Rolling Hills (Old Genesee County Home \ Asylum), E. Bethany, NY
In 2001, a woman from Albion, NY looked into buying a huge, rambling old building near East Bethany, NY. The property was a converted three story public building transformed into a quaint country style mall, cafe and bakery, and the building and business was being offered up for sale. Vendors of hand-made crafts, artisans of different venues and more operated out of different rooms and hallways of the building. Lori Carlson, the prospective new owner, loved the remote location, the fact that additional outbuildings included a two story home for her husband and family, and envisioned having a home to raise her children and a place of work within a hundred feet of her doorstep. The sale went through, and Lori renamed the business "Rolling Hills Country Mall" to reflect the gorgeous natural surroundings of her new home and business venture. Little did she know of the history of the place, and little did she know what she was in for.
Immediately after taking proprietorship, Lori began noticing odd things about her new place - a feeling of being watched, feeling as if she had walked through cobwebs when there were none; occurrences which rapidly transgressed to hair tugs, touches and glimpses of movement in the hallways when nothing was there. Vendors in the stores began to tell her about the 'residents' of the building, which had not been discussed during the time of the purchase.
Lori knew the building had once been a nursing facility, which had been closed down since 1974. She began her own in-depth research, quickly forming an alliance with Genesee County historians. She began a continuing discovery of a history of the building which ranged from times of peaceful residence to horrific conditions during the various incarnations of the facility from its beginning as a stage house to the building as it now stood. Lori realized that she had bought an extremely haunted property.
At first, she merely tried to find a way to discover what exactly was going on in the building and why; and she had various psychics and empaths come through to try to shed light on the matter. Several times the place was blessed in order to put a stop to the occurrences, yet they persisted. She began collecting photographs and evidence as she could; she was, in fact, becoming a fledgling paranormal investigator. Eventually, the high costs of running the huge facility, even at a reduced level became almost overwhelming. A local paranormal research group began investigating the place, and offered Lori a deal - they would run public 'ghost hunts', and whatever monies were left over after payment for their time and effort Lori could put towards the upkeep and maintenance of the historical old building.
A few months into this venture the original investigative group split up. Some of the members re-formed again as a non profiting group (read that as: volunteer only) dedicated to the long term research of the building, with its natural and para-natural occurrences, and who would offer free tour guide services to the public. The focus was always to educate the public, help them to understand what paranormal research is, how to safely explore paranormal research, and how to interpret the evidence collected. In return, the group would have access to the building for unrestricted long term study. They adopted the name of the facility itself, and thus was Rolling Hills Ghost Hunting Society born. Much of their research can be found on their site. During both historical and paranormal research, many myths about the place were dismissed, and more accurate (and infinitely more interesting) information has been collected about the facility. Lurid folklore of witchcraft and satanic rituals have been replaced with histories rich with fact and a timeline of use from a road-side tavern, temporary prison, alms house (poor house), a facility for the insane and finally a nursing home. Many Class A EVP's (electronic voice phenomena) have been captured, photos of energy manifestations, apparitions, and film of moving objects have been recorded over the years since the research has begun.
The members of S.P.I.R.I.T. were there at the founding of the Rolling Hills Ghost Hunting Society and have many times done research as part of that team and also independently as S.P.I.R.I.T. A sampling of some of the information that the team members of S.P.I.R.I.T. can be found in further posts to this site.
S.P.I.R.I.T. would like to thank the members of RHGHS for all of the team effort, camaradarie, focused research and valuable experience they have shared, and continue to share with other paranormal groups and with the community.
(For more information on the history of the facility, please contact the Genesee Historical Society, or visit our Links page to open to their site. A wonderful book written by Robert D. Hale, who lived in the facility for a summer in the early 1930's as a child is also recommended. The book is called "The Elm At the End of the Earth", and describes a period of time that should not be overlooked as it is a personal memoir. )
EXPERIMENT AT ROLLING HILLS AUG 19, 2007
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