Good Day Uncut: Bates Motel Haunted House

Philadelphia, we are Uncut. Hey, y'all, welcome to another episode of Uncut. Again, Hank is out, man, so you got your man. You know what I mean? I'm outside here. Look, I'm not in Kansas, Dorothy, but I might be when I spin around in this circle, man. So, look, we know it's the holiday season. We're out here at least, I guess that's the holiday season when we start off with Halloween and we move into the rest of them. I'm at the Bates Motel, man, and I know most of y'all know that Mike don't do artificial fear. But I'm out here, and we'll see what comes from it, man. So, this place has been running for about 36 years or so. I'm going to spin this around, man, show y'all. We're going to go over there where they get the cast together. But first thing I'm going to do is introduce my man, Ben. Ben is over here. Hold on, Ben. Let me throw one of these mics on you, man. You can put that on yourself for you real quick. All right, so this is Ben Bates. Now, what's your title with the Bates Motel? So, I'm the VP of operations, so help run all daily operations. Head of the build crew, so all the stuff that you see, me and my team put together. I have an awesome team of guys. We work year-round making all this stuff. And then the other thing that blew my mind is, like, your last name is really Bates, man, or is that, like, the stage name? No, that's our real name. Yeah, it worked out well for the name, for sure. Dig it, dig it. So, just real quick, give us a little history of the Bates Motel and what it is, man. And in the meantime, we'll walk over and check out the makeup tent while you're talking. So, in 1991, my parents decided they wanted to do a haunted hayride. One of the neighbors was doing a small thing. we were doing hayrides for college students and stuff like that before just bonfires and a logging company cut a trail through our woods and my dad saw it as an opportunity to start a haunted hayride got 10 friends together built some small little sets we did like 500 people the first year and then from there it just kept growing 96 we put the haunted barn in and then in 2001 we put the haunted corn trail in that's so ever since then just keep uh growing and getting bigger so as i was driving in man um i noticed up the road like a mile up the road yeah i seen a sign that said uh base motel traffic use shoulder the road yep like it get that crazy that's a mile's worth of traffic our township we figured out you know early 2000s my dad did a traffic study and they said all right well if you can put these certain signs and do this to help flow traffic you know we could do our conditional use and be able to do this on the property so all those little things we do help. So, you know, regular, regular people can still get by and our customers will be over and we get them in and we don't have a lot of traffic, keep everything safe and moving. So now how big is the, like the, the attraction itself? So the whole farm is about a hundred acres. Um, a lot of it's Christmas tree farm. So we do do cut your own Christmas trees too. Um, about 25 acres of it is the actual haunt. Okay. And then, uh, and the haunt runs from when to when? So we start either the last weekend or the second to last weekend in September and we'll run until November 1st. All right, so now let's move into this room right here, man. Like, this is the makeup space. This guy, who's this guy playing with electricity? It's actually my nephew. Who raised this guy? Who let this guy? Like, what's the school district got here? Tell us a bit about what's going on in this room. So this is our makeup room. We'll have anywhere from 8 to 15 makeup artists a night, and we'll bring in our actors, and they'll get all done up by attraction, and then they'll go over to our costume department and get their custom costumes on so these guys like y'all don't skimp on the makeup and the costume artists in this space no not at all we have some very talented makeup artists for sure so how long does it normally take to get everybody up and running Olivia, how long does it take to do one makeup? Let's throw the mic on Olivia, all right, yeah get her in there, Olivia talk to us a little bit you can either hold it, that's fine, hello um so we have around 12 to 15 minutes to do each makeup Some makeup takes like eight minutes and then some at the end of the night take like 20 minutes But you're in and out. We have around a hundred actors to get done in two three out two and a half hours. Yeah We makeup artists get here at 4:30 and then we start makeup at 5 We do have masks that would get a blackout so let's say their eyes are just visible so about 15 minutes per person? Yes, 12 to 15 minutes per person. This one right here though, like this is more than a 15 minute job. She's cutting it close to like 15 minutes. Yeah, we're very quick. This is Ava. Yes. Ava's nice with it. I see that the little extra little soft brush there. And so just talk to some, who we got character wise here? This is my man, that clown that with the balloon. No. Is that right? Is that who you got here? No, I'm just a killer clown. All right. We'll take that. Yeah, look at his head. Look at that. He's got a brain. So how much studying on your part, though, like, this is not like regular makeup. Do you go to school to be, like, to do this kind of makeup? A lot of people do. I personally didn't. I know a bunch of our makeup artists have gone to cosmetology school. I've been in the film industry for four years, so this is all self-taught. um it's a very cool form of makeup and expression so let me grab that mic off you real quick yeah of course this guy, look at this guy, are you proud of yourself yeah very proud the kid the better the scare so i go home happy listen i'm i'm not a small kid and i'm gonna tell you what let me turn this around here if i ran into you when the sun was down man listen let me tell you if i ran into you when the sun was up i probably crossed the street good idea yeah i'm sure it is i'm sure i don't play with you guys you know what i mean so listen look man so let me get back over here we've been grabbed up there yeah i got you so so what are some of the attractions that we're going to see today for us to see because it's in a metal building so you will lose service so we'll see the outside of it and then our haunted corn trail we'll walk through a little bit of that okay and then we'll go through our hayride we'll hop on the hayride and get through a little bit of that so everybody can get a little bit of everything all right that's what's up so listen y'all we're gonna take a quick commercial break we're gonna Where we going from here? We're gonna go out to the corn maze. We're going out to the corn maze and we're gonna let this guy keep playing with electricity. You know what I mean? We'll see how long that lasts. And we'll see y'all in two minutes. Y'all hang with us. We have the baseball towel over here, man. Getting our makeup ready. Get out, man. I'm walking into the, this is the corn maze. I don't know where Ben is taking me, but they got a side of pork hanging from the joint And you would think it was just in, like, a real house. Wait a minute, look at this guy. This might not even be good for daytime TV. Flip that camera around, man. So this is the core, man. Hey, man, you go. Don't leave me here with you. So this is one of our buildings in the trail. So we actually, it's actually not a maze. It's more of a trail. And we have multiple buildings, multiple props. A lot of things you walk past, go through, which makes it really interactive. And that's our big thing. We want to immerse people in that, you know, experience. All right, well, my man, like, where the rest of his body? so who actually like comes up with these ideas for these things man like because these are not things that get into my brain so we all do so by we have a huge crew you know a nice build crew and we're constantly coming up with ideas and new things to build go bigger better um so like i said it's a year-round deal we're already thinking about things we're going to do next year right so you said you got about 100 actors that you'll deal with on a yearly basis yep right and then Actually, it's about 400 actors because they have 100 actors every night. You have to have that surplus because some people can't work certain nights. So we have about 400 actors we hire. And y'all are open five nights, seven nights a week? Seven nights a week. Seven nights a week. So we do the first couple weekends in September or the last couple weekends in September. And then once it hits October, the second week, we go full time. We're open seven days a week. So about how many people y'all get through here? I mean, I know it's more crazy on the weekends. Yeah, absolutely. What's the biggest numbers we get through here? Uh, we'll probably do on like a Saturday, we'll do 4,000 people. Wow. Yeah. Dude, 4,000 people on a Saturday? On a Saturday night. So what are y'all here for, Mike? What time do you open, 6 to midnight? Yeah, so we'll start at 6, and we're usually done by 11:30. And 4,000 people. We've got it figured out now that we can flow pretty well. That's insane. I see homegirl back here playing the body part. I don't know what's up with her. Look at this, guys. Flu shot. It's the season. You've got to get your flu shot. she's having a flu shot so you know what i mean i haven't had mine yet but i think i'm gonna pass yeah like you know what i mean you don't look you don't look very trustworthy you know what i mean don't take that personally but i mean like you know what i'm saying have you seen friends please look at your friends these are the people you hang out with these people you hang out with that might explain your situation so look so so how big is the the corn what do we call it's not a maze you said it's a corn trail we'll call it so and i mean how big is the trail itself so it's about three acres sneaking out and it winds through you can see the buildings they go on you go through all that over there just check it out for a few minutes man to see what else we got in here here's my guy my guy he like you said little kid knock out i'm off mike hold on a second How about now? What do you get when you come out here, man? Base motel? And you know, listen, man. And I told you, man. I don't do artificial fear, man. So even with the sun up Yeah. You know what I mean? I have a lot of adults that won't go through. They come and bring their kids out and send their kids through. Yeah. But parents are scared to go through. No, because parents know real life fears That's right. They're like, listen, man. The water bill might be coming. Yeah, right. The freaking light bill is coming I don't know what y'all eating tonight. Y'all going in there. I got real life scary things I'm dealing with. Yeah, right. Hey, look, man. So what else we got? This is our courtyard. So that's the Bates Motel. Okay, let's look at the, so this right here. So we would normally try to go in there, but every time we go in. Lose service because it's a metal building. I think we came out here 10 years ago and tried to go in there and couldn't get a signal. And then we have our concession stand, which we have drinks, food. And then we have our homemade apple cider donuts. So y'all, like, put together a whole big, like, it's like a... It's an event. A fear festival out here. Yeah, we have our escape rooms you can do. We have axe throwing. We have our coffin rides, our gift shop. So it's a, you know, it's a whole event to come out for the night and hang out and have a good time. So when people come out, man, like, so they spend on average, like, do people just come out and, like, what's the average amount of time a customer... It's probably two to two and a half hours to get through everything and then, you know, hang out and do some extra stuff. coffin rides are our escape rooms or grab some donuts yeah like you don't ride in a coffin yeah we have a coffin you get in and it's all actuated by air it's got a soundtrack it's got scents vibrates simulation of being buried i'm sorry because i'm trying to think in my head man like it always blows my mind yeah how many people enjoy being scared they love it right and like and want to get the simulation of getting as close to death as possible, right? Yeah, yeah, right. Exactly. And I'm like, and you guys have figured out how to monetize and maximize it, right? But, I mean, like, does it ever surprise you? Like, who do you see that comes through here? Or do you see anybody? You'd be, like, and you see the amount of families you see. They love it as a night out. Yeah. Because even if the dad's not getting scared, he's watching his kids get scared, which is fun for him. So I always tell my people, you know, like, oh, that might not be the scariest thing. and I always tell them if you're entertaining them right people are coming out to be entertained whether you're getting scared or the person next to you is getting scared they're having fun because they think it's funny that person got scared so so you ever get like y'all get like runners oh yeah people like we get people we get people that get they'll get to the front of the haunted house and go nope i'm not going in yeah that was me yeah that's what i would do i get right up to this joint especially if the sun went down yep it's all about setting that atmosphere we have speakers throughout the whole place so we're playing music the whole time there's fog everywhere fog machines so yeah so it just has that that feel when you get here as soon as you get out of your car we have audio playing that's kind of creepy music come on over here get a shot of the base motel sign and the thing is that's real kind of ill too like so i'm sure like once it's dark out here you don't really you can't tell who's who and what's right and we have all scenic lighting and all that going on but you know you walk up on a little joint like this look at the legs moving like have a seat next door what happens have a seat go ahead if this feels like a setup have a seat what's her name go ahead you know that's a setup this is why he says go ahead listen man i'm on live tv man i gotta watch my mouth it is a lot of fun to sit here and watch this how many times you must just people just jump up and oh it's so much fun over and over with it's great and like i just was bugged out of how her feet was moving let me say like you know what i mean how her feet was moving i didn't anticipate anything else happening so look man we gotta take another commercial break man we out here at the bates motel um you know the kid only coming out here when the sun is up man you know what i mean he got well how many acres you said this was about 100 acres. 100 acres of straight fear for you and your family. If this is what you went to, come on out here. Get out here early because you don't want to sit in that line for a mile all the way back. If I was you, I'd get out here. Was 6 o'clock your opening? 6 o'clock. Get out here. Y'all probably have people already lined up at 6 o'clock, don't you? Yep. But the lines are short then. That's the time to come. So get out here early, man. Come on out here. Do the midweek. You get just as scared. Might be a little less scared on a Wednesday than on a Saturday because they revved up by then. Yo, we're going to take a two-minute break. We'll be right back, y'all. Thanks, guys. Have them play audio. That way it's easier to hear each other. All right, y'all. We are back, man. We just hopped on a tractor. I don't know where Ben is taking me. I probably should proceed with more caution, because Ben ain't got no problem. He's trying to see me jump and yell. That's the whole point, isn't it? Like a little girl out here. So, but you was telling me, man, about the idea of scaring someone. So you said when you scare someone. The joy of scaring somebody, when you really get that good scare, all the emotions that come out of somebody are probably the most fun. I'm telling you honestly, too, it's usually the big dad that's coming through, you know, guarding his wife, guarding his kids, doing all that. That's probably the best. And so the fact that you find pleasure in having somebody's body shake, tense up. And all of them do. I've had actors here that have been here 10, 15, 20 years, and they love it. And keep coming back. That's kind of like a driving force for the ride. Absolutely. So where are we entering right now? So this is the entrance to our hayride. We got fire effects everywhere You know at night everything's lit a little different obviously during the day you can you know see everything But when it has a scenic lighting on it's up. It's next level. Yeah We got animatronics everywhere. You know we want that full immersive feel We usually have a soundtrack going on that's playing music to each scene We have about 40 actors throughout the woods. And so they just jump out on you from anywhere and everywhere. Yup, they all got a home. Yup, that's right. And then they know the woods. I don't even know what to say, what questions to ask, because I'm so out of my element right now. You know what I'm saying? Look at this guy. clown guy get my composure out here man because i'm so out of place right now and and the fact that these cats are following me back here like i'm thinking of my man up front like yo he can't drive this no faster like this is this is faster to go this machine and so and how big does the hay ride itself how long is this so it's a little over a mile um it's about the tire rides about 25 minutes. That's the whole idea. The amount of screaming that takes place on this thing like do you get the cat who likes to be extra cool and then y'all catch him? Oh yeah catch him sleeping and he just gets scared that's the best part. It's actually fun to sit and listen to people go through and you have people laugh and scream and just having that good time I think that's what keeps us going and keeps us doing it it's just that the enjoyment people get out of coming. Is Is there a, like, do y'all, I guess it's too dark. Are you going to say, so y'all don't videotape any of this? No. Right. So we have the security cameras everywhere, but we don't video. Right, right, right. But I would just be curious to see people's reactions after. Stuck in the ground, that's because they're dead. He's dead probably. Yeah, I think so. I mean, judging from you, I would go with he's dead. And he should, look at this guy. He's my daughter. And so then you mentioned the casket ride. How does that work? So it's a simulated coffin. We have one that's a single and one that's double. So if somebody's too scared, they can get in with their friend. And it's a whole immersive experience. It's got speakers and scents that you smell, and it vibrates, and it moves on air cylinders. And it feels like you're getting buried. The audio that plays, you know, it feels like you're riding a hearse, and then you're getting put in the ground, and there's dirt coming over top of you. Listen, I don't think that could feel alive if everyone wants to feel, man. At least I would think that. But look, we've got to take one commercial break. And we'll be back in a minute and a half. This is, we're at the base motel. Y'all take us to a commercial. Look at this posse. Look like the meat rack. That's right. And so, I was just, Ben was just saying how, you were saying how a lot of the attractions you guys get. How do you get your hands on a lot of this stuff? So, we'll go to auctions. A lot of people have just known us over the years for taking stuff. You know, one thing my dad always said, you know, is if somebody's got something cool that they want to get rid of, and we have to go move, we'd stop doing whatever we're doing and go get it. You know, old machinery, things like that, makes it so realistic when you can make that stuff part of your attraction. So you're saying how, like, y'all go, you know, whether it's a morgue, a funeral home, a hospital. We've been to all the real embalming tables, all that kind of stuff that people just need to get rid of, but not the normal person's going to buy it. Right, because, like, what am I going to do with an embalming table? Right. You know, so where are we headed now, right now? We were heading into our wild west town. Like, that west wasn't wild enough? Yeah. It gets wilder than that? Yeah. Oh, yeah. So, is this the foot trail? This is a full town. No, so this is, you would still be on the hayride. I figured it'd be fun to walk it, though. Yeah, yeah, trying to set it up. See, like, this is all old machinery, old wagons. So, to go, you know, we're always on the lookout for when we go to decorate a scene. That's probably some of the most fun is decorating our scenes and outfitting them with realistic things. so what was like one of the weirdest things or most uh you know strangest things that when somebody called you and said we got this uh are you interested look at this what's going on in that saloon what is one of the we actually got a call for that when you went picked it up he was like I can't even believe they're calling me for this. We got a morgue table, but it was in somebody's basement. Jesus, guys. Ruining our relationship, bro. Like, you can't just keep sneaking up on me like this, man. We got a morgue table out of a basement. And then, oh, you dropped me. I'm going to need that. And we got a full dentist set up. Old dentist. And that was all in the basement of a house. Thank you. Which was super strange. So, like, the whole house. The house was, like, condemned. And we walked down. There was, like, pictures of kids on the walls. We got to wrap up the show, guys. I don't know how much time we got left, but I'm sure we're pretty close. 30 seconds, we got left. So look here, man. We at the Bates Motel, man. If you ain't got nothing to do over the next couple weeks, come on out here. Have a good time. Get a little scared. And meet my team. What up, y'all? Look at my team. I don't want no beef with us. This is my team. Look at this. Look, look, look. Look, Ben, you ever walk into town with these guys?