Pluto: Murderous Mutt or Grieving Dad?

Earlier this week, a blogger for Mental Floss named Stacy Conradt dug up the dirt on 10 of Disney's most obscure characters. Her article revealed some seamy gaps in Disney genealogy. Shock! I put Stacy on the spot to learn more of this scandal.

- by Bob McLain, May 4, 2011

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Mental Floss is a consistently cool site powered by a small staff of bloggers who deliver knowledge (real knowledge!) in digestible daily doses.

I'm not taking about a list of state capitals or an essay on adverbs here.

I'm talking about important stuff like the 5 Fiestiest Presidential Daughters (Zachary Taylor's little girl was the worst - and to rub it in, she later married Confederate President Jefferson Davis!) and the story of how North Korea dictator Kim Jong Il once kidnapped a famous South Korean director and forced him to make a Godzilla movie.

I love this stuff! (And don't laugh: the site gets nearly a million visits per month.)

So imagine my joy when I discovered this gem: 10 Obscure Disney Characters.

Pluto: Murderous Mutt?

Written by Stacy Conradt, who has been visiting Disney World since infancy, and who has already introduced her infant daughter to the magic, the list unearths such dubious characters as Dumbella Duck (Donald's sister), Marcus Mouse (Minnie's dad), and Trudy Van Tubb (Mickey's Italian nemesis).

I was shocked - shocked! - to learn that Pluto's son, Pluto Jr., has (had?) a mother who apparently abandoned him. More ominous, Pluto Jr. himself has not been seen since 1942. Has anyone dug up Pluto's backyard for bones? Hold on... he chews on bones, doesn't he.

Oh. My. God.

Fearing that I had stumbled upon something big (BIG!), I got in touch with Stacy Conradt.

How, I asked her, did she come across this information?

"I really don't remember!", she told me.

Had the agents of Pluto tampered with her memory? Stacey explained:

"Many times when I'm stuck for a story idea, I'll start thinking about Disney, because it's a topic I can write pretty easily about and am naturally interested in, plus there are just so many different aspects of it (the company, the man, the characters, the parks, the films, etc) to delve into. But I still can't remember how I came up with this particular story..."

Surely it was the work of years to infiltrate The Walt Disney Company and uncover the characters they have tried so hard to ... cover.

"Research really didn't take too long," Stacy told me. "It's amazing what you can find on Google Books and YouTube!"

I was too late! Pluto covers his tracks well.

Haunted Ink

Although the trail had gone cold, I chatted a bit more with Stacy, learning that the Haunted Mansion is one of her favorite attractions, and that she and her husband each sport Haunted Mansion-related tattoos.

Stacy's tattoo depicts the sheet music for 'Grim Grinning Ghosts'; her husband has even more ink: the gargoyles from the stretching room, the duelling men, and the organ player.

Thanks, Stacy, for the great list!

And Pluto: I'm watching you, boy...