Opting for the real-life room escape game as your team-building activity sounds like a great idea. Unless you choose the McKamey Manor Haunted House in Tennessee because horrible things are happening there. For instance, just a short while ago, its owner was accused of torturing players, and now people even demand to close this sinister house.
What’s the whole point?
The survivor horror challenge takes place in a house owned by Russ McKamey. The players don’t pay the entrance fee, and in case if they make it through the challenge, may even win $20,000. Sounds nice, right? There's a pitfall, though. Nope, you can even call it the deepest Dean’s Blue Hole! In order to compete for this decent prize, you need to endure physical violence in complete darkness for ten hours in a row, whereas the atmosphere of the whole house makes you feel like you’re in a horror movie. To participate in the challenge, one needs to undergo a medical examination, take a drug test, and sign a 40-page waiver. The videos made in the McKamey Manor house can be found on its YouTube channel. These videos contain scenes of violence.
A petition to shut down the “Torture Chamber” even appeared on the Internet because people say the house is full of mental and physical violence. One hundred fifteen thousand people have already signed the petition.
The author of the petition says,
“It’s literally just a kidnapping & torture house. Some people have had to seek professional psychiatric help & medical care for extensive injuries.”
Participants may be subjected to violence for a while even after saying the safe word.
McKamey himself does not confirm or deny anything. Since law-enforcement agencies carefully monitor the house, they are usually warned of the beginning of the game. McKamey claims that he uses certain psychological methods to convince people that something terrible is happening around them. Every challenge is shot on a video camera; therefore, their organizer has some confirmations.
“There’s no torture, there’s nothing like that, but under hypnosis if you make someone believe there’s something really scary going on, that’s just in their own mind and not reality,” assures the attraction founder.
