#hauntedoverload

Where do we have to draw the line for haunted attraction? After watching Haunters: The Art of the Scare that is now released on Netflix, I am really considering this question. I originally watched this film because the haunt I volunteer at is featured in it, of course i wanted to see it. But I was sadly let down on how much it was about this crazy manor. This film focused on a home haunter, one who hopes to go pro, a scare actors journey through creating characters, and few snippets of information from outside haunts about lighting, building sets, acting, etc.. What makes me ask and ponder this question is the haunter who hopes to go pro. This is the owner of McKamey Manor. Maybe you have heard of it, maybe you haven’t. This Manor is owned by Russ McKamey with his wife, it is a non-profit and is located in his backyard. What’s the issue I have with it you have? Well, it’s more of why do most sane people have a problem with this so called “haunt”.

Imagine being abducted, tortured, stuffed into morgue like cells that will shock you, and then thrown down a chute with multiple bodies that you can only fit through a hole one at a time, to only kickoff your multi-hour experience at McKamey Manor. There have been multiple allegations of assault towards them but the owners claim that since they signed up for it they cannot break the contract. The major problem here is that there is no safe word, one that can get you out of this troubling situation. Experiences can include being dragged into tight spaces, gagged, choked, blindfolded, simulated drowning, and people are often seen sobbing and throwing up all while this owner is sickeningly watching and filming. His actors are not professionals - they are teens- and trust me ours are volunteer- but we don’t actually touch; let alone drag, choke, and beat our patrons. He knows that the patrons will come out bruised and traumatized but he says it’s ok because they signed up for it.

According to the San Diego Tribune, one account recalls a patron being repeatedly being pushed underwater with her hands bound and telling the actors she couldn’t breathe but the actors just kept laughing and dunking her head. McKamey claims that all patrons are safe at all times, but is safe really when people are begging to get out and you hold them against their will?

Sadly I think haunts like these are what can end up ultimately outlawing all haunts. Because this is clearly wrong, when can the law determine how far is too far? People that run these types of haunts need some sort of reality check in my opinion. In this documentary there was a higher terror rating attraction that was being run, and they ran all of their scares on themselves to know what the patrons were feeling, and they always included a safe word to tell actors to back off. You cannot physically just hold people against their will, contract or not. Russ also admitted that he would never go into his own haunt, so why treat others the way you wouldn’t treat yourself? simple rule. Overall, the haunt industry needs to watch itself, otherwise there may not be anymore scares to be had.

Haunt season has officially started! These past two weekends have been a total blast. I have gotten to reunite with my haunt family and do what we do best, scare. Last night was one of our busiest shows, we were sold out and had 2100 people come through! The adrenaline was insane with all of those people, each and every actor was charged up and ready to go. We had a really energetic crowd last night, plenty of screamers and jumpers. Everyone was pumped up and ready to unleash their characters and give the best show possible. As soon as we got our first screams, we knew it was going to be a lively and exciting evening, no matter how long it was going to be.

So, you might want to know how we go about our evening, when we put our makeup on, what we do to prepare, when we eat, so here it goes. If our first show starts 7, then I start makeup at 3:30 and put on my thermals to keep me warm throughout the night. It takes me an hour to do my makeup so that takes me until 4:30, when we actually leave it’s 4:45. I have a half hour drive to the haunt which is until about 5:15, and since we actors have to park in a special place we finally get to dinner at 5:30. Now we have an hour and a half before showtime. We eat our dinner, sign in, and head to a dressing room to get our final touches on our makeup and put on our costumes. We also get to hang out with who we call “squad”, we listening to all the best pump up music from Taylor Swift all the way to heavy metal. After al of our pre-haunt selfies and documentation, it’s time to hit the scare stations. We all head out to our spots around 6:30-6:45 and make sure our area is injury-proof and safe for us as well as patrons. We do a little dance to warm up and off we go! The groups went by at a perfect pace last night as well, maximizing the scare for each person.

As I said earlier, yesterday was a sold out show, our ticket time slots were every half hour from 6:30-9:30, our longest night! I had to start extra early on makeup and stay even later. We got out at about midnight last night, but every ounce of effort is worth it. 15% of our proceeds goes to the Cocheco Valley Humane Society, they are committed to making the world a safe place for animals. Not only am I volunteering for this amazing haunted attraction, but supporting a solution to animal cruelty.

I cannot wait for next weekend to do this all over again with some of my favorite people! The roar of the chainsaw, smell of fog, and screams of terrified people will fill my thoughts until I can scare again! 

Going to miss haunting. This season was phenomenal.

Last night was THE last night, and let me tell you it was amazing. Just amazing. Had so much fun, bruised my knees and chin a lot but damn was it worth it. To the group I followed throughout the entire walkthrough (the ones in the tactical gear for some reason), I love you guys! If you see this, my character now has a name because of you! Echo!