A Gillette-based, family-run haunted house of six years is facing closure this year, after between eight and 10 neighbors complained about building materials and props remaining on the family’s property year-round.
Now KJ and Kyla Colburn, who run Knight of Gore Haunted House with their friend Gabe Knowlton, are considering whether to discard the project, find a way to compromise with the city, or move the numerous building pieces to one of the parcels others have offered to share.
Knight of Gore was slated to open its doors Saturday, then again Oct. 22-24 and Oct. 30-31.
In the controversy, Kyla Colburn’s sister Kadesa Maki started a petition called “Keep Knight of Gore Alive!!” - urging people to push the city toward a compromise.
The petition had amassed 1,366 signatures as of noon Monday.
“How many people actually care about this really shocks me, humbles me at the same time,” Kyla told Cowboy State Daily in a Monday phone interview. “It means more to this community than just a haunted house, I guess, which is pretty awesome.”
Kyla emphasized she doesn’t resent her neighbors or the city over what she says has escalated to thousands of dollars in city code violation fines, but wants to improve her yard while finding a way to stage the haunt, if possible.
The Colburns and others started the haunt in 2020 because so many Halloween events had shuttered due to the pandemic, said Kyla. Since then it has grown in popularity and attendance.
It’s too big for the neighborhood, she conceded. She and her husband live in a spacious but quiet neighborhood that isn’t used for through traffic.
Though technically a business, the haunt generates money for the Blessings in a Backpack charity, and beyond that it’s essentially a break-even operation, she said.
Kyla said she was hoping this year it would make money because Knight of Gore has accumulated so many of the building materials and props it needs.
A local motorcycle group runs security each year.
“This year we were doing a medieval theme,” she said.
Visitors would enter the courtyard and buy tickets in a “throne room,” then pass under an archway into a room featuring a person strung up with chains, with his “guts” protruding.
The guests would have to escape to the dungeon room by finding a key, descend through a maze into the infirmary, then haunted nursery, then a fountain room and apothecary.
Another escape-style room would lead to a maze of “spider webs,” then to a cabin scene ending with a tunnel slide – into a swamp area bordered with a two-way mirror through which new visitors could see the exiting visitors’ bewildered faces.
That kind of build takes thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours – plus long-term materials storage, said Kyla.
“We’re not trying to make excuses,” she said. “We’re not trying to make our neighbors out to be villains either. They’ve put up with a lot, as far as the traffic every year – and we’d love nothing more than for Knight of Gore to grow beyond this little backyard dream into something that the whole community can enjoy.”
Kyla voiced remorse over the buildup and said turmoil with past co-hosts, the immensity of the project, and her general reluctance to ask others for help have contributed to it.
She said she hopes her family can find a way to stage the haunt this year, “and then our neighbors would never have to see the haunted house again” after that.
“Which is, honestly, a big relief to me. I don’t like my yard looking like crap. We have a really nice neighborhood,” she added.
The Plot Arc
Gillette Mayor Shay Lundvall told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that eight to 10 neighbors complained.
Kyla Colburn asked, in her own interview, why the haunt is facing shut down this year but didn’t for the prior six.
Lundvall said the city’s enforcement of these codes is complaint-based.
Yet the neighbors reported they’ve been “very upset and frustrated that year after year (the Colburns) leave their backyard and the haunt a mess,” said Lundvall.
“The traffic there,” he continued, “it’s a narrow, residential road … so when there’s multiple cars it became very clear that if there was an emergency, it’d be very difficult for first responders to arrive. So parking was a major issue from the neighbors.”
Lundvall said he believes the Colburns have known about the city taking action since May, then received a letter days ago saying they haven’t made the necessary changes from the warning sent then.
Colburn in a follow-up interview confirmed the May contact, saying that was with Code Compliance Inspector Margaret Brewer. She said Brewer seemed open to compromise and cleanup efforts at that time and downplayed a key issue: That the business might not be authorized to exist at all because being a home-run business triggers permitting and layout requirements.
Brewer did not immediately respond to a Monday afternoon voicemail request for comment.
Kyla Colburn said the letter came in late September but got shuffled under other mail after her 7-year-old checked the mail, and the family didn’t learn of an Oct. 5 deadline for improvements until they found the letter Oct. 7.
Cowboy State Daily has reviewed the Sept. 18 letter, which lists five alleged nuisance/safety violations.
She said city officials have since taken her request for a meeting. They’ve spoken to her about not charging for haunt visits and taking donations instead, to skirt the at-home business restrictions.
Kyla said she’s open to that possibility and excited at the prospect of attracting people who’ve never seen the haunt, but on the other hand she fears that could prevent her family and others who have contributed from breaking even.
The haunt costs $10 per kid 12 and under, and $20 for everyone 13 and over.
Among other restrictions, being a “business” triggers the fire code, Lundvall said.
“But I think one thing that is important to note here, is the city has a responsibility for the safety, health and welfare of the whole community,” he said. “Those are critical pieces of that conversation.”
This Anonymous Post
An anonymous Facebook account posted this week to the Gillette WY Rants and Raves Uncensored page, complaining of the Colburns’ property and deriding their character.
Cowboy State Daily has been unable to learn the poster’s identity and contact him or her for comment.
The poster complained of the building materials. He or she also alleged that the Colburns didn’t pickup trash, and that they entertained endless hours of “drunks” – both claims Kyla rebutted in her interview.
Knowlton in a comment called the post full of inaccuracies and at least one “absolute lie.”
Kyla was most bothered by the poster calling her Christian faith into question by saying the family claims to be Christians “but sure don’t act like it offline.”
“Why do you have to personally attack me?” she asked rhetorically. “This is about my yard looking like crap. I get it. I’m not trying to make excuses for that – we should have asked for help.”
Colburn said in 2020 the family gave out her cellphone number to neighbors ahead of the first haunt.
They haven’t called it to complain or push for improvements, she said.
“No complaints to our faces. No one’s asked us to do anything. That’s the frustrating part,” she said. “The neighbors can go on Facebook and talk all these bad things about us, but they won’t even look at me face to face and shake my hand.”
‘Eyesore’
Many commenters under “anonymous member’s” post were sympathetic to the anonymous complainant.
“The trash and eyesore is 100% a year round thing,” said Jen Steele in a comment. ”Especially for the people who live right across the street (from) it.”
Steele said in another comment that the property “looks like a dump” and she feels badly for the neighbors. She said the conditions drive their property values down.
Steele did not respond by publication to a Facebook message request for comment. Cowboy State Daily also sent a voicemail to a number listed publicly for her.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
