Shadowing Practice: Win $20,000 Dollars if You Survive this Haunted House - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Your hands are bound together.
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It’s pitch black, but every 10 seconds or so a flash of light reveals the masked faces of men.
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They drag you into a corner.
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You can hear the petrified screams of your friend through the wall.
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You’ve never heard him sound like that before.
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What have they done to him?
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Another flash of light reveals cockroaches scurrying all around you.
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They run up your legs and some of them get into the onesie you’ve been forced to wear.
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Suddenly a mirror is held up to your face.
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When those lights flash you see one of the guys shaving your head.
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Another flash, and a great,First let’s explain to you what we are actually talking about.
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big tarantula is crawling over your shoulder.
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The masked men then grab you and take you to another room where they push your head into freezing cold water.
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You plead for them to stop, to show you some mercy, but you’ve signed up for this, and there’s no ‘get-out’ clause.
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What we just explained to you isn’t an exaggeration.
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In fact, this haunted house experience can get much worse than that.
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It’s so bad, that if you can actually get through enough hours of it you’ll be handed $20,000.
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There’s actually a long list of thousands of people in the U.S. in the queue waiting to experience this haunted house, but we can assure you, most of those that do get the full experience regret it.
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Has anyone gone back for more?
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Has anyone ever completed the experience?
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The place we have described is called the “McKamey Manor”, and that to most people would look like any suburban house in the USA.
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But this house in a now undisclosed neighborhood in the USA, doubles as a kind of extreme attraction, or what you might call a horror survival course.
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ThinWhen we say haunted, well, it’s been called that, but regarding horror it’s less about ghosts than it is about torture.
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It’s closer to the “Saw” franchise than it is “Paranormal Activity.”gs don’t move around by themselves in the dark, if you don’t count large, burly men in masks terrifying you psychologically and even roughing you up a bit.
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We are not kidding….
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There are pages on Facebook that criticize this outfit and say it should be illegal.
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Those detractors say the Manor can cause lasting psychological damage and they state that those who do the terrifying things are sick and sadistic human beings.
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Still, you’ll find middle-aged, bored accountants and young beauticians giving McKamey Manor a go.
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They actually want to be scared out of their wits and they don’t give a hoot what some people have to say on social media.
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The experience is no joke, though, that’s for sure.You won’t even be allowed to get your foot in the door if you haven’t signed a 40-page waiver, are 21, or at least 18 and have your parent’s approval.
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You’ll need a doctor’s letter saying you are in good physical and mental shape and you’ll be screened first.
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If you don’t have any medical insurance, forget about it.
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Here are two very important clauses in that 40-page waiver: Clause 20: “Participant agrees there is no quitting unless serious physical or psychological injury is present.” Clause 25… “Participant fully understands that at many times they will be in a panic state of anxiety, in which they feel that they will drown and they may die.” That’s why it’s called a “survival horror Challenge”, maybe something our dear Challenge writer could do one day.
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After all, the only payment you have to make is some dog food.
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That’s right, a few tins of mashed mystery meat and gristle and you’re in.
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But would you really want to get in, that’s the question?
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The tour of the house lasts eight to ten hours.
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Yep, that’s possibly a good chunk of the day with a bunch of very large, seemingly angry, vengeful men.They want to terrorize the life out of you and you will believe they are for real.
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These guys have practiced the art of physical and mental torture, and while that torture might not be anything like what you saw in that movie called “Hostel”, it’s going to be bad enough to make you want to quit.
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In fact, while your average plumber and office worker have given up after only a few minutes, even cage fighters and marines have tapped out.
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There are other extreme haunted house experiences out there in the U.S., but this one has one major difference in that you don’t have a “safe word” so you can just drop out.
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Why would anyone do this, you might be wondering, besides trying to get that 20,000 bucks?
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The guy behind the house is one Russ McKamey.
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He’s said people do it to escape the daily grind of life.
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Sure, some folks might be masochists, but others are just hankering for something to knock them sideways.
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For McKamey it’s theater, an extreme kind of theater.
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He’s ex-Navy and has studied theater, so he knows what he’s doing.
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He’s said that while he will take people to the edges of their fear and sanity, he records everything on tape and nothing they have done at the house has broken laws.
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It’s awful, but lawful.
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Hmm, we kinda like that tagline, maybe we should get in touch with them and make a deal.
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Just watch the videos of people going through the experience and you can watch them crumble, uttering words with a shaky voice, “You beat me…I can’t do it anymore…I’m done…I’m flying home tomorrow…I don’t need any of this.” They might have been covered in insects, stomped on, dragged around like a doll, held under dirty water and even made to eat their own vomit, but they only get to stop when their torturers think they’ve had enough.
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In an interview, McKamey said, “Every year it’s got more crazy, more aggressive.
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We wouldn’t be infamous if we weren’t able to deliver the product.” The product he says is fear, 100 percent, unadulterated fear, non-stop for as many minutes or hours as a person can take.How long would you last?
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You might first get kidnapped and soon realize that the guys aren’t messing around.
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They might not break your arm, but they will certainly stress your body in ways that are uncomfortable for you.
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They start with things that will psychologically stress you, but then escalate it until you are absolutely broken.
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McKamey says no one suffers any bad injuries and it’s all one big show, otherwise the place would have been closed down a long time ago.
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Some people disagree with him, saying that he must be a sadistic psychopath to do what he does.
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People have even protested outside his gates, and so he has had to change locations at times.
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It’s kind of a grey area, because you can see with your own eyes that people are literally scared for their lives.
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They absolutely do get broken, so you might ask if the torture is real, not just a show.
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We found one woman, a U.S government logistical analyst, who lasted just five minutes in the house, a far cry from eight hours.
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She actually returned again the year after to see if she could last a bit longer.
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She got her chance and one day she went through the ordeal with a female nursing student and a young man who was hoping to become a DEA agent.
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After a couple of hours, the latter two participants were asking to quit.
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The nurse was tied up, the guy was fastened in a straightjacket, and both were screaming out that they’ve had enough.
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They didn’t get what they wanted right away, and faced some more agonies before they were let go.
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When the masking tape was taken off the young man’s face, he was visibly traumatized, and almost sobbing, he said, “Please Russ, I’m done.” The nurse was the same, and through tears she exclaimed that she would never, ever, do that again.
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The analyst held on for longer.
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Not only did she last longer than five minutes, but she passed the four-hour mark.
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She’d been force-fed, showered with freezing cold water, dragged through stinking sewage, and had her head shaved…at one point she just she cried out for help and of course no one came.
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She said she was proud to last that long, and she admitted that she had been pushed to her limits, but she didn’t feel like she’d been abused or tortured.
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She even said she’d give it another go if she ever got the chance.
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In fact, around 25,000 people are waiting in line to see how long they can last in this house of horrors.
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No one, and we mean no one, has ever gone the full eight hours or ten hours.
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For more horror go watch “YOU vs FREDDY KRUEGER -How Can You Defeat and Survive It?” and, “7 Scary Sounds That Will Trigger a Fight Or Flight Response In You.”
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Win $20,000 Dollars if You Survive this Haunted House”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: hour, experience, Mckamey. This video has 76 sentences and 1521 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:58. The speaker talks fast, about 218 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| torture noun | /ˈtoɹt͡ʃɚ/ | The infliction of severe pain or anguish, especially as an interrogation technique or punishment; (usually in the plural) a technique, method, or device which… |
| haunt verb | /hɔnt/ | To inhabit or to visit frequently (most often used in reference to ghosts). |
| clause noun | /klɔːz/ | A group of words that contains a subject and a verb; it may be part of a sentence or may constitute the whole sentence, depending on the syntax in each… |
| psychologically adverb | In a psychological sense. | |
| sadistic adjective | /səˈdɪstɪk/ | Delighting in or feeling pleasure from the pain or humiliation of others. |
| terrify verb | /ˈtɛɹɪfaɪ/ | To frighten greatly; to fill with terror. |
| waiver noun | /ˈweɪ.vɚ/ | The act of waiving, or not insisting on, some right, claim, or privilege. |
| shave verb | /ˈʃeɪ̯v/ | To make (the head, skin etc.) bald or (the hair) shorter by using a tool such as a razor or electric clippers to cut the hair close to the skin. |
| distress noun | /dɪˈstɹɛs/ | Physical or emotional discomfort, suffering, or alarm, particularly of a more acute nature. |
| analyst noun | /ˈænəlɪst/ | Someone who analyzes. |
| scare verb | /skɛɚ/ | To frighten, terrify, startle, especially in a minor way. |
| freeze verb | /ˈfɹiːz/ | Especially of a liquid, to become solid due to low temperature. |
| scream verb | /skɹiːm/ | To cry out with a shrill voice; to utter a sudden, sharp outcry, or shrill, loud cry, as in fright or extreme pain; to screech, to shriek. |
| beautician noun | /bjuːˈtɪ(t)ʃən/ | Someone who does hair styling, manicures, and other beauty treatments. |
| crumble verb | /ˈkɹʌmbəl/ | To fall apart; to disintegrate. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| close down verb | /kləʊzˈdaʊn/ | To stop trading as a business. |
| drop out verb | To leave (school, a race, etc.) prematurely and voluntarily. | |
| get out verb | To leave or escape. | |
| get through verb | /ɡɛt ˈθɹu/ | To overcome; to endure. |
| give up verb | To surrender (someone or something); to inform on (someone). | |
| hold up to verb | To physically lift another person to the same height as something. | |
| mess around verb | To fiddle idly. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | You've never heard · have they done · you've been forced |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | are bound · you've been forced · is held |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | those who do · man who was |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 32 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, you'll, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shave /ˈʃeɪ̯v/, beautician /bjuːˈtɪ(t)ʃən/, exaggeration /ɪɡˌzæd͡ʒəˈɹeɪʃən/, vengeful /ˈvɛnʒ.fəl/, mash /mæʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: exaggeration /ɪɡˌzæd͡ʒəˈɹeɪʃən/, logistical /ləˈdʒɪ.stɪ.k(ə)l/, tarantula /təˈɹæn.t͡ʃə.lə/, participant /pɑːɹˈtɪsəpənt/, uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like torture, haunt, clause.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.