Est. 1827 · Genesee County Institutional History · New York Poor Farm History · Genesee County Forest Origin
The Genesee County Board of Supervisors voted on December 4, 1826 to establish a county poorhouse in Bethany, New York. The facility opened January 1, 1827, operating initially in a converted stagecoach tavern on Bethany Center Road. The population it served encompassed the full range of county residents who had no other recourse: orphaned children, destitute elderly persons, the physically disabled, individuals with mental illness, habitual drunkards, paupers, and vagrants. Entire families sometimes arrived — too poor to sustain independent household.
The 200-acre property functioned as a working farm. Able-bodied residents raised Holstein cattle, pigs, and draft horses, cultivated crops, ran a bakery, canned food, and built the coffins in which the facility's dead were buried on the grounds. Operating costs by 1871 ran to approximately $1.08 per resident per week — a figure that reflects both the farm's self-sufficiency and the minimal standard of care provided.
In 1828, a separate stone building was constructed specifically to confine residents with mental illness. This structure remained in use until 1887, when acute cases were transferred to other facilities. The 1938 addition of the Genesee County Infirmary expanded the property's medical capacity. The nursing home phase of operation ran until the facility's final closure on July 20, 1965 for the poor farm and 1974 for the nursing home.
The number of deaths at Rolling Hills across its nearly 150 years of continuous operation exceeds 1,700. A cemetery on the property deteriorated severely over decades of neglect; five headstones dating to 1887-1888 were recovered in 2004, and a memorial marker was dedicated in Genesee County Park. Superintendent George Fleming's work around 1915, when inmates planted thousands of pine trees that became the Genesee County Forest, is the facility's most enduring positive contribution to the physical landscape.
Sources
- https://www.rollinghillsasylum.com/about-rha/history
- https://hauntedhistorytrail.com/explore/rolling-hills-asylum
Shadow figuresApparitionsPhantom voicesEVPCold spotsPhantom footstepsResidual hauntingIntelligent haunting
The second-floor men's dormitory at Rolling Hills has its own name: the Shadow Hallway. The name comes from what investigation teams consistently document there — shadow figures moving in and out of doorways, walking across the hall, peering around corners, and occasionally crawling across the floor. The figures are reported by groups who investigate independently, without sharing findings beforehand, and the descriptions match closely enough that investigators treat this as a location where phenomena can be expected rather than hoped for.
Hattie's Room, on the first floor of the east wing, has a more specific and documented account. Voice recordings captured in the room produce what investigators identify as an elderly woman calling out 'hello' — attributed to a former resident named Hattie, who was blind and would regularly call out to get the attention of staff and nurses. Whether this represents a residual recording of a behavioral pattern or something else is not a question the investigation community resolves; the fact of the recording circulates as one of the more specific and repeatable claims the building has produced.
The morgue and the psych ward are additional investigation focal points, generating reports of EVP activity, unexplained temperature drops, and what investigators describe as the sense of being physically approached in spaces they have confirmed are otherwise empty.
Ghost Adventures conducted an investigation at Rolling Hills that was broadcast as part of their series run. Ghost Hunters also covered the property. Both productions documented evidence they characterized as paranormal activity, contributing to Rolling Hills' standing as one of the more recognized investigation venues in western New York State.
The 1,700+ deaths that occurred on the property across its operating history give the site a statistical density that investigators frequently cite as context for what they document inside the building.
Media Appearances
- Ghost Adventures
- Ghost Hunters
