A pair of sliding doors open to one of two similar octagonal rooms, which are actually large slow-moving elevators with two sets of walls, the lower of which does not reach the ceiling. The invisible spirit teasingly welcomes the guests (referring to them as "foolish mortals") and introduces himself as their "Ghost Host" who will take them on a tour of the Haunted Mansion. The room contains four paintings, one on every other wall, each depicting a person from the chest up; previous guests "as they appeared in their corruptible mortal state". The portraits are flanked by eight leering, candle-holding gargoyles. The entrance door closes, forming a panel in the wall, during which a Cast Member instructs guests to keep toward the "dead center" of the room. As the Ghost Host delivers his spiel, the room begins to "stretch" vertically. As the floor descends, the visible extent of the upper walls increases and portrait frames (located behind the lower walls) appear to elongate, revealing the grim fates of the previous residents. The paintings humorously depict macabre situations: a beautiful young woman holding a parasol is shown to be balancing on a fraying tightrope above the jaws of an alligator; a middle-aged bearded man holding a document is shown to be standing atop a barrel of dynamite in his boxer shorts with a candle lighting the fuse; a smiling elderly woman holding a rose is shown to be sitting on the tombstone of her late husband George, who is depicted as a stone bust with an axe in his head; and a confident-looking middle-aged man in a bowler hat is shown to be sitting on the shoulders of a frightened-looking man, who sits on the shoulders of a third man who is waist-deep in quicksand, an expression of terror on his face. As the Ghost Host challenges guests "to find a way out" of this seemingly windowless and doorless chamber, he concludes his speech with,