From the journals of Rolling Hills... (original) (raw)
From the journals of Rolling Hills... stories of the investigators

07:53 am June 26th, 2007
rollinghillsghsravenhart Flag SAVE ROLLING HILLS We need your help. Save Rolling Hills from the wrecking ball or worse! We are having a benefit concert/raffle to fend this off. Some of our friends are offering to help in ways that they can. Please check this out and see if you are interested. Even if you can't help, PASS THIS ON OR POINT PEOPLE HERE!! so that we can get the word out to as many people as quickly as possible.Steve's VIP dinner, Lisa's signed photos, Ben's Documentary-Hunt are just some of the paranormal communities efforts to help us. Proceeds will go to the benefit. We cannot thank them, or all the others who have been working tirelessly to help us, including our research team. We don't have much time. You can help me by helping me get the word out. Save it for the historical value. It's an amazing place with an amazing history. Save it for paranormal research. Save it because you love me. It doesn't matter. Just help us save it, please._Rolling Hills Benefit_2007 has not gone all that well here at Rolling Hills. We have experienced excessive damage with extremely high repair costs. This, along with the failing mall (which in now closed) has put us in financial need. We are in jeopardy of losing the property. Many of you have experienced our ghost hunts held here, and many more have enjoyed touring the facility for the historic value. Please help us keep the property from either falling into ruin, or others who may close the facility off to paranormal investigators, the public, or worse yet, to demolish the historic buildings on this site. We are asking you, the public, for help. We're currently working on trying to get National Historic Landmark status. This should help tremendously. But time is working against us, and it takes a long time to establish this designation. In the meantime, we do need assistance to cover property taxes and other overdue financial obligations. Once we get over this large deficit, we are confident that the current operations can maintain itself. The largest expenses did come from the mall operations, and that portion is now closed permanantly. We should be able to maintain the facility without any problems for all future financial obligations. But before we can go forward with our future plans, we must ensure our creditors that we can follow through with this. The old Genesee County Home is an important Landmark in our community. Please help us to keep it that way. The Rolling Hills Preservation Society will be holding a benefit onSaturday, July 14th, 2007at the Days Inn, Batavia. We are also asking for donations prior to this benefit. We don't know how much time we have left. Any help you can give us will be very much appreciated, by us, and the community. Together, we can ensure this historical facility will be here for a long time to come.More info on the "Save Rolling Hills" BenefitHow Else Can You Help?Docu HuntOnline donations are also being accepted. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Lori Carlson either by email at manager@rollinghillscountrymall.com or by telephone at 585-344-2888.To help with the benefit, email Kirk McWhorter at mcrecord@rochester.rr.com.To donate items for our silent auction, email Jenn Monacelli at grannyfanniesantiques@yahoo.com Thank you all for your support. Rolling Hills Site

02:58 pm October 3rd, 2005
rollinghillsghsravenhart Flag Sept 30 - Oct 1 Investigation - A voice responds Lately it seems as if my investigations at Rolling Hills were a bit 'off', as it were; everyone else seemed to be getting some sort of evidence or experiences, and I was just... there. Getting nothing. Feeling nothing. I began to wonder if I had burnt out, or if whatever roams those halls was no longer reactive to me, or even if whatever was there had actually left and gone on, or out of the building.I had several different theories, ranging from my own burn out, as mentioned, to the fact that perhaps the range of activity varied with seasons. In the summer time, there is life and energy abounding, inside and out of the buildings, thereby leaving no real reason for anything (or any_one_) to come around us, for a 'feeding', if you will, or an infusion of our excitement and energy to grow on. Several of us discussed other possibilities, as some (hopefullY) well meaning individuals had tried to perform 'cleansings' in the building which may have driven spirits (if there) out. This rather disturbed me, as they were hurting no one in the building, and seemed kind of pushy to me. Helping someone 'pass over' to another realm is one thing: shoving them rudely out of their home is quite another. We compared notes to last winter, when activity was quite frequent, and there was never a night that we were there that we left 'empty handed' as far as evidence goes. Perhaps since we were, at that time, literally the only sources of energy (being winter time and all) that we were getting a cluster effect as we probably appeared like bright shining lightbulbs in a world that was dark and drained. We even discussed equipment problems: we may have grown out of our current equipment, needing equipment now with less chance of failure or misinterpretation. All of which cost money, which we do not have. Gloom prevailed.Last Friday, however, things seem to have changed. Energy was picking up. Things were happening. Perhaps we were just so accustomed to the 'strange' that we weren't noticing anymore, not paying proper attention. Right off the bat, (no pun intended) something odd happened during the first tour. K and I were on the stage in the rec room, addressing some of the history, and I was speaking. I felt the stage move as if K had bounced (he can be quite energetic) or had stepped off and then back up onto the platform. Meanwhile, he felt it as well, and thought that perhaps *I* had given a little bounce on the boards. As I continued to speak, not realizing what had just happened, K quietly leaned over and asked a member of the audience to step up on the stage next to him. What he felt the stage do as she did so was exactly what we both had felt a moment before: the weight and reaction of the wood to someone stepping up on the stage, the difference being that the first time, no one was there. A few moments later, while touring the East wing, we discovered the huge firedoors to the wing had inadvertantly remained locked, and we could not progress down that hall as we normally did during a tour. A fast run to the front of the building brought a set of keys in order to unlock them, but no amount of attempts could get the doors unlocked. Pulling on the doors themselves only allowed a smallish gap to appear, with the deadbolt firmly in place holding them together. A decision was made to try again with another set of keys, later, and to go on with the tour and skip that wing for now. Everyone turned to progress back the way we came, when *BAM*!! The doors snapped tight again, with a loud booming noise, as if someone on the other side had grapped the handles and firmly pulled the doors back to the original position, and not ever so slightly pulled apart as had been done while trying to open them. Other things happened during the night: one of our members took a snapshot and captured an orb that was literally identical to a photo I took in the beginning of December: it was in the same place, the same height about the ground, the same size, color and brightness. I heard of other things happening, but one that really startled me was when I got squeezed, as if slightly lightheaded (like you do when you stand up too fast) but also with a bit of pressure, as if I was underwater holding my breath. It happened in the cafeteria, where I have never gotten any activity or evidence, and for one moment, I didn't even realize what was happening. I thought "oh. shit. So this is what a stroke feels like", and focused on the sensations of what I thought was my imminent demise. Just when I thought my head was going to explode, I stepped back and *whoosh*, the feeling went away. About that time I began to wonder if I had accidentally stepped into some kind of field, and so I did what anyone else would do: I stepped back into it. With the instant reaction that I had felt seconds before: being squeezed, or suffocated, with pressure in my shoulders, throat and head. I don't know if anyone saw me there doing what looked to be the Hokey Pokey, because I stepped in and out of it several times, (and reflex kicked in, so I was snapping away with my camera) but I didn't capture anything on film. It was just a personal experience, nothing that could be proven or disproven. By now, I was realizing that perhaps this was going to be an interesting night after all, and decided to do a walk through of the entire building with K, filming with the night shot camera. We went to all the normal hot spots, and the new ones as well (the furnace room where Jason got sandwiched by the door is quite popular now) as well as the tunnel, and the infamous East wing (which was now open, the right key having been located.)Then the strangest thing happened, in the least expected place at the least expected time. K was back in the foyer area, and I was walking, quite alone, towards our office on the first floor. Normally there is very little activity on this floor, except for the striking photograph of what seems to be a full apparition taken some months back, during the day, by someone who was visiting during mall hours. As I walked toward the light of our office at the far, far end of the hallway (I don't use a flashlight) I turned my nightshot cam-corder on just to film along the hallway as I went. I mean, you never know, right? Suddenly, I heard what sounded like a voice. A small whispery voice. I stopped dead, camera still running, as this was one of the first times I actually heard something with my ears as it was happening. (Normally, you hear things later, as you review the tapes.) More bizarrely, it seemed to be emanating from my video camera as I was filming. I said, (to no one, just marking the spot for later) "I just heard something." Far away in the foyer, I heard K call out my name, looking for me, and I still stood there, hardly breathing, wondering if I would hear it again. And I did. And then a third time. I couldn't make out the words, but I could hear it. By then, my nerves started to fail me, and I called out to K, so that he would come to where I was. When he did, and I told him what happened, he asked how far away the sound had been, and I half sheepishly said that it had seemed to come from my camera. We went on, and I forgot about it. Yesterday, though, I went over the tape, and Deej and I could sort of hear it, knew it was a whisper of some kind, and took it to K so that he could put it on amps for us.Clear as day, whatever it is, says "Hi Beth."My knees almost buckled. First of all, the thought goes through your head like a scream "OMFG THEY KNOW MY NAME!!", but then, another thought floors you. I had not said my name out loud. I have in the past done so, on different floors and in different parts of the building, months ago. This meant that information I gave, identifying myself to the air, as it seemed, was processed and then delivered back to me correctly. It wasn't a guess: there are over 30 members of the RH team. _It spoke my name to me in a form of salutation using information I had presented long ago!_Very sobering indeed. I found out that another team member was addressed by name a couple of weeks ago.Whatever is there, is conscious and intelligently letting us know exactly that: that it (they?) is (are) conscious, and intelligent. wow. I had *thought* the dynamics of the building had changed. They have, but not in the way I had been thinking. I am gathering up all my evidence that cannot be explained away, and taking it with me to Univ-Con at Penn State in two weeks. A paranormal convention! Beautiful. A chance to look at all the different equipment and attend lectures by fore-runners in the field. Maybe something I have will be relevant: at the least, perhaps some of the things I currently cannot explain *will* be explained for me, either debunking it or defining it.

11:47 am July 25th, 2005

09:11 am June 12th, 2005
rollinghillsghsravenhart Flag * UPDATED FROM ORIGINAL POST OF JUNE 12 - 2005*Friday, I caught this at Rolling Hills. First pic was during a tour I was conducting. I was just shooting an overhead shot, because I always get a weird bugging feeling about where I was standing, which is in the doorway to the third floor. The tour pauses there, and I stand in the doorway to make sure we don't lose anybody. Something seems to be reaching down from the ceiling. Next shot (after I saw what was in the viewfinder, opened my eyes REALLY REALLY wide, looked at it again in review for a few seconds thinking "Wtf IS that?...WTF *IS* THAT??"", showed the guy next to me to see if HE saw what I didn't think I was seeing and then snapped off a shot to see if there was some sort of wire or something hanging down) there *is* nothing there, and there is nothing that would have made that... that... thing. Whatever the hell it is. It was there, and then it wasn't. Creepy. So cool. A hobby that never fails to get the adrenaline flowing...among other things...( Cut for picturesCollapse )

07:58 am July 21st, 2005
rollinghillsghsravenhart Flag Upcoming experiments I have been examining 'orb' activity at Rolling Hills. Many times we will get brilliant orb shots either before, or during other activity (EMF readings, EVP's captured on tape, etc.) and it is both exhilarating and frustrating.Since orb activity itself seems to occur *without* paranormal activity, and can often be attributed to dust, moisture or insect activity, how then to determine what is what? To try to answer that question I have a series of experiments to try, and a collection of results to create. This weekend I would like to try one of Greenmn's ideas, which is to deliberately create a dust storm in the hallway where I caught 'orb' activity both on digital camera and the night shot cam, and photograph it all in night vision with the cam-corder, and also with different cameras and shutter speeds. I want to duplicate that experiment in the winter too. However, it doesn't explain the 'lone' shots we get - no moisture present, no dust elsewhere in the shot or other 'orbs', just one, bright shining (throwing off it's own light) orb. It also doesn't explain the 'signature' orbs we get, such as the 'tadpole' orb, which has one distinctive shape in it that we capture time and again over a period of months, same size, same 'comma' or 'tadpole' like shape near one edge, by different people and during different times and seasons... that one is a real puzzle.And I won't *EVEN* get into the "Yahtzee Orbs" right now, LOL!!! Those have even freaked ME out, and I can't even begin to imagine what creates them, not until I do the work on regular orbs. Well, I'll post the results here if anyone is interested, and even if they are not! :) It's all for the record, anyway.Current Mood: creative creative

08:17 pm July 19th, 2005

10:46 am July 19th, 2005

08:28 am July 19th, 2005

01:45 am December 11th, 2004
rollinghillsghsravenhart Flag Welcome to the Wyrdness... Last night I embarked on my newest obsession: I went to Rolling Hills. It is the most amazing place. It was a huge old building that had a both a beautiful and horrific history. Orignially built nearly 200 years ago, it was a stagehouse\tavern. Since that time, however, it went through many purposes. Children were sold as slaves there. It was an alms house for the poor, an asylum for the insane, an orphanage, a nursing home and is now a cooperative where parts of the building are rented out for market shops. It is over 65,000 square feet. Over 1000 people have died there, and the grounds outside were often used for a pauper's field. Hunts are coordinated with the newly spawned Rolling Hills Ghost Hunting Society (RHGHS) and at night people can roam the halls and get their own pictures, evp, film or sense different things. I have decided that I will join up with these people: we are of like mind, and they all bring different talents and perspectives to the project. The opportunity to research such a place over a long period of time, in different modes is beyond wonderful. Last night there were about 50 people roaming the building until after 3:00 AM, which is when we ( and I) packed it up and left.Well, we did get some interesting things on my first night. I know there are people who seriously have issues with 'orb shots', but this one was quite unique. I have to do a lot more research on these photos, but I don't mind posting these here. At the worst, it's an anomaly of the night. At the best, (considering that we got corresponding evp as well) it could well be something. I took over 100 pictures, until my camera finally rolled over and passed away. (note to self: Buy another battery pack or TWO, and bring the laptop to unload the memory card so I can keep on going, going, going...)Anyway, you decide.( Images Behind CutCollapse )

01:14 pm July 8th, 2005
rollinghillsghsravenhart Flag Mom's birthday gift... where else to take her?? LOL! I took my mother to Rolling Hills on Friday for her birthday. It was amazing. Another friend of mine who plays bagpipes went with us, and there was such an emotional period when he played magnificently, in pitch blackness, in what used to be the recreation hall. Well, not *quite* pitch blackness: he was surrounded by about 30 people, all deathly silent and respectful, snapping photos. So he did look kind of strange in a strobe-like way. The sound of the pipes just reverberated through the entire building. It was such a feeling. He said it was such an incredible, awesome feeling to do that. He did well, grasshoppas. Mom was just a kicker. She was content to go off on her own in the dark (I kept watching her as if *I* were the mother and *she* was the daughter) and loved the place. I do have a clip I want to send off to "America's Funniest Haunted Videos". She kept slipping off on me, when I was trying to film. I had the infra-red on, and she couldn't see a thing. I could see *her* of course, and my brain didn't register that she was, in fact, blind. And since I never use a flashlight (I am so used to the place, and I *get* more feelings in the dark, if you know what I mean) that she was bound and determined not to use one either. So I tried to keep her in view so that she wouldn't get lost or hurt herself, and she never realized I was training the camera on her, since she couldn't see the IR.I filmed her very intently looking down into her camera, taking a step, taking another step, then another careful, careful step, all the while looking at her camera viewfinder...and BLAM! Walking RIGHT into a metal door. Holy gods the noise it made was heroic!! Just boomed all through the infirmary. She didn't hurt herself, but you can see on the film the exact moment she thought she was about to plummet into an empty elevator shaft or something. (She was, in no way, ever in danger other than bonking her camera into the door, but the second she felt the door, she threw her head back with such a look of complete horror that it totally unglued me for the rest of the night.) Omg we laughed and laughed and laughed... I had to stop filming because I was laughing SO hard that the cam-corder would shake.Then I would get all straightened up, and try to be serious, and then I would 'remember' it again, the camera would start to shake, and you can hear me trying not to giggle again, and she would start up, and then... it was all over. We finally went downstairs and had a fudgecicle to cool off and show everyone how hilarious it usually is to take my mother anywhere... LOL... K&T were there too, of course, and he teased her by taking her on a mini tour and walking into things, 'accidentally on purpose'. She just loved the attention and spending the time with my friends. And she is an absolute NUT about my friend with the bagpipes, so the whole evening was just straight thumbs up for her. Got some very interesting shots of something moving in the hallway. I have to clean up the video a bit to see what it is exactly, if I can. Also must remember NOT to get excited and get potty mouth when something suddenly comes into view on the viewfinder! LOL!! (note to self: see if harpersson can fix that for me)In all, it was a VERY good night!!