Everything to Know About McKamey Manor and 'Monster Inside: America's Most Extreme Haunted House'
Hulu Monster Inside documentary about McKamey Manor
The documentary Monster Inside: America's Most Extreme Haunted House examines McKamey Manor, an extreme attraction designed to psychologically and physically torture participants with their consent.
Monster Inside: America's Most Extreme Haunted House follows Russ McKamey and the viral terror experience he created. As Hulu describes, McKamey is "a Navy Veteran who lures horror enthusiasts into his web. They find themselves pulled into the no-holds-barred world of McKamey Manor—a haunt that doesn't end until Russ says so."
If you thought Fright Fest was bad, you may not be prepared for this. Find out everything to know about McKamey Manor documentary and why everything that goes on there is (probably, mostly) legal. But be warned: This is not for the squeamish.
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What is the McKamey Manor documentary called?
Hulu's documentary on McKamey Manor is called Monster Inside: America's Most Extreme Haunted House.
When does the McKamey Manor documentary come out?
Monster Inside: America's Most Extreme Haunted House debuts on Oct. 12, 2023.
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How many episodes is the McKamey Manor Monster Inside documentary?
Monster Inside is a feature-length documentary film. As such, there's a single installment.
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Is there a Monster Inside trailer?
The Monster Inside trailer dropped on Oct. 2, 2023. It features footage of McKamey Manor, as well as interviews with survivors who've experienced the horrors there and met owner Russ McKamey. There are also interviews with attorneys who describe the legalities (and alleged illegalities) that can apply to people who visit McKamey Manor.
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Where is McKamey Manor?
McKamey first founded McKamey Manor in San Diego, California, but has since relocated. Its main "attraction," if you could call it that, is currently headquartered in Summertown, Tennessee, and has some "activities" in Huntsville, Alabama, as well.
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Has anyone beaten McKamey Manor?
So far, no one has "beaten" McKamey Manor for the $20,000 prize.
“I convince them that if [the money] is the reason they’re coming here, that they really don’t want to do the show because they’re not going to win and if they’re here solely for that factor, they’re going to be really disappointed,” McKamey told CBS 42 in October 2022. “Because the Manor always wins.”
It could also be because McKamey Manor, as described, likely doesn't actually exist. (More on that later.)
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Does McKamey Manor pull teeth?
Eh, maybe. McKamey has claimed that participants pull their own teeth and that he doesn't physically pull their teeth himself.
Is McKamey Manor legal?
Here's where it gets tricky.
McKamey Manor requires participants to sign a whopping 40-page waiver, as well as to undergo a background check, a "sports physical" and a drug test. Participants also must have a doctor's note asserting that they're mentally and physically healthy and well enough to participate, as well as proof of medical insurance.
With all those legal safeguards in place, it becomes very difficult to sue McKamey Manor for basically anything, because participants have legally consented to their torture.
However, some participants have claimed that they've signed the waiver when they've already been "abducted" and somewhat tortured by McKamey Manor. If that were truly the case, it could be argued that they were coerced, which could theoretically negate their consent, potentially opening McKamey up to a lawsuit.
The legality of McKamey Manor also varies depending on where it happens.
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"It's legal because basically the people that are subjecting themselves to the McKamey program, or whatever you want to call it, they’re doing so voluntarily. That was one thing we went over at length with Mr. McKamey," Lawrence County, Tennessee, District Attorney Brent Cooper told Nashville Scene. "Tennessee is a state where you can withdraw your consent at anytime. Even though someone may sign a really long consent form, if they ever indicate that they're withdrawing consent, [McKamey] should take that seriously. Because if the person really has withdrawn consent, and [you] continue to confine the person against their will, then you’re actually committing a crime."
Additionally, if the $20,000 doesn't actually exist (as many have alleged and/or suspected), then the contract could also be potentially fraudulent.
McKamey himself has alternately claimed that he's never been sued and that he has been sued, but that all the lawsuits have been dismissed whenever he releases video footage of the participants signing their waivers.
Here's see a great breakdown of all of the specific legalities of McKamey Manor.
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How much does McKamey Manor cost?
McKamey Manor's admission fee is literally just a bag of dog food for McKamey's pets. However, according to The Washington Post, if you curse during any part of the process, he'll dock you $500 each time, as well as $500 for every activity that you "fail" to complete. Seeing as no one has ever completed the McKamey Manor tour, at minimum, you'll pay the price of a bag of pet food for an old creep to torture you. Different strokes for different folks.
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Is McKamey Manor still running in 2023?
It is indeed, with a new "attraction," if you can call it that. Per the McKamey Manor website, the new experience, called "Descent," is "the next evolution in interactive 'SURVIVAL HORROR' theartre [sic]. Understand that each tour will be different based upon your personal fears, and can last up to 6 HOURS."
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Have people been injured at McKamey Manor?
McKamey has said someone had a heart attack at McKamey Manor, but that hasn't really been substantiated elsewhere. Most participants at minimum leave with some minor cuts and bruises, though at least one participant allegedly had injuries bad enough for her to be hospitalized.
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Who is Reckless Ben?
YouTuber Reckless Ben, real name Ben Schneider, signed up to go through McKamey Manor in an effort to expose the realities of the "attraction." He adjusted his NDA before signing to say that he agreed to pay McKamey just $1, as opposed to the $50,000 that it normally had, which would allow him to share his experiences, ostensibly, without risking potential financial ruin.
What happened with Reckless Ben at McKamey Manor?
Schneider's first McKamey Manor video is age-restricted, but you can view it here.
In the video, Schneider wears a duck onesie, allegedly at McKamey's request. Upon arriving, he was ordered to do several exercises with a shock collar that would buzz if he didn't do as he was told. He was then covered in paint and glitter and had clothespins put on his face while he was occasionally buzzed with the shock collar, all in broad daylight outdoors as McKamey watched, giggling.
While still outdoors in daylight, Schneider had to wear a metal garbage can on his back with a 100-lb. cement block inside, all while doing more exercises with the shock collar on and active. This went on for about two hours or so, at which point Schneider said his endurance ran out and he wasn't permitted to enter the actual "haunted house" of McKamey Manor. McKamey then said if Schneider begged and pleaded on camera, he may be allowed to go to the entrance of the haunted house.
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After doing so, McKamey permitted him to go into a tunnel while wearing a straitjacket to get to the entrance of the haunted house. The tunnel was the length of two football fields, and Schneider was unable to complete it to get in, so McKamey wouldn't let him into the haunted house ... unless Schneider was able to escape from his straitjacket while inside a coffin. When Schneider pointed out that it was physically impossible, McKamey waterboarded him in the coffin.
After several minutes, McKamey said Schneider could enter the haunted house if he found a plexiglass container full of mice in a maze for something McKamey called "rat race." McKamey allegedly told Schneider if he made it through a gate, it would activate a lever, which would then secure water from pouring on Schneider. Based on the footage, the water wasn't secured, because water kept pouring on him—essentially waterboarding him again.
After the gate entrance failed, McKamey told Schneider he could get into the haunted house if he completed yet another challenge, in which he wore a box on his head that McKamey filled with water—literally, just being waterboarded again. At times, McKamey would hold power tools in front of Schneider's face for what Schneider said had no real reason, and Schneider still couldn't get into the haunted house.
Next, McKamey cut open Schneider's arm and injected him with a substance—and then and only then did he actually make it into the haunted house, escorted by McKamey in what appeared to be an elevator.
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Except then McKamey said his phone battery was low, at which point, he removed Schneider from the elevator and took him back to the vehicle in which they'd went to the property and told Schneider that he wasn't permitted to go into the haunted house after all. But because Schneider wasn't allowed inside—despite not giving up—according to the contract they signed, he ostensibly would've been eligible to collect his $20,000.
Schneider claimed that the actual haunted house didn't really exist and that McKamey Manor was nothing but a load of false advertising.
McKamey removed Schneider's second video of the experience, and Schneider released a subsequent series about McKamey Manor on his channel. McKamey then threatened to sue Schneider for trademark infringement ... for saying "McKamey Manor."
