What’s worse than a haunted prison? How about a haunted asylum?
Rolling Hills Asylum, located in East Bethany, New York, opened in 1827. The massive building, 53,000+ square feet, was originally a poorhouse. The Genesee County Poor Farm included a mix of the elderly, vagrants, orphans, handicapped people, drunkards, the mentally ill, and minor criminals who had nowhere else to go.
Despite the fact that it wasn’t a prison, the resident were referred to as “inmates.” The able-bodied worked raising animals and food. Some even made coffins in the wood shop and it’s believed there was a cemetery – a potter’s field for the poor – on the grounds at one point. The exact location of the cemetery is unknown but in 2004, five headstones dating from 1887 to 1888 were given to Genesee County.
But, if you’ve read anything about asylums in the 19th and 20th centuries, you had to know it was not a desirable place to be. And by “not desirable,” I mean I imagine it was close to hell of earth. People chained to walls, given shock treatments, and had lobotomies performed on them. In the years the asylum was opened, over 1,000 people died there.
By the 1950s, the asylum had been renamed to the Old County Home & Infirmary. The nursing home was closed in 1974 and the building sat in disarray until the 1990s. Then, a group of investors did what anyone would do with an abandoned asylum – they turned it into a mall.
Shop owners and customers eventually complained of strange occurrences such as shadow people, doors closing all by themselves, and disembodied screams. Suzie Yencer said that in 2007, a documentarian sat in a basement room with no lights or equipment. In the room was a ball and rocking horse. When he called the spirits, the rocking horse started moving. Yencer herself claimed to have seen a hand and arm appear out of nowhere and reach for the ball.
Other reports of hauntings include people seen staring out of windows when the building is empty, unexplained knocking on the walls, and cold hands on visitor’s backs. Others have seen objects move on their own and even full apparitions. The official website offers up spooky photos and videos taken by ghost hunters and the public.
Like other haunted places, the Rolling Hills Asylum does a yearly event, “The Haunting of Rolling Hills Asylum,” so if you are in the area, you might want to check it out – if you dare!
More Scary Places blogs:
Scary Places: West Virginia State Penitentiary
Scary Places: Catacombs of Paris
Scary Places: Bachelor’s Grove
Scary Places: The Knickerbocker Hotel
Scary Places: The Myrtle Plantation