Halloween is rapidly approaching, and now that we have arrived in October, we are officially in the "spooky season."
Halloween isn't just a day anymore, it's a month-long adventure with haunted hay rides, haunted houses, and scary movies. But apparently these horrific events aren't always as fun as they'd seem.
One Halloween enthusiast was having a great time at a haunted house in Nashville, but unfortunately things took a turn for the worse in the most unexpected way.
James Yochim was at the Nashville Nightmare Haunted House with friends, but he didn't expect that the blood he'd be seeing would not only be real, but his own.
Yochim went through the attractions throughout the night, enjoying all the scares from the fake chainsaws and other fake weapons scattered in the haunted house, but it was a simple knife that ended up causing him a huge wound in his arm.
After completing one of the haunted houses, Yochim was approached by a man in skull makeup while he stood with friends.
They spent a few minutes joking around with him, but after making a joke, Yochim says the stranger gave his friend Tawnya Greenfield a knife, instructing her to stab him.
"Keep in mind, we'd been chased by chainsaws, holding other weapons, all kinds of stuff all night, and it was all fake," he said. "So she stabs at me with it, and everything got really black."
Everyone panicked, as Yochim looked at his arm seeing it sticking through his forearm. But he doesn't remember much from after the incident, most likely due to shock.
"The thing I remember is the guy who gave it to her kind of freaking out and saying things like, 'Oh, I didn't know my knife was that sharp. I didn't know. I'm so sorry.'"
He also recalls Greenfield "bawling" after injuring her friend, not expecting it to have been a real knife.
The haunted house took immediate action, getting Yochim medical attention right away, and began an investigation as to how the employee was able to have a real weapon on him despite the location having "very thorough and attentive" metal detectors.
The Nashville Nightmares organizers released a statement about the incident, revealing the employee in question has been "placed on leave."
"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. We are going over all of our safety protocols with all of our staff again, as the safety and security of all of our patrons is always our main concern."
Yochim's arm needed nine stitches, and while no charges have been filed, it's still scary that something like this could happen in a place that claims to have protocols in place to keep their patrons safe.
Source - The Tennessean / People / WNEP
