Being buried alive, subjected to electrical stimulation, ingesting live insects—these are just 3 of the 163 conditions participants agree to when signing the waiver for the “extreme haunt experience” known as McKamey Manor in Summertown, Tennessee.
This so-called “haunted house” could arguably be described as a modern-day torture house, all for the measly price of admission: a 50lb bag of dog food. There are a few requirements in place prior to admission into the manor, however. These include being 21 or older, having proof of completion of a sports physical as well as a mental and physical check administered and signed by a doctor, passing a background check, presenting proof of medical insurance, and passing a portable drug test on the day of the experience.
There is additionally a screening that participants must go through one-on-one with the owner of the manor via facetime or a phone call. During this screening process, participants are asked a series of personal questions relating to their physical abilities, appearance, background, fears, phobias, and more. The owner is essentially weeding out possible contestants for the manor, deciding who would and would not be more entertaining to watch. This information is important to him as he personalizes all of his experiences specifically pertaining to the contestant.
The owner in question–and founder of McKamey Manor–is Russ McKamey, former Navy veteran and wedding singer. He had always had a keen interest in entertainment and haunts, mentioning on the Haunters: Art of the Scare documentary (2017) that, as a kid, he would climb onto the roof of his house and throw human mannequins onto roads full of drivers.
The conditions McKamey Manor puts the participants through displays this harmful behavior: after all, anyone who wants to go through the experience is required to sign a waiver nearly 30 pages long that’s filled to the brim with a variety of painful activities designed to push people to their physical and mental limits. This waiver claims not to have the intention of physiologically or physically harming anyone, and yet it includes things like “various medieval torture devices such as knife throwing while strapped to a spinning wheel, shackles, chains, gibbet cage, stocks, the rack, etc.” to be used during the haunting experience as per the waiver itself.
This heinous excuse of a legal waiver presents many illegalities as well, such as misspellings and loops through the law. There are instances of grammatical errors and the word “liable” being misspelled as “libel”, leading to miscommunication and unclear language. These things can constitute a waiver being invalid. According to Bednarz Law, a law firm based in Tennessee that specializes in personal injury, gross negligence also makes a waiver unenforceable, which McKamey Manor considerably demonstrates. Other instances include circumvention and disclaim of responsibility due to intentional harmful acts, according to CallJacob, Attorney James Emrani’s website.
When asked if there are limits to what can be consented to in a legal waiver, Dominic Mantoan, a former personal injury lawyer, says, “Yes and no. These waivers people sign are not ironclad. In other words, there is a point where they can go too far. You can’t consent to them going too far. It’ll protect them to a certain extent… It cannot make them immune to legal repercussions.” All forms and conditions of torture are illegal in the United States. When asked if authority would be allowed or not allowed to intervene if they see someone getting tortured, but the victim says they are participating voluntarily and does not want it to stop, Mantoan says, “Suicide is also illegal; you can consent to that… If a police officer sees someone trying to commit suicide, they can stop them, even though the person [wants it to continue]. So, I would think that would be a comparable situation.” In other words, it is quite possible for authorities to intervene in these circumstances.
Even so, Russ McKamey continues to insist that the manor is simply a mind game designed to push participants to their limits; he claims participants are never actually getting harmed.
Despite this, multiple survivors have come out with their own traumatic stories, and they were featured in the trailer for Hulu’s documentary, Monster Inside: America’s Most Extreme Haunted House (2023) about the manor. Survivors such as Gabi Hardiman, Brandon Vance, and Melissa Everly all discuss their own stories at length. This begs the question, however, why anyone would want to go to this “horror house” in the first place—and, according to former contestants, fame is one of the main reasons in going, as Russ McKamey records and uploads anyone going through the Manor itself. There is also a cash incentive of $20,000 for anyone who completes the full 10-hour experience, although Russ himself has mentioned that this is virtually impossible. Furthermore, it is significant to note that even if anyone would be able to manage “winning,” all their prize money and more would go straight into their hospital bills.
McKamey himself says he does it for the entertainment aspect. He claims if he was unable to film the experience, he would not do it, saying that he is “willing to do anything to get that special footage.” In fact, there is a section in the welcome packet of the manor dedicated to live feed of the experience. There are many strict rules regarding videotaping, including a required 10-minute introduction video and an exit interview. It is stated that “not going Live when told can result in cancelation of your tour.” Additionally, another restriction in place is filming any person under the age of 18, because minors were originally workers for McKamey Manor, as reported in the documentary Haunters: The Art of the Scare.
McKamey Manor has thousands of fans on multiple social media accounts, such as Instagram, Twitter, and especially YouTube, where he uploads movies of participants manor experience. For this reason, he does not allow swearing or vulgarity.
Item number 140 in the waiver states that the experience automatically ends if the “contestant has any verbal or physical outburst.” Every instance of foul language results in a $500 deduction from the prize money. According to the waiver, other situations that can result in a loss of $500 are failing a task or stunt, calling a timeout, and pausing the experience to eat or drink.
What happens when participants lose McKamey Manor? They are subjected to the humiliation known as the Walk of Shame, which is a one-mile walk back to the vehicle they were transported to the experience in. During this Walk, the participant may not talk to anyone except point to a piece of paper attached to their clothes. This paper includes context to the participant’s situation, and here are some of the most important phrases:
MY NAME IS [name] I HAVE JUST FAILED THE DESOLATION CHALLENGE THAT I VOLUNTEERED TO PARTICIPATE IN ON [date]. REST ASSURED THAT EVEN THOUGH I LOOKED BATTERED AND BRUISED, I AM TOTALLY MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY COMPLETELY OK AND THERE IS NO NEED FOR CONCERN… I SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO THE OWNER AND EVERYONE WHEN THEY TOLD ME… YOU REALLY DON’T WANT TO WANT TO DO THIS!
Overall, despite terrible participant treatment, questionable money handling, and concern over the scare actors and staff at McKamey Manor, it still remains in business to this day. Concerns have been raised regarding the practices there, and even a petition with over 100,000 signatures has been made in an attempt to shut it down to no avail. McKamey Manor still remains a horrifying and mysterious place, consistently capturing the intrigue of thrill seekers around the globe.
