Gerrard Kaonga
A group of women are attempting to sue Airbnb after a frightful stay at a Michigan home that saw them allegedly attacked by a swarm of bats.
In July, seven women rented out a house in Alpena, Michigan, to stay for several days as they came to the city to celebrate their 50th high school reunion.
But things quickly took a turn for the group.
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"This is every renter's worst nightmare. What was supposed to be a fun vacation turned into a house of horror for my clients", the women’s attorney Jon Marko told the Detroit Free Press.
“This played out like a scene from a Halloween horror movie.”
The house that is nicknamed 'The Castle' is well rated on the Airbnb website, with a 4.81-star rating made up of 21 reviews.
However, the guests claimed to have had a less than pleasant evening during their stay due to their run in with multiple Michigan Brown Bats, according to the lawsuit.
“In the late evening hours of July 26, 2023, while the women were about to go to sleep, the bats suddenly came alive and began entering the living quarters through base boards and other narrow openings in the old home,” the lawsuit explained of the alleged harrowing experience.
“The women were jolted awake by screeching sounds to see dark figures moving up and down the old lathe walls. The bats eventually took flight, dive bombing the women as they lay in their beds.
“The women scrambled to their feet in an attempt to get out of the home but found that the stairwell was consumed with bats. They began pouring out of the attic into the bedrooms and hallway.”
The lawsuit states that the women, with no other available options, rushed to their beds and ‘cowered underneath the sheets.’
Some of the victims say they had the bats entangled in their hair, with others sustaining bat bites.
This terrifying experience allegedly continued until the morning when the bats re-entered the attic.
Following this, an exterminator was called who found a large colony of the bats in the attic as well as bat excrement and urine running down the basement walls.
The owner of the property, known only as Thomas, responded to the review and said it was 'incredibly random and unfortunate' and immediately approved the women’s refund and offered to pay for a hotel stay as well as dinner.
The lawsuit accuses Airbnb of negligence and says the company should have known the dangerous conditions of the property due to the bat infestation and should not have allowed the property to be advertised on the platform.
UNILAD has contacted Airbnb for comment.