Becca Monaghan
Oct 23, 2024
New York Post / VideoElephant
A haunted house attraction in Tennessee has been branded a "torture chamber in disguise" that once required participants to sign a 40 page waiver to go in.
The controversial McKamey Manor has been subject to criticism with some attendants claiming to have been tased, whipped, trapped in boxes and teased with spiders.
"We’re known for no quitting and no safe word," owner Russ McKamey, said in a recent Hulu documentary.
"Either you actually complete the tour, which is not going to happen, or you mentally or physically are at such a breaking point that it’s not safe for you to continue and I need to take you out," he added.
A distressing trailer for the attraction promises to give people their own horror movie experience.
The five-minute clip wasn't short of criticism with one writing: "This is no haunted house. This is torture. Why is this allowed ( I know they sign lots of papers consenting to it and that they make that choice, it’s still f***ed up)".
Another wrote: "Haunted houses are houses that you smile after each scare. A little clown pops out and you scream, and laugh it off."
Meanwhile, a third quipped: "Being forced to eat stuff and fake blood being poured on you while the monsters/people can hit/ride you? No thanks; I like to be scared, but this looks like torture."
A petition was launched in 2019 urging McKamey Manor to be "shut down".
It has since reached over 190,000 signatures with the creator calling it "a torture chamber in disguise".
Owner McKamey recently told Daily Mail: "If all of those crazy horrible things said about me are true, I wouldn't be free, running around doing what I want to do."
McKamey defended his haunted house, saying there's a screening that a "certain type of folk will pass" and to avoid "knuckleheads" getting in. The owner said he preferred candidates who have served in the military or law enforcement.
"Once in a while the fakers get in and cause trouble, and they've been trying to ruin it for everybody else forever," he added.
It comes after attempted murder, rape and domestic assault charges were dropped against McKamey following his arrest in July, as per The Tennessean.
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