Multiple felony charges against the owner of a Middle Tennessee haunted attraction known for its intense scare tactics were dropped earlier this week.
LAWRENCE COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — Multiple felony charges against the owner of a Middle Tennessee haunted attraction known for its intense scare tactics were dropped earlier this week.
Court records show Russ Alan McKamey was facing charges of attempted second-degree murder, rape and domestic assault after being arrested at his Summertown home on July 19. According to police, McKamey had been accused of assaulting his girlfriend on more than one occasion.
An arrest affidavit alleged that McKamey had raped and strangled her to the point where she lost consciousness. However, on Monday, Sept. 23, all charges against McKamey were dropped following a court hearing in Lawrence County.
McKamey’s attorney Davis Griffin provided News 2 with a statement after the decision. District Attorney General Brent Cooper also confirmed he decided not to prosecute McKamey on the charges. In Griffin’s statement, he said Cooper spent two hours reviewing evidence before “concluding that nothing in this case was prosecutable against Mr. McKamey.”
“General Cooper met with Mr. McKamey’s accuser in person and took her claims and responses to our evidence into account before making this decision,” Griffin said. “Mr. McKamey is grateful for the diligence and professionalism of both the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department and General Cooper in handling this case.”
Griffin went on to state that the “fervor surrounding these and other allegations against Mr. McKamey is severely uninformed,” pointing to the outcome of the case as a potential indicator in the validity of other allegations against his client. His full statement is below.
Brent Cooper — who has been a prosecutor for his entire 24-year career and the elected District Attorney General for the Twenty Second Judicial District for the last 10 years — spent two hours personally reviewing the key evidence from our investigation of this case before concluding that nothing in this case was prosecutable against Mr. McKamey. General Cooper met with Mr. McKamey’s accuser in person and took her claims and responses to our evidence into account before making this decision. Mr. McKamey is grateful for the diligence and professionalism of both the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department and General Cooper in handling this case.
Unfortunately, the fervor surrounding these and other allegations against Mr. McKamey is severely uninformed. There is also a prominent trend in our culture of exploiting “victim” status for attention and relevance which makes dedicating resources to justice for real victims more difficult than it should be. Most sad of all, there remains a group of unhinged people who have nothing better to do with their lives but harass Mr. McKamey and obsess over his every move.
Anyone evaluating the merit of other allegations against Mr. McKamey should strongly consider the outcome of this case and the credibility of those who instigated it, which includes several individuals featured in the 2023 Hulu documentary about Mr. McKamey and who are also sources for the ongoing Attorney General investigation.
Davis Griffin, attorney for Russ McKamey
McKamey has become well-known in Middle Tennessee because of the controversy surrounding his operation of the McKamey Manor. After relocating from San Diego, McKamey began offering thrill-seekers the opportunity to tour the manor on his property in Summertown in 2017.
While marketed as a haunted attraction, some have instead referred to the manor as a “torture chamber.” A 2023 Hulu documentary entitled “Monster Inside: America’s Most Extreme Haunted House” explored the experiences of participants, with some claiming there is no way to stop the tour, among other questionable practices.
The documentary included footage of the tours that was taken by McKamey and posted online. In some of the videos, people can be seen getting dragged by chains or locked into confined spaces while water pours in.
Prior to the Hulu documentary, thousands of people signed a petition in 2019 to shut the McKamey Manor down. Deputies have also been called to the property several times in the past, with a criminal investigator for the 22nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office interviewing McKamey in March 2018.
Still, no criminal action directly related to the practices at the manor has ever been taken against McKamey. The controversy has, however, led to an investigation by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti and several subsequent lawsuits.
Shortly after the Hulu documentary was released in October last year, Skrmetti sent a letter to McKamey requesting various documents and information pertaining to some of the claims of past participants.
In his letter, Skrmetti raised concerns about McKamey’s “business practices,” particularly taking issue with claims that there is no way to stop the tour nor win the $20,000 prize offered to those who make it to the end.
McKamey responded by filing a 32-page lawsuit against the Tennessee Attorney General a few months later. In the lawsuit, McKamey claimed the Attorney General’s request not only violates his First, Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights, but is a part of a larger effort to prevent him from “engaging in lawful conduct on his private property.”
Court records show the lawsuit was dismissed in August, but McKamey’s attorneys have filed a motion asking the court to reconsider. In April, McKamey filed another lawsuit. This time against Hulu and a past participant who was interviewed for the documentary.
The streaming service was later dismissed from the lawsuit, but litigation is ongoing against the person who was interviewed for the documentary.