What is McKamey Manor, the most extreme haunted house in America?

Among all the variety of dark tourist destinations and abandoned houses, there is another type of terrifying experience you may have heard of: McKamey Manor. This controversial, personalized operation is at the center of a new documentary on Hulu titled Monsters Inside: America’s Most Extreme Haunted House. The film tells the story of Russ McKamey, who runs this entire experience, and three individuals who participated in McKamey Manor. We’ve laid out everything you might be curious about—from what the experience entails to where it takes place.

First of all, what is McKamey Manor?

McKamey Manor is the creation of Russ McKamey, who claims to have a military background at 23 years old, according to Newsweek. The experience is described as "not your standard (horror) house of horrors," according to McKamey Manor's website.

The warning on it reads, "This is a viewer participation event where (YOU) will live your own horror movie. It is a violent, intense and truly frightening experience."

What makes McKamey Manor controversial?

People who have experienced McKamey Manor share truly horrifying stories about what happens there, from threats of drowning and the possibility of being buried alive to much worse. Although there is a safe word, people claim it is practically useless, and the experience doesn't end until McKamey is told to stop. Petitions are circulating online to shut down the operation, including one that states people have left with "broken bones, psychological trauma, and covered in bruises with swollen faces."

MKamey denies that visitors were ever held against their will and said that what appears in his YouTube videos is all "smoke and mirrors."