The Creepy Motel That Inspired Psycho is Now a Real Idaho Airbnb

The history of the building is a little complicated. It started out as a World War II Army barracks. Many of these buildings were sold after the war and moved all over the country. They became apartments, houses, schools, churches, and even motels.

This particular building was sold to Randy Bates, who opened the Bates Motel along Sherman Avenue in Coeur d'Alene. Many who have stayed the night here have said to have seen ghosts or experienced the paranormal. Could it be that a soldier still lived in the building long after he lost his earthly life?

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Some say that Robert Bloch, who wrote the novel that later turned into the movie Psycho, stayed here and that the motel may have inspired the film. There's no actual record of this happening, and according to Land of Illusion, the novel was based on Ed Gein, known as the Butcher of Plainfield, a serial killer from Wisconsin.

Several motels across the United States claim to be the place where Robert Bloch stayed and inspired the location of his scary book. All of them are or were once named Bates Motel.

We found a YouTube video of someone getting a tour of the Coeur d'Alene Bates Motel in 2015. At the time, the motel had changed its name to The Lighthouse Inn, and in addition to motel rooms, it also rented some spaces out as long-term rentals. See the highlights below, the former Bates Motel's transformation, and how you can stay there.

The motel closed shortly after this 2015 video and sat vacant for a long time. But in January, it reopened as "The Flats in Couer d'Alene." It is now a vacation rental property that has tried to distance itself from the building's potentially scary past.

Check out the transformation from a haunted motel to a chic Airbnb.