Woman Stabs Friend At Haunted House, Thought Knife Was Fake Prop

Some friends went to a haunted house to have a fun night, but one ended up stabbing another in the arm with what she thought was a fake prop knife.

By on October 10, 2018
(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

This is the exact sort of reason I don’t go out. A woman was handed a knife at a haunted house attraction in Tennessee on Friday night. She assumed it was just a fake prop toy, so she playfully stabbed her friend in the arm. Yeah, it was a real knife.

The haunted house in question has placed one employee on leave. However, it’s not totally clear if he was the person who handed the woman a knife. Police say they’ve pretty much hit a dead-end during the investigation, no pun intended (it’s a haunted house, I mean come on). James “Jay” Yochim was with 3 other friends at Nashville Nightmare, which is a sort of huge attraction. There are four different haunted houses, an escape room, all sorts of fun things. That’s where his memory got a little dull (pun intended).

James says that as they were going through the houses, they were playing with all sorts of props. There were fake weapons, guys with fake chainsaws, they were handling all sorts of things. “Keep in mind, we’d been chased by chainsaws, holding other weapons, all kinds of stuff all night, and it was all fake,” he says. Someone handed his friend, the woman, a knife and jokingly got her to stab him with it. So she did. That’s when James says “everything went black.” When he woke up, he was surrounded by other cast members and his friend, crying. He says that he remembers the person (who handed over the knife) saying “Oh, I didn’t know my knife was that sharp. I didn’t know. I’m so sorry.”

The company that runs the haunted house sent out an email sort of explaining what happened. In it, they said “As we have continued to review the information, we believe that an employee was involved in some way, and he has been placed on leave until we can determine his involvement.” The even has security, and from what James and his friends say, it was very tight. Metal detectors, bag inspection, “very thorough and attentive” James says. “No one wants to stab their friend,” he said. “I’ve been stabbed and I still can’t even imagine what it’s like to accidentally hurt your friend like that,” James added. He received nine stitches, and at the moment, no charges have been filed with anyone.

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