What Is McKamey Manor, America's Most Extreme Haunted House?
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Among all of the dark tourism destinations and haunted houses is a different type of horror experience you may have heard of: McKamey Manor. The controversial, personalized operation lies at the center of a new documentary on Hulu titled Monsters Inside: America’s Most Extreme Haunted House. The film follows the true story of Russ McKamey who runs the whole experience, and three people who participated at McKamey Manor. Ahead, we’ve laid out everything you might be wondering—from what the experience entails to the locations where it takes place.
First, What Is McKamey Manor?
McKamey Manor is the creation of Russ McKamey, who claims to have a military background of 23 years, according to Newsweek. The experience is billed as “not your standard (boo) haunted house,” per the McKamey Manor website. A warning on it reads: “This is an audience participation event in which (YOU) will live your own Horror Movie. This is a rough, intense and truly frightening experience.”
Referred to by critics as a torture chamber, the McKamey Manor website claims the experience is the “next evolution in interactive survival horror theatre.” Each experience is tailored to the participant’s personal fears and can last 10 hours. The experience may involve abductions, assaults, and other terrors—all of which can lead to a number of injuries and even death. Every moment of the experience is said to be filmed, and it’s allegedly heavily edited to only show the parts online that wouldn’t put the operation at risk. Anyone who wants to participate has to meet a long list of requirements. They must sign a 40-page legal waiver, complete a sports physical, get a doctor’s note, pass a background check, show proof of medical insurance, and pass a drug test on the day of the experience. Participants—who need to be at least 21 years old or 18-20 years old with parental approval—must also comply with the rules. Namely, no running, touching props or actors (aka fighting back), using foul language, or pushing is allowed.
As far as admission goes, the experience originally only accepted dog food or funds for animal welfare as payment. Now, any monetary donation is recommended but not mandatory. The experience also used to offer a $20,000 prize for anyone who "finished it," but no one did. The prize was taken away because the owner told WKRN that he thought it was causing people to go through with the experience for the wrong reason.
Where Is McKamey Manor Located?
McKamey Manor isn’t a typical haunted house experience designed in a warehouse-style building, and it has changed over the years. While it’s unclear when exactly McKamey started it, some sources say the experience dates back to 1989 in some form or another. According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, it originated in San Diego at McKamey’s Rancho Peñasquitos home on Almazon Street. At that time, the experience took place in a windowless van and in his home’s backyard.
The IRS filed a lien against McKamey’s house, citing "$252,000 of unpaid income taxes, interest and penalties for the 2012 tax year," according to country records reviewed by the outlet. The outlet also found, according to city code enforcement and police records, that there was a complaint about an unpermitted business operating in a residential zone and code enforcement visited the house because of room additions and structures in the backyard. Citations weren’t issued.
McKamey attempted to move the experience to Illinois in 2014, but public opposition prevented that relocation. He also tried to move it to Arizona, which had the same result. In 2017, McKamey moved the experience to the South. The reasons were because of the high cost of living in San Diego and the fact that his house was too close to neighbors.
Today, the experience takes place in three phases. The first takes place in a barn on his Summertown, Tennessee, property, which Redditors and YouTubers believe is located in the Duke Park Estates community. The second phase takes place in Nashville, and the third takes place in Huntsville, Alabama, at an undisclosed location on a multi-acre property, according to WHNT News 19. These locations are likely all secluded.
Why Is McKamey Manor Controversial?
People who have experienced McKamey Manor have shared truly horrifying accounts of what has allegedly taken place from near drowning and possibly being buried alive to much worse. While there is a safe word, people have claimed that it’s pretty much useless and the experience isn't over until McKamey says it is. Online petitions have circulated to shut the operation down, including one that says people have left with “fractured bones, mental trauma, & covered in bruises accompanied by facial swelling.”
McKamey has denied that visitors are ever held against their will and has said that what appears in his YouTube videos is all "smoke and mirrors."
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