Neil Patrick Harris once paid $172,500 for a picture from The Haunted Mansion, and he apparently outbid Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos to get it.
NPH is a well known collector of Disney memorabilia, and he spoke of his love of all things Disney on "The Late Late Show" on Wednesday, April 11, admitting he "spent way too much money" on an original stretching portrait from the Haunted Mansion attraction.
Really, what Neil was stretching was his wallet!
"I love stuff from the Haunted Mansion. The Haunted Mansion in Disney is, like, my favorite thing ever," he said. "It just fits into my Scooby-Doo/Murder Mystery wheelhouse. And so I try and acquire as many things that are from the actual Haunted Mansion as possible."
He then spoke about a 2016 auction called "Souvenirs of Disneyland" that he participated in.
"I bid on—and won—one of those Haunted Mansion stretching portraits. You know in the first room when you go in and they say, 'Is this haunted room actually stretching or is it your imagination?' I got one of the original stretching portraits. It's a bearded guy and he's in boxer shorts and he's standing on a TNT barrel!" he said. "I just wanted to get it and I spent way too much money on it, because I was just bidding on an app. I won't say how much, but it was way too much."
Research of the auction shows that the winning bid was $172,500, and several media outlets also reported the price.
What Neil didn't know was they he was not only bidding against Bezos, but also his friend and fellow Disney enthusiast Chris Hardwick. According to Neil, Chris stopped bidding because the price got too high.
After Chris dropped out, Neil was then bidding against a real tycoon. He didn't say that he was up against Bezos, but he implied it.
"I don't want to say his name," he explained, "because I still want free two-day Prime shipping when boxes come to my house… I don't want to get in a fight with anybody!"