Rolling Hills Asylum Investigation

Formerly called The Genesee County Poor Farm initially opened January 1, 1827. Throughout its history it has been a poor farm, infirmary, nursing home and a carriage museum. The building has housed a diverse amount of people including: widows, orphans, unwed mothers, tuberculosis patients, drunkards, lunatics, Civil War veterans, criminals, the handicapped and other displaced persons. An infirmary was added on in 1938. In 1964 it served as the Genesee County Nursing Home. The building was eventually closed in 1974. Existing residents were then moved to another facility in Batavia. It remained shuttered until in 1992 when the building was purchased by Joseph and Rosemary Bodekor for the purpose of establishing a carriage museum, Carriage Village. It was once owned by Lori Carlson and eventually purchased by Sharon and Jerry Coyle in late 2009. The building is over 60,000 square feet.

The old poor farm spanned over 200 acres of land and nearby woods. The county supplied pauper’s food and board for about $1.08 per week in 1871. The location was self-sufficient as they had fields of crops and raised their own cattle for milk and slaughter. There once was a cemetery where the county would bury people that had died there that had no family however the location is lost forever due to it being reclaimed by the surrounding vegetation and woods.

Address: 11001 Bethany Center Rd., East Bethany, NY 14054

Phone: (585) 502-4066

Owner: Sharon Coyle, cell 714-757-6565

Website: www.rollinghillsasylum.com

Hauntings: 1^st floor: in Room 112 there is a ghost of a little boy who often throws objects. Also on this floor is a ghost of a screaming man and lady.

2^nd floor: in the Rocking Chair Room, objects levitate and at the end of the hallway a ghost of a man named Jack blocks out lights and open doors.

The Shadow Hallway has a wheelchair in it and when men sit in the wheelchair it often moves as though someone unseen is pushing it down the corridor. Phenomena include shadow figures, crawlers, sounds of footsteps and furniture being dragged overhead from a floor that does not exist, disembodied voices and huge cracks.

The East Wing was built on top of the original four-storied Men’s Dormitory; however the new dormitory is only a three story structure.

Basement: the Morgue was opened in 1938 when the infirmary was completed and served in that purpose until around 1992 when it was converted into a bakery. People who lie on the morgue table often feel a compression on their chests. EMF spikes have occurred here, disembodied voices and communication with a spirit that speaks in Italian.

The original Christmas Room was designed by the Bodekor’s where Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus used to hand out toys to the children. This is still a very active area for children’s ghosts. It was damaged and had to be relocated to another room in the facility.

East Wing Rec Room was used for all sorts of recreational activity and is quite haunted by light anomalies like flashed of red, white, yellow or blue lights, a wheelchair moves on its own, disembodied voices and screams and sounds of footsteps walking across the stage and numerous EVPs.

East Wing Chapel Room which was once used by traveling clergy from 1958-1974 and paranormal activity include a young blond-haired girl between the age of 4-6 called Elizabeth, an elderly woman named Rose who used to use a walker and an elderly married couple who are heard arguing all the time. Loud unexplained bangs and cracking sounds are heard. It is currently being used by the staff for movie nights, weddings and other special events.

South Wing Laundry Room was used from 1958-1974 and was used by the inmates to give them a sense of purpose. Paranormal activity includes a little boy named Jack who sings and plays, a man who says ‘Get out’, light play in the tunnel, whistling and EVPs.

East Wing Ladies Dormitory: this room was used from 1958-1974 and is often nicknamed The Vortex Room and was originally a ladies dorm room most likely housing two to four ladies at any given time. A number of people who enter this room claim that it has a “fun house” effect like the floor is tilted or slanted often resulting in headaches, nausea and extreme temperature changes. Other activity include disembodied voices, the feeling of being watched, temperature drops, EMF activity, flashes of light and is good for spirit boxes and EVP sessions.

West Wing Infirmary: This area used from 1938-1974 is often associated with a 73-year-old man, Cecil Speakman born July 23, 1909, who tried to convert this area into apartments for widows and the elderly. He single-handedly stayed in the building by himself and started to tear down load-bearing walls and reusing the cinder blocks for smaller rooms. He said that the building was broke into a number of times by teens who were often arrested and then put to work with Cecil as their punishment. He used to carry either a shotgun or a machete for protection and there is an alleged ghost photograph that apparently shows a black shadow figure holding what looks like a machete. Cecil died from stress and several strokes in the building on November 15, 1990.

Other activity in the room include the sounds of doors slamming, shadow people, disembodied voices and EVPs.

The Shock Therapy Room – although there is no evidence that electroshock therapy was ever employed here, past investigators have picked up the sounds of electro current zapping and EVPs of inmates saying shock or shock therapy. Other events include doors slamming, shadow people and EVPs.

George Fleming’s Room on the third floor also in the West Wing was named for the former Superintendent George Fleming. Fleming was born December 23, 1865 and was appointed January 1, 1912, a position he held for 29 years. He and his wife Anna Cox Fleming lived on the farm, across Bethany Center Road in a large white caretaker’s house. The land adjacent to the poor farm was originally purchased in 1882 to provide wood to the poor farm. The County Forest was initiated by Fleming through the planting of over 31,000 trees with the help of inmates living there at the time.

After suffering several strokes which impaired his speech, he and his wife moved to this upstairs bedroom above the infirmary so that the medical staff could better take care of him. He eventually died in this room on March 10, 1941 at the age of 75.

Paranormal activity includes a growling sound (thought to be George due to his numerous strokes), another man who likes to slam the closet door and a young woman who hides in the closet.

Intake Room – this room is the entrance to the infirmary. This is where all new patients would first check in to the nurse on duty. Superintendent Erven W. Hoppaugh and his wife Lillian who was a registered nurse were in charge of this facility for over 11 years. They along with their three children lived in the old white dorms on the property, and even worked in the Nursing Home, until its closing in 1974. After the closing, the dorms, even though in great condition were torn down.

Phenomena encountered here include ghostly figures and shadow people, sounds of a telephone ringing, nurses talking and EVPs.

Roy’s Room: a seven foot tall shadow person has been encountered here from time to time. He is once believed to have been a real person, Roy Crouse. Allegedly he had a defect in his pituitary gland that was responsible for his gigantism. He lived out his life here and died in 1942 at the age of 52. He was over seven and a half feet tall at the time of his death.

Emma’s Room: is a room that belonged to a nurse known as Emma Altworth, a German nurse that was alleged as a “not-so-nice” person with poor bed-side manner. A number of people have heard dragging sounds, a closet door would open by itself and even reports of shadow play.

There is any number of other ghost stories in this very haunted building.

Equipment setup: Mostly hand-held equipment was used: digital camcorders and recorders, Ovilus X, full-spectrum cameras, IR illuminators, Melmeters, Phasma Box, Tri-Field Natural EM Meter and Laser Grids. On occasion during some of our EVP sessions, IR camcorders were employed to record the sessions.

Experiments performed: EVP, Ovilus X and Phasma Box sessions were conducted in the Morgue, the underground tunnels and Emma’s Room.

The Ghost Research Society investigated Rolling Hills Asylum August 10, 2018. Team members included: Barbara Meagher, Michael Wright and Dale Kaczmarek with help from Amanda Pilgreen, Tim Schmudlt, Melissa Johnson and Dean Thompson from Ghost Head Soup

Personal experiences:

Barbara Meagher: First investigation was done in the Morgue where a 16 minute EVP session was done. No EVPs heard on digital recording.

Another EVP session was conducted by this investigator and others in the Asylum Shadow Hallway. This investigator recorded for 8 minutes, no evidence found.

A 16 minute EVP session was then conducted in the Asylum Tunnel. No findings on the recording.

A 10 minute EVP session was then conducted in Emma’s room; no evidence picked up on digital recording. This investigator did however, hear footsteps repeatedly on the top floor, and there was no on there.

Michael Wright: The Asylum is located in a very rural area of New York; it had an extensive history of paranormal incidences.

We Investigated the Asylum with Dean Thompson’s group Ghost Head Soup, during our first EVP session we heard noises that sounded like someone walking above the room we were investigating.

In the third EVP session there was some Ovilus activity but the highlight for me was the Phasma Box application which was responding to the questions being asked sounding like it was repeating the questions almost in a mocking tone using multiple voices.

The dowsing rods which normally are responsive were fairly inactive for the evening.

Because of our time limit we were only able to investigate a small section of this large facility, wish we had more time to explore this location.

Dale Kaczmarek: This was a location that I’ve always wanted to visit for a very long time. Long-time friend and fellow investigator, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, had been there in the past and said that it was very active. That was an understatement! The place is immense and just getting from haunted site to haunted site, took some time. We only conducted three EVP sessions in some of the most active locations and rooms. We could have done a lot more if we weren’t so tired from the trip and train ride on the Amtrak.

There were a lot of audible noises, some even responded directly when we asked for a noise to be produced. A clear sound of footsteps were heard and recorded in a hallway. We could have probably spent less time at each location in order to cover more spots. If we ever return here again, that would be the plan.

While in the Morgue a suit that was hanging nearby began to swing in a circle. I cannot be sure if this was a paranormal or natural event but just before that the Ovilus X said “shirt.” That was very interesting!

Others in the group while in the Morgue saw a shadow figure on the far wall and a figure inside the closet. At that same time the Melmeter was holding a steady 1.3 reading.

Later while in Emma’s Room, “George” came through the Ovilus X and George’s Room was just down the hallway.

Evidence collected:

Another noise to the left rolling.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the Shadow Hallway, a noise was heard coming out of one of the rooms to the left which everyone heard.

Its hard rolling.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the underground tunnels, the device said, “It’s hard.”

Mike rolling.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Morgue, the device called out, “Mike.”

Noise rolling.MPG – while conducting an EVP session in the Shadow Hallway, a question was asked, “If you can hear my voice, can you make a noise?” Almost immediately a noise comes out of the Women’s Restroom to the right of the corridor.

Strange voice rolling.MPG – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Morgue, a comment was made about putting on a suit that was hanging by the Morgue table. A “strange voice” was recorded in the background that could not be made out.

Walking sound rolling.MPG – while conducting an EVP in the Shadow Hallway, Thompson said that he is hearing the sound of footsteps overheard. Clearly, those footsteps were then recorded.

Words spoken by the Ovilus X in dictionary mode: Morgue; Pop, tied and shirt (there was a shirt hanging nearby that began to swing in a circle). Underground tunnels; New Moon and tragic and in Emma’s Room; move, flow, cupcake, dominate, twenty, orb, George (George’s room was right down the corridor), seek, be, yours and Oremus. Two identifiable words were produced by the Ovilus X here in phonetic mode; Error and help.

Conclusions: This was a fabulous location with lots of history and hauntings. Coyle even told us a story about a small town just a little south/southwest called Dale where there is supposed to be a small unmarked airport. She and others in the area have seen blinking lights and black helicopters in the area. Kinda reminds me of Area 51.

If the group wasn’t so tired from the trip, we probably would have investigated more locations. There were so many rooms that had some kind of paranormal activity in the past. The great part of the building is that most of the rooms had plaques affixed on the wall just before you entered the room to inform one of the history and hauntings within.

The main thing I did not like about visiting here was the owner not allowing us to videotape or audiotape our initial walk-through like we have so many hundreds of times in the past at various locations across the country. This prevented us from getting many of the stories, history and hauntings documented for our later report and posting to the website and, most importantly, the ability to perhaps capture and document any paranormal encounters we might have recorded during our walk-through. We have never been denied access in the past to videotape or audiotape ANY location that our group has investigated and that goes back over 40 years. So we were limited in collecting evidence only during our EVP sessions, what we could gather from plaque and later from the Internet.

However I believe that our group did still have a good time there and may wish to revisit this location if we are ever in the neighborhood with a larger group and more cameras and equipment. We were limited this time because the GRS members had to travel via train and could not bring a lot of equipment.