“Notice is hereby given that the Genesee County Poorhouse will be ready for the reception of paupers on the first day of January 1827 … The Overseers of the Poor of the several towns of the County of Genesee are requested, in all cases of removal of paupers to the county poorhouse, to send with them their clothing, beds, bedding and such other articles belonging to the paupers as may be necessary and useful to them.”
So said the Batavia newspaper in December, 1826 and this was the start of what now is Rolling Hills in Easy Bethany, NY, the last remaining building of the Genesee County Poorhouse. From that day to present Rolling Hills has been a insane asylum, orphanage, nursing home and mall. During this long history there are public records that claim over 1,000 deaths can been attributed to this property.
There is also a cemetery connected to the poorhouse that has long been forgotten and retaken by nature. According to the Genesee County historians, “An actual cemetery register or plot map has yet to be discovered”. Could these deaths be one of the reasons contributing to Rolling Hills being one of the most haunted places in America?
The poorhouse was a 100 acre piece of property and was completely self-sufficient. Its purpose was to take in paupers, the insane, orphans, transients, unwed mothers, the elderly, and basically anyone who did not have the means to support and care for themselves or their family.
In the 1950’s Rolling Hills became a nursing home until everyone was moved to a newer facility in 1974. The building sat empty from 1974 until 1992 when it was reopened as a mall for antique shops called Carriage Village and in 2003 the name changed to Rolling Hills Country Mall. In late 2004 Rolling Hills was a popular place for paranormal investigators. Currently it is closed to the public but Don Merchant; Co-Founder of Sci Tech Paranormal Investigations (www.scitechpi.com) has told Ghost Eyes that the new owners of the building may open it back up to investigators starting as early as this summer.
According to those that had the opportunity to visit Rolling Hills before, the building is very active. Probably most known for the numerous EVP’s captured in the building, Rolling Hills also claims to have shadow people, footsteps heard all over the building, apparitions, strange banging and doors slamming.
We are hopeful that beginning this summer we will be able to experience ourselves the paranormal activity of this 65,000 square foot historic building.
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