The primary "bad guy" or antagonist in the backstory of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad is Barnabas T. Bullion. According to the lore established by Walt Disney Imagineering (and specifically detailed in the queue of the Magic Kingdom version), Bullion is the wealthy and greedy founder of the Big Thunder Mining Company. He is depicted as a man obsessed with extracting gold from the mountain, despite warnings from local Native American tribes that the mountain was sacred and cursed. His relentless mining and "desecration" of the land are what supposedly triggered the "Great Earthquake" (or flood, depending on the park) that led to the town's abandonment and the trains becoming "possessed" and runaway. Bullion’s portrait can be seen in the interactive queue, often appearing pompous and dismissive of the supernatural forces at play. In the Disneyland Paris version (Thunder Mesa), the antagonist is Henry Ravenswood, the owner of the mine who also features prominently in the connected storyline of Phantom Manor. Both characters serve as cautionary figures representing industrial greed clashing with the untamable spirits of the American West.