Arasapha Farms Haunted Hayride And The Bates Motel

Tina Reuwsaat

It was with pleasant anticipation that I looked forward to the road trip with my reunited family to eastern Pennsylvania. My son and his girlfriend had flown east during a school break and wanted to see some haunts. This was a challenge in late September, but we remembered meeting Anne and Randy Bates while in Salem for the 1999 Global Halloween Convergence. They had told us about their attraction, Arasapha Farms Haunted Hayride And The Bates Motel which opened quite early in the season. The timing was just right and we made arrangements to arrive in Gradyville, PA, early on opening day, October 1st, to watch the set-up. What we thought would be a 3.5 hour trip from Virginia somehow turned into 8.5 hours, so we arrived late in the afternoon.

Being opening day, we expected to encounter chaos, but Randy and Anne were very calm, organized, welcoming and gracious. We met Anne at the public area fire-pit which is in front of the Bates Motel facade and she ushered us through a lights-on tour of the Motel. I was struck by the sheer number and diversity of the scenes (23 in all), in this 3500 square foot building. We encountered Randy about halfway through the Motel and he showed us the main control area for lights, sound and electronics, and the remainder of the walk-through. Exiting out the front facade back into the fire-pit area Randy pointed out the live-feed video screen set up to view one of the startle zones inside.

As dusk approached, our intrepid group of explorers were sent to walk the haunted hayride trail through the woods. We checked out the sets and props and tried to guess what scenarios would be played out later that night. The moldering mannequins and junked cars in the darkening woods made us uneasy and heightened our anticipation for the Hayride.

After dark, Randy personally ushered us past the snack bar and fire-pit area to the front of the line for the hayride. While patrons wait to board the wagons, they are entertained by a giant movie screen running a behind-the-scenes video of the Farm with some horror movie clips mixed in. We climbed the steps to board one of the ten hay-filled wagons, pulled by a tractor and fitted out with high-powered sound equipment. Each wagon can hold up to 50 people and in 1998 a record 166 wagons full of screaming guests (5000 patrons) rode through the attraction.

As we rode up the hill towards the woods, we passed a field where there normally would have been a corn maze set up, but the drought on this summer did not allow the corn to grow high enough to make that practical. Macabre music began playing through the tractor’s sound system as we spotted a huge skull facade up ahead flanked by flaming torches. The skull’s mouth was a drive-through tunnel and here is where the terror began. I discovered almost immediately that this was not your typical haunt. We managed to survive the first tunnel and the other 25 scenes staffed by 30 actors. The 20 minute hayride has great diversity in theme. Our particular wagonload of patrons were spontaneous screamers. Keep your eyes out especially for Bubba’s Ribs, the flying vampires, the dragon and maiden, and just when you think you are out of the woods, there is a little extra equestrian surprise that you will not encounter most anywhere else.

After a breather around the fire pit, a dinner of hot dogs and cider, and a close-up inspection of Randy’s beautiful custom hearse, we were ready to tackle the Bates Motel. The entrance was a 32 foot diameter crashed spacecraft. Our group was quite startled by the great timing and aggressive nature of the alien pilot. He ran us right into a spinning tunnel, which is the best one of these I have ever seen. I was disconcerted for some time afterward.

The Bates Motel is a diverse haunt, with 16 actors and 3 pushers, (actors stationed to move you along the path). There is quite a lot in the attraction to un-nerve you, the variety of scenes was amazing. Very few off the shelf animations were used, but it seemed everything was moving. The electrocution scene with a live actor controlling the lighting change, sound and fog, was very well done. The catacombs area was also quite effective. Using alcoves with a very fake looking corpse in each set up the scare. In the last alcove, the corpse was of a female, hoping to attract the boys to take a closer look, then suddenly the actor dressed in black (with the corpse attached to the front of him), steps out of the alcove. No one expected that and it was very effective. If you are afraid of clowns, beware! At one place in the Bates motel, a patron is separated from the group and cornered in a closet by several deranged clowns. As is the plan, the acting crew managed to separate us and with a final scare sent us running and screaming out the panic doors right into the waiting area in front of the fire-pits.

The fire-pit area is a common area, and a grand place to hang out afterwards the ordeal, a lot of the local townspeople meet here and everyone is welcome to stay until closing time. It is a great place to watch people running out of the Motel. Seeing their expressions when they spot the video screen and realize that they were being filmed while inside the haunt was great fun. An Ex-Mortis Count Grabula was roaming the area and it was fascinating to watch the reactions of fellow patrons. I noticed that his hair kept falling in his creepy eyes and being the motherly type I summoned up the courage to approach him and brush back his hair. The Count then handed me an envelope, much to my surprise it turns out that I was rewarded for my thoughtfulness with a $20 gift certificate from the Halloween Outlet Store. Moral of the story - be kind to the Monsters!

We had so much fun that we had to go back and do both shows a second time again. This trip, the actors and equipment were warmed up and did an even better job. Considering that this was opening night, I was sure that there would be many memorable performances in the weeks that followed.

It is a Bates Family tradition to host a nightly wrap party at the fire-pit after closing. Actors and crew meet to relax and rehash the evening’s performances, identify any problems and fine tune the scenes. We were invited to attend and got to meet some of the attraction’s legends, including Bubba, the clowns, and a few of Randy and Anne’s charming children. The cast are a loyal and talented group and the Bates are lucky to have assembled such an extended family of helpers.

Now in their twelfth year, the Arasapha Farm Haunted Hayride and Bates Motel have even bigger plans for the future. What started as a social event and an experiment in farm income diversification has proven to be the primary revenue-generating operation of the facility, allowing the family to retain ownership of this third-generation farm while those around them sell or go bankrupt. Randy and Anne now employ 90 people to run the show, including their six children, ranging in age from 8 to 19.

For more pictures and information on this season’s events calendar visit the Arasapha Farms Website at http://users.erols.com/rbateshh/lobby.htm or call 610-459-0647.

Tina Reuwsaat, and her husband Tim own Dark Wing Manor and the Morgueatorium Museum, a seasonal Halloween and Victorian Funerary museum in Old Town Manassas, Virginia. Tina can be contacted via Email at reuwsaat@home.com.