To understand what happened to Russ McKamey, we should first know who Russ McKamey is. 

Born in March 1960, McKaney has had an interesting life that unfortunately we don’t know much about. He joined the US Navy and served for 23 years till he retired. People still speculate if what he witnessed overseas in these 2 decades of serving in the Navy is why he decided to make a living out of what can only be called the darkest side of humanity. 

When he came back after retiring, he decided to bring horror and torture that we only ever see in movies or hear in ghost stories, to real life. He built the McKamey Manor originally in the 80s in San Diego on his property. After almost 40 years of making small-time experiences of a haunted house, he finally moved to Tennessee where a new property became the McKamey Manor in 2017. Since then he has grown his business to a magnitude you would be surprised to know about.

What is McKamey Manor?

A haunted house built in the 80s originally in San Diego, the McKamey Manor is undoubtedly the most extreme haunted house in the world. After moving the project to Tennessee the whole thing was taken up a significant level. The haunted house is booked for the whole year, with a waiting list of over 25,000 people. It is surprising how so many people want to experience something so disturbing willingly. The Manor only allows people over the age of 21 to participate, people from 18 to 20 require a signed authorization from their parents for the experience. 

The whole experience is nearly 10 hours, sometimes more, where people are tortured in some of the most horrifying ways possible. 

Yes, you read that correctly, tortured. The participants sign a 40-page waiver that states that they consent to be put through all sorts of physical and psychological torture, including getting beaten up, having their teeth pulled without any anesthetic, being covered in snakes and spiders, and much more.

There is no fee charged for admission, instead, the participants are asked to donate dog food to McKamey Rescue greyhounds. 

This seems to be a rather innocent side of what can only be understood as the work of the devil. The participants are given a safeword that they can shout out at any given point and they would be pulled out of the house right away. The experience is even recorded in some special series’ or challenges. 

McKamey Manor Survivors

Russ McKamey has claimed in every interview and statement that there has never been any incident where a participant was tortured in the literal sense, and even if they were put through some “challenge” it was always safe. He also claims that any time a participant used a safe word they were immediately pulled out and were put through no harm. 

However, the survivors of the Manor have said otherwise on multiple occasions. In 2018, Laura Bertz, a participant in the McKamey Manor, was hospitalized for the severity of her injuries. In her official police statement, she said she used her safe word several times for a while before the staff of the manor stopped beating her. The poor woman had to go through not only medical but also psychological intervention to cope with the horrifying experience she went through.

There have been many other incidences where participants lodged official police reports and sued the business for the same reason: the safe word was not honored, the torture was too extreme, and the staff refused to stop even after the participant allegedly begged them to. This shows the inhumanity of the haunted house that goes beyond what we see on the surface.

The Manor has had a $20,000 reward for anyone who survived since the business started. Undoubtedly to this day, not one person has been able to win that prize. Some reports have speculated there is no reward and the whole venture is just to pull people in. McKamey of course denied all such accusations. There have been several people who were almost about to beat the challenge, but it is said that McKameys staff ensures no one can cross the finish line. Each torture being worse than the last, the staff makes personalized challenges at the last minute to break the participants. 

There have also been reports of the business giving the “Kidnapping Experience” which is as terrifying as it sounds since a woman was seen being dragged across the street and thrown into a van as she screamed out for help. Police were alarmed but yet again the report was taken back since the woman consented to the fake kidnapping.

Regardless of all the controversy, there has not been a single conviction to this day. The lawsuits almost always get thrown out or the matter is settled out of court. The legal team of McKamey uses the single most solid argument they have, the participants signed the waiver. This makes the victim’s case weak right from the start. 

What Happened to Russ McKamey Post-Controversy?

As no case ever found a legal standing against the business, Russ McKamey is a free man who is actively keeping his business alive. He posts videos and updates on his haunted house every few days. His fans admire him to this day and his whole venture is built on merch and public appearances. His current net worth is estimated to be a whopping $5 million. 

He plans on continuing his legacy of the world’s most extreme haunted house and intends to franchise out into more states. There have been many documentaries and movies made on the Manor. The most recent is a Hulu documentary called Monster Inside: America’s Most Extreme Haunted House. Russ currently has many charity and rescue programs for animals, especially dogs. His love for dogs can be seen clearly throughout his social media accounts.

Conclusion to What Happened to Russ McKamey

To conclude, what happened to Russ McKamey, we must say the McKamey Manor is an extremely haunted house that involves some serious torture, physical and mental, on top of the basic haunted house essentials. 

It was created by Russ McKamey, a 64-year-old ex-Navy officer, in the 1980s to ’90s, and officially found a permanent place in Tennessee where the true fame of the venture began. To participate, people must sign a waiver that exempts the company from any responsibility for what happens inside the house. They have to be over the age of 21, and the whole experience lasts depending on how long they can survive before saying a safe word assigned to them. 

The Manor has been the center of controversy for a long time since many of its survivors have claimed constant torture inside the house that went on even after they said out loud their supposed safe word. Russ McKamey has made a fortune out of this venture not with admission fees but from merch and public appearances. He currently lives in the town his manor is located in and continues its publicity through his socials. 

The legal predicament of this whole circumstance is still in the gray. On one hand, participants have claimed abuse far beyond any humane level, with continuance even after they begged the actors to stop. On the other hand, McKamey denies such claims and says time and time again that his team is of absolute professionals and that the participants signed the waiver after reading it in full depth. So, what happened to Russ McKamey throughout his life as a haunted house owner is that he made a fortune out of it leaving many people injured and hospitalized, with some being in therapy for months. 

Is this venture humane? Should the McKamey Manor be allowed to expand business? Does the plain legal protection exempt the team and the staff from any consequences for the harm they have caused? That’s for the audience to decide.

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