Early concept art of the Ghost Host by Marc Davis, now hung in the corridor section of the attraction.
The Ghost Host is an anonymous character who narrates the Haunted Mansion and Phantom Manor. He is voiced by Paul Frees in the attraction, Pete Reneday in the record story and Cory Burton in Haunted Mansion Holiday and briefly in the introduction of the Haunted Mansion film. He is the voice that helps guides the visitors through the Haunted Mansion.
He helps make sure the guests are not harmed by the spirits and makes sure the guest behave. He narrates from the foyer scene up until the ballroom sequence. He narrates toward the crypt scene. He warns you that the ghosts will haunt you until you return the Haunted Mansion.
The two portraits featuring the Ghost Host in the attraction depict him having cut himself down from the noose. In the Stretching Room, the Ghost Host tells guests they face a chilling challenge, to find a way out, adding, "Of course--there's always my way out." The lightning flashes, revealing a corpse swinging from a noose. These portraits, featured later in the attraction, show how our Ghost Host cut loose from the noose in a chilling way: he cut himself down.
The Ghost Host as he appears in a staring painting formally in Disney World's Haunted Mansion.