Ghost Adventures – Rolling Hills Asylum – s04e02

Zak and the team head off to New York to investigate the Rolling Hills Asylum. Despite a deceptively tranquil name the asylum has a pretty sordid past. It’s been used as an asylum, orphanage, tuberculosis ward, poor farm and a home for unwed mothers. Sometimes it played all these roles at the same time. This unfortunately led to some bad situations where those with mental illness were kept in the same location as new moms and young children.

From the records, they have around 1200 people who were known to have died at the facility and many of those are buried on the property. However, there could be another 1700 "unrecorded" deaths where there is no record of the patients and the bodies were simply buried outside in unmarked graves. As is so often the case with these medical facilities, care could degrade and patients were abused, used for tests and in many cases were ignored. But there are reports of patient violence as well. Patients would lash out at each other, attack the staff or in some cases abuse the orphans and unwed mothers. Some of the patients may have ended up killing each other. I don’t think anyone could say the conditions were ideal.

There are three main figures that seem to move around the building. First there is Raymond who was violent toward other patients and may have even molested them. There is also Roy, a boy who was dropped off at the age of 12 due to a giantism condition. And finally there is Nurse Emmie who apparently abused patients and may have dabbled in the black arts. The new owners claim a group snuck into the asylum and performed some rituals possibly to try and communicate with Emmie.

Right as the team starts their investigation they claim to get an EVP about someone getting out of jail. They also hear some sort of squeaking which they attribute to a wheelchair just down the hall. A creaking wheelchair with no patient in it always sets the right mood for a place.

As the investigation progresses the team plays back multiple EVPs they’ve just recorded. They hear screams, conversations, knocks, the sound of a metal door slamming and even someone saying "Get Out". As they’re recording the EVPs they get out the temperature gauge and find the temp in the room is 66.6

It should come as no surprise that I’m not impressed by the EVPs; garbled and staticy as always. As for the temperature? Well, you have to go past 66.6 to get to 66.5 or 66.7. On it’s own that’s hardly impressive. Sure, it can make you all excited and tingly inside, but it’s just a temperature reading, it’s really not all that mystical.

Next, the guys bring out something new, a laser grid. Supposedly they get some footage of movement through the grid. I can’t say it was all that definitive. I think it could be interesting, but not sure what kind of results we’re seeing on this run.

Finally, they bring in Dave Shrader as the team splits up and goes into different rooms. Nick and Dave head to where Emmie was known to work, Aaron heads to the Christmas room and Zak heads off to find Raymond. They all claim to hear things and get more EVPs.

Just to check again, if you actually hear it, it’s not an EVP, right? Basically they keep reacting to all sorts of noises and then playing them back as whispers from the spirit world. I thought an EVP wasn’t something you would hear at the time, it would only show up on the recorder. Have I got things confused?

However, the big stand out pieces of evidence are the pictures Zak took of what looks to be someone standing in the doorway and the hall. And whoever it is, is big. Is this Roy, the boy who was dropped off by his family and spent the next 50 years in the asylum? Certainly looks to be something there.

Now, if you take the evidence at face value this is perhaps one of the most haunted locations in the country. Quite frankly this would rival Eastern State and Waverly Hills based on the sheer amount of evidence gathered in such a short period of time. Of course I gloss over the EVP sessions. I think they add to other evidence they capture, but they aren’t strong enough to stand on their own. As I keep saying, there is a sound there and it has cadence to it, but I don’t hear the same words they claim to hear. I’m certainly not hearing these big conversations. I guess I’ll just have to accept that as the nature of an EVP. I think they’re interesting, but they don’t convince me of anything.

But it’s those pictures that have me scratching my head. They really look like a figure standing in the middle of the room. You don’t have to struggle to make out features, it looks like a complete person. I really don’t know about that one. I would love to study that one some more.

This was a bizarre location and I thought a brand new one until I did a quick search and found out the Ghost Hunters did an investigation there back in 2005 (Season 2, Episode 9). Of course, I had to go back and see what they thought of the place. And in their investigation nothing happened. They caught no evidence whatsoever. The only thing they did prove was that bats (and probably dozens of other animals) live all over the place. Of course, as soon as I see that I have to believe that a lot of the noises people hear are nothing more than animals skulking around looking for food. It doesn’t explain everything, but it makes me dismiss quite a bit.

Another part that has me scratching my head are those power lines. They are right next to the building. Wouldn’t that give off high EMF which is supposed to make people feel something is happening when it really isn’t? It kind of seems like you add an asylum with a dark past, add high blasts of energy which give people odd sensations and the let their imaginations run wild in a dark, corridor filled building, you’re bound to get some odd stuff. It’s possible the external factors are having a major impact on this place.

But to jump back a bit, the Ghost Hunters didn’t capture anything, yet the Ghost Adventures team captures a seemingly endless stream of voices. Were the Ghost Hunters unlucky? Were they more critical of calling something an EVP back then? Were they not quite sure of what they were doing and just missed the evidence? Did something change to stir up the activity? Kind of interesting how things changed at the same location. Two groups, two totally different verdicts. What do you think is going on with this place?

Other Articles of Interest:

• Ghost Adventures – The Stanley Hotel – S04E05
• Paranormal Lockdown – Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum – S01E01
• Ghost Asylum – St Vincent’s Mental Asylum – S01E04
• Looks like ghost hunting is becoming big business
• Ghost Hunters Halloween Special 2009 – It’s On!
• Ghost Asylum – Ironton Psychiatric Hospital – S01E05
• Ghost Adventures – Clovis Wolfe Manor
• Haunted History – Pennhurst Asylum – S01E04
• Ghost Adventures Halloween Special
• Ghost Adventures – Hill View Manor S04E06