The owner of the ‘world’s scariest’ haunted house will pay you £15,000 if you finish it – but so far no one has been successful.
I can pretty much guarantee that after learning this information, most people will say to themselves: ‘Well, how scary can it really be?’ Admit it, you thought it – I thought it too.
It’s easy to imagine you could get through anything if there’s £15,000 ($20,000) waiting for you on the other side, but the McKamey Manor haunt has been consistently proving that belief wrong.
The terrifying experience takes place in Summertown, Tennessee, and is owned by Russ McKamey, who describes it as a ‘mental game’.
You must be 21 to enter and all it costs is a bag of dog food for McKamey’s five canines, but attendees have to meet a few requirements before they’re allowed to begin the challenge.
Rather than your average ‘sign to show you’ve understood the rules and regulations’ paperwork, McKamey’s website explains those planning to take part have to undergo a sports fitness test and sign a 40-page waiver, as well as having a doctor’s note, a safe word, proof of medical insurance and a background check.
At this point you can start to get an idea of just how scary this experience is.
McKamey also makes participants watch a two-hour video titled ‘And Then There Were None’, which shows a compilation of everyone who has failed to complete the haunted experience. Throughout the video, the phrase ‘you really don’t want to do this’ is repeated numerous times.
The owner doesn’t hold back in his house of horrors and participants who are brave enough to enter will experience ‘wet conditions, physically demanding environments, close contact with creatures and very real and graphic scenes of horror’.
Though a lot of scary experiences don’t allow the actors to touch attendees, that’s not the case in McKamey’s Manor as his workers are able to subject you to all sorts of horrific ordeals, though you’re not allowed to touch them back.
According to Fox News, the terrifying tour, which is called ‘Desolation’, can take more than 10 hours to complete. Participants can brave it by themselves, or they can take part in a two-person ‘personalised interactive experience’.
I’m not sure even the bravest of contenders could complete this challenge, so McKamey probably won’t have to fork out his cash prize any time soon!
Horrendous.
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.