story related to Phantom Manor would have to be congruent with that of Thunder Mesa, the fictional town portrayed in Frontierland. A similar treatment was given to the Paris version of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. A major influence for the story of the ride was Gaston Leroux's novel, "The Phantom of the Opera", the secondary plot focusing on the abandoned bride Miss Havisham from Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, as well as many European gothic legends, which were altered for a Western setting. The architectural style is Victorian Second Empire, and the Manor bears a
Charles Dickens I wonder if there ever was a captain yet that lost a ship with his log-book up to date? He generally has about a month to fill up on a clean break, like Charles Dickens and his serial novels." Dickens's novels were, among other things, works of social commentary. He was a fierce critic of the poverty and social stratification of Victorian society. In a New York address, he expressed his belief that "Virtue shows quite as well in rags and patches as she does in purple and fine linen". Dickens's second novel, "Oliver Twist" (1839), shocked readers with its