Rolling Hills Asylum
East Bethany, NY

In 1827, Genesee County in New York opened an alms house for those residents who had no other place to live: the poor, the feeble minded, the infirm, criminals, and those who were rejected by their family. Later, the institution became an infirmary. Even later, it was planned to be a senior living facility, and eventually was a boutique mall. In 2008 it closed its doors, and Sharon Coyle bought it, planning to restore it to the original appearance. Paranormal activity has been reported since before that. One reason the mall closed is because the vendors heard strange sounds. Many groups have investigated the Rolling Hills Asylum, and have found paranormal activity. This was Off the Trails Paranormal Investigations turn. We had our tour, led by Sharon, who lives adjacent and knows many of the spirits by name. Some of the “hot spots” are the morgue, second floor hall (aka – the hall of shadows), chapel, psychiatric rooms, and the procedures room.

We did our initial sweeps, set up our equipment, and got to work. We had lots of activity and experiences! Angel and I conducted a flashlight conversation with ( ) who was in the psychiatric room. In the early days, many people with mental illness were chained to the wall and left alone for days. There was no treatment. While we were talking with her, the ovilus was very active, too. Rarely does this happen, so we believe there were several spirits trying to communicate. At first, we thought she was using both mediums to communicate, but the conversations went in different directions. We told the former inmates how sorry we were that they were treated without compassion. In the gathering hall, I asked if there was anyone who wanted to perform, and the flashlight immediately went on. The presence indicated he was a child and then left. I imagined a little kid yelling out, “Pick me, pick me!” We also met the spirit of Mike, a little boy of 10 in the card room. Through the flashlight as a medium, he told us that he didn’t like people coming through the asylum. He did like to play outside, he was happy, and when I asked if this was his favorite room, said no. I asked if we had spoken to him before, and he answered that we had. I believe he was the child in the gathering hall. He told us he had many friends, and some were like us, alive. In the second floor hall, we sat quietly in the dark, and saw some of the shadow people moving about. I had the camera, placed face down, but recording sounds. There are many loud sounds but we didn’t hear them as we sat there! When I picked it up and turned on one of the lights, the noise stopped. We heard it later, as we listened to our EVPs. We did hear footsteps on the roof, and behind us. I tried to role play, sitting in a wheelchair and calling out to the nurse to take me back to my room! I also used one of the walkers, and repeatedly asked for help from a nurse. In Nurse Emma’s room, we heard on the EVP, a voice say “Yes” in response to my question, “Emma, are you here?” The Mel meter spiked to a 5.5 in one of the women’s wards. In the morgue is a suit Sharon picked up at a thrift shop and hangs on a ceiling pipe. It turned to look at us as we spoke to it! First one way, then another. Later on, Greg, Rob, and Beau conducted the same experiment with the same results! Who has attached itself to this old suit? And why? In the chapel, Angel and I sang a chorus of “Amazing Grace” hoping for a reaction. A voice on the EVP says, “Nice!” She was being complimentary! We asked Elizabeth, a 5 year old if she would play with the ball. Through the spirit box, a little girl’s voice said “ball.” We asked her to play and she replied, “No.” We felt someone watching us at various times. Once I felt an icy breeze on my neck and shoulders, but there was no draft. Angel saw a figure walk across the hall and into a wall. In George’s room, we had a Mel meter reading of 4.1 and a voice saying, “It’s time.”

Greg, Beau and Rob spoke to a murderer in the same psychiatric room as the one Angel and I had been in. He said his name was Anthony. They used the flashlight method, too. They all sat in the shadow hall and saw many shadow people. We captured a photo of who we think is Roy Crouse, the 7 foot giant who lived out his life there. His father dropped him off one day and never returned! Beau had one shadow walk directly behind him. They role played, too, using the wheelchair and calling for a nurse. Beau tried to communicate with the whistler by whistling, but had no luck. However, on the EVP, an unexplained voice says something that sounds like “new meat.” In the procedures room, they conducted a spirit box session, and the Mel meter registered 8.3. Walking down the hall to the solarium on the third floor, they noted a temperature drop of 10 degrees!

The most extraordinary event occurred when Rob and Sharon stepped outside so Rob could smoke. They heard an unexplained sound, a cross between growling and clashing metal. It reacted to them when they spoke. Beau came out to hear it the last time, and they all began to call us. Greg, Angel, and I in the break room heard someone yelling, “Everybody calm down” although Rob says he said, “Everybody come down.” We all saw flashing police lights, and came running out thinking someone had tried to break in. We were flabbergasted when the only people we saw were those three, and no police. We discussed it and came to no explanation.

One room has a Japanese style tea table. Walking around the room, Angel felt it was tilted. I felt like a force was pulling on my feet, making them heavy. Sharon explained her theory that this is a portal.

During the night, cars roared by, once somebody screeched out profanities, and once a truck and car were sitting in the yard. The guys saw them because they picked up a little teddy bear that had fallen of its perch. When the people in the truck and car saw they were discovered, they left. Maybe the spirits were looking out for their home.

The asylum is huge, and we didn’t get to all the rooms, unfortunately. We certainly would go back again if we get the opportunity!

http://rollinghillsasylum.vpweb.com/