Personalized Horror
The name McKamey Manor itself can send us down a rabbit hole. Now we can’t say for certain that this name was created for the context we are about to describe, but it will make a valid point. McKamey Manor, McKamey translates to Russ and Manor translates to Experience, so one could speculate that McKamey Manor means Russ’ Experience. If you have seen the Hulu Original Monster Inside: America’s Most Extreme Haunted House, then you may understand what I am getting at. The Manor is showcased as a personal horror survival experience. However many past contestants claim the experience was not personal to them at all, but rather all about Russ. Even back in San Diego Russ stated that he chose when your tour stopped. “It’s all about getting that Kodak moment”. Your tour begins and ends when he decides. What stunts you go through is up to him. In our opinion the only thing personal in these tours is his want to make you break.
Caught on a Facebook live in 2018 a female contestant’s tour is cut short, mid bootcamp. She traveled from out of state with her husband and small child. This was all being streamed live on the Official MM Facebook group. At a point in boot camp she failed at an activity, she was given an option, she can pack up and go home or shave her head. Now let’s think of the financial cost that this woman has already put out. Food, Hotel, and gas from driving through multiple states with her family. That’s also not including the supplies and “donation” (admission cost) she also had to pay. Since arriving at MM she had only done front yard activities and technically had not even started her “tour”.
Let’s back up a little and note that she had arrived there under the premise that this was a “Daniella Tour”, which means she was told she could go straight to The Manor after signing the contract without having to do Boot Camp.
Now back to the decision she is faced with: Leave having only done Bootcamp even though she was told she didn’t have too, or shave her head and finally take on the experience she was promised. She chose to shave her head and Bootcamp activities continued on for a while. Meanwhile, Russ, still filming the live stream, is approached by a spectator from behind the camera. The viewers watching this live stream, heard the conversation and heard this spectator inviting Russ to a BBQ. At this point it appears to any viewer watching, that Russ would rather be at the BBQ than at the tour. Shortly after the invite and after the contestant has shaved her head to stay, Russ tells her she failed, the tour is over and they should all go out for BBQ. This woman has lost time, money and her hair to never even come close to what she was promised.
Gabi from Monster Inside states “If I knew I was getting into Russ’ fantasy world and living out whatever fantasies he wanted to see I probably would have felt different about it. But I was supposed to be in a “survive MY own horror experience” not alike survive Russ Mckamey’s fantasy experience.``
Russ claims to be an entertainer, but over the years what we have personally seen and heard makes us think differently. The contestant is there to entertain Russ, not vice versa like it should be. It appears Contestants are only there to provide that few seconds of footage where they are mentally and physically broken. Within boot camp if there is any suspicion the contestant is or may become a “hater” they will never get to The Manor. Below we have provided screenshots of text messages between Russ and Kris that show on multiple occasions, the contestant never stood a chance of passing boot camp. These decisions were made normally hours before the contestant even showed up.
The current TN McKamey Manor is very different than what it was in San Diego. The biggest difference being, that there are no actors helping Russ. However many are misled because of clickbait ads that surface every Halloween. These articles really push the “bounty” aspect and run with false information and rumors as if they were facts. This negative attention only fuels the legend, creating a revolving door of new contestants who are misled into thinking The Manor is something that it is not. For more insight check out Rumors and Debunks for a more detailed summary.