[3] To participate, guests must sign a liability waiver that includes explicit details of how the attendee may be subjected to various forms of physical, sexual and psychological torture.
As the owner, Russ McKamey claims to have a military background of 23 years in the Navy and uses hypnosis and mind control to make participants believe what he wants them to about what is happening.
County Commissioner Scott Franks described an incident where deputies were called to the property after a neighbor saw a woman dragged screaming from a van as part of the experience: "Staged or not, this is simply something that none of us want anywhere near us."
District Attorney Brent Cooper said the program was legal because people subjected themselves to it voluntarily, though participants could withdraw their consent at any time according to Tennessee law.
[13] In July 2017, Franks put a community alert on his Facebook in opposition to McKamey Manor, which had almost 600 comments, with most being opposed to the activity in Summertown.
"[13] On October 31, 2023, the Tennessee Attorney General and Reporter Jonathan Skrmetti notified McKamey Manor that it was under investigation over concerns about its business practices and whether they might violate the state's consumer protection laws.
Specific concerns include the allegations that withdrawn consent is not honored, lack of access to the waiver, and the inability for contestants to win the purported prize money.
In response, the official McKamey Manor account simply responded, “Haters gonna hate.” In the end, nothing came out of the investigation due to the waivers that participants sign.
[4] A few months after the investigation, McKamey filed a 32-page lawsuit against the Tennessee Attorney General, claiming the request violated his First, Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
[18] McKamey Manor was featured extensively in the 2017 documentary film Haunters: The Art of the Scare, and on the Netflix original series Dark Tourist.