We were happy this season to have the opportunity to visit our old friend Randy Bates and his crew at the Bates Motel. We had visited this haunt in Gradyville PA in 2002, our first year and had heard of great changes since our initial visit.

We arrived on their opening night, Randy's Mom seated proudly on the first wagon of the season as she has for the last 14 years. Unlike many of the local farmers that took on the endeavor of a hayride or corn maze to "save the farm," Bates is still an operating farm outside of the halloween season and are well established in their community.

On our initial visit, we had been blown away by the hayride more then the house. Changes to the hayride included a removal of the giant Wolf head... I kind of missed the strains of "hey there little red riding hood" as we crept along the trail, but the hayride was still a success nonetheless.

The corn maze had been beefed up as well... a little more elaborate then many, victims made their way thru the twists and turns of corn stalks, past thugs and radioactive spills, encountering small buildings, walk throughs such as a mausaleum... doors swinging wide as we aproached, clanging shut as we entered, leaving us with the undead inhabitants.

The most improvement had been made in the house. Gone was the spaceship that had crashed into the side of the house that had been the entrance on our earlier visit. We walked into the first room where we were greeted by a small puppet, who cheerily told us the rules, and in essence, that he would be under our beds biting our ankles when we got up in the morning if we did not follow them...

The biggest change we had heard of was the "thirteen ghost" room. One of the better re-enactments of the glass prison chamber that held the ghosts that we have seen. Real latin phrases adorned the walls, but nothing as ominous as you might think... sayings like "only the virtuous and the brave," any phrases that contained "mort" etc. and just sounded forboding. We had seen the Jackel earlier in the evening chasing guests out of the house... a completely disorienting ending, strobe lights bouncing off of the glass, I nearly jumped out of my skin when I felt a hand touch my calf.... one of the actors had been in my peripheral vision, but I had not noticed his fake arm, allowing him this complete startle scare. The library, one of the newer rooms was completely filled with real books that had been purchased by the truckload. It's small details like this that put the haunt among our very favorites. The entire facade of the house had been overhauled as well... the house appearing to now rest on a foundation of bones...

We talked to Randy about how the season was going for him, and he said numbers had been good. 2002 had been a terrible season in the tri-state area, rain knocking out nearly 13 nights of operation, several weekend nights. 2003 was cool, but fairly dry, probably in response to haunter's such as Randy purchasing costly "rain insurance" for his three biggest weekends. I for one had drank my fill of hot chocolate in order to keep warm, but was quite happy not to be sitting in wet hay again.

We continued to talk with Randy as his overly enthusiastic chainsaw guy sent yet another screaming girl past us. Our son Bill began to laugh, and Randy told us this particular gentleman has chased guests into the port-a-pottys, and out to their cars. In one instance, after chasing a young girl and her friends out to her car, her friends distracted her long enough for the masked chainsaw weilding maniac to slide into the front seat next to her.

Watching the crowds that night we are happy to see that all of the Bate's family's hard work has paid off... screams mixed with laughter, and the crowds were good. A far cry from their first year... paying off their investment, making payroll, Randy and his wife sat back, "Halloween will be the day we make our money." Mrs. Bates set out with the Bates children for some trick or treating, and when she had returned, was informed that they had not run even one wagon. On the verge of tears, the night was turned around when a large group of high schoolers came walking down the street. The girls up the street, one now employed in the ticket booth at Bates, had a party with about 80 students... and then the stragglers came in... and with that, here we are today, another fantastic evening with family and friends, great scares, a night that just screams Halloween... We continue to wish them well, and hope you will check into the Bates motel... and give them our regards.