Society of Explorers and Adventurers Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Archibald Smelding is a character from the Tower of Terror at Tokyo DisneySea.

History[]

Mr. Smelding was butler, valet and sidekick of Harrison Hightower III for over 32 years[1]. During that time, he traveled the world with his master and helped him procure many an ill-gotten artifact and make quick escapes despite his nervous nature.

In 1881, Hightower traveled to Oceania where he stole a massive moai from Easter Island. Also in 1881 Harrison went to the Philippines where he forced the locals to carry him around rather than walking.[2] In 1882 they went on a Mediterranean expedition. In 1883, Harrison Hightower III and Smelding traveled to Cuzco, Peru in a region known as the Lost River Delta. Hightower seized one of the Water God snake heads for his ill-gotten collection however this resulted in the gods of the temple being angered and causing natural disasters in the delta.Also in 1883 they travelled to Guatemala where they went grave-robbing. In 1887, he and Smelding grave-robbed tombs in Egypt before making off in a hot-air balloon. Around 1889, Harrison hired architect Oscar Klinovski to design the Hotel Hightower for him.

Construction of Hotel Hightower took place over the course of three years with the hotel finally being opened to the public on the January 24th of 1892 to much fanfare. However concurrent to the opening of the hotel was a mass riot acted against Harrison due to his many misdeeds.[3]

Harrison Hightower Newspaper Clipping

During the Pillagers Brigade's Congo Expedition of 1899 that Hightower acquired Shiriki Utundu during, Smelding developed a great fear of the idol, especially after it was handed to him by the Mtundu tribe very easily. On December 31, 1899, at the unveiling of Shiriki Utundu, he warned Hightower not to incur the curse, but these warnings were unheeded, and Hightower disappeared at the stroke of midnight.

Smelding dropped out of public life afterwards, having become homeless and unrecognizable, landing in an institution from 1902 to 1908. Afterwards, he began skulking through Hotel Hightower trying to quell the rage of Shiriki Utundu. In 1912, now going simply by "Archie", he approached Beatrice Rose Endicott with the idea of starting tours of the Hotel, secretly believing that the sacrifice of a few unlucky tourists might be enough to break the curse on Hightower and set him free.[4]

Connections[]

Tower of Terror[]

Raging Spirits[]

Smelding was involved in Harrison's pillaging of the temple shrine heads as shown in artwork at the Hotel Hightower.

References[]

Advertisement