A group of female friends who booked a Michigan Airbnb that was meant to be “bursting with charm” are now suing the company for what turned out to be a house of horror as they were attacked by bats while sleeping in bed, WKBK reports. The lawsuit was filed on October 30, with the women seeking damages not just from Airbnb but the homeowner and the rental’s manager.
The women were looking forward to staying in “The Castle.”
The Victorian-style home in Alpena was booked in July 2023 as the women attended their 50th high school reunion, per the lawsuit filed by Marko Law.
Things started out well enough and the first three nights’ stay passed without incident. However, that all changed on the fourth night when they began to hear a loud screeching.
What the women believed was one bat turned out to be dozens.
After hearing the screeching, it wasn’t long before bats began flying into rooms, making their way in via cracks in baseboards and other narrow openings.
The women claim the bats were “dive-bombing” them in bed and that they cowered in terror as more and more began pouring out from the attic into the stairwell, hallways, and bedrooms.
Because the women couldn’t leave the house, they tried hiding under the bedsheets. However, bats got tangled in their hair and one woman was even bitten by some of the bats.
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An exterminator discovered a huge infestation in the attic.
After the women checked out, The Castle was inspected by an exterminator, who found a huge colony of Michigan brown bats that had been living there for several years.
The women themselves had to all get rabies shots and said they suffered mentally and emotionally from the terrifying experience.
One woman even left a review on the Airbnb listing page, writing, “The host did not respond to our 11 calls during our terrifying night with the bats, beginning at 12:08 a.m. The co-host answered my call but could not offer any help. We did not hear from the host until I checked Airbnb and saw he had responded via Airbnb email at 7:30 the morning following the invasion.”
The owner responded, calling what happened “incredibly random and unfortunate” and revealing that the women had been given a refund and offered money for other accommodation and meals.
The lawsuit the women filed alleges serious negligence.
The women say that Airbnb “negligently allowed the bat-infested home to be advertised on the platform” and that the company “had a responsibility to ensure that the home was safe when renting it,” per the Free Press.
Attorney Jon Marko said in a press release, “This is every renter’s worst nightmare. What was supposed to be a fun vacation turned into a house of horror for my clients. No one expects to be attacked by a horde of bats. This played out like a scene from a Halloween horror movie.”
The lawsuit has not yet been served.
