Downloaded from YTS.MX
[♪ creepy rhythmic pulsing]
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
[♪ eerie music playing]
[♪ horror sting]
♪♪
[speaker 1] So, very young...
[branches rustling]
...I got obsessed with horror.
[chair squeaking]
[heavy breathing]
I just think it would be fun to survive a horror movie.
♪♪
[buzzing]
-[light clicks] -[indistinct murmuring]
[slice]
But you make it to the end...
[screaming]
♪♪
...and the credits roll, and everyone's fine.
[screaming]
That's just always been, like, super appealing to me.
I think I googled, "Survive your own scary movie,"
which is where the beginning of this started.
♪♪
[speaker 2] But, every horror movie...
[♪ horror music playing]
[screaming]
-[static hissing] -...has a monster.
[♪ music fades out]
[screaming]
Hey, everybody. It's Russ.
[screaming]
This is Immersive Horror,
where you become the star of the show.
[screaming] No!
[speaker 2] No, Russ. Please...
[Russ McKamey] [panting] Stay with me, honey.
-[speaker 2 pleading] -[Russ] Hold your breath.
On the count of three, hold your breath. One. Two.
-[water pouring] -[echoing hyperventilating]
-[speaker 2] Please-- -[silence]
[speaker 3] An immersive horror experience is...
[overlapping screaming]
...you are basically putting yourself inside of a horror movie.
[indistinct screaming]
My legs hurt, and my arms hurt, a-and my hands are freezing.
And I can't feel them 'cause there's still shocks running through my hands.
[interviewer] You had a good time, though?
Yes! I had a great time.
-[people screaming] -[♪ horror music playing]
I don't know too many people outside of my small little group
that know about this stuff.
[♪ creepy music playing]
It is relatively underground,
and right now, we have the worst salesman for it
in the history of bad salesmen. That's Russ McKamey.
♪♪
I am the owner and creator of McKamey Manor,
the world's most extreme haunted house.
-[♪ creepy music playing] -[inaudible screaming]
Russ has positioned himself to be
-the great danger. -[liquid splashes]
You're in boot camp, you are in North Korea,
you are in Stalinist Russia,
and you're gonna see if you can make it out or not.
-[person panting] -[Russ] We're showmen.
I am the P.T. Barnum of the haunt world.
Look at her. Look at her.
I spent hours trying to convince her not to show up here.
But she wouldn't listen to me.
The show's never over with Russ.
-[gasping] -[splashing]
Please stop, Russ. Please, please.
Russ has crossed the Rubicon.
There's no goin' back.
I'm leaving McKamey Manor, thank God.
Do. Not. Come. Here.
[projector clicking, whirring]
[♪ eerie music playing]
[♪ eerie crescendo]
[wind blowing]
[birds chirping]
[Russ] McKamey Manor has a history of, um, cities and towns...
-[♪ dramatic sting] -...not wanting us in their location.
You know, we were kicked out of Illinois. We were gonna move out there.
Um, the city saw the movies after we were there,
basically, and freaked out.
And they were, you know, they just went crazy,
you know, praying in front of the building to keep us away,
shooting out the windows, slashing tires. I mean, they really did not want us there.
[bees buzzing loudly]
[♪ pulsating creepy music playing]
[jet engine whining]
[muffled thud]
[♪ dramatic sting]
-[people clapping] -[♪ guitar playing]
[emcee] Hey, everybody, welcome to the Captain's pizza party! It's time to party!
♪ I really, really, really, really, really, really, really like girls ♪
♪♪
♪ Yeah, I really, really, really, really, really, really, really like girls ♪
[interviewer] You are from the military, you were in the Navy.
[Russ] Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I've-I was in the military for 23 years.
Even on a ship, I had a haunt going on.
[♪ foreboding music building]
[news anchor] Russ McKamey created a house of horror
that would rival anything at a carnival or theme park.
-Nine rooms, animated ghoulish figures, -[cackling]
you wonder what he spent on it.
This year, about $30,000.
-[cackling] -[♪ scary music playing]
It took me six months to do what I did in there so far,
so, and we just ran outta time.
[news anchor] A Navy veteran who now works with the VFW,
he's just always loved Halloween, he says.
[♪ foreboding music playing]
[Kris] When we first met, I started doing video work for him.
Russ was my friend.
I thought that me and Russ were-were best friends.
[♪ curious music playing]
When the manor started originally, it was an awesome thing.
It was kids working it, jumping out, scaring you.
You know, there was a line to get in on Halloween.
-[guests chattering] -It was a cool thing.
♪♪
That was when the news on what we were doing got big.
This is considered the scariest haunted house in America.
-[eerie cackling] -[Kris] We were on Good Morning America,
every news station, everybody was doin' a story on us.
[narrator] McKamey Manor is completely interactive.
-A two-hour visit to hell on Earth. -[screams]
And then every year, he had to one up it.
[screaming, shouting]
Had to get a little more intense. A little more intense to the point,
though, finally, they got rid of the kids.
-[screaming] -[Russ] Here they come! They're coming!
[chainsaw roaring]
McKamey Manor promises an extreme experience
that can last up to 10 hours,
requires participants to be medically cleared by a doctor
and sign a 40-page waiver.
This place has been known to break the minds...
It was invented by this crazy gentleman...
Russ McKamey videotapes every single second...
...inducing is a form of psychological torture, but for fun.
[voices overlapping]
[news anchor] They say it amounts to a torture chamber. Yikes.
-[static hissing] -[Kris] The phones would not stop.
His phone would constantly ring,
my phone would constantly ring, with people trying to get in.
It was insane
how quickly and how big it got.
[♪ unsettling music playing]
And that's when it got violent.
-[person wailing] -[Russ] Don't fuckin' move.
[panting]
[muffled yelling]
-Stop resisting! -[slam]
I probably wouldn't do the haunt
-if I wasn't able to film it. -[person yells]
-That's nice. -[person whimpers]
[crying]
Because I want the world to see what I'm doing.
[inaudible]
[static, bars & tone]
[breeze blowing]
I am here because I want everyone
to know the truth on Russ.
[clicking]
[inaudible]
I don't feel like I'm, like, mentally weak,
but it messed me up.
I'm over five years past it...
[clicking]
...and I'm just now coming to terms
with how fucked up it was.
[inaudible]
[speaker 4] The dude lives in the dark. The world needs to see
what this man has done to people.
[clicking]
If someone asked me my story, I would tell it to 'em.
There's actually a lesson to be learned from Russ.
[♪ eerie crescendo]
[TV static buzzing]
[static hissing]
[♪ eerie music playing]
[W.P. West] I am a producer and creator of immersive horror.
♪♪
I'm putting them through what I would perceive as horrific.
♪♪
I'm putting them through a scenario that I'm terrified of.
I love traditional Halloween. Like, I love old school haunted houses.
An immersive horror experience
is definitely evolved out of a haunted house,
-but... -[♪ horror sting]
...you can't compare these things together.
If you wanna put 'em in a hierarchy, you know, you have boo haunts up here.
[kids chattering]
[♪ dramatic music playing]
The normal boo haunted house, they pop out of a hole in the window,
-they scare you around a corner. -[kids scream]
[Brandon] Those are just walkabout haunted houses
that everybody can go to.
[inaudible]
[screams]
[♪ creepy music playing]
[screams]
Followed by more extreme haunts...
[people screaming]
...but without necessarily actors touching you.
[screaming]
As you kind of get into the more immersive experience,
-they can separate you from your friends. -[screams]
They can tie you up, but it's nothing super extreme.
[cuffs clicking]
At the very bottom is...
-[screaming] -...immersive, extreme type experiences,
where it is full contact.
There's no topic that's off the table.
-[thud] -[lights click]
[W.P.] They're longer, they're more intense,
they're more narrative-driven,
more task-driven, and personal.
[♪ music building]
[♪ dramatic sting]
Some of these ultra personal experiences
are made to make you face
all the things that you don't wanna face.
[panting]
[haunter] Hands and knees, Hands and knees!
[♪ dramatic music playing]
[Brandon] And they go about it in extremely creative ways.
[muffled] Fuck!
[snapping]
[breathing heavily]
They put you in situations that you didn't realize you were even scared of.
♪♪
[incoherent shouting]
People just enjoy the rush of it 'cause it is a thrill.
♪♪
The point is how much can you take, right?
How much physical and mental abuse
can you put up with before you just cut out?
But, you can take away consent at any time,
and a good extreme haunt owner knows that.
You constantly have to ask the participant,
"Do you still consent? Do you still consent?"
Even if it's seven hours, they're going to make sure that I'm safe.
[W.P.] But it isn't just the torturing people.
There is subtext to the show.
There's subtext to the things that I'm talking about.
[♪ horror music playing]
But, that isn't always the case.
There's one person
basically running a torture chamber.
♪♪
[panting]
[Russ] [echoing] You made a big mistake. Come on.
Russ was, like, a celebrity. You know,
every YouTube video at the time, every Facebook link
was Russ' face, mentioning this haunt.
[laughs] We're here waiting for you.
Russ McKamey's a divisive figure.
[Russ] Just get him in here! Get him in here!
He uses his divisiveness
to get your attention, to grow in attention.
[Russ] You understand what I'm telling you?
[indistinct shouting]
[Russ] Yes what? Tell me what I just told you, Christina.
He started to put little bits of information out there
to make himself more infamous, I guess.
[Russ] You look scared Steve.
-I'm terrified, sir. -[Russ] Yeah, you need to be.
[Brandon] It billed itself as the most extreme haunted house in the world.
They do all kinds of crazy stuff to you.
I don't like you here.
I am gonna make sure you have the worst day of your entire life.
They drugged you, that they pulled your teeth,
that if you threw up, they make you eat your throw-up.
And I was like, "How is this possible?
But, man, this is fascinating."
[muffled] [screams] Let me out!
Let me out! Let me out!
[♪ dramatic crescendo]
[Russ] We only do one or two shows a week.
-The list is long. -[muffled screaming]
[Brandon] One of those things that Russ liked to say was
he had this 27,000 person waitlist.
-[haunter 1] You won the lottery. -[haunter 2] Out of 20,000.
-[Russ] 27,000. -[haunter 2] 27,000!
He's so big with this huge waitlist.
[Russ] I'm offering you 20 grand,
and you know we're probably not gonna kill ya, so...
There was a $20,000 money prize.
Oh yeah, well, the 20 grand, that's a big part of it.
Well, here I am. Today's the day for my McKamey Manor tour.
[Brandon] Some people see that 20 grand, and they're enticed by that money.
♪♪
[gasps] Everyone on the internet told me I could do it,
they wanted me to, and I didn't listen.
Do not come here.
[sobs]
♪♪
[Russ] Price of admission for this eight-hour-plus adventure?
Four cans of dog food or a bag of dog food.
[Gabi] He's not making money.
I think most of the money that went into the haunt was from his previous wife.
But I think it is just to keep himself, keep himself clean.
♪♪
Haunted houses, like, this is not a money thing.
You gotta do this for the art,
-or 'cause you're a sociopath. -[Russ inaudible]
You wanna run a torture chamber.
[Russ] We're known for no quitting and no safe-wording.
[person panting]
I make it simple 'cause I'm a simple guy, and I can't have too many rules,
otherwise I'll get confused. So, either you actually complete the tour,
-which is not going to happen... -[person panting]
...or you mentally or physically are at such a breaking point
that it's now not safe for you to continue,
and I need to take you out.
[♪ scary music playing]
Russ doesn't want you to quit until you are a pile of bones and flesh.
And then, you're not probably done either.
[static hissing]
[♪ dramatic crescendo]
[insects chirping]
[Brandon] All that bad stuff, it's selling point.
It's not a reason not to go. It's a reason to go.
How bad can it be?
[♪ tense music playing]
That's my number one rule before I go to any extreme haunt.
If a felony's not gonna be taking place, I don't wanna go.
I love the adrenaline.
[gunshot]
There was no second thought, there was no nothing. I had to do it.
I had just moved to Los Angeles. I was, like, trying to be an actress.
I had a group of friends that were creative,
so we would just do fun little short films that were scary.
[screaming]
And I wanted something more extreme.
And it was like a full send point in my life,
where I just didn't think about anything.
I was like, "Okay, like, you only live once.
Like, why not just try to, like, get into this haunted house?"
♪♪
[Melissa] My day-to-day activities,
my normal routine gets dull,
and I wanted to branch out.
And I'm not gonna lie.
I honestly thought that this was gonna help
get me a little bit of fame. And I wanted a video of me up on YouTube.
♪♪
And the more people that I talked to about this that said,
"No, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it,"
the more it motivated me.
My first conversations with Russ involved going to his website,
finding out what his email address was, and I just sent him an email.
And I contacted the admins about doing a tour.
"I wanna be an actress. I love horror. Um, I'm trying to start a YouTube channel.
Like, I would love to do this haunt."
Not even two days later, I actually got the email back from him.
[♪ dramatic music playing]
"Hey, Gabi, are you available tomorrow?
I have, like, a spot opening up. Someone bailed."
We kind of bonded because we were both in the service.
He says, "This is your only opportunity to get in. I got 20,000 people waiting,
I'm bumping you to the front of the line."
People get so obsessed, and Russ is feeding their ears,
and they're like, "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,
because I'll never get this chance again."
Then, I had to do this little video that Russ asked me to do,
live on this private Facebook group.
I had a friend hanging me by my ankles upside down,
and I actually ate night crawlers
mixed with toothpaste and mustard.
[friend] [on video] She's done. She's ate all the worms.
♪♪
And it was horrible. Absolutely horrible.
But I felt like I needed to be
over the top in my creativity,
because he was a big deal,
and I wanted to stand out from the rest.
He announces, you know, I can do a tour.
I said yes.
And I was over the moon excited.
I was like, I guess, for some reason, he liked my email.
And he was very kind at that time.
He made me feel like I was important
and that I was already this huge celebrity
and I had a fan base.
You know, I'm gonna rock this.
[♪ tense music playing]
[wind chimes jingling]
[jingling stops]
I'm super scared. I don't know who my partner is.
Um, I'm waiting until it gets a little closer to the time,
then I'm gonna go sit in the spot and wait.
He said, "Find parking near the park. There are bleachers. Sit at the bleachers,
face forward. Don't turn around or anything."
And then, I went and met Russ at the park
for my waiver signing.
I was nervous. I was shaking. My hands were trembling,
and I was trying to fake that I was fine.
[Brandon] Sure.
That was the infamous waiver.
That was the waiver that you're basically signing your life away.
We're not responsible if you die. Like, you're agreeing to sign up for this.
No.
-Yes, yes. -Take this. Don't get it wet.
Why are you doing this? That's my question. Why would you do this
after everything that's happening, why would you sign this waiver?
♪♪
"Participant fully understands and agrees that once participant enters MM,
there is no quitting unless serious psychological injury is present."
Your hair may be chopped off. Dentistry may be done.
You may have a tooth extracted.
"Head, neck, back injuries, death, stroke,
traumatic brain injury, brain aneurysm."
I wasn't allowed to, like, look at the person
who gave us the waiver.
We had very weird instructions.
"Retinal hemorrhage, subdural hematoma, loss of consciousness, whiplash,
"harmful heart reactions,
"nausea, headache, dizziness, lacerations,
broken or sprained bones."
[Melissa] None of this had gotten to me.
I had too much excitement going through my veins at the time.
If it would've said a man's gonna come out of the woods
and murder you during this event, I-I would've signed it.
[♪ tense music playing]
[rustling papers]
[Brandon] I get that feeling, that adrenaline is just building,
which is reminiscent right before I left the wire when I was in Iraq.
This was going outside of the safety of your FOB.
The FOB, it's a forward operation base.
That's where we lived.
There's a clear delineation of safety there. You know, safe,
not safe.
As soon as you go outside the gate...
[♪ music building]
-...adrenaline's as high as you can go. -[explosion blasts]
-[soldier] Yeah! Woo! -[soldiers cheer]
-[explosion] -Yeah!
[distant excited shouting]
[♪ dramatic music playing]
[Brandon] We lost a lot of people over there.
People were dying every single day.
I did 21 years. I did three combat tours in Iraq,
which spanned over 40 months.
At the start of the deployment, I had hope.
Very shortly, I realized you abandon your hope.
You realize that death can come at any moment.
♪♪
[speaker 5] Military experience is extreme.
Terror haunt experience is extreme. Anything that we do that is extreme,
adrenaline, when it's coursing through us, I mean, it makes us feel powerful.
A lot of times when people have had combat experiences,
you cannot get that feeling anywhere else.
-So, it almost gets kind of locked in. -Mm.
I'm Dr. Lindsay Bira, clinical health psychologist
and PTSD and trauma specialist.
When somebody has had a trauma
and their nervous system is a little bit hijacked,
like we see in PTSD,
then it drives them to seek external sensation to try to regulate.
And for anybody with anxiety, depression, PTSD,
somebody experiencing emotional abnormalities,
they are more likely to seek external stimulation.
[birds cawing]
I'm worried about these types of experiences
because there's no real structure.
There's no limits. The limits keep getting pushed.
[screaming]
But, the most important thing is to be very careful
who is leading an extreme experience.
There can easily be abuse of power,
and we don't know how far to trust somebody.
[♪ tense music playing]
[Melissa] He stuck me in his truck.
Hey, everybody. Come on in.
I was blindfolded, I couldn't see anything,
and off we went to the manor to begin the tour.
[breeze blowing]
-[Brandon] He puts me into his truck. -[door shuts]
He puts earphones on me,
and then I remember the sounds of babies crying,
-and it's very, very loud. -[babies cry]
I'm like, "Okay, I've just lost my sense of hearing."
-And then, he starts duct taping my head. -[tape ripping]
He covers my entire head with duct tape,
that I bought, mind you.
Once they kidnapped us and put us in the van, that's when I, like,
I don't even think I felt anxious.
I think I was in, like, fight or flight mode,
and I had to fight 'cause there was nowhere that I could go.
So I was just very focused.
[♪ intense music playing]
[Brandon] I don't know what to expect.
I knew this was go time, right?
I'm getting what I've been wanting to do for years.
It's time! Then, the door swings open.
Come over here.
I was so focused because he was filming me.
I had camera fright.
This video's live, and so it was very, very scary.
[Russ] Fans, what color would you like her base to be?
You got purple, red, pink, yellow.
[Melissa] He hyped me up, did lives,
and he's reading off the comments.
[Russ] She's a sport. Guys, she's a sport.
[Kris] You're gonna be the best one, you're gonna put on the best show ever.
Hypes it up all the time. Really gets you going, gets the fans going.
And then, that-that starts to get into, you know, your ego.
You're like, "Oh, my God,
"I got thousands of people watching me. I was a nobody,
I-- and now I got people rooting me on?"
And you don't wanna let 'em down.
♪♪
They pushed us out of the van.
And I think we had to crawl through, like, chicken wire.
They had, like, some maze through a garage.
When we got to the other side, that's when we met Russ,
and he looked so happy, so excited.
He had a big old flashlight with a camera on his head.
[panting]
In the moment, just the way he's, like, talking about it
and the tone of his voice as he's talking about it as it's happening.
[Russ] [on TV] Are you prepared? Good. This is your one chance.
I'm gonna give you an out. If you want out, you can get out now.
-[haunter] Verbalize. -No, I wanna stay in.
[Russ] Okay, that's what I like. Okay, cover her eyes.
[inaudible]
[♪ creepy music playing]
It was definitely an endurance test.
-[splashing] -[groaning]
[Russ] Wall climb! Batman time! Batman time!
There is no EMTs. There are no medics.
What happens if you're in a stunt,
and somethin' happens to him, and he's hurt? You could be tied up.
Y-You're stuck, nobody's gonna find you.
-[haunter] Oh! No, you go in there! -[Gabi screams]
-[rustling] -[haunter] Sit!
Next thing I know, he grabs my chest and dunks my head under water.
And he holds my chest there.
♪♪
I'm thinking, "If I just hold my breath
"and don't think, stop moving,
he'll eventually pull me back up", which he does.
And then I start gasping for air again.
And then he does it five or six more times.
[dripping]
[Gabi] What if this isn't fake?
What if I'm really trapped in this-this freezer now?
Like, and I'm at this guy's house, I don't know where I'm at location-wise.
-[Gabi] [screams] Let me out! -[haunter] [laughs] Louder!
So, that just all happened in my mind, and I just had a panic attack.
-Let me out! -[haunter] You want out?
-Oh, you crying? I think she was crying! -[Gabi sniffling]
Oh, beautiful tears, yes!
-Oh, look at this. Look at the camera. -[sniffles]
Look at camera!
[crying] I wanna get out.
[Russ] This is just the beginning. You understand that, right?
There's so many dark places you're gonna go tonight.
♪♪
[Gabi] There's a certain point where they put us in straitjackets
with chains over our neck, and I was like, "Oh gosh,
this is uncomfortable and it's heavy."
And then that's when the water boarding proceeded to happen.
[Russ] Put your head in there.
[water splashing]
[coughing]
[choking]
[inaudible]
[Gabi] I was like, "Oh, this is what it means to be waterboarded.
I feel like I'm drowning."
[coughing]
[Russ] So, you're gonna have to be looking for the big baby bottle.
-[splashing] -Yeah, go.
-[Melissa] Ew... Oh... -[Russ] Get on your belly.
-Get on your belly! -[splashing]
I'm terrified of spiders. Like, to the point
where if I even see one across the room, I get, like, a rash, and I just get itchy
'cause I just cannot stand them. And he knew that.
He asked me going in, like, what my biggest fear was.
♪♪
-[Gabi whimpers] -[Russ] [on TV] Shh. Don't make any noise.
Shh...
Don't make any quick motion.
[Gabi] [on TV] [sobs] Please, no.
They were telling me that the tarantula was mad,
and I didn't know that, like,
you're not supposed to handle tarantulas like that.
So he could-- the tarantula, like, could've gotten mad
and like, at me, and bit me, I guess.
So they were like, "Don't cry. Quit freaking out, don't cry."
And I was like, "You have a spider on my face.
How am I not supposed to cry?" And then he's like,
"We're gonna do it anyway.
So like, if you cry, you're gonna get hurt."
So like, in the video, I just froze. I think I just like, stopped breathing,
and I just, like, had an out of body experience.
[crying] Please don't. Please.
[Russ] Look at her. Look at her, Mary, look at her.
-[Haunter Mary] Isn't she pretty? -Please! [gasping]
-[Russ] Look at her. -Please don't.
-Please. -[Haunter Mary] Oops. Oops.
Please don't. Please don't. Please don't!
-[Russ] Shh... -[Gabi whimpering]
It was, like, that moment that it kind of shifted for me.
[inaudible]
[♪ tense music playing]
[screams]
I think I'd went seven, eight hours.
-[splashing] -[Melissa groaning]
[Russ] Find that baby bottle.
[clicking]
Alright, guys. She's doing really good tonight.
[Melissa] But, in that moment, I'm like the celebrity.
I have this huge fan base.
That was big for me. That was huge.
She's a trooper, and she wants to continue on, so,
so we're just, we're doing stuff right now.
[Haunter Mary] You're a rock star.
He closed this cage gate on top of me,
and this water was freezing cold.
And he said,
"Okay, I'm gonna start raising the water level."
When I could start feeling the water rise and when I remember
I tried to put resistance on the cage,
and I-- it wouldn't budge,
that's when I just, I was like, I'm done. I'm done.
-Exactly, exactly. -I ended up quitting.
-[Russ] You got punished here. -[Haunter Mary] This is her punishment
for not findin' the baby bottle.
-[Russ] McKamey Manor just what? -McKamey Manor just kicked my ass.
-[Russ] And you quit. -And I quit.
-[Brandon] I didn't wanna die. -[Gabi] [crying] I'm done.
-[Russ] Tell me you quit. -[Gabi] I quit.
I don't wanna be locked in the dark anymore.
Russ is there the entire time, recording it.
And the joy and, like, pleasure
that he was getting out of it was extremely weird.
You could see he was unfazed.
I'm here, bawling, I'm bleeding, and you're just living your best life,
trying to figure out how much further you could take it.
And I'm just-- that's concerning to me.
But in the moment, I was like, "Oh, this is Russ, this is the guy.
He has the camera on his head. Let's do the tour."
[Brandon] Some of these other extreme haunts,
the trust that I've given them has not been broken.
Even though I'm telling them to push, even though I'm telling them
to do worse and worse stuff to me, I think, deep down,
I know that they're not gonna kill me.
You know, I know they're not gonna cause
permanent physical danger,
but trust was broken with Russ McKamey.
[♪ tense music playing]
[inaudible]
[Gabi] My experience was fucked up, but I also am aware
that every experience after mine
was a thousand times worse because I think he did see
that he kind of was able to keep us for seven hours,
and kind of do whatever he wanted, and, like, we didn't do anything about it.
We just, like, left and said, "Thanks so much, have a great time."
So I think for him that was validation. Like, "Oh, I could do more."
[♪ dramatic music playing]
[Russ] Hey, everybody, it's Russ. Coming at you right here from McKamey Manor.
[Brandon] Never come here. Don't let-- Don't let anybody
talk you into it or any of that
because it's, um, it's brutal.
[♪ dramatic sting]
-[quiet street noise] -[insects chirping]
[Melissa] The "why."
[♪ unsettling music playing]
[TV static]
Everybody's always gonna wonder the why,
and the why is different for each and every individual that goes through.
My name is DJ Williams.
I'm a full professor at Idaho State University
in Pocatello, Idaho.
I was given the title Dr. Deviant from a dominatrix who I mentored under.
And my research covers sort of the range
and spectrum of deviance and leisure,
and that can include a lot of different things.
That can include criminal activity as leisure.
It can include BDSM and sexuality as leisure.
The extreme horror, extreme experiences phenomenon,
definitely fits within the area of deviant leisure.
And it's hard for people to understand
someone who is clearly an intense sensation seeker or risk taker
that those challenges are actual needs.
And so, we need to have a space, an, an acceptance for people
who are craving those kinds of needs.
So, I think it's easy for, sometimes people to kinda sit back and say,
"Why would somebody do this? There must be something wrong with them."
And that's not the case, necessarily.
♪♪
[Gabi] I grew up in private Christian school.
I grew up hearing if you lie, you're gonna go to Hell.
And it wasn't just, like, you're gonna go to Hell.
It's like, "Your skin is gonna burn off, and your eyes are gonna melt."
And I'm, like, 5.
I am queer, so being Black-queer in a space like that,
was really hard to navigate as, like, a young kid.
It's, like, pro-conversion therapy, "Let's get that out of you.
This isn't natural. You're living a life of sin."
So just growing up hearing that, I didn't even know that it was okay.
I didn't even know what queer was.
I just knew that, like, I was really different.
I just knew that it was bad and evil.
To this day, like, I have anxiety 24/7,
so, like, even right now, my heart's like... [exhales].
It used to be so bad where I couldn't go to the grocery store,
I would just like sit in my car
'cause just I felt too overwhelmed with everything.
So, when I watch a horror film, I have that same feeling,
but it's safely on my couch, and it makes sense.
♪♪
It's like, oh, there's a guy with a chainsaw on the TV,
like, gonna hurt somebody.
There's a reason to be anxious in this moment.
Which is why I started looking into
the whole immersive horror experience thing.
So, I was like, "What if I live through something crazy"
and then I know that I can do anything going forward.
It reminds me, "Hey,
"I just went through this series of events,
and I survived."
[insects chirping]
As a young child,
I dealt with an abusive mother.
♪♪
Being put into a foster home at such a young age
was very, very traumatic.
It was scary having to go through people and people and people,
and tell the same story over and over again of what happened.
To be one day ripped apart
from everyone you know and everything.
To be told you're taken to a safer place,
and the place you're going to is just full of unknown and uncertainty,
and it just breaks a part of you inside.
I feel like I do these things to remind myself
that I'm strong, and I'm a survivor,
and I can get through a lot of shit.
♪♪
[W.P.] A lot of people go through
really traumatic situations,
and they find something to fill this gap.
And I would see the progress of making it through something that's terrible
and-and using it to the advantage of yourself.
[♪ dramatic crescendo]
It sounds like there's a lot of, kind of pushing, or here's an edge,
but then, "Okay, I can go beyond that edge.
I just accomplished this. I guess let's take it further."
Like, I feel like I need-- Like, I need that type of punishment.
Mm-hmm.
Like it's something that--
it's something that I feel like I deserve.
[♪ soft music playing]
When I got back, I was a completely different person.
Okay and that was after you came back from the military, right?
Yes, that was after my
-third tour in Iraq. -Okay.
I didn't see here as home. This wasn't home to me anymore.
I think I knew I had PTSD.
I sure as hell didn't think I had survivor's guilt,
but one of the things I did is,
I started giving away body parts.
I gave my kidney away.
I was also signed up to give a piece of my liver away.
And I also signed up for the bone marrow transplant list.
[♪ tense music playing]
I was gonna give away as much as I could.
I didn't see any purpose anymore.
There's parts of me that are essentially broken, you know,
and, emotionally, mentally, physically, what have you.
[Dr. Lindsay Bira] It's not a bad thing to push the limits
or to, you know, have a very real human experience
or to explore the edges of human experience.
I think that's actually an awesome thing.
But, you are desensitizing yourself to those natural cues,
where your brain and your body is saying, "This is my limit."
Yeah.
[Dr. Bira] That's something really good to think about.
Well, I mean, I just look at those ultra-marathon runners, right?
They punish their body. Their feet are torn to pieces, you know?
It's all in the name of, you know, self-improvement.
[Dr. Deviant] You have big wave surfers,
you have freestyle mountain climbers who use no safety gear,
deep ocean divers,
and they're constantly pushing that edge.
[Brandon] Why is this any different?
I could never run an ultra marathon. I know I can't.
But, I can, I can get tortured for 12 hours.
[Russ] The fun has just begun.
So far, what you've endured is nothing compared to the last half.
-[♪ dramatic music playing] -[whimpering]
[speaker 6] Torture is the intentional infliction
of serious or severe pain and suffering
-on a person... -[dripping]
...for the purpose of punishment
or to force them to do or say something.
My name is Alka Pradhan.
I'm a human rights attorney practicing at Guantanamo Bay
and before the International Criminal Court.
And my expertise is in working with torture victims.
And in my work at Guantanamo Bay, I'm employed by the Department of Defense.
And so, nothing I say represents
the opinion of the Department of Defense.
And nothing I say should be taken to confirm or deny any information
that the Department of Defense considers to be classified.
Personally, I am really repulsed
by the idea of anyone using torture
or acts that simulate torture
in a way that is entertaining.
[lock clicking]
Nothing about torture is entertaining.
Undergoing torture doesn't really strengthen you.
If it doesn't kill people,
it affects them for the entirety of their lives.
The first thing to keep in mind is that
♪♪
all torture has psychological effects.
Even if you consent to some aspect of that,
the fear created in your mind,
what psychologists often call "uncontrollable stress,"
can literally change your neural pathways.
And it's something that is almost impossible to remove.
[♪ dramatic music playing]
[Russ] So, did-did you expect all that after, you know?
Well, I expected it to be rough, but I didn't expect to actually cry.
[♪ dramatic crescendo]
-[Russ] Yeah, you did cry. -[Gabi] Yeah, like five times.
[♪ soft ominous tone]
[Gabi] Russ posted my video on YouTube, and it went super viral.
[♪ dissonant chords playing]
A few months after going through it,
I, so bad, just wanted to be involved
with, like, anything to do with horror.
Whether it was, like, acting or, like, writing or anything.
And Russ saw that.
And I ended up running his Facebook group, I was running his YouTube channel,
I was running his Twitter. I was like his little assistant.
Get people into the haunt, hype it up.
If people were talking negatively about it,
I was supposed to, like, undercut them.
Be like, "No, like, I've met Russ. He's, like, such a great guy."
So, I was just supposed to be his, like, wingman.
But then, I started to get some weird feelings.
Um,
I'm just gonna keep this short. It's actually hard to talk.
As you can see, my lips are severely swollen.
He likes men that have been in the military.
I think Russ really got off on, like, the power dynamic with the men.
[muffled screaming]
There are some tours where
the way that they were beat up was just too-- like, too far.
Like, broken ribs, concussions,
like, eyes so swollen that they can't even open 'em.
[♪ tense music playing]
And I think for him, it's power.
Like, "This guy was in the Marines? Like, look at me kicking his ass."
-And then, like, vulnerable women. -No, Russ, that water freaks me out.
-You know that! I hate-- -[water hose hissing]
[crying] Please! Please, don't!
Russ feels that if you go through one of his experiences,
especially if you're female, you now have a special bond with Russ.
He really only wanted, like, pretty girls.
[rattling]
No. No! No.
[Russ] Honey, be quiet.
[rattling]
You knew when he had a new girlfriend because it was nonstop shows.
He would have them come to his house,
and he would just make them
continuously go through a tour
every day that they were with him.
♪♪
-[whimpering, sobbing] -[Kris] For some reasons, he feels like
with these women he can go an extra step,
and that safety harness just gets removed a little more.
[Susan] Things like laying in the grass with a ski mask on my face,
getting sprayed with water over and over,
or submerging into cold water over and over.
And in one particular activity,
I confessed that I was actually afraid of dying.
And he laughed and said that if I died,
at least I would be on camera.
♪♪
[Kris] These are really good-looking women.
And you got this guy who lives in a trailer
that sprays you in the face with a hose.
What is he doing to keep 'em to stay?
-I don't know. -[Russ] I like that.
-[dog barking] -[Russ] There she is!
There she is! The pretty one right there.
[Brandon] McKamey Manor was "Tinder" to him.
Was his "Plenty of Fish."
That's what he used it for. That's the impression that I got.
You can do this. Put your head up, please.
You got this, okay? You got it.
He was my friend. Like, I don't want to think that he would actually
purposely manipulate these women, but he does.
Show 'em what you got in your mouth.
-Ah, ah, ah! [giggle] -That's right.
-Come here, and you can wear that, too. -Yep!
He knows how to get into people's heads,
he knows the right thing to say, he can read a person really good.
I've seen Russ talk to a person
that hates everything about the haunt,
and turn them into a friend by the end
and wanting to sign up.
He-He is so good at what he does.
Yeah, I'm that big crazy haunted house guy! That's me!
-[girlfriend laughs] -Are you scared of me?
I'm pretty scary, aren't I?
-[♪ soft music playing] -[TV static]
[Kris] You know, he would try to manipulate me, too.
-[indistinct sound] -[water splashing]
When I went through,
Russ had me sit back in, like, a trough.
-[clattering] -[shivering]
-[Russ] Yeah. You like that? -[Kris] No.
[Russ] We're gonna fill up this entire little device right here.
[water dripping]
And we're gonna have a good time, Kris.
-[Kris groans] -Oh, yeah.
When I started to realize that I was having the dirt poured over my face...
-No, no, no, no, no. -[Russ sighs]
-[Kris groans] -How's that feel?
[Kris] No, no, no, no.
...and then you're thinking, "Russ is my friend."
You know, "He's-He's just gonna make it look good for the camera."
But then, he didn't stop.
-No, no, no, no, no... [continues] -[Russ] Who's your friend?
-Quiet, shut up. Shut up. -[Kris stops]
And I can't even tell you
the amount of times in that video that I said "Stop."
-[Russ] We're gonna bury you completely. -[digs]
[Kris] Mm-mm. No, I can't do it. Can't do it.
-No, I can't do it. -[Russ] You gotta be quiet.
-Be quiet! -[Kris] No, I'm freaking out.
-[Russ] You're not freaking out. -[Kris] [spits] No!
I was done. Game over.
And it just kept going and going and going.
And in that moment, I didn't know if it was gonna stop.
[Russ] We have hours and hours to go, Kris.
[Kris] No, no, no. Russ, no.
-No more, no more. -[Russ] You're fine.
-Be quiet. -[Kris] I quit, I quit.
[Russ] You don't quit. There is no quitting.
-[Kris] [spits] No. -[Russ] There is no quitting, Kris.
I-I started to question, "Is this the end?"
I-I can't get out of this.
I was stuck in a spot that I was not moving from.
[Russ] I wanna bury you completely. Completely.
[Kris] No, I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't.
-Russ, I can't. Russ, I can't. -[Russ yells, laughs]
-I quit. Russ, I quit. I can't. -[Russ] There's no quitting.
-[Kris] Russ, I-- [spits] -[Russ] Ooh there!
That doubt starts to seep into your head, and you're thinkin',
"I didn't say goodbye to people. Why did I come here?
"Why did I go against that better judgment?
Am I finally gonna be the one that the line is crossed for?"
You really don't wanna do this.
[Kris panting]
[Russ] So tell the folks about whether they should come here or not.
[Kris] No, don't go. Don't come here. Don't sign up.
[Russ] Yeah, sign up. It's fun. Come on down. Good times for everybody.
-[Kris] No, it's not. -[Russ] Yes, it is!
[mud gurgling]
[♪ tense music playing]
-[wind blowing] -[birds cawing]
[Russ] You know, what I really enjoy is making my little movies.
So, in a way, I'm a little filmmaker as well.
[♪ dramatic crescendo]
[projector whirring]
[Carol] He works on those videos, it seems like 24/7.
And so, I constantly hear screaming all night long.
[screaming]
[inaudible]
[Russ] People tell me this is fake. Is this fake right now?
-[participant] No, sir, it's not fake. -[distorted yell]
[Russ] If you ever question if we're real or not,
just watch the movies
and watch how these people end up.
[on TV] I quit! I quit! I quit! I quit!
[muffled yelling]
[Russ] You'll see individuals literally in shock.
[on TV] I can't do it, I can't do it, I can't do it. [gasps]
[Russ] You'll see them mumbling to themselves,
not knowing what date it is, not knowing who the president is.
[Russ] [on TV] Who's our first president? Quick, hurry up.
-I don't know! -[♪ dramatic crescendo]
That camera. When that camera's in front, your limits are gone.
-[Russ] Put your head down. -[Kris] Anything that you sign,
thinkin' that you were getting into
and those were the rules that were set in place,
they don't exist. He wants that Kodak moment.
He wants to be able to see that true fear, when that person thinks,
"I'm gonna be the first person to die at McKamey Manor."
So,
it was a person,
they sent me photos I hadn't seen.
♪♪
And it was the photos of Lori.
[♪ dramatic music playing]
I'm seein' this girl that was just beaten, like a gang initiation.
[clock ticking]
And that's when I said, "Why did you let that go?"
And the answer I got was,
"You'd be surprised what you would do to get the right shot."
[♪ dramatic sting]
When I saw these pictures of Lori, I-I couldn't do it anymore.
[♪ dramatic sting]
[♪ dramatic crescendo]
-[Russ] [on TV] No? -[Gabi] [on TV] I hate it.
[Russ] You hate it? Well,
-hold still, my dear. -No!
[haunters gasp]
[haunter] Oh... God.
-And just for safe-- -[Gabi whimpers]
[on TV] Don't cry, you're still beautiful.
Gosh. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
I don't know how he's able to legally do this
because I don't feel like it's legal.
Yeah, absolutely. I-- Whenever he's physically abusing
the females who he entraps in his house.
How far can we take it?
I don't think I could legally sue him.
We signed agreements. We're consenting adults.
I don't think there was ever a time where I was like, I don't--
Maybe the spider. But,
I don't think I made it clear with anything else
that I was, like, not consenting.
I didn't really feel like I could say that, though,
'cause I signed the waiver.
So I think signing the waiver, I just felt like, I was obligated to stay in it.
[♪ eerie sting]
We all agreed to it.
[♪ eerie sting]
[inaudible]
There may be an element of shame
in the fact that you signed up for this experience, um,
and this sense that you kind of brought it on yourself.
But, under the law, even if they have signed a waiver,
they may still have recourse for what was done to them.
[♪ soft music playing]
We tend to be pretty liberal in the United States
about what you can consent to.
It is certainly possible when you attend, for example,
a haunted house, to consent to certain acts
that may cause fear or that may even touch you
in what would otherwise be considered offensive contact or battery.
[overlapping screaming]
But, the line is drawn when something constitutes
serious bodily injury.
Examples of that would be
traumatic brain injuries,
fractures,
back injuries,
and psychological injuries that require prolonged treatment.
So, it is simply not possible for someone to say,
"Yes, I am okay with permanent physical or psychological damage.
♪♪
Even if they say that,
under the law, that cannot be valid.
But, the other aspect of it is that it's a violation of your consent.
If, for example, your mouth is covered,
so you cannot say the safe word,
or the circumstances in that situation
are such that you really couldn't reasonably be expected
to remember or be able to say a safe word,
but are acting in other ways that make it very clear that you've withdrawn consent.
[participant] Please, sir, I don't wanna do this anymore, sir!
Then, I think the proprietor may have a real problem.
[♪ dramatic music building]
[buzzing, zap]
I would love to see the manor just go away.
[Gabi] I would love to sit down with everybody that's done it
and just kind of band together and figure out how we can make change
and, like, stop him.
And even if jail isn't where he ends up, that's fine.
Like, he just shouldn't be doing what he's doing.
[buzzing]
[Kris] Once the fans are able to see Russ in his true form,
I'm hoping the following's gone.
And when the following's gone, the manor's gone.
-[♪ tense music playing] -[Brandon] The way that you stop him
is to make sure the truth is actually known.
[speaker 7] I wanted to do something.
But I didn't know what kind of trouble
I was gonna get into from getting into somebody's emails.
[speaker 7] Definitely.
It's gonna be worth it in the end.
One day, I was bored. I was looking up on the internet,
"Haunted houses that pay you for going through them."
And I seen this haunted house will give you $20,000
if you make it through it.
I just got married, I had an apartment,
and, um, I was like, "Man, $20,000 is a lot of money."
So, I could use that, and there's no way
I was not gonna get that $20,000.
-His hands are shaking. -[haunter] Oh, I know.
-He is shaking, isn't he? -[haunter] Oh, yeah.
-[haunter] Pop 'em one, Russ. -[mumbling, grunts]
[Russ] Come on. Follow my voice, let's go.
-[Justin groaning, panting] -[rattling]
-I'm suggesting you quit. -[Justin] Never.
-[Russ] Never. Never? He says never! -I was arguing with him back.
Like, I wasn't bein' passive. I wasn't bein' submissive to him.
And I think that's what really got him mad.
-Sleep first, then you can do it. -For the easiest--
I don't fall for that crap. Just sleep.
-Okay, y-you need to be quiet. -No, I don't, dude. What a joke--
-[Russ] You want a joke, huh? -[indistinct]
-You know what? You're done. -[Justin] Don't even do it, dude. No.
-Get the hell off me. -[Russ] Keep that camera on.
This is what we're seeing right now. You're out of it right now. You're done.
[Justin] I thought there was gonna be $20,000.
I thought there was gonna be a haunt. I wasted all my money
and my work days and all that going there, just to get humiliated.
What a freak show that was, right?
At that point I wasn't even mad about the money anymore,
it was just the embarrassment.
[♪ rhythmic dramatic music playing]
So, I started a Facebook page called, "McKamey Manor Exposed."
[♪ synth music playing]
I wanted it to be a place where people could actually come,
say what they need to say without having to worry about threats.
The biggest thing we found, though, was we actually got into Russ's emails.
[mouse scrolling]
Russ has a very old email service, and that's where he messed up.
The company that Russ has for the email has a phone number.
So, I called them, and I was like, "Hey, yeah, I my password."
So, they says, "Okay, what's your name?" "Russ McKamey."
He's like, "Okay, when's the last time you were on your email?"
And I was like, you know, I'm gonna make a good guess.
I'll say, "Oh it was yesterday."
She's like, "Oh, alright. Yeah, that was correct."
I changed the password for my email address,
and then I locked him out. We hit the jackpot.
[♪ dramatic music playing]
From his email, we found that he wasn't paying his taxes on his barn.
And Russ wrote this email back to the tax guy saying,
"This manor is fake. Everything I'm saying is fake."
"Russ, I talked to my lawyer today." I got Russ here with his tax problems.
This is from Russ's son: "You absolutely disgust me."
[typing]
This guy's really obsessed and, like, really going after his girlfriend.
"What you did was absolutely unacceptable."
So I took those emails, I took screenshots, and I showed those.
Here's the proof right here. This is, like, something
you're never gonna see anywhere else. I put everything on my Facebook page,
And I was like, "You guys gotta tell your stories."
-[typing] -[♪ dramatic crescendo]
All these other groups popped up.
♪♪
[Kris] People started posting stuff online
that Russ definitely didn't want anybody to see.
-Guys, he will stuff you in a freezer full of water upside down until you tap.
[victim] [over phone] He got his claws so onto my brain.
Once I got away from it, I was like, I'm just gonna expose him.
This is where he's reading over the waiver.
[video chatter]
So, I posted the reaction videos on YouTube.
I was very surprised at how many people saw it.
I was in water, and I had, like, this much air to breathe.
Fast forward to now, it's, like, two-point-something million views.
[Brandon] There's so much drama in these online communities, right?
It's the McKamey Manor Facebook group people
fighting these people,
and then those people are fighting against these people.
[overlapping swearing, yelling]
[Justin] If you go on his Facebook page,
it's a straight-up cult.
They are obsessed with him. Like, they don't care.
Russ could say the sky is green, and they'll say, "Yes, sir, it is green."
They will go after the people
who they perceive as one of their enemies
or one of their haters with everything that they have.
[♪ dramatic music playing]
[Gabi] He would send people to the haters.
He called everyone a hater that didn't agree with what he was doing,
and he basically encouraged them to, like, bully, destroy someone on the internet.
I just got jumped on by all these people from Russ or whatever,
and they just tore me apart.
One guy text me a picture of where I work at.
"You're gonna get a call from us," and,
you know, "See your online activities of what you're doin'."
It's not Russ doin' this. It's his followers.
People started showing personal pictures of me on the internet.
Then went to phone numbers, then went to addresses.
I would get anonymous emails that were saying some godawful things.
Those are all hate groups. Those aren't the real deal.
[mouse scrolling]
He was very much like cult leader man.
Like, "Listen to what I'm saying. This is what's good for you.
"This is what a haunted house experience is.
"If anyone tells you otherwise, they're wrong.
"And if you believe that, you're stupid.
"If you're not with me, you're against me.
And I will make your life a living hell."
I started asking questions, and that's what Russ does not want.
That dude is a psychopath!
-I don't even know why you would do it. -[speaking foreign language]
There's a whole big group of people,
and all they're trying to do is expose him.
Russ McKamey and the actors have done some things
that we need-- they need to answer for.
Reason he's not in jail is because technically no one has been un-alived yet.
Russ actually owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes.
Some neighbors actually even called 911, thinking that there had been an abduction.
[news anchor 1] The town turned against McKamey Manor.
[news anchor 2] There's already a national movement against Russ.
We need to keep fighting the good fight and, uh, doin' what we're doin'.
[beeping]
[news anchor 3] More than 13,000...
-[news anchor 4] 18,000... -[news anchor 5] 56,000 people.
...signing a Change.org petition to have McKamey Manor closed.
[♪ dramatic music playing]
[Kris] The petitions were comin'.
[news anchor 6] Continuing to get more signatures.
[Kris] Now, you got the media's attention.
You are getting reporters wanting to show up on site.
When you're running this big charade
of a haunt that's supposedly there,
how do you not show them that stuff?
So, Russ ran with the petitions to shut down
and said, "Oh, they got the best of us. The Manor's down."
♪♪
[Russ] Right now, we're dismantling the manor.
He literally packed up very quickly
and booked it across the country somewhere else.
[birds chirping]
[Kris] Russ is working. He works at Walmart.
I think he was just doing it
because there was a lull
at getting people to the manor.
Russ, the guy that had McKamey Manor, has moved to around here
where I live the last couple years.
Well, I just found out on Facebook that apparently,
he works at Walmart in the Garden Center.
Wait, you stay. If I need you, holler for back up.
This is where this man has decided to relocate.
-How are you? -[Russ] Hey, how you doing?
Want a bag, miss?
[scanner beeps]
Y'all, that was fucking him,
and it just checked me out. I'm shaking.
I didn't-- I thought I was gonna be all confrontational,
and I thought I was gonna, like, say this,
but it's like when you're in the fucking--
When you're actually in the presence of a sociopath,
and you know it,
bro, you lose all that confidence.
Oh, my God, I'm literally shaking. [sighs]
[♪ creepy music playing]
[Kris] There's three types of Russ that you should know.
There is the fun-loving Russ that the followers love.
-That's a front. -[mouthing] Help.
You have the scary Russ who's going through the show
you're dealing with. That's a front.
And then, you have the real Russ.
He has so much wrong going on in his head,
and-and it comes out in the haunt.
[static]
[on TV] You know, it's no joke in here. I mean, people think that,
well, you know, it's a home haunt.
But, I'm telling ya. It's scary.
[Kris] Russ needs to get help,
or he's gonna keep going till it's too far.
[♪ pulsing music playing]
♪♪
[Russ] I'm back.
[sing-songy] ♪ I'm back, I'm back, I'm back ♪
♪ Anybody there? Anybody there? ♪
[♪ dramatic crescendo]
[inaudible]
-You better start begging right now! -I'm begging right now.
I don't-- I don't wanna go anymore. I'm done.
[Kris] Russ is not quitting. He kept it going.
Now, there aren't actors. You are just with Russ going through.
You are getting a very dangerous experience.
[Gabi] His tours now, at this point, he's just doing it to hurt people
and to prove a point to us,
to everyone else that, like, talked out on him.
Like a, "I'm gonna get back at you and show you that I can still do this,
people still wanna be tortured by me."
-[muffled whimpering, yelling] -[Russ] Are you done?
Back in the day, he had a haunted house
and now what it is, is definitely not a haunt.
[panicked breathing]
It's pretty much, you know, Russ in his yard messin' with you.
[retching, gagging]
[Kris] You know, you're with a guy by himself.
Everything he does is justified in his head.
There is no limits.
No, no!
[creaking]
[projector whirring]
[Melissa] I live in such a small town.
And I'm basically a nobody.
And, you know, that's how I felt about myself.
♪♪
During my first tour, you know, you had all these signs,
but, at the time, I didn't wanna deal with that.
I'd just seen a nice person
that was giving me everything I needed at the time.
I just felt like I got
really taken easy on, looking back.
I was nobody before any of this,
and I'd wake up with a million messages
from all these people who supported me.
Like, me. The nobody that was once before,
now has a million people hyping her up
and just being friendly.
And [laughs] it was just life changing,
and I didn't want it to end.
I wasn't anticipating coming back,
but he was up on my phone,
texting or calling or video chatting.
Like, I didn't even have time to even think about
what had happened and what I went through.
♪♪
[Kris] I remember when Melissa Everly was going through it.
She is Russ' type.
I met Melissa, reaching out and trying
to talk her out of going to McKamey Manor,
and she was drinkin' the Kool-Aid.
She was buying in and listenin' to Russ.
Russ was the good guy. All of us were just crazies.
And the first conversation we had, it wasn't a great one.
She thought I was some loon that was some hater trying to talk her out of it.
[Melissa] Russ was dangling everything over my head.
"Look, you're the Abyss Queen."
He gave me a nickname and rolled with it
and had everybody calling me that.
And that's how people knew me. He was like,
"Oh, well, think of your fans."
I wanted to beat the thing and be the first to complete it.
He knew that.
♪♪
One day, he messaged me and was like,
"Hey, can you make it for a tour tomorrow?"
[birds chirping]
[insects chirping]
I drive down for the second tour.
[static]
Russ ends up coming over to the hotel room.
And I knew from the YouTube videos,
this isn't the first time he's been in somebody's hotel room.
And so, in my mind, it's harmless.
He was coming over to instruct me on what to do for the evening.
And he gives me a list of things that I have to do.
Lunges, singing, pushups, sit-ups.
♪♪
The conversation ended up taking a turn
kind of for the worst.
He started going into
his sexual history with past contestants,
talking about how he liked
a very competitive, athletic girl,
but he wants a woman that's gonna submit to him when it comes to
being aggressive during sex.
In that moment, I was feeling very nervous.
Like, I'm just there. I'm barely participating in conversation,
because I don't really know what to say.
I don't wanna give any leading responses
because I just wanted to go through the manor.
I was tired. I was exhausted. I was willing to listen to him,
but I-I was also scared that
if I'm propositioned,
I'm not gonna be able to have this experience if I decline.
And I was scared to what happens next.
Wh-Whatever I do, and all of this is ripped from me,
you know, what kind of monster is he gonna make me out to be?
If this is perfectly fine,
and he's done it with all these other contestants,
is everybody gonna make me a laughingstock?
You know, what's gonna happen?
So, he ends up leaving the room,
and I stay up doing these lives.
By the time my tour starts, um, it's--
I'll be up for 26 hours.
Happy Sunday.
That's right. Happy Sunday, Michelle. Happy Sunday.
Gotta keep my eyes on the road, so...
I do have someone I want you to see.
[Melissa] My brain was like mashed potatoes
when he came and picked me up,
and we headed out
to go for my next tour.
It's just me and Russ on this tour.
[Russ] Go ahead and talk to 'em.
[sighs]
-Alright, everyone. -[Russ] She's not near as bubbly
as she normally is.
-I'm tired. -[Russ] Tired.
♪♪
[Melissa] He had no helpers.
[♪ heartbeat-type rhythm playing]
We have our, our young lady here.
Ms. Everly is doing awesome.
Killing it today. Killing it.
[birds cawing]
Why don't you come on out?
Okay, that's good right there. Stay where you are.
Through the bamboo run
is when he started, like, whispering in my ear
and, like, complimenting my neck,
and kind of grabbing my neck and being sexual.
[Russ] You know what you need? You need a little color.
Would you like a little color?
[Melissa inaudible]
[Russ] Tilt your head back.
[Melissa] But, in that moment, I'm like, "Oh, this is part of the tour.
You know, this is part of what he does."
[scoffs] I was dead to the world.
By the end of it, I was over 30 hours no sleep.
I was beyond sleep deprived.
[Russ] You feel like a noodle, don't ya? How's your brain?
Seriously, how's your brain feel right now?
[sighs] All kinds of messed up
in every direction possible.
[Russ] This is gonna suck.
-[sighs] -[dripping]
[whimpers]
[Melissa] I remember at that point, I had fell asleep,
and he told me it was fine, "Go to sleep." He'd covered me up with towels.
[wind blowing]
[quietly] Come on, everybody. Come on in.
[birds chirping]
Talkin' quiet because
tryin' to get Ms. Everly to go to sleep.
Well,
sometime after the tour,
and I-I'm gonna fast forward for a moment
because I asked him how the footage went.
And he was like, "Well, there was this one time
that I didn't get the footage I really wish I had."
[♪ dramatic sting]
[Russ breathing]
What happened? What did he do when I was asleep?
Because he never answered me.
And I think I deserve the right to know.
Like, what did he mean? What footage did he miss?
[♪ dramatic music playing]
That's always going to haunt me. [crying] I will question myself that
to the day I die.
'Cause I don't want,
and I never have wanted, to do anything with Russ.
And it-- just the fact that that may have been a possibility,
disgusts me.
He is a cruel, fucking disgusting person.
[sharp inhale]
[Russ] [on TV] Good. Put your head back a little bit.
Enjoy that sun while you can.
-You got it right in there good? -[Melissa] Mm-hmm.
There's always gonna be that doubt. There's always gonna be that doubt.
We have a tired little puppy here.
♪♪
[Melissa] Everything finally adds up.
It adds up that Russ is just
a narcissistic, manipulative piece of fuck.
[insects chirping]
Don't learn the hard way, like we have.
[static hissing]
[♪ tense music playing]
[W.P.] I love getting scared. I wanna populate our earth with more art
and make it horror. You know what?
Keep doing it, you know? 'Cause eventually,
this could replace movies for some people, and it does now.
[projector whirring]
[Melissa] I wanted to find another haunt
because I wanted to fill that void.
I wanted to find something that can help me cope,
to give me that reminder, "Hey, if you went through this,
you can go through anything."
Because the purpose isn't to sexually molest people.
Th-The purpose is not to do anything untoward to somebody
or to make them a victim. It's to make you grow.
That little girl, that itch, is still very much inside of me.
I've just had to not scratch the itch for a while,
to recover from the manor.
[♪ dramatic sting]
I'm telling you. You wanna do somethin'
taboo and out there?
There's places that'll help you.
♪♪
[producer] Tell us what you're about to go do.
[Melissa] I'm about to go do Miasma.
-[♪ dramatic sting] -[tech] I'm at the fog machine.
[bell ringing]
Give it a longer pause between that.
Diversity is really the norm. People have very diverse genetic makeups,
people want different things,
people have different psychological traits.
So, we need to recognize
that there are people who need challenges,
they need risk, they need sensation.
And we need to make sure that those spaces are available,
so people can get what they need within the bounds of the law.
[♪ tense crescendo]
[knocking]
[♪ dramatic sting]
[knocking]
[door opens]
-[door shuts] -[muttering]
[haunter] Turn around, turn around.
Sign when you're ready.
[♪ tense music playing]
[haunter] When this bell rings, you're no longer Melissa.
You become Jay. Do you understand?
-Who do you become when this bell rings? -[Melissa] Jay.
-[haunter] What is the safety word? -[Brandon] Safety.
[haunter] Do you understand you can say this at any time for any reason,
-your show will stop? -[Brandon] Yes.
-[haunter] What happens when this rings? -I'm Jay.
[bell rings]
[haunter] Fucking run, Jay! Keep going!
[incoherent shouting]
[♪ tense crescendo]
[distorted voices] Follow it, follow it! Follow it forward.
[camera shutter snapping]
[plastic stretching]
[inaudible]
[♪ mysterious music playing]
-[electrical zap] -[scream, groan]
-[bag crinkling] -[tape stretching]
[blast]
-[click, hit] -[yells]
[screaming]
-[fire, hit] -[screams]
[groaning]
-[gunshot] -[screaming]
Where's the cliff edge, right?
-[panting] -Or have I already gone over it?
[hyperventilating]
[haunter] No. No. Stay down. Stay down. Stay down, stay down.
-Hey. Hey, you okay? -[hyperventilating continues]
-You okay? -[Brandon] [panting] Yeah.
-[haunter] Do you wanna keep going? -[Brandon] Yes.
Look at these scars. I'm bleeding.
My heart was beating through my chest.
[gunshot]
It's freakin' awesome.
What the fuck is wrong with you?!
-[Melissa crying] -[haunter] Tell her you fuckin' hate her.
-[Melissa] I fucking hate you! -[haunter] Tell her you wish she was dead.
-[Melissa] I wish you were dead! -[haunter] Scream it!
[♪ quiet music playing]
[inaudible]
[haunter And Melissa] Dead! Dead! Dead! Dead! Dead!
Dead! Dead! Dead!
[haunters] Who are you?! Who the fuck are you?! Who the fuck are you?!
Answer, answer! Answer! Answer me!
I already have an anxiety brain that can kind of make up scenarios.
So, if someone makes up a scenario that's crazier than me,
-[screams] -I, like, give them props for it.
♪♪
-[taser zaps] -[pained screaming]
-[haunters] [chanting] Jay, Jay, Jay. -[Brandon screaming]
[Brandon] Fuck!
-[haunter] Who are you supposed to be? -Jay.
-[haunter] Louder. -Jay!
-[haunter] Scream it! -Jay!
-[haunter] One more time! -Jay!
-[haunter] Can't fucking hear you! -[indistinct swearing, yelling]
-Who the fuck are you supposed to be?! -Jay!
-[knife clatters] -[gasping]
[♪ dramatic music playing]
[Melissa gasping, sniffling]
-Who do you wanna be? -Me. I wanna be me. [gasps]
[gasps]
[inaudible]
[plastic crinkling]
It's very cathartic, right? In there, it's still--
There's a lot of processing that's still goin' on, right?
-[haunter] Of course. -Like, I've done this shit before,
and, you know, you're out of it in 15, 20 minutes
once you get back to the real world,
but this is gonna stay with me for a little while, I think.
Like, I don't know-- I don't know how to--
I don't know how to describe the experience.
There is actually a great emotional release
after some type of self-harm behavior.
[♪ slow music playing]
On one level, it exhausts us.
Then, it starts to promote this addiction-like dopamine pathway
that we seek out over and over.
-[haunter] Congratulations. -Fuck! Fuck!
[sobbing] That was one hell of a show.
-[haunter] Are you okay? Are you okay? -[Melissa] Thank you so much.
[Melissa] It meant the world to me.
[sobbing]
[haunter] That's some great news.
Thank you so much, Justin.
[sniffles] That was fucking--
[Haunter Justin] Thank you, but I'm glad you're okay.
I'm glad you got something out of it.
-[laughs] Thank you. -You did awesome.
-It's a rough show, and you did so good. -Yeah.
-It's not-- [laughs] -[Haunter Justin] No, no.
-And you did awesome. -Thank you.
[Haunter Justin] Um, so right now, you can just take a breath.
[♪ slow music continues]
Russ... is damaged himself.
And he has some inner demons or trauma
that he needs to get help with, and I hope he does.
[W.P.] He is a person who aspired to be an entertainer
and became the torturer, the tormentor.
I was dragged across asphalt
in a parking lot... [coughs]
after my tour was already over!
None of you even know what you're talkin' about.
Russ isn't a torturer, okay? He's a showman.
People are stupid. That's what you sign up for.
It's his own little narcissism factory,
that people just come to, to-to-to-to help him feed on it.
And they're still very much active groups on Facebook.
It's just, you're drinking the Kool-Aid.
You're believing what he says. You're lapping it up.
Russ, I think you're a good man.
Just a little misunderstood by some people.
If people wanna do it, I'm not gonna stop 'em,
but it's not gonna shock me if someone dies one day,
and Russ goes to jail because of it.
-[Gabi inaudible] -[director] What would you like
the takeaway to be from your participation in this?
That
immersive haunts are okay,
even if it seems crazy and weird.
You can have your kinks, and that's perfectly fine.
But don't invite people into your kinks without them knowing
that that's exactly what they're going to be in.
If I knew I was getting into Russ's fantasy world
and living out whatever fantasies he wanted to see,
I probably would've felt different about it. But I was supposed to be
in a survive my own horror experience,
not survive, like, Russ McKamey's fantasy experience.
[Russ] Am I still doing tours? Of course!
I have a tour this weekend!
[on TV] I have a heart murmur I need to get taken care of.
I have surgery in about a month. If I, if I can get medically cleared,
um, hopefully, fingers crossed, in six months, I'll be up for a tour.
My name is Shelby. I'm from Scotland.
I work in the dental field.
I'm a professional nurse.
I hold a very high position in a company.
I would love to go visit Russ, and I would love to hang out with him.
I'd love to take a tour at some point when I can get to the South.
I wanna take the tour because I love the survival horror movie.
I need to challenge myself a little bit more,
and this would be the ultimate challenge.
If I were to be put in that situation,
I would be able to survive.
I could get out of that. That would never happen to me.
McKamey Manor, I'm coming for you.
Drown me, beat me, torture me.
I'm here for all of it. And my kids are gonna watch all of it.
The manor is safe, it's fun,
and it will take you to your limit.
♪♪
-[wind blowing] -[birds chirping]
-[exhales] -[wiping]
[victim] No. [whimpering]
[Russ sighs]
[♪ soft ukulele music playing]
[♪ vocalizing]
[♪ ukulele, vocalizing continue]
♪ Bum bum bum bum bum bum bum ♪
♪ Bum bum bum ba-ah ♪
[♪ vocalizing]
[♪ music fades out]