McKamey Manor
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All right. So today's episode is over McKamey Manor. And before we get into it, I just want to have a disclaimer. If I raise my hands, can you see any pit stains or look, I'm pitting. Okay. I get real hot in this room and I sweat. I just wanted that to be clear. Okay. We got that out of the way. I do have the AC on, but it still gets hot up here. And how much do I sweat? How many times have we got done recording? I stood up, my back's been soaked. He sweats a lot. Well, I just, well.

I sweat a lot because I work out a lot and I eat a lot. Anyway, there's a famous saying I want to say real quick. I used to work with this guy named Todd. Todd Emery. Oh, gosh. Redhead. A dude was fucking he was so nice. The guy would give you the shirt off his back.

But the craziest fucking guy I've ever met in my life. He would say and do anything. But he was also extremely smart and one of the strongest people I've ever met in my life. He had a small, or was it, no, it wasn't a small, it was a gym, gym five, packed with lead, fall on him, and he caught it with his chest. It was filled with lead. Those things are like 800 pounds. He caught it and then lifted it back up. And the next day he was completely black across his chest from the bruising.

Adrenaline. Yeah. But he used to say whenever I'd be like, damn, dude, you're eating a lot. Or no, it wasn't because he was eating. He was always going to take a shit. Damn, dude, you take a lot of shits. He goes, I shit a lot because I ate a lot. And I always say that I shit a lot because I eat a lot. I eat a lot because I shit a lot. That's where you got that from. Yeah. So thank you, Todd. And I hope you're doing well wherever you are.

All right. Good old Todd's. So today's episode is over McKamey Manor. And for those of you who do not know what it is, Dan is going to give you a quick 30 second summary of what McKamey Manor is. All right. So you have haunted houses, the attractions where you go in, you get scared and all that. Well, McKamey Manor is pretty much nothing.

One of those, but you get to sign a waiver to where they can do whatever the hell they want to you. And it's not really so much animatronics scaring you. It's more so individuals that the owner has hired or are participating that take the volunteers that are going through it.

Torture you. Torture you. Pretty much torture you. Pull your teeth out, shave your head, waterboard you, stuff like that. Slap you in the face with a wet sock. Yeah. True story. True story. But that's what McKamey Manor is. And for us to really understand the history of it, we need to talk about an individual named Russ McKamey. So Dan, can you tell us who he is? Of course.

Now, before we get into that, we are going to take a quick break and we'll be right back. This episode is sponsored by Mint Mobile.

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Results vary based on studies of topical and oral minoxidil and finasteride. Prescription products require an online consultation with a health care provider who will determine if a prescription is appropriate. Restrictions apply. See website for full details and important safety information. All right. Welcome back. Russ McKamey. Did I say his name right? Yeah. Because if you don't say his name right, they slap the shit out of you.

How else would you pronounce it? I don't know. I think the lady said it on one video, said it wrong. They're like, you better say it right. And then she's like, I got a lisp. I got a lisp. Oh, God. I can't say McCamey. Yeah, they're just like, you better say it right next time. I'm like, oh, shit. I can't. I got a lisp. Yeah. So Russ McCamey said it. I said it right. Was born on January 28th, 1959 in Fullerton, California to Joan and Ross McCamey. And side note, Russ's father, Ross McCamey,

He retired from the United States military and his social security number is. You better believe that, Dan. Dan will bleep those numbers. But we did find his social is social security number when we were doing our investigations. Who just puts that online like that? Or did you? I pulled records. Never mind. Yeah. All right. Continuing on with Russ's childhood.

So in November of 1971, when Russ was 12 years old, his parents ended up getting a divorce after being married for the past 17 years. Now, even though Russ decided to live with his mom full time, he still had a strong relationship with his father. Six years later, in 1977, Russ would graduate from Sunny Hills High School. Then two years after that, in 1979, he would join the United States Navy.

He would quickly climb the ranks, and in 1983, he was part of the administration department while stationed on the USS Jason, which is kind of like a refueling ship. Yeah, and we do have a photograph of him. Whoop! There he is. In 1990. Nice little sailor outfit. Mm-hmm. Uniform, I mean. Uniform. Respect.

Now, seven years later, in 1990, Russ would be placed on the USS Independence, where he would serve as part of the Counseling and Assistance Center, as well as the Drug and Alcohol Advisor Office. Also, while serving on the USS Independence, shit would start popping off in the Middle East and the Gulf War kicked off. Yep. The Gulf War started and Russ would be deployed to the Persian Gulf to assist in the Gulf War.

Something else worth noting is that during this time, Russ had recently gotten married to a woman named Susan. Susan was pregnant and gave birth to Russ's son, Russell, in September while he was deployed. How generic. He was deployed in August, which is when the Gulf War kicked off.

and his son was born the next month while he was deployed. That sucks. Yeah. Then on December 21st, 1990, Russ would return home from duty where he was greeted by his wife and his three-month-old son, Russell. He didn't see his son for the first three months. Damn. War. What's it good for? That's kind of like my dad. He was usually out. On deployment? On deployment when my siblings were born. I was a special one. He had already retired and he was actually there for my birth.

I put that in my sibling's face like, ha, take that. My dad left for milk and never came back. I'm just kidding. He was over last night watching Alien Romulus. So three years after that, so in 1993, Russ moved to a new home in San Diego with his wife and son, which, by the way, their new home was located in a neighborhood called Rancho Penasquitos.

Penisquitos. Like mosquitos, but penisquitos. Penisquitos. Rancho Penisquitos. Interesting. Yep. So only one year later, after moving into their new home in Rancho Penisquitos, Russ filed for a divorce from his wife, Susan. Ooh. Shortly after their divorce, Russ met a woman named Linda D. Sargent.

Three years later, on May 7th, 1997, Russ and Linda would go to Las Vegas and get married. Shortly after that, the couple would have their first kid together, a little girl named Lindsay.

Which, of course, Russ had a son with his previous wife, so he had two kids now. Russell and Lindsay. Russell and Lindsay. See, he said shortly after that, Russ met a woman. For some reason, I feel like he met a woman, then shortly after that, the divorce was finalized. I'm just assuming. Now, sometime between 1993 and 1997, Russ would turn his home into a haunted house that he called McCamey Manor. Yeah, and we say 93 to 97 because there isn't an actual date that's given.

It's sometime in that timeframe. And I pulled as many records as I could and even looked up the website and website archived it and everything. And I could not find an exact date. So, but it's somewhere between 97 or 93 and 97. Actually. Yeah. 93 and 97, somewhere in there. So pretty much he was probably practicing, setting stuff up through that time. And then pretty much in that time, he finally finalized his little haunted house. Yeah.

So at first, McKamey Manor was a regular neighborhood haunted house that Russ hosted in his own backyard. Yeah, the haunted house was originally for people of all ages. I mean, you had old people, young people. I mean, you had kids three to four years old going through his haunted house attraction back then. Damn. Yeah. And the people would usually go through it and come out unfazed.

And it was mainly the people in the neighborhood. They were like, this shit fucking sucks, but we're doing it because we support Russ. However, the Maynard, the Maynard, the McKamey Manor rapidly evolved, becoming more extreme each year. And at this point, Russ began charging people who wanted to go through it four cans of dog food for an entrance fee. And Russ claimed that he donated this dog food to Operation Greyhound Rescue.

which helps dogs. I'm guessing greyhounds. I mean, that's pretty cool. Yeah. But you quickly find out what type of person Russ is. So as the haunted house, aka McKamey Manor, was evolving, so was Russ's career. In 2001, while still in the Navy, Russ decided to become a party and wedding DJ and started a company named Musical Excitement with Russ. Such a bad name. How?

Russ also created the website DJParty.org where he listed his DJ services such as Premiere DJ, Karaoke, MC, and Entertainment for weddings, school, dances, and more. And here we have some pictures of events that he did where he was the DJ and MC. So yeah, there's Russ having a good old time partying.

All right. So one year later in 2002, Russ retired from the United States Navy after serving for 22 years. Also, while still trying to get his DJ business up and going, well, not up and going, but successful. Russ began working at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post, the VFW in San Diego as a claims representative.

Then on September 30th, 2002, his second wife, Linda, filed for divorce. Shortly after their divorce, Russ began dating a woman named Carol Schultz. Shortly after. He dated Carol. Well, he'd known Carol for like 17 years prior and they were very good friends. And then he, I mean, immediately started dating her after he got a divorce from Linda. And they dated for a long time until...

2016 I want to say. Damn. Yeah. Well, I just say, you say Carol. The first thing I think of is Tiger King. Carol Baskins. Shot him, robbed him, killed him. Carol. They found her husband. Yeah. He's off in like Thailand or some other country banging lady boys. So he wasn't dead. No. I don't know if he was banging lady boys. I just, you know. If you're in Thailand, you're banging lady boys. Anyways. So for the next few years, Russ continued to work and life seemed normal.

Also, every year his haunted house attraction continued to grow more and more. People from towns hours away would travel to Russ's home on Halloween night so that they could experience it. And at this time, it was still considered like just a normal haunted house attraction you could walk through. Something that wasn't that scary to a lot of people. Had a lot of animatronics and stuff.

And for the most part, the individuals who traveled from towns away to experience this, they heard about Russ's haunted house through word of mouth. It was never through advertisement or newspapers or anything like that. Like us. Yeah. Then in 2005, a local news station in San Diego published a short news story about Russ and McKamey Manor. And we do have that video and we're going to watch it right now.

NBC 739 News at 11. And extreme Halloween. San Diegans spending tens of thousands of dollars just to spook up the neighbors.

For some people, when the doorbell rings on Halloween, it's not just enough to meet the kids with a bowl of candy. There are homeowners who take Halloween to extremes. Ken Kramer found a couple of examples tonight. Ken? Indeed I did. Susan, maybe you had a neighbor growing up who would meet you at the door with a spooky costume or be playing a little bit of eerie music. Well, there are some people in our county tonight... I'm gonna forget about Lizard. Dude, that's what I was just thinking.

The Davis family, for one, they turned their Casa de Oro front yard into a field of fright. Every year they do it, every year it gets bigger. Daughter Justice says it can be a little spooky to live here, but it's fun. You get so many trick-or-treaters and then they just love it. And then there's this house on Alfonso Street in Rancho Penasquitos that you have to see to believe. Russ McCamey created a house of horror that would rival anything at a carnival or theme park.

Nine rooms, animated ghoulish figures. You wonder what he spent on it. This year, about $30,000.

He guides neighborhood kids through in groups of two or three, assuring them that everything will be fine, you know, that the snakes don't really bite, that there might in fact be a vacancy in the psycho room. It took me six months to do what I did in there so far, so we just ran out of time. A Navy veteran who now works with the VFW, he's just always loved Halloween, he says. And as for his wife Carol, she says she's fine with being a family that takes Halloween to extremes.

Well, I was curious, and maybe you are too, about how that Rancho Penasquito's family is going to sleep tonight. The house is full of monsters and snakes after all. Turns out they're not bothered by it a bit. And looking forward to next Halloween. I'm Ken Kramer, NBC 739. You look like a fucking lizard. You're reptilian, man. Your eyes. You can blink. You can blink. It's normal. God damn. Lay off the coke. How he's sitting in the house or standing in the house talking. Hands like this.

Yeah. He's hunched over. But it looked like a normal, like kind of mediocre put together haunted house, right? Yeah. Yeah. But $30,000? Where the hell was he getting that money from? Carol. She was a assistant at like a law firm or something like that. Oh. Yeah. So over the next few years, McKamey Manor continued to grow. Now, before we get into that, we are going to take a quick break and we'll be right back.

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All right. Welcome back. Now, around this time, there was a website called FearNet. This website featured thriller, suspense, and horror films available for people to watch. The website also had reviews of local haunted houses and forms for registered users to check.

The website was pretty big and had over 270,000 registered users. That's pretty good. Yep. Now, why do we mention this FearNet? Well, in 2007, FearNet featured McKamey Manor as one of, and we quote, America's scariest home haunts. And they actually released a video, which we do have that video, and we're going to watch it right now. So keep in mind, this is only two years after that news report from San Diego that we just watched.

This is Fear Nets 2007 McKamey Manor. I'm Danielle Harris, riding Route 666 to America's scariest home haunts. Oh, damn, man. We're on top of this shit. That's what we're doing. Severed heads, decaying corpses, demented clowns. All month long, we are paying bloody tribute to the coolest home-based haunted houses. Check it out. Is she wearing a blanket? I'm Russ McKamey. I'm scared! This is McKamey Manor! Ah!

This is my daughter, Lindsay. The whole haunted house is very scary. This is Carol Schultz. Christmas to some people, Halloween is for us. It's fun living in a haunt, but sometimes it gets a little freaky. It doesn't ever go away. It's 24/7. It's time to play.

All of the inspiration for this hunt comes from Russ. It's totally his baby. I'm kind of the creator. I build all the sets. Each room is different. Each room's got its own effects, its own sound. You get people wetting their pants. All right. So you pretty much get the idea. It's not fully evolved into the torture yet.

But it's starting to get a little more extreme, as you can tell. Yeah. So, yeah, that was from the Fear Net video. Now, it was around 2009, two years later, when Russ would begin to film the visitors going through McKamey Manor and would publish those videos on YouTube. And you'll see the difference in just these two years and how much they made and how different they are. So we're going to play the video right now.

We're not gonna watch the whole eight minutes. We're just gonna watch a little snippet. Mmm, someone watched Star Wars. I'll tell you a story. This is the McKamey Manor. About ten years ago, the warden started cloning off the patients to sell their body parts and brains for a profit. One patient, however, a very angry Miss Mary Parker, was able to avoid

So as you can see, it evolved into more hands-on. They stuck old Peggy Hill

That's exactly what she looked like. Into the casket. Individuals were put in various situations. And actually, this is when they started to be touched, not in that way, but by what they call actors. So there's individuals that are in McKamey Manor that are the staged people that jump out and scare you. And they call them the actors. Oh. Yeah.

So that was in 2009. So you had a jump from 2005, which was kind of like me, 2007, me, and then 2009. I was like, oh. Yeah, like, oh, okay. This is getting kind of crazy. Then in September of 2012. Oh, yeah. The LA Times wrote an article about extreme haunted mazes. In this article, at the very end of it, they mentioned McKamey Manor saying, and we quote,

In San Diego, the McKamey Manor home haunt funnels those willing to sign a legal waiver through a gauntlet of monsters that touch, grab, and shove their victims. And that was in 2012. So they started to become a lot more hands-on. That's when the waiver started. Yep.

Then one month later, in October of 2012, the LA Times wrote another article. This time a reporter had gone to McKamey Manor, went through it, and decided to write about it. Oh gosh. Yeah. The article states, and we quote. And this article is pretty long, by the way. We're going to read, not all of it, but a portion of it.

The article starts off saying, what separates McKamey Manor from every other backyard haunt is what they do and what they don't do. A typical McKamey experience lasts anywhere from 45 minutes to two hours long. My visit clocked in at one hour and 45 minutes. Russ and Carol let in only three small groups per night, usually with a maximum of four people per party or group.

That means only 10 or 12 people get into McKamey Manor each night that it operates in September and October. Many have traveled from as far away as Illinois and Florida just to walk through Russ and Carol's backyard. I hooked up at McKamey Manor with a trio of friends from the Middle East studying in the United States, who were already nervously shaking before we entered the manor.

After the four of us signed liability waivers, Carol warned us with a poem of the bodily harm we were about to endure. Imagine her going up to her. Oh, yes. It's just like our thing. Roses. Yeah. The lady starts off with the poem and you're just like, huh? Yeah. What the fuck? She stated, as in Carol, we would be touched, grabbed, bumped, bruised and possibly even cut.

Also, we would be scared out of our minds. Possibly even cut. The scares started as soon as we stepped foot inside McKamey Manor. The backyard haunt had the quality of a madman's dungeon, a bit like navigating the subterranean warns of cannibalistic serial killer Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs.

The narrow hallways and stuffed labyrinths, none bigger than your average bathroom, made for tight confines. Particularly when you cram four victims and up to five actors, which they also call monsters, into a single room. And then you add Russ in the mix, who is constantly filming everything with a video camera, and you will get instantly claustrophobic. Damn it, Russ, get out of here. There's no room.

The rooms were filled with the typical mishmash of Halloween props you'd find at any serious haunted attraction trade show. Bloody animatronic figures convulsing to life, quivering killers frying in electric chairs, and endless severed body parts stowed everywhere. If there's one thing McKamey Manor is known for, it's water. They like to douse you with garden hoses. It puts the water on the skin. And they push you into kiddie pools. And then they dump gallons of blood on you.

And then comes the rough stuff. The McKamey actors, aka monsters, push you to your knees, shove your face in putrid toilets, more water, and drag you around by the hair. At various times, the monsters wear rubber masks, ski masks, and appear just as themselves, adding a quality to the experience of a crazed lunatic family, terrorizing some unsuspecting visitors who accidentally stumbled into their home.

And since there's only four of us, they call each of us by name. But that's just the beginning. At various times throughout the night, I had duct tape over my eyes, my wrists were bound together, and a nasty burlap sack over my head that smelled like fresh grass clippings. Throughout the ordeal, Russ videotapes and photographs every single moment, all the while choreographing and directing each scene.

They forced us to climb into a freezer. They shut the lid and proceeded to violently shake the household appliance with us screaming inside. We sat on a ratty old couch with a false bottom that literally swallowed us whole. We were stuffed in a real coffin only to discover after the lid was closed that a monster was hidden inside with us.

Halfway through, one individual in our group was strapped to a chair with her head padlocked to a cage. The actors took turns dumping cold water, fake blood, rubber snakes, and plastic spiders on her head before making her eat the green and purple yolk of a nasty egg. Fuck that, I'd be swinging.

One hour and 45 minutes later, when two guys with actual chainsaws finally chased us out of the backyard, we were covered in blood and soaked to the skin. Members of my group had collapsed on the front lawn in utter exhaustion. Some were even found in the fetal position screaming and crying. At the very end, Russ recorded each of us giving our testimonies of how awesome McKamey Manor was. And that was pretty much the end of the article. And...

It shows you the progression from 2005 until 2012. How much it went from normal to pretty much torture. It only gets worse. Yep. So it was this LA Times article in October of 2012 that pretty much skyrocketed McKamey Manor into the spotlight.

One year later, in October of 2013, the Travel Channel broadcasted a segment about McKamey Manor, calling it the most outrageous amateur home haunt in the country. McKamey Manor continued to operate over the next few years, and it became more and more extreme every year. For example, on October 23rd of 2016, a woman named Laura Brotherton traveled from her home in Colorado all the way to California so that she could go through McKamey Manor.

However, according to Laura, the manor was not an extreme haunted house, but rather a legal torture chamber. After going through the manor, Laura's injuries were so severe that she had to go to the local hospital for treatment. And we have a photograph of her. And this was immediately after the manor house. She went to the hospital and they took a photograph of her. And this is what she looked like. Got any games? My God. They shaved her head.

I don't know if she was a heavyset woman or if the neck brace just pushed up the stuff or if that's swollen. It's not pushing up her face, so I think it's swollen. Oh, yeah. The lips, you can tell. Or maybe she got Botox injection. Damn, she's fucked up. Yeah. I didn't notice her head was shaved until, like, you look at the very top right. You can see some of the long hair still there. Mm-hmm. Well...

Laura went public and talked to the news about her experience. She claimed that she was waterboarded, tased, and whipped. She also stated that she was repeatedly hitting her face over and over again, open-handed as hard as a man could hit someone in their face. So yeah, her face was swollen. That's from... Fuck. Imagine somebody just open-handed slapping the... What is... That slap contest. It's Rick James, bitch. Rick James with the five-finger save of the face. Slap.

But yeah, somebody hit me like that with an open hand. That are spitting on me. You know, she's probably a boss at the slap game now. I don't think you get like conditioned to that. Maybe you do. I don't know. I'm not a freak. Hey, if you get conditioned to slapping, comment down below, you freak. It's a fetish now. Yeah. All right. So it was that news story that, you know, was published about Laura that surprisingly only made McKamey Manor even more popular.

And they created a wait list because of how many people that wanted to go through it. And this wait list grew and grew. One year later, in 2017, Russ ended up moving to Tennessee. And this is where he continues to operate McKamey Manor in his backyard. Now, instead of it only being open during Halloween or September and October, November,

The Manor is now open all year round with only one tour per week, which can last anywhere from eight to 10 hours, not years. I put years down. I was about to say like years. No, eight to 10 hours. You never know what's going to happen. Pops out of everywhere. I'm Rick James, bitch. All right. So in order to participate, guests have to undergo a background check and a psych evaluation.

They also have to sign a 40-page long liability waiver that includes explicit details of how the attendee may be subjected to various forms of physical and psychological torture. The 40-page waiver signed by the participants lists such possible risks as having your teeth extracted, you being tattooed, and having your fingernails removed, just to name a few things.

Yet somehow there is still a waiting list of over 24,000 people that want to participate in this. Also, a safe word was implemented granting the guest permission to stop the tour at any time, which there's a lot of controversy around that because some individuals claim that they used the safe word and Russ and the actors did not stop. What is the safe word?

And it's whatever you designate to be the safe word. Oh, because I saw a video and the lady was just saying, I want to quit. I want to quit. And they're just like, no, you don't. You don't get to quit. And they just. That's a big controversy because in the waiver, it states that there is a safe word. But that probably wasn't the safe word. Yeah. Now, there is a $20,000 prize for whoever makes it through the tour. However, no one has ever reached the end.

Also, Russ will deduct $500 for the prize every time participants fail a challenge or uses profanity. Yeah, there's multiple challenges and you get these cards.

And you can use a card to skip a challenge. Like let's say he takes you to a creek and starts waterboarding you. And that's a challenge. You can use one of the cards and say, I want to go through this. And then he'll deduct money from the prize and you can go to the next challenge. But you're only given like six, five or six of these cards. And you can't cuss at them. Yeah. You cuss deduction. They can cuss at you. And he gives you a drug test. Right.

Right when you arrive. So you can't take painkillers or something like that? I would have them hidden in my mouth and then piss and then swallow the pain pills. But then again, I wouldn't go through this because, yeah, that's not happening. Depends on how long it takes for the pill to kick in. You probably have a empty stomach. Yeah. So throughout the years, the popularity of McKinney Manor has only grown more and more.

The past few years, there have been multiple documentaries made about the manor, including a 2023 documentary by Hulu titled Monster Inside America's Most Extreme Haunted House, which, by the way, Russ is suing Hulu because they did not include him in the documentary at all. Or I say include him. They didn't come to him and say, hey, we're making a documentary. Do you want to be a part of it? They just did it without his permission.

side of the story. So he's probably going to come after us. No, we're not big enough for that. There's so many other people he should go after. Now, there have been other multiple controversies, including multiple people claiming to have finished the manor but not awarded the prize money.

Others have claimed that they have used the safe word and the torture continued. There have even been deaths with Russ claiming around eight or so people have died there, which we'll cover more about that in the strange facts and findings. Yeah, there was a video I came across. It was a YouTube short of Russ claiming that there had been eight around eight or so deaths and one heart attack, one serious heart attack. He states during his, uh, McKamey Manor tour that he gives, uh,

I can't, I couldn't find anything on the deaths. Spoiler for strange news. I couldn't find anything on them. So there you go. Uh, also, uh, speaking of Russ, he has had multiple different girlfriends throughout the years with the most recent one being 40 years. His younger, uh, she was 25 and he was 65. Uh,

And yeah, we'll go into more detail about his lineage or his chronological order of girlfriends and the claims that they made during strange fact and findings. Oh, God. Also, July 18th of this year, Russ was arrested for domestic assault charges against his younger girlfriend. And we do have that, uh, alpha David of complaint, which is pretty much his warrant for

We'll post it up right there. Let's see here. Domestic assault. Yeah. 7, 18, 2024. Russ Allen McKamey.

Six foot tall, 242 pounds, hair gray, eyes blue. So it was, I say July 18th of this year. It was July 18th of this year. And then down below you see July 19th and that's when it was served. Served. Yeah. See committed the offense of domestic assault by physically assaulting his girlfriend. Then it's blacked out and then it says placing her in fear. Yeah. Witness names and address. Okay.

All right, so on July 22nd of this year, four days after Russ was arrested, the domestic assault charges were upgraded to attempted murder and rape. Damn. Wow. Two months later, which was last month, District Attorney General Brent Cooper dismissed all charges against Russ McCamey, stating that he personally reviewed the evidence they had collected over the past two months and spoke with the accuser and determined that the allegations had no merit whatsoever. Yeah, he went through all...

And we'll get into that here in a minute. But yeah, he went through everything and stated that, yeah, they're just allegations. They had no merit. Never really happened. It was all made up and they dropped all the charges. And that is pretty much the history of McKamey Manor and its creator, Russ McKamey.

However, just like every week, our episode does not stop here because we have a ton of other things that we need to go over regarding McKamey Manor and things we need to tell you about that we discovered. So Dan, why don't you tell us about our first strange fact and finding? All right. Now, before we get into that, we are going to take a quick break. This is our last one. So don't go nowhere.

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Results vary based on studies of topical and oral minoxidil and finasteride. Prescription products require an online consultation with a health care provider who will determine if a prescription is appropriate. Restrictions apply. See website for full details and important safety information. All right. Welcome back. So our first strange fact I'm finding is about documents.

So we were able to get our hands on a number of documents that are used by McKamey Manor. For example, the screening questions, the legal contract the participants have to sign, and even the welcome packet that is given to you, which we're going to go over each one. I was able to find all fucking three. Damn. That's crazy, huh? So let's go over the screening questions real quick. And, uh...

It's a three page document that says, start out by saying just to answer the questions as honestly as you can and whatever else you want to say. So this is like a fucking something that he reads off to them and then they answer it. Question one, what is your phone number? What is your address? Number two, what's your email? Number three, how old are you? Number four, how tall are you? Number five, what do you do for work? Number six, what's your weight?

7. Do you know how to swim? 8. Do you have glasses or contacts? If so, what is your preference? Tell contestants to bring eyeglass case if applicable. Tell them not to wear contacts because they can get messed up and they'll be blindfolded anyway. 9. Have you ever been in the military? 10. Have you ever had any survival training? 11. Have you ever been to an extreme haunt?

Then there are a few that are allowed, such as Kata Silvis. I don't know the other ones, but note the names of ones they went to and we'll discuss afterwards. Number 12. Have you ever been in any MM hate groups? McKamey Manor. McKamey Manor hate groups. Like, uh...

The Facebook groups, there were tons of them. Ah. Yeah. Then if so, ask why they were in there and then use your judgment on that. So this is like the stuff in Asterix is stuff that he has to think about. Okay. Yeah. Number 13, do you have any medical insurance? If no, they can still do the tour. Just write and sign a piece of paper saying that they take full responsibility for any injuries that may occur and release McKamey Manor from all liability. Number 14, what are your top three fears?

Number 15, do you have any allergies? If so, do you carry an EpiPen? We're going to torture you by eating sauerkraut. Fuck! You need antibiotics? Here you go. Number 16, do you have any injuries or medical conditions that may cause you issues while doing stunts in the manor? Past or present? Anything that affects you or hurts you at all? Then he has a note. This may not be disqualifying, but we need to know so we can tailor the show around them.

Number 17, do you have any other fears? Number 18, why do you want to take this tour and ask for a two to three minute description? Number 19, what are your top three to five horror movies? And then it's, he says, write these down. We follow the guidelines for getting in the closed group for the most part. Usually give people a break if it's not too bad. Is that why you sent your list of movies? Yeah.

Number 20, have you ever seen a Serbian film? Then he has a note to himself. If so, automatic no. I usually ask, are you sure if they say yes, then it's a no. Serbian film, it is a horror film that is extremely disturbing.

I mean, I wouldn't advise anyone to watch it, but I'm not going to tell you what to do. So he's like, if you've seen it, then it's a no. No, if you haven't seen it or have you ever seen it? If so, automatic no. I usually ask, are you sure if they say yes? Oh, I guess if they have seen it, then it's an automatic. I guess they don't. He doesn't want someone to expect what they're going to do to him. No, it's it's really fucked up. I guess that's something he's actually against. Yeah.

Then number 21, can you get a sports physical? And then a note to himself, if no, revert back to writing and signing the piece of paper where they take full responsibility. Number 22, do you have any felonies? Then he has another note, the following questions are personal, but we do have to ask them as it is part of our screening for all contestants. Number 23, do you have any PTSD? If so, ask them to describe it, outlining any triggers, an example, touching, loud noises, name calling, etc.,

24. Have you ever been sexually assaulted or been a victim of domestic violence? If so, did you report it? Then a note to themselves for SA, it's an automatic no if they did not report it.

for domestic violence as if they are currently still in that situation. Yeah. And then he has additional talking points and questions. Are you a smoker? Can you pass the drug? Can you pass a drug test the day of the tour? Typically they would have to do challenges every day. And if you don't, then your tour is canceled. Do you have any issues with that? Um,

We'll get more into the challenges every day when we talk about the private Facebook group. Yeah. What two things would they have off limits from the tour? And then let them know we will get back to you later that evening or the following day, letting them know if they passed or not. And that is the screening process.

questionnaire that he makes potential participants answer. So you have to go apply and then you get interviewed by him and that's the screening questions that he uses. And then if you are accepted, then you get a welcome packet.

We'll post all these documents up. We're not going to read over this entire thing. Yeah, this one's 18 pages. Yeah, but he goes into basically saying what McKamey Manor is. This is your invitation, your one and only ticket to entering the manor. A smart person would run at this point. You have received this letter. It means your tour has officially begun, and it's only a matter of time before the manor will drink your milk and steal your lunch money.

The week leading up to a tour, you're expected to complete the assignments given to you. Not attempting or completing assignments can result in a cancellation. You may be contacted by phone, email, and Facebook at any time. You must respond in a timely manner. If you don't, it will result in cancellation. Let's see. And then it talks about, say, can you survive a three-hour horror experience?

The talks about the different stunts, the rat race. One of the many stunts you may experience on your tour. Navigate through a 150 yard of a rodent rat traps and electrical fences. Oh, that's what that is. That looks like it sucks. At any point during your tour, if you feel like you've reached your limit and can't take anymore, you can yell out the magic words. I quit.

and then recite the rest of your safe phrase. Below is your safe phrase. Once said, your tour is legally over and cannot start back up. My name is blank. If you talked any trash, mention the trash you talked and how you were wrong, or you can say anything entertaining. I came all the way from blank just to have the McKamey Manor eat my lunch, take my milk money, and kick my butt, and I quit. You really don't want to do this.

That is a really long safe phrase. I'll freaking forget. And he has like a little list of things that you need to bring. And it states a $60 donation is optional and much appreciated. A lot of time and effort goes into each tour and this donation will help the manner continue. And then it has the list. You need to bring a 50 pound bag of dry dog food, one box of dog treats, one roll colored duct tape,

Pack of AA batteries, glitter and face paint, two helium-filled balloons, bring real food and drink, several towels, they will get ruined, photocopy of driver's license, sport physical insurance, earplugs, gloves, and onesie. Oh, they even have live feeds when people go. Mm-hmm. This section will go over how to coordinate, film, and post live feeds for the week of your tour. 24 hours prior to your tour date, you could be told at a moment's notice that you need to make a live feed.

Yep. Oh, so you have to go live. You, so this is, this is what I, we'll talk more about that here in a little bit, but there is a private Facebook group that up to the tour, like leading up to it, like you're already accepted. You get this welcome packet and he's like, okay, look, you have a couple of weeks until you go on the tour.

I'm going to call you, you know, and anytime I call you and say, hey, start a live feed on that private Facebook group and do this, whether it be hang upside down and eat mustard and ketchup or do something crazy. You have to do it. And everybody in that private Facebook group are actors and Russ actors, as in the people who help Russ out. Yeah.

So then the welcome packet goes on with the release thing and a bunch of other stuff that we don't really need to go over. Oh, you got to make a 10 minute intro video of yourself. Yeah. So you have that waiver and standalone contract. So that's the welcome packet. And then our next document is the contract, which I mean, we don't really need to go over this. I talked about the fail cards and it lists the fail cards in this contract. Each contestant

We'll start with six fail cards and you can use those for various tasks, stunts or breakers, you know. So and then it just goes into details on what you got to fill out. Non-disclosure agreement, confidential information. We'll post this up for anyone that wants to read it themselves. It's a lot of like legal, legal jumble stuff.

Holy shit, I totally missed this. It goes over. So if you scroll all the way down on page 12, it starts listing off what's going to happen. Participants fully understand that MM McKinney Manor is not a fight club and will refrain from fighting with the actors unless given special permission by Russ. And then if you scroll down, keep scrolling down to 28, participants fully understand by signing this waiver they are given permission

Uh, McKamey manner permission to keep nothing off the table except sexual, religious or inappropriate situations. And then it states on the next one, you may be, uh, shade your head shaved and your eyebrows mousetraps used against you breaking your fingers, bruising, cutting buried alive under 12 feet of dirt, limited air.

Number 40 participant agrees and understands that it is quite possible that they may encounter raw sewage. That's hazardous material right there. Yeah. Uh, you know, what's the craziest out of all this? Where's it at?

Participants fully understand and agree they may be fish hooked, which will cause ripping in the mouth area, which is not the craziest. Number 50. Participant fully understand and agrees that once participant enters McKamey Manor and if they selected no safe phrase, there is no quitting unless serious physical or psychological injury is present. Yeah. Participants fully understand and agree that it's possible that joints, jaws, shoulders, wrists, elbows, hips, etc. may be accidentally dislocated.

Also, number 64, participant fully understands and agrees that MKUltra mind control and hypnosis may be used. What the hell? Yeah.

And it just continues on. I mean, their hand may be smashed with tools. A nail may be pierced through their hand. Their toenails and fingernails may be removed from their nail bed. They'll drug you. Yeah. Participant fully understands and agree that medications may be given that induces hallucinations or said it is given in pill form or by hypodermics at MM's discretion. Yeah.

They'll drug you. Also that you may receive a tattoo or piercing, choking and gagging and vomiting will occur. Plastic bag over your face. Oh my gosh. Extreme temperatures, tarantulas, millipede, bugs, and just live bugs. Enclosed containers with limited air submerged underwater or underground while being restrained in the container. 82. Participant has confirmed that they are not electronically wired for surveillance. Hmm.

will not bring any weapons, they're not wanted by law enforcement, they're not involved with law enforcement, and are not part of any sting operation. All right, so, I mean, it goes on. There's, like, just tons of, like, their head enclosed in a box of bees or wasps buried in a pit full of rodents. I mean, there's just so much shit. Agrees to be locked inside of a 55-gallon drum with the lid secured with limited air.

If they pass out, smelling salts will be administered. What the fuck? Oh, my God. So, yeah. Participant acknowledges that if they quit the tour, they will endure a one-mile walk of shame back to their vehicle. Okay. All right. So, I mean, it just keeps going. And there's a bunch of lists of things. There's a list of things that they do that contract pretty much...

makes it so they're not held liable when they do those things to the participant. I would no way in hell I'd be doing that. No way. First of all, what would be, or hold on, I'm going to ask you, what are your two things that are off limits if you had to sign it? Because it does list in the contract, you can put two things that are off limits. I already know my two. No cutting my hair or beard, no pulling my teeth. I'd say no cutting the hair or beard and then no pulling of the nails.

No, they can pull all my fucking nails all they want. You pull my teeth out, I'm out. I don't know, the nails, the torture. All right, so let's continue on with our next strange fact and finding. All right, so our next strange fact and finding are claims from individuals. So like we have previously mentioned, individuals throughout the years have claimed that Russ and the actors at McKamey Manor tortured them and did not stop when they asked, as well as other claims from individuals who have gone through the manor. We're going to go over a few of those claims.

So the first one happened in September of 2014. A YouTuber that goes by the name of Gabs ended up taking a tour of McKamey Manor. Five years later, on November 14th, 2019, Gabs released a video titled, I Survived McKamey Manor, The Truth.

In this video, she stated that five years ago, she toured the manor and she had been left with physical and mental trauma after she was waterboarded, choked, spat on, and locked in a deep freezer. I mean, I don't support what they do, but five years later, I'd be saying that shit the next day. I don't know. Maybe it's somewhere in the contract that they couldn't say. Oh, releases them after five years. Mm-hmm. I don't know. We have to read through it, but. Yeah.

All right, so the next one in July of 2023, a YouTuber that goes by the name of Reckless Ben, he infiltrated the extreme haunt and posted a video claiming the manor was fake and a scam. In his video, Ben claimed that instead of going through an extreme haunted house, Russ subjected him to an hour of physical exercises while blindfolded in his front yard and waterboarding.

This was allegedly in preparation for entering the haunt. However, Ben claims that there was no haunted house and no $20,000 cash prize. And he quoted saying, he just kept doing random things to me to try and make me give up. Then Ben claims that the only real obstacle is a metal maze that participants are forced to crawl through on their backs while being waterboarded.

How can you be waterboarded while you're crawling? Well, I guess they could. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. I was thinking like, okay. He said crawling on your back. I thought he meant stomach. So I think that when they talked about like that rat maze where electric fence and stuff, I think that's the one that we saw on the thing.

Because you only have like, look like maybe like that much space. If that. So you're on your back crawling, trying to get through it. And they're following you. Just want some water. You're thirsty. You're getting fucking water bordered and then shocked. Yeah. All right. So this next individual that we're going to talk about is a woman named Amy Milligan. She stated that she was traumatized after visiting McKamey Manor.

that she was waterboarded, and during it, she feared that she was going to die. And let's see. So they did post a YouTube video of her showing her being pushed to the ground, slapped around, pulled around by her hair. There's a 45-minute video on YouTube of her. Of her? Of her, and I think the guy or the person with him was either Jeff or Jess. Couldn't tell. And she lasted longer than the other person, but they...

Tortured the shit out of her. Lying in a freezer in a few inches of dirty water, terrified and soaking wet. Milligan Amy states that the video was edited to cut out the worst parts of the experience. It didn't show the part where I was forced to lay down in a shallow pool of water with my hands tied in a cage over it. Yep. So in the video, it shows that part. She's laying in the couple inches of water and the water is like black.

It's nasty looking. They had her hand zip tied and she's still blindfolded. The tape they use to like blindfold you, they don't put like nothing on before they tape. They just take the tape and they start wrapping around. So it gets your hair and everything. Oh, Jesus. So they had her in there. She's tied in there. She's in the freezer and she's like this. And that's where they would take an old sock and they would dip it in the water, wring it out just a little bit. And every time she talked and she answered something wrong,

They would smack her in the face with the sock. It's not funny. I wasn't laughing at that situation. That's horrible. I mean, the sound of it was kind of funny. The sound. But that's where she said McKamey Manor wrong. And they're just like, you better say it right. And the sock just like right across the face. What kind of man? She's the one with the lisp. Yeah. But yeah, like the video is just terrible. It's like she said, you give them so much trust and they break it by waterboarding you and slapping you. What do you think you were getting into?

I mean, look, you were given a safe word. If you used it and they didn't stop, I can see the issue. But if you go there and you're aware of what they're doing and you've watched videos and you didn't use the safe word. Cause I know in the video she said I quit, but I didn't hear the whole, the whole take my lunch money and all that stuff. Yeah. So that's Amy Milligan. And they had her lying in a coffin with cockroaches all over her face.

She said the video, which was posted on YouTube, editing the worst parts out. I mean, a lot of that was pretty bad. Yeah. I can only imagine what the rest of it was. All right. So let's get into the next part of the claims that we're going to talk about, which involves Russ and his relationships. Okay. So we're going to.

Talk about Russ, who he married his first wife, Susan, and then they got a divorce. And then he got with Linda, his second wife, and then they got a divorce. And then he got with Carol and he was with Carol for a very long time. Now we're going to pick up in 2016 when he was still with Carol. All right. So in 2016, Holly Shalito was living in Vietnam and working as an English teacher. During this time, she discovered McKamey Manor through some YouTube videos.

In November of that year, Holly ended up moving back to the United States and met Russ. Russ at the time was still dating Carol, the woman he had dated after his second marriage. And Russ allegedly told Carol that, hey, maybe we should let Holly move in with us. So Carol and Russ and Holly started to get very close. And that's when Russ was like, hey, you know, he suggested let's let Holly move in.

Carol was like, fuck that, broke up with Russ and ended their 15 plus year relationship. After their split, Carol started to speak out against Russ and what McKamey Manor had turned into. According to Carol, who worked as a legal assistant in the litigation department of a law firm, she had been the one to fund not only the backyard haunt, but also her and Russ's entire life. Carol claimed that after Russ had lost his job with the VFW,

that she had paid all their bills and mortgage and had allegedly invested over $100,000 into McKamey Manor. Carol also accused Russ of verbal and psychological abuse throughout their relationship. Also, Carol claimed that Russ would wake her up at night to tell her about having dreams involving young girls and boys and asked for assurance from her that those dreams didn't mean anything. Yeah, he would wake her up. Russ would. Would rake. Would rake.

Russ would wake up Carol and say hey I'm having these weird dreams involving young girls and young boys they don't mean anything right and Carol would be like yeah they don't mean anything they're just dreams now all of these claims that Carol was making Holly heard them and she ignored them and decided to go ahead and move in with Russ and the two began dating one another

Three years later, in 2019, Holly and Russ broke up, and shortly after, Holly ended up speaking out against Russ, confirming some of Carol's allegations. Holly stated that Russ was controlling, that he would choke and bite her, and at times would deprive her of food. Holly also stated that Russ told her that he saw himself shooting her with his gun.

Which, by the way, Holly told the police and they didn't do anything about that. Which, hmm. Holly also accused Russ of being a passive pedophile. Holly stated that Russ would often fantasize about children and tell her those fantasies. Holly was quoted saying, he would go to Walmart while I was there shopping and he would just be looking at kids. Those claims get worse. Yep.

So that's Holly. And shortly after Russ broke up with Holly, he quickly began dating another woman named Susan Kaplan. Yeah. So 2019. Where have we heard the name Kaplan before? We talked about someone with the name Kaplan. I don't know. It all meshes together. Maybe that's why. So he started dating a woman named Susan Kaplan. Then in November of 2020, the two ended up breaking up. And after their breakup,

Susan released a statement about her experience with Russ. Susan claimed that when she first met Russ, he was charming and charismatic. And that often at times he was even chivalrous. However, when the two started dating, Russ started to mentally abuse her, manipulated her and began to ask if it was wrong that he thought of her young son when masturbating. All right. I'm going to have a hard time reading this part. Yeah, I'm glad you got this part because ain't no way I was going to read it.

I don't even want this part to be on video. So Susan stated that Russ asked her and we quote, is it wrong that I think about your son's genitals? Is it wrong when I, is there another word for that? No, that's the professional term. Is it wrong when I ejaculate, I say your son's name. Tell me it's okay. Tell me that nothing means nothing.

Nothing means nothing, brother. Macho man Randy Savage was quoted saying that nothing means nothing when he is being interviewed by Mean Gene Okerlund. How dare you use his phrase? Yeah, but I do want to say that is really fucked up if that's true. But those are all allegations. They have not been proven. It's just word of mouth from Susan, Holly, and...

And Carol. Carol started off with the claim that, oh, he talks about his dreams about little kids. Holly, after they broke up, claimed that he was a pedophile or passive pedophile. And he'd watch kids at Walmart. And then Susan, after they broke up, claimed that he said those things about her son. So pretty much people, or I guess if you try to go to court or anything with it, they just be like, it's just a relationship gone wrong type of thing. Because they all broke up and they all started just

Yeah. It was like defamation. Yeah. And then he began dating the 25 year old or she was younger than that whenever they started dating. And that kind of flows into it. Yeah, it does. And she's the one who recently filed the abuse charges against him and he got arrested for domestic assault or abuse. And then the charges were upgraded and then they interviewed her and then the D.A. dropped all the charges.

So there's two sides to this. It could either be he really is that way, or it could be revenge. Exes making claims based off of previous exes claims because they're pissed off at Russ. One of two things. Anyway, so that right there is our strange fact and finding about claims made against Russ. Let's go on to our next one. All right. So our next strange fact and finding is about a private Facebook group.

So, in 2014, Russ created a private Facebook group called Actors. This group was a place for Russ to inform and communicate with his actors, aka individuals who tortured the participants, aka monsters, as well as anyone involved with the inner workings of the manor.

The members of this group could discuss past and upcoming tours without fear of the public hearing about their plans and concerns about the McKamey Manor community. Also, people who wanted to go through McKamey Manor

Russ invited them to this Facebook group and would make those individuals live stream themselves doing certain things while Russ and the actors, AKA monsters watched. And he made them people do this until, you know, so that he would give them like a timeframe, like weeks ahead or like three weeks from now, you'll do the tour. But before those three weeks are up, I'm going to ask you to live stream certain situations and,

And they would always be like fucked up situations. So it's kind of weird. That sounds like he was fulfilling a certain fetish. Yeah. So our last strange fact and finding is called petition. On October 25th, 2019 on the website change.org, a petition was filed by an individual named Frankie Towie. Towie. Towie. Towie. Towie. Towie.

Now, this petition pretty much talks about McKamey Manor and everything that we've already talked about and a lot of accusations. And a lot of people have signed this petition. As a matter of fact, 193,058 people in total so far as of today have signed it to shut down McKamey Manor. And it's not been shut down, which leads a lot of people to believe that

There's some things going on behind the scenes with either the law enforcement or maybe McKamey Manor is actually something else and being used for data, which we'll get into that during our theory section, which is next. So let's get into that. Tell us about our first theory we have. Our first theory is called sadist. A sadist is a person who derives pleasure, especially sexual gratification from inflicting pain or humiliation on others.

Many people believe that Russ McCamey, as well as all the actors, are all sadists. Russ has found a way to legally torture people and get away with it. Yeah, it's true. Yeah, I mean, he has found a way to legally torture people and get away with it. And he does drive pleasure.

I don't know if sexual gratification is it, but there is some sort of pleasure, whether it be happiness or excitement. Yeah, because I'll say from his ex's claims, it seems like he would rather have something else. All right. So let's go on to our next theory, which is called brain injury. So what we know is that originally McKamey Manor was a normal haunted house in 2005.

Over the years, Russ added more animatronics, but nothing too crazy. However, there was a clear shift in the early 2010s when McKamey Manor went from a normal, typical haunted house to then allowing individuals to torture the people going through it.

Many speculate that this shift was caused by a brain injury that Russ had in 2010. And after that brain injury, he had become more unstable with his thoughts. And that is when McKamey Manor became more torture-like.

Now, what do we know about his brain injury? Well, we have some Facebook posts. In 2010, someone close to Russ logged onto his Facebook and began making posts under his Facebook profile on his behalf. And we have the five posts, and you just want to take turns reading it. The first post being on August 4th, 2010.

Russ is back in the emergency room. His brain bleed is larger and his brain has shifted more, causing lots of vomiting and a huge headache. Cross your fingers he won't need surgery. Post number two. Russ took a turn for the worst. He is in the ICU and will be having a crane anatomy around 11 a.m. Prayers please. And this was again on August 4th. Number three. This was on August 10th, so six days later. Russ is back in the emergency room. Possible stroke.

And then on that same day, August 10th, well, it wasn't a stroke, but Russ is having brain seizures. They last anywhere from seven minutes to an hour. They look exactly like a stroke. Complete weakness on his left side, slurred speech, drooping face. When the seizure stops, everything returns to normal. Very strange to see.

Then post number five, which was two days after that, on August 12th, now they say Russ did have a small stroke as well as brain seizures. They have it pretty much controlled now with medication, but the medication makes him dizzy. It's a toss-up on how he feels. The crazy thing is, they sent him home with me tonight. He's very weak and utterly exhausted. He is totally not himself. I'm scared he shouldn't be home yet, and I hope this won't evolve into emergency room trip number four.

So that was on August 12th and that all that shit happened. Damn. And surprisingly, Russ recovered. And on October 6th, only two months later, he ended up posting photos of a recent tour that took place at McKamey Manor that he was involved in. And he seemed completely fine. And a lot of people say that this brain injury he had changed him.

It made him turn McKamey Manor into a more torture-like thing. And it like flipped a switch on him. And we do have some information about traumatic brain injuries. So a traumatic brain injury, TBI, can increase the risk of violent and criminal behavior. TBI appears to be associated with earlier age of incarceration, increased risk of violence, and more convictions. Neurological abnormalities are common in offenders.

brain functions in areas important for social functioning such as impulse control and empathy appear compromised checks out yeah i know um i used to have a relative who rode a motorcycle and uh he was a relative through marriage and he didn't take a turn and ended up running smack dab into a tree without a helmet he was going like 60. yeah and for months afterwards

He regressed from being like a 30-ish year old man to a kid almost. How he acted, how he talked. And then he shot himself. It's not funny. Kind of fucked up. But TBIs are no joke. Traumatic brain injuries, they can completely shift a personality. And that's what this theory states that sometime in the 2010 or sometimes after 2010, he

is when McCamey Manor changed to more torture-like because of his brain injury. I wonder what caused the brain injury. I don't know. Very interesting. Never heard about that. All right. Now, our last theory that we have is called the CIA. This theory states that the reason McCamey Manor has been able to operate without officials getting involved and why all the criminal cases against McCamey Manor and Russ have been dismissed or dropped is because Russ is secretly working for the CIA.

This theory speculates that the 22 years Russ worked for the US Navy, he was a senior chief. After he retired, he secretly joined the CIA and that is when he ramped up McCamey Manor. The CIA told Russ to test interrogation techniques on regular people, document it, and then tell them which works best. Now, we know the CIA can't legally torture people, so they get Russ to do it and use the information collected to determine the best techniques to use in the future on terrorists or whoever.

Surprisingly, a lot of people believe this theory because they say Russ's techniques are similar to old military stuff from the 70s and 80s. And that is loud as fuck, that AC. Sorry if you guys can hear it. And girls. Also, when you think about the time frame when he started McKamey Manor and when he retired and went full time with it, around this time frame was the war on terror. And what were we doing a lot?

Interrogations. And yeah, they had a word for it. It wasn't torture. It was enhanced interrogation, what they called it. A lot of waterboarding, a lot of all of the other stuff that was involved in Guantanamo Bay. And a lot of people speculate that since they, or since Barack Obama shut down those enhanced interrogation techniques, not allowing any

U.S. group to use them that McKamey Manor is contracted by the CIA to test these methods out on regular people and then document it and submit it to the CIA. I mean, he has military experience. His father was in the military. True. I can see where that could come in, but I don't think that's it. Okay. So now we're going to move to personal thoughts and theories.

So I want to know what you think it is. You think he's just a sadist? You think it was a traumatic brain injury? Do you think it's all made up and fake? What do you think? When I saw some of these videos, it immediately made me think of the dark web. And I'm just like, maybe, just maybe that Russ found a way to not have to use the dark web to post videos of torturing people and all that. He found the legal way to keep it out in the public.

Knowing that nobody can hurt him. And he's, I mean, these videos. You found a legal loophole. Yeah. Legal loophole. Who? Let's see. Like, try to think. How do I search it up? Search up what? Amy Milligan, McKamey Manor. And you can actually find the video on YouTube. Dude, McKamey Manor has a YouTube channel. It's on their YouTube channel. Yeah, you can go to their channel and it has everything. Also, Russ's personal YouTube channel, search up

M-C-K-A-M-E-R-A. That's his personal YouTube channel. Yeah, because like McKamey Manor, their YouTube has 318,000 subscribers. Yeah, look at their views on the most popular video. How many views does it have? Millions. Let's see. Eight years ago, 7.9 million views. Let's see how much money they're making. Let's go to Social Blade. 1.2 million, 1.3 million.

Social Blade. Social Blade tells you how much money you make on YouTube. We don't earn anything on YouTube because we're banned from earning money on YouTube. Uh, McKamey Manor. The most popular video is McKamey Manor promo for Scare LA 2013. Guess how many views? 15 million. 16 million. Damn. I honestly believe it...

He found a legal loophole. He found a legal loophole. And instead of having to post stuff like this on the dark web, he's found a way to do it just on the normal web. Yes. Good. And just no one can stop him. And he has so much power now with this and probably has so many people backing him. His recent ex who tried to file those charges against him and they were up and then all of a sudden they were dropped.

People that are backing him, allowing him to do this, they have dirt on, like, say, the attorney general from Tennessee. Yeah. Oh, I read all that evidence. Dropped it. No merit. That's what I'm starting to think. Well, side note, the channel McKamey Manor has a total video views of 61.7 million views. They have 329 uploads and they don't earn that much money off their YouTube. They earn around 400 bucks a month.

Around $5,600 a year on their YouTube. Let's see what they say about theories that we don't earn anything. Third, but I want to see what they say, how much we earn. Dude, just looking at going at McKamey Manor's oldest video to the newest. Their oldest video was 14 years ago in 2010, but it was filmed in 2007. They only had 33,000 views on that.

Then as time went on, it showed all the normal stuff. And then once it started getting into the torture stuff, it seemed like the views dramatically increased. So all those people on the dark web wanting to watch stuff like this, they're just like, oh shit, I go to YouTube and watch it now. I like that. Our YouTube channel on Social Blade, it says we earn $89 a month. We don't earn anything on YouTube.

That's a bunch of ramen right there. Where the hell is that at? Yeah, where's our ramen? Ramen. We could buy the fancy ramen with that. 110,000 video views in total. Not bad. Bad. All right. So let's get back to the theories. You believe that it's just him. He's posting all this stuff for... Clout? I mean, clout for himself, but it's for these people on the dark web. But they don't have to go on the dark web no more. Because...

It said that, I think, what, 2016? One of those years, like past, say, eight years, he has spent over $500,000 setting up McKamey Manor. Where the hell is he getting that money? Someone has to be backing him. Linda, was it Linda who was working at the law firm? Or was it Carol? Carol. She said that she paid all the bills. She invested over $100,000 into McKamey Manor.

Where's he getting the rest of the money? CIA. Black budget funds. I mean, it could be that. I think it's the money he's getting from the donors. Actors and the viewers. The actors could be part. That's how they get the job. Yeah, the actors, the more they donate, possibly speculating here, the higher chance to participate in the torture. So it's working hand in hand with the dark web. Like, hey,

This is for people that want to watch it. If you want a chance to actually do this yourself, donate money to it. Cause you see like a lot of the donations and stuff he's asking for is like dog food, just random shit. But he's just like, well, $60 would be nice too. Yeah. 60 bucks is random. I wonder if it's like gas money for the actors or something. I don't know. I don't know. But to spend over like $500,000, 60 bucks for participants. And they do what groups of maybe up to four, uh,

How many times a week? Once or twice? Once a week. Once a week. That's just not enough to support $500,000 to set it all up. Do you believe he's a sadist? Oh, definitely. Okay. Do you think his brain injury had anything to do with the shift of his haunted attraction going from a family friendly to fucking Saw? Honestly, it's very hard to tell for that.

Cause I don't know what type of brain injury, like he actually had just, it started off with the brain bleeding and then seizures and stroke. I don't, that one's very hard to tell, but if he did have a brain injury that's that caused the what TBI, then possibly, yeah, I could see that. Yeah, I agree. If we had more information about the brain injury, then I would say, yeah, it definitely played a role. But what we do know for sure is that he is a sadist and this is weird as fuck because

and there'd be no way I would go through it. But I don't think the CIA is involved. I don't think they're involved because, I mean, say the government wanted to test

you know, torture techniques. They don't need him. They don't. They can go out on a, they have a lot of black sites, which are sites that are off the grid and, and in other countries where they can do those enhanced interrogation techniques. And definitely like when they were doing the war on terror, they were getting all those terrorists that they call them and doing these enhanced interrogation on them. They didn't need Russ. Russ. And Russ is still like using stuff from the seventies and eighties.

You know they have more advanced stuff now. Yeah. Lock you in a box, play sounds, keep you awake. Let me put some cockroaches on your face. You want to talk now? Here's a sock filled with rocks. Here's a wet, dirty sock that's going to be smacked across your face every time you misspeak. Anyways, yeah. So do you have anything else you want to add to personal thoughts and theories regarding McKamey Manor? I'm never...

ever doing that no and honestly I don't even want to do one that is even like remotely here yeah cause well surprise surprise I'm getting on the fucking table and you're waterboarding me exclusive I'm just kidding we got water bottles galore around here cause of you I don't wanna be fucking yeah 1, 2, 3, 4 it's like the movie signs 5 I put water bottles up just in case aliens come and I gotta swing the bat and hit it we don't have a bat we need a bat then

I just use Coda. Coda would hump that alien. Anyways. Dominate. If you, our loved one, have been involved with McKamey Manor, you were a previous actor or participant, or you know Russ personally, and you would like to share information, send us an email to Aaron, A-A-R-O-N, at TheoriesOfTheThirdKind.com, or Dan, D-A-N, at TheoriesOfTheThirdKind.com, or comment at

And we would love to hear from you. That's right. Let us know what his brain injury was. Let us solve this mystery. With that being said, that is the end of today's episode regarding McKamey Manor. And just do a little bit of free talk before we roll out because we've got a lot of stuff coming up. Ghost stories. Please send your stories. If you have ghost stories, email them to us with the subject line that says ghost or 2024 ghost stories. And we will...

involve it or talk about it or have it on our show next week whenever we cover ghost stories. That's right. I guess that's really it for the show though, right? Yeah, that's it for the show. Just that announcement. Make sure you submit your ghost stories. Don't write it down below in the comments. Just email it to us, please. But yeah, we've got a very interesting weekend. We're going to Las Vegas tonight.

to Magic On and Magic World Championship. So if you're in Vegas this weekend and you just want to say hi, you can find us at the convention center. You can watch me on the big screen when I'm in the top eight finals. With the school shooters. They all look like school shooters. Oh, gosh. All of them. Man. But yeah, that's where we will be at.

We will be there in Vegas. We were going to go to Zach Baggins' museum. But yeah, finding out how much it costs and that you're not able to take pictures and videos past the first room and then... Zach Baggins is like, watch out, man. Hold on. I'm feeling a very weird vibe around here, dude. Isn't the other guy's name Aaron? He is Aaron. He makes Aaron go do all the shit. Aaron, go down there. Go mess with the ghosts. That's when I heard something on the radio. Say my name.

And then I thought to myself, oh, that's a cold chill. Hold on. I want to punch you in the face. I want to rip your face off, but I'm not going to do that. Have you seen that video? I fucking hate how he talks. He talks just like that. I'm not going to do that. I always feel bad for Aaron. Yeah, me too. Because Zach would always try to instigate stuff with the ghost, make him mad or something like that. If there is one.

And then just sends Aaron down there like, go on, go over there, go wait, see if something happens. Yeah, fuck you, ghost. You aren't going to do anything. Okay, Aaron, I need you to go down there. Go wait over there and see if the ghost does anything. It's like, ugh. Ghost adventures. I can hate it. Like that one possession of the kids where the doctor saw the kids walking up the wall and he bought the house and then... Latoya Ammons? Yeah, the Ammons possession.

He ends up tearing down the house, but he ends up keeping the stairs, I think. And now it's in his museum. It's like, oh. Like, come on, man. Anyways. Well, with that being said, I hope you all have a great weekend. Thank you for your support and your love. If you got any Halloween costume suggestions that you want us to dress up as next week, comment down below. Let us know. We'll see if we can find them. Maybe. But I want to thank you for joining us today. And again, thank you for your support, your love, and your support.

Everlasting gobstoppers. And support. Did you say support? Yeah. So with that being said, Dan, do you want to roll us out? Sure will. It's okay to be out of this world with your thoughts. Because you are not alone. Get over here. Let me waterboard you. Don't torture me. Hold on, Dan. I got ghosts over here that are torturing my butthole. I need you to get ready and go. This podcast is brought to you by Aura, the most complete online safety toolkit.

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