Electric Bill
Electric Bill (also known as Skeleton Bob, William Sparks, Bill Electrique, Kumar Dixit or simply Bill) is the animatronic skeleton from Duel (previously known as The Haunted House) at Alton Towers. It is in fact a real person's soul trapped inside the figurative cage of the fibreglass skull, leading to the owner of the soul to believe he is by the mystery of the figure, though in fact he is just mentally disturbed. But you will learn more about that when you study Quantum Dark Ride Theory. Anyway, the animatronic was built by Spark's Creative Services after a design by Barry Lee and Andrew Howarth. It was installed on the ride in 1993 as part of the new Skeleton Corridor scene (see below), being a replacement for a previous scene named the 'Ghost Corridor', which totally, epically, miserably failed. Tut tut, Keith Sparks! Again...
Ghost Corridor and Early Years
Only several months after opening day in 1992, one of the Haunted House's major effects began to cause problems. It broke, basically. The Flying Ghost was supposed to glide over riders' heads and down the Ghost Corridor before disappearing behind a wall. The effect was achieved using an inverted track that the ghost prop ran along, situated overhead. The effect worked like a rollercoaster. The prop was released at the top of the track, it ran down to the other end using gravity, before entering a lift hill hidden behind the wall which took it back up to the top. Sounds neat, does it not? B&M were busy at the time, so the track was manufactured by Arrow Dynamics instead. Problems started after enthusiastic members of staff mistook it for a real rollercoaster, and proceeded to ride the ghost along the corridor until flaking paint/death occurred. Arrow was called in to rectify the issues caused by the misuse, but unfortunately had since gone bust.
John Wardley called in Barry Lee and Andrew Howarth (two Haunted House project workers) to redesign the whole scene with replacement effects. These included: a skeleton on a toilet; a skeleton with a bomb; a skeleton in bed; an exploded skeleton lying in the remains of another toilet. So, an insight into the minds of Lee and Howarth, there.
Along with the new infestation of peculiar skeletons, Electric Bill was installed at the beginning of the scene. The effect consisted of the skeleton pulling at a lever on an old fashioned electrical fuse box which turned off the lights. I mean, scary or what? I could never look at a light switch in the same way again.
Surviving the retheme
The Haunted House was closed for refurbishment at the end of 2002. It re-opened the year later as 'Duel - The Haunted House Strikes Back', featuring "brand new state-of-the-art effects" and "cutting-edge interactive dark ride technology". Roughly translated, that means they were turning the ride into a laser quest whilst adding some painted dummies. Many quality effects were removed in favour of home-made Halloween props, including much of the Skeleton Corridor scene. It is not known whether they had mercy on him or simply could not be bothered, but Electric Bill was not removed during the refurbishment.
Appearance and personal life
When first installed, the figure wore a black suit and wig. In fact, he was the only skeleton in the scene wearing wearing clothes, and the only one not taking part in some sort of bedtime explosive toilet activity for that matter. Anyway, during the Haunted House refurbishment into Duel in 2002/03, a hat appeared on the skeleton's head and his lower jaw disappeared. Around 2006, Bill's lower jaw re-materialised and his hat disappeared, probably stolen by a member of the chav race.
It is unknown what Bill gets up to in his spare time, but there have been several reports around Staffordshire of a skeleton using internet cafés to visit a certain Alton Towers fansite. The Official Towers Times Forum Decisions Society (OTTFDS) has dismissed these rumours as just more marketing department pap. Other rumours suggest that he likes bees.
