- Here it is, in all its' glory. Rolling Hills Asylum. - Looks about, looks about right. - I mean yeah, this is par for the course, right? - [Shane] Yeah. - [Ryan] I've got, I've seen a lot of evidence come out of this place, so. - Did you check this out on the boards? - I've been trolling the boards. (laughter) - [Ryan] Come on, man, come on. This is a nightmare. This place is a nightmare. So this is the infirmary. Old hospital hall. There should be a plaque around here somewhere. Oh, boy. Shane, I don't like this game you're playing right now. You know I have a thermal cam, right? I can see where you're hiding. (laughter) Right now, we're just going stream of consciousness. I'm not sure what much of these rooms are. (eerie synthetic music) Oh, fuck me. Jeez, there's some shit moving in there. Oh my god. Is there anybody here with us right now? (eerie synthetic music) Who's down here with us right now? We're a little lost. Was is that? - [Shane] It's windy. - Why is it that door? Fuck, please turn your, turn your light on, Shane. - [Shane] No. - [Ryan] Turn your light on. I need to see what's over there. (howl) ^- This week on Buzzfeed Unsolved, we investigate ^Rolling Hills Asylum as part of our ongoing investigation into the question: are ghosts real? Just one quick glance at this place and you can kind of see where my mental state is gonna be in a bit here. Just another weekend for the boys, I guess. (laughter) What is wrong with you? What is this? You are in a very weird mood right now. - This is, you gotta understand, this is my season of sort of respecting ghosts. - Oh yeah, I forgot. Since this is our first investigation when it comes to ghosts this season, Shane has now said that he is going to respect the ghosts. I expect that to last two minutes. - You know, a lot of people give me feedback sometimes, and they say, "You gotta be kinder to the ghosts", and for the record, I am usually very kind to them. - Oh, are you? Here's what's gonna happen. I'll give you a play-by-play of what's actually gonna happen. We're gonna go into a room, we're going to do an EVP investigation. It's gonna be silent for about two minutes. You're gonna get bored, you're gonna go, "Eh, fuck it, ay, come rip my head off." You're gonna say something like that, something really witty and stupid, right? That's how it's gonna happen. Guaranteed. - We'll see. - [Ryan] Having existed for nearly two centuries, the massive 53,000 square foot Rolling Hills Asylum ^officially opened on January 1, 1827. and was one of the many poorhouses scattered around the U.S. In the beginning, Rolling Hills played home to orphans, families, mentally ill, elderly, physically disabled, criminals, and vagrants. Yeah, they just, sometimes they didn't really know what to do with people, so they just threw them in a building, you know? - It's better than a pit, I guess. - Yeah, sure. - No, that wasn't... - Better than a pit, Shane Madej, 2018. Put that on a sweatshirt. - I was trying to be empathetic. - What pit were you imagining, by the way? Were you imagining the pit that Lando Calrissian almost fell into in Star Wars? - You're talking a Sarlacc pit. - It's a Sarlacc pit, so you gotta have teeth. - A roof over your head is better than being eaten by a large, toothy monster. - [Ryan] A spirit often seen is the ghost of a former nurse named Emma. Emma is often seen in her room, so perhaps this tactic will lure her into view. So right now, we're approaching nurse Emma's room. She's apparently German, so maybe you could exercise some of that four years of German you learned in high school. - It was, I was in class for four years but I really didn't learn very much. - [Ryan] Shows what kind of student you were. - [Shane] Not very good. - [Ryan] It's very...
- [Shane] Nice room. - It's very windy outside. - [Shane] Yeah, just, let's pause for a moment and listen to the wind, 'cause it's almost nightmarish. (wind howls) That's some decent, that's some horror movie... - It's pretty wind, pretty windy, pretty wind, pretty windy in here. She was also known to be very dedicated to her job, so maybe if we call out for help. - [Shane] Oh my. - That is very windy. If we call out for help, she may come out. - Okay. It's wind, there's, okay. - I know, I'm just, it's... This is almost unbearable, horrific. Nurse Emma, can you help me? I'm having trouble finding my room. We came all the way down here to see you, so if you have anything you'd like to say to us, please say so now. - Speak louder than the wind, if you can. - Let her speak. - Sorry, respect. ^(wind howls) - Did someone just whisper? - I'm gonna sort of put a kibosh on whispers for this one because we have the wind. - I mean, I heard a whisper that sounded different than the... - [Shane] Yeah, yeah. Ich heiße Shane. - Is that all you know how to say? Four years of German, you can only say, "My name is Shane"? Can you ask her how long she's worked her in German? - Uh, no. - Why even bring up you know German, if you don't know German? - Senf. - What does that mean? - Mustard. - [Ryan] So actually right next door to Emma's room, here's Steve's room. And this guy, not as friendly as Emma, said to be... - [Shane] Bit of a curmudgeon? - [Ryan] Not a very nice man. (loud crack) Jesus. Hello, Steve. My name's Ryan, that's Shane. - [Shane] Hi, Steve. - So, Steve, I have a device here. This may help you speak to us. We're just gonna ask you some questions, and if you wanna talk to us, you can talk to us. (static noise) Alright, let's go to two hundred. Alright. We're back, baby. Alright, Steve, can you, uh...I'm Ryan, that's Shane. Could you say our names back to us, Steve? (static noise) You know me, I need multiple words. - [Shane] Yeah, it takes a lot to scare you. Steve, anything to say to your boys here? ^We come here just willing to be open... ^(static noise) Mm, I don't, I feel like maybe not. - Why's that? - It just sounds like, "You're an actor." - Well, you did just say... - You're an actor. - It did just sound like you said, "Is there an actor?" - You understand I'm humoring you. ^- [Ryan] In 1887, the Genesee ^County Board of Supervisors decided that people, quote: The county home spent 200 acres, and had a self-sufficient farm, where able-bodied people were required to work. Residents would also do upkeep chores for the asylum, such as cleaning and baking. Before closing in 1974, the asylum served as a nursing home. And the current owner, Sharon Coyle, Horrifically, a good portion of these people were buried in graves that still have yet to be located. According to Rolling Hills Asylum's website, quote: - What, so if you die, and someone doesn't put a little headstone on your grave, God comes down to earth, he's like: "Oh, I was gonna take an angel up there, "but I don't know where that dead body..." - No, that's not what I'm saying, you jackass. What I'm saying is, I don't know why God sounds like that, by the way. - I don't know why it sounds like Hank Hill. - Yeah, I'm saying, a lot of cultures, life is after death because your then family members come visit you and do practices that keep you alive. Haven't you seen Coco? Alright, so right now, we're on the top floor. We're heading down to the infirmary on the second floor. I'm using thermal right now, so I'm trying to pick up some heat signatures. Oh, I hit, I don't like the way this room feels at all. - [Shane] It's fairly well-insulated. It smells. - [Ryan] It smells. Is there anybody here with us right now? We're about to leave. We're going downstairs pretty quick here. I don't see anything on thermal. - [Shane] What about in these little places? - [Ryan] There's a piano there, would you like to play that? What? Oh, a little doll. That's very good, very good. - [Shane] Hello. - Who is this Screaming Lady? I've heard interesting things about her. ^- Not quite sure. ^There's a theory, but we really don't know who she is. Some people think it might be Phoebe White, who was the first resident who ever moved in here, which was a little girl, when it was the poorhouse. And she lived about 56 years here. She's trying to communicate somehow, and she's so frustrated, she just screams. - [Ryan] Fucking horrifying, that is an artist rendition of the Screaming Lady. - Not a fan of this lady, are you? - I mean, that, it's what nightmares are made of. Look at it. So right now, we're in the chapel. - [Shane] Yep. - [Ryan] That right there, you look up there, that's a static camera. It's a night vision camera so if any of these things move, we'll see it and it will trigger the motion alarm. I could show you what that sounds like. It's gonna be loud. (alarm goes off) - [Alarm] Ghoul alert. - If we go one floor up, and we hear that, then we know we caught something on the static camera. That's just one other fail safe so if we hear the alarm, and we see something move on the camera itself, ^we caught a ghoul, my friend. ^Our audio recorder left in the chapel picked up ^these strange noises over time. Hey, I think it may be those things, but I also think it may be the screaming lady, who's known to make noises of pain. - What's more likely? - I think they're equally likely. - You think they're equally likely? - Yeah. - Something that has never been proven or observed... - I think ghosts have been ^proven and observed several times. ^Next to the chapel is a recreation room full ^of folding chairs that are said to move on their own. ^Is this sound one of those chairs? - I mean, I'm gonna say that could very likely just be a door opening or wind moving something. It's a very busy building. You remember how loud that building was that night? - I do, but that... - So many creaks. - But that does not sound like just a little creak. It doesn't sound like a door opening. That's sounds like somebody dragging... - I mean, I feel like if you played ten different sounds for someone and said: "Which one sounds like a little creak?" They'd probably say: "Oh, that one, "that sounds like a little creak." - No, I think if we put ten sounds that were all creaks and we said: "Which one sounds like a chair moving?" That would sound like that's a chair moving. One of the most prominent figures in the asylum is the spirit of a man named Roy Crouse. Roy is both prominent due to his frequent activity, but also because of his massive size as Roy Crouse was almost seven and a half feet tall. - No. You couldn't reach it if you tried. - That was good. Fortunately, ^This also includes the building's owner, Sharon. - Just been here a couple of months, and I walked into the building with a handyman, and tried to make a plan for the day, and I walk around the corner, and I thought there was a kitten on the floor. And I'm like, "How the hell did "a kitten get in the building?" And I realize, "Oh my god, no, it's a rat." And it scurries off in front of me, and I'm like, freaking out, "Oh my god, "there's a rat in the building." So we go upstairs, right above us, actually, where the infirmary is, and sure enough, on the floor, there was blood in the shape of a rat. Like, you could see the tail and the arms, and the legs, and on the wall, right behind it, there were footprints. Huge giant footprints like someone had kicked the hell out of the wall, and then there was like, hand prints with blood on it. And it's still up there, I can show it to you. - And so you think that... - I think that Roy killed the rat. - Just to help? - Because I was freaking out about a rat. - Okay, so right now, we're on the infirmary. Up here is where the rat story happened. You can actually see remnants of the hand print right here. - [Shane] I mean, rats just die a lot. - [Ryan] As you can see at one point, that was a pretty big hand print. There's little bit, I guess of a mark of where the rat was found. I guess Roy's way of saying Roy was here. So, right here, this is Roy's room. Oh boy. If you see the wall paper border around, that's actually seven and a half feet. - That's a tall guy. - [Ryan] And you're part Scotch. - This guy is so tall that I'd be scared. - [Ryan] You can see what an actual bed that would be fit for you would feel like. That way, you wouldn't have to hit your... - This is a bed for an eight foot tall person? - [Ryan] Yeah. Oh, it's kinda wooden. - It's very wooden. - [Ryan] Look at all the room you have for those long limbs. - That's pretty good. - Actually, not much room. - Well, okay, no, there's plenty of room. - There's actually, that looks like it fits you just right. - No, there's a lot of room in here. Ever listen to the radio, Roy? Well, this is kinda like that, but it'll make you wanna shove a pencil in your ear. - You know what it is, I think... (static) Pretty sure can't stay. But it's a girl voice. - Yeah, it sure was. - Just say our names back, or if you want, can you tell us your name if this isn't Roy actually in here? Cold winter. I agree. Roy, I heard you like listening to opera music. So, I have some opera tracks with me, and I'll play them, and even if you're not in this room, we're gonna walk around the hall so if you wanna come walk around with us, maybe say hi to us, you could do so. But I'll play some music for you now 'cause I know you'd like that. (opera music plays) How 'bout it, Roy? I enjoy it. Shall we? - Yeah. - No, we're not dancing, I meant like, we're fleeing. - Oh, I know. - [Ryan] Anybody wanna come out? - [Shane] It's Christmastime! This is a male vocal opera song, so maybe you wanna sing along. (opera continues) Let's walk down the terrifying red hallway. (male opera voice) You here, Roy? Anybody here that wants to show themselves? Listen to the nice music? This is for everybody, not just for Roy. - [Shane] Come on, Roy! (cheerful opera music) - [Ryan] In the basement, there is a room referred to as the Christmas Room. During its' time in operation, Rolling Hills was home to many children, and supposedly, there was a room where children would go to meet Santa during the holidays. To this day, this room still has Christmas decorations. It's said that toys will allegedly move by themselves in the Christmas room. So right now, we are in the basement of the east wing, and down here is the Christmas Room. (eerie xylophone song) - [Shane] This looks like, happy. Happy things. There's a little Santa. Whoa, look at that happy boy. - [Ryan] What is it with Christmas decorations that look so menacing when they're by themselves? Nutcrackers always creep me out, too. We could set up our little test here to see if something will move. We actually have a little device with us here today. This dog is quite useful 'cause it measures static energy around it, so I'll show you what I mean. - [Shane] This looks very scientific. - Whoa, we'll put our music low. (device beeps) Okay, so basically, what it does is it measures the static electricity so when I get close to it, it turns on. - [Shane] Mm. - That's basically all there is to it. So, what we're gonna do, since this is the Christmas Room, this is where a lot of children played, we're gonna ask them to pet the dog. - Oh, that's fun. - Alright, so if there's anybody in here, you wanna pet our dog? - Would you like to pet our pretty dog? - He's very nice, he doesn't bite. I'm gonna pet the dog. See? He likes it. He plays music for you. If that turns on, I'm gonna fucking lose my mind. - Heh. - Pretty good, right? - That's pretty good. (device beeps) - It's for the kids. - You're right. - What do you think, what's your favorite holiday? If you're in here, I'm guessing you like Christmas, right? You like Santa Clause? - [Shane] Ho-ho-ho, it's me, the man with the bag. Pet the dog. - Jesus Christ. We're here just to have fun. We're not here to hurt you. We can't have fun with you if you don't let us know you're here, so if you wanna just move something in this room, or show us which toy you wanna play with... But our dog is really nice, if you wanna pet him. Better yet, maybe you don't pet the dog. - [Both] Don't pet the dog. - I kinda like it, maybe you could keep your hands off the dog. - Against the rules. - It'd be really uncool if you pet our dog. - I'll kill ya if you touch my dog. - Okay, too far. - Don't pet the dog. - Just back it down, back it up a little bit. Well, we're gonna leave our dog here, actually. So, when we leave, if you just don't wanna play with the dog 'cause we're here, you could go ahead and touch the dog as soon as we leave, no problem. Before leaving the room, we set up a static cam to watch the dog. (device beeps) (dramatic music) - All of the boogaras, all of the believers, they're gonna say, "This is pretty compelling." - I think it is pretty compelling. - All the people who really believe in science will recognize pseudo-science and understand that there is zero correlation between this shitty thing that has nothing to do with this lack of... There's nothing there. You understand there's no connection. You're saying, you're forcing this fake science into the world. - It's not fake science. - It is. - It's an energy field that we've broken... We've tested the device when we were there. It worked when we put our hand into it, it didn't work when we were away from it. We were sitting next to it for about twenty minutes, nothing happened. We leave, it happens. Perhaps the most active area is known as Shadow Hallway, a hallway leading towards the infirmary, where shadow people are often seen. To finish this off, we'll investigate this hallway individually and perform a spirit box session in the vortex. There's a shadow hallway. Be on the lookout for shadow people as you look down into the blue light. You'll see it at the end of the hallway, then you're gonna end in the Vortex Room. You don't like the spirit box, so you're not gonna do that, so I'm gonna do the spirit box. That's just simply how it is. - Thank you for allowing me to not do the spirit box. Here I go, embarking on my journey into the dark. - He's probably commenting on the decor, you know. Making silly little jokes, having a blast, but my mind's gonna descent into darkness when I go up there. - [Shane] Any dolls like to talk to me? Miss? Ma'am? What're you doing back there, you think I didn't see you? (laughter) - [Ryan] This is for science. I'm about to shine my truth beams all down this hallway. If I see one of you, just know that I'll have footage of a ghost. So, here I am, walking down Shadow Hallway. So we got some rooms. So, if you're here, Roy... (knocking) What the fuck was that? Okay, okay, okay, okay, don't lose it, Ryan, don't lose it. Now I'm gonna go, ah, Jesus. - He seemed brave walking up there, but he did have that sort of glassy look in his eyes that he gets. - I'm gonna just stand in one of these rooms, and just bask in the silence, as Shane says. That's a huge bed. Holy fuck, okay. Anybody here right now? I'm giving you the floor. I think that was the wind, but it sure sounded like a voice. That's good for there. Oh, this is the Vortex Room. I'm going in. Oh, people report feeling uneasy in here. Some people can't even walk in here 'cause it's just so thick. This is said to be a portal, and Shane said he asked Satan to come here, so that's fun. Thanks for that, fucking Shane. This is a spirit box. This will help me speak to you. (static among indistinguishable voices) I'm very scared right now, I'm sorry. Are you scared, too? A little? Roy, are you here right now? No? Then who is it? No one, hah. Okay, you wanna play games? Sure? - That's your time. - Woohoo, woo, boy. Thank you, fucking God, get me the fuck outta here. I did it, I did it! I did it. - Hey, you lived. You didn't get eaten by a ghost. - Yeah, I did it. - You look rattled. - Yeah. - What happened in there? - Just, you know, talking to things. Did you get anything out of... - Nope, got nothing. - That's about par for the course. Well, goodbye to whatever's out there. Sayonara. The boys are out. With its decades of history and numerous inhabitants, it's not far-fetched to think that some people remain. Did a spirit actually trigger our motion detecting dog? Perhaps, but regardless, whether or not Rolling Hills Asylum is definitively haunted will remain unsolved. (eerie piano music)
I don't mean to do the whole dismissive thing here, but I'm dismissing it
Could be an orb or a reflection from the flashlight
Twas the wind
Could be a reflection from a flashlight or camera
Granted I don’t actually see anything