Meet Jan Knuth | Owner and operater of Grey House Haunts, a Halloween Haunted House

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jan Knuth and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jan, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
The Halloween Haunted House industry is much larger than people realize and much more organized. There are multiple conventions and tradeshows specifically for haunted attractions and even industry associations. Many of us, myself included, consider our work to be very creative and a nontraditional art form. Most haunt owners and designers I know, love the design, build and finish of the haunted house/attraction more than being open to the public. We love our dark and creepy art.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I started my haunt career as a home haunter, basically a Halloween walk through in my yard. When it grew too big I decided to start a commercial haunt and Grey House Haunts was born in 2014. It was not easy, taking an old, two story residential house, purchased solely for this project, and making it into a Halloween attraction, it took several hundred hours of intense labor. With each new season, my crew and I add new scenes, change out the old scenes, and improve and enhance the ones we choose to continue in order to entertain our customers.
While not the sexy part, during the first 2 years of Grey House, my evenings were spent researching and learning. I read enormous amounts of information and watched hours of video from other haunters to learn artistic techniques and business tips. Through that time and still today, I’m learning. I know I will find new and exciting ways to make a new wall look 100 years old, a great way to do more efficient and effective makeup on an actor or how to make a new prop.
In the haunt world we refer to the period of design and construction through to the time the doors open in October as ‘build season’. My build season is June until October. I live for build season. I love brainstorming, creating, and problem solving, I get to do all of those during build season. I have worked harder since 2014 than I ever have in my life, and yet, I haven’t worked a day since 2014. “Do what you love and you won’t work a day in your life”, this, for me, is true.
My joy comes from creating during the summer months and early fall. When Grey House is open and the show is running, that is when I show people my work. I let them see my art, with the hope that they will see the joy I had when I created it.
Grey House is my art work, she is the cake.
The screams in October are the icing.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would definitely like to give a shoutout to my husband Steve, who encouraged me to open a commercial haunt. My sister Jo and my niece Shai who will always design brainstorm and build with me. I could not do this without their input and help.

Website: greyhousehaunts.com

Instagram: greyhousehaunt

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greyhousehaunts

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy24KBqJYs3TLxuJ5i8h67w

Other: My book ‘Not Afraid To Slay- The Women Of The Haunt Industry’ available on amazon.com barnesandnoble.com and target.com