Electric Bill
Electric Bill is an animatronic skeleton from Duel (previously known as The Haunted House) at Alton Towers. The animatronic 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 failed.
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' effect was supposed to glide over riders' heads and down the Ghost Corridor before disappearing behind a wall. It 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, ran down to the other end using gravity, before re-entering the lift hill hidden behind a wall, which took it back up to the top. Sounds neat, does it not? Well it kind of didn't work sort of, ish.
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". This meant that they were turning the ride into a laser quest and adding some dummies painted to look like zombies. Many quality effects were removed in favour of Tesco Halloween props, including much of the Skeleton Corridor scene. It is not known why, but Electric Bill was not removed during the refurbishment. Maybe Tussaudes had a heart after all.
Appearance
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.
