Best Halloween Destination in Pennsylvania
On the 143rd episode of Speedify LIVE we head out to another IRL stream as we tour the famous haunted attraction of Pennsylvania, the Bates Motel.
We chat to Randy Bates about the spooky attraction, how it came to be and what they do there, the effects of the pandemic and the importance of safety, and we even go on a Haunted Hayride Live on stream!
Here are our 5 takeaways from our Spooky Stream at the Bates Motel:
- The Bates Motel is a true family business that has grown into one of the most famous spooky attractions! Starting with a haunted hayride, later adding a haunted corn maze, and expanding to year-round permanent escape rooms and laser tag, the Bates Motel now gets visitors from all over, and they even do mobile attractions within a 50mile area.
- Randy Bates tells us about the 13 haunts, a group of Haunted Attractions in the Philadelphia market, that was formed in order to allow the owners advertising venues at a fair price. They are even shooting their own documentary about the group with an Emmy-winning filmmaker!
- Another group we learn about is America Haunts, which is a group of 15 of the biggest haunted attractions in the US. They work together by holding meetings, visiting haunts and sharing ideas, and they already have a documentary that aired on the Travel Channel, which ended up acting as a giant commercial for the attractions.
- Randy tells us that safety always has to come first with any attraction! He has been teaching haunted house code compliance, hayride safety and outdoor safety courses since 2009 at safety seminars. He has also created the Hayrides Safety Standard document with other hayride owners, which went into effect starting February 2020.
- Our IRL stream setup managed to get us through a Haunted Hayride with just one glitch at a deadspot! As usual, we used an iPhone 12 Pro combining its own cellular and that of another phone in Speedify, streaming via Larix Broadcaster to Restream; using Rode Wireless Go 2 mics and a DJI Osmo 3 Gimbal.