A lot of folks stay at Airbnb's. You guys stayed in one recently, have you had an issue with bats biting and flying around your heads? If not, you've not lived. Because there's this Airbnb up in Michigan, and as owner of it, they call it the castle. There's a reason they call it the castle, because it looks like a castle. [00:00:16] Let's look at a picture of it. It's a castle. Looks like it's lit up for Halloween, actually. These folks are being sued by a group of senior women who say that their stay at that property turned to a night of horror. It fits, it's a damn castle. After a bunch of brown bats swirled around their heads and bit the hell out of them. [00:00:34] It sucks. The suit is by seven women who stayed at this Victorian style home in Alpena for their 50th high school reunion. So these ladies are damn near 70 years old, keep that in mind as we talk about what they went through. The suit alleges that Airbnb negligently allowed the infested home to be [00:00:50] advertised on its platform and that the homeowner and those responsible for the maintenance failed to ensure the home was safe for renting. John Marko, who is representing the plaintiffs, described the ordeal as a scene from a Halloween horror movie. Still, maybe not that bad yet. [00:01:06] A group of eight women had enjoyed their stay at the castle for three days. But on the evening of July 26, two women staying in the large turret room of the home were shocked awake by screeching noises and dark shapes moving along the walls. The women screamed and ran into the hallway, slamming the door shut and [00:01:21] sealing the frame with blankets. Again, Marko Law said this in their statement. Soon after, though, another bat came screeching down the hallway, and then more followed it. The statement said that as well, the women ran to the stairwell, but found it consumed with bats. The guests looked for the nearest bed, blocked the doors and window sashes, [00:01:41] towels and pillows, and hid underneath the covers. Just like kids running from these damn bats, a horde of them is way to describe them. More and more bats began entering the living quarters. The bats were coming down the old lathe walls and entering through the gaps of the baseboards. The night was littered with screams that could be heard from one room, [00:01:59] then the next, then the next. The way that this person wrote this for NBC News, Marlene Lenthang. Unless that's from actually, that's from the lawsuit, it's very, I don't want to say poetic, but it's describing it quite well. So again, once the sun did come up, the bats took off back [00:02:17] to the attic to go live in peace and harmony because their job was done. An exterminator was then called, and they said they found a large colony of Michigan brown bats living in the attic, hanging out, going, what's up? What are you doing here? What can we help you with? And the women were instructed to undergo a series of rabies vaccinations because they [00:02:36] were bitten, hair was twisted, these bats were getting caught up in all of their personal space. So they're very upset about this whole thing, and now they're suing both Airbnb and the homeowner here up in Alpena, Michigan. So this is a response from the homeowner, though. [00:02:51] He said, we did immediately provide the refund as requested. I'm sorry, talking about another time when someone reviewed their house and said that they found a bat, we did immediately provide the refund as requested and additionally offered to pay for your hotel, lodging, and dinner. No expense or effort was spared to rectify this as promptly and [00:03:09] professionally as possible. Ultimately, the expert, that exterminator was only able to find one likely transient bat, bats are very active this time of year in Northern Michigan and it's unfortunate that one found its way inside. [00:03:25] And apparently from there, I guess, bats reproduce off of themselves, and then it turned into, like, a thousand of them, and they swarmed around the house and ate these women's hair and bit their heads. So, lawsuit is basically over. I think they have a good case. What do you think, Jordan? >> Speaker 2: I see an opportunity for a rebrand here. [00:03:43] I say, sure, settle a lawsuit, do whatever you got to do, and then rebrand it as Dracula's Castle. Get the immersive experience, just like your favorite vampire, here right here in Michigan. I think they have an opportunity, I would hope they take it. [00:03:59] This could be a multimillion dollar idea. Dracula's Castle rented on Airbnb, 499 a night, live just like Dracula. >> Speaker 1: Damn, $500, that's a big house. That's actually- >> It's an immersive experience. >> Speaker 1: I get a feeling it's probably costs even more than that already [00:04:15] right now. But, I mean, it's a big house, eight women stayed in it. You go from room to room to room to room, and you have no idea bats are all up in the attic. It's a big ass house, so I can understand that. And actually, bro, I love that idea. It kind of crossed my mind, and I kind of, like, let it go yesterday when I was reading this. [00:04:31] But no, exactly, they filed the lawsuit on October 30th, I believe, so it was the day before Halloween. But you can be like the spirit of Halloween stores, just pop up around Halloween season, all you do is jump in right after maybe Labor Day or something. Take the whole rest of September, all of October, [00:04:47] you could even probably bleed in a little bit into November. It's a seasonal part of the year when you can make tons and tons of money. I'm sure there's people who would totally enjoy the bat experience. I've seen one out in front of the Airbnb we stayed at, actually, [00:05:02] except we were in Joshua Tree. So we're out in the desert, and if you open the front door of this place, I have a couple minutes. Open the front door of this place and step out in front, it's just desert in front of you. We were a bit remote, and then a bat flew at our light that we had in the front porch. [00:05:18] And I don't know why bats are startling for folks. I know they bite and stuff and rabies and everything like that, but just seeing one when it's not on you, for some reason, we get afraid. Maybe it's the lore about bats and vampires, I don't know. Which leads me to the thought of, please, [00:05:35] no more vampire stories, no more vampire stories or movies. Because apparently we're afraid of them like this. But maybe the rebrand is on, they're getting press already. We're down, I like the idea, Jordan. The castle has the bat home. [00:05:50] [MUSIC]