It seemed outrageous when the news broke early Saturday, the sort of information that feeds October Halloween-level fears for all of humanity.
A stabbing took place at a Haunted House?! It's the sort of meta-grade narrative that would feed a horror film, were the result far worse than it actually turned out.
According to the Tennessean, Jay Yochim — who, until recently, worked with O&AN — visited the Madison area attraction late last week and found himself literally stabbed in the forearm with what his friend (the one who stabbed him) assumed was a prop knife, one with no sharp edges about it. "She stabs me with it," he told the Nashville daily, "and everything got really black."
At this point, let's just leave the description with the police report:
Suspect 1 (the stabber) states that they were all talking when Suspect 2 (the one who provided the knife), who they believed to be one of the character actors/employee at the haunted house approached them and asked Suspect 1 if the Victim was "fucking around with her." Suspect 1 states that playing along she said yes and Suspect 2 handed her what she thought was a prop knife and told her "well here, stab him."
... and so she did, completely of the assumption (according to this police statement) that the knife was a prop.
Subsequently, the Nashville Nightmare organization provided a statement, mostly reassuring anyone that there are "safety and security protocols in place, including metal detectors and onsite medical and security staffs." But also the statement notes that "we believe that an employee was involved in some way, and he has been placed on leave until we can determine his involvement."
How long does that take?
There was a criminal action that took place here. Yes, it's a little murky, what with Yochim's friend actually doing the deed, unwittingly. On one hand you want to believe that, though the story has been reported often enough, and widely enough (thanks, Buzzfeed), it appears to be the fault of one errant employee. But on the other, what does that say about the safety and security protocols and have always been in place?
We're still three weeks away from Halloween, obviously the busiest time for a venue like Nashville Nightmare. Despite reassurances that management is reviewing those safety protocols with staff now, isn't there something, some piece of this story, we're still missing? Something that will make us say, "ok... I guess that explains everything. It's safe to go back there now."
Photo/graphic via Facebook.