What started out as a last-minute idea to "haunt" the bathroom has turned into an annual "must have" according to our friends and family, who have lovingly dubbed it "The Bates Bath."  I found a recipe for fake blood in the newspaper the week before the party (I'll add it to the site later - but basically Karo syrup plus a certain number of red, then yellow, then blue food coloring and a little water) . . . and once you've made a pint of fake blood, you have to do SOMETHING with it, right?  So being the sick puppy I am . . .  I splattered the tile and tub with the blood, tossed in a couple rubber fingers and a butcher knife (over the years, guests have added severed hands, feet, tongues, ears and eyeballs to the mix) and hung up the memo from Mother Bates to Norman.  Last year we even found bath towels embroidered "BATES MOTEL" to add to the grisly scene.  Oh yeah, I forgot - we even put "POLICE LINE - DO NOT CROSS" tape across the tub . . .  Next year I'll get pictures of the whole gruesome scene!