NEUSCHANZENSCHULTZ, MB
The small Mennonite village of Neuschanzenschultz, Manitoba has inadvertently become the world’s largest escape room after years of ostracizing and shunning any resident who steps out of line or thinks for themselves.
“They make it very difficult to ever leave,” said one local, who wished to remain anonymous. “You do your own thing or break their rules, and they’ll cut you off, never speak to you again. With those kind of consequences, most people just suck it up and go along with whatever the elders say.”
Even trips to the city for supplies are strictly controlled and closely monitored by church authorities. The town is so hard to escape, that thrill seekers from across North America have been flocking to the community just to get their chance to escape it.
“I’ve heard this is one really rough escape room,” said eager escape room addict Dylan Penner from the city. “As soon as we heard about this place, my CMU friends and I decided to hop into the Saab and head on down to southern Manitoba. We hope to try our hands at escaping Neuschanzenschultz later this week!”
The only person to successfully escape Neuschanzenschultz was Dietrich Wiebe back in 1923, who left his relatives behind and fled to Paraguay.
“In all these years, we’ve only had one escapee,” said Elder Schultz. “Young Dietrich may have escaped, but not without consequences, let me tell you!”
Fortunately for the eager CMU students, Neuschanzenschultz is just as hard to join as it to escape. Their application to enter the town was immediately rejected as soon as the elders took one look at their “totally inappropriate” jean shorts.
