The movie theater experience is supposed to be a fun time that everybody in the family can enjoy. However, one theater is not enjoying the experience themselves, as they are being repeatedly accused of infecting moviegoers with bed bugs. This is obviously causing the theater money as well as being a PR nightmare, though it appears that the accusations might be unfounded.
The general manager of the Mounds 10 Theater in Anderson, Indiana admits that the theater did have a bed bug problem earlier this year, but an exterminator was called in and the issue was dealt with. However, according to Fox 59, there have been at least five additional inspections for bed bugs over the past four months, and each of them has turned up nothing. This hasn't stopped the problem as a family believes they were infected with bed bugs, and brought the annoying insects home with them, after seeing a screening of IT at the theater as recently as two weeks ago. However, once again an inspection was done and no bed bugs were found.
Bed bugs are brutal and can be a serious blow to any establishment that ends up with them. A hotel that gets a reputation for the irritating little things has some significant work to do to get their reputation back. The same can certainly be said for movie theaters. It would be bad enough if the theater actually had bed bugs, but it seems that in this case, the theater is dealing with all the negative press that comes with the accusation, without actually having the problem.
Apparently, you can be infected with bed bugs for some time before suffering any of the effects, so it is possible that the people accusing the theater of bed bugs did actually pick them up someplace else, though it would certainly be a remarkable confluence of events that would see multiple people picking up the bugs elsewhere, and then also visiting the movie theater. Of course, something like that must have happened at least once, as that was likely how the theater became infected the one time it was apparently a legitimate issue. Apparently, Indiana as a state has some issues with bed bugs overall, so perhaps so many people getting infected elsewhere isn't such a crazy idea.
At this point, this theater in Indiana has been so thoroughly inspected for bed bugs that may be the least likely place to find them in the state. Hopefully, if the theater is totally in the clear, they can find some way to end these incessant accusations so they don't need to spend all their money on repeated pest inspections, though it is certainly nice to see the company step up and do the work to make sure everything is ok, even though they certainly believe the theater is clean.
