My birthday weekend at Rolling Hills

Well, I know most of you had already heard about my fantastic weekend I had with all the T.A.P.S. members at a paranormal retreat at a place called Rolling Hills.

Rolling Hills is located in East Bethany NY. The huge building was origianlly an insane asylum, built in late 1700’s  then turned into a  poor house, and at the same time an orphanage. Little children mixed with all sorts of criminals. One can only imagine the horror that took place there. The outside property is riddled with unmarked graves.  Rumors of figures in windows, strange noises, and eerie stories have circulated amoung local residents for 170 years. Rolling Hills is the first historical site in NY open to the public for overnite ghost hunts.

In order for the current owner Lori, to keep Rolling Hills open, she needs funds to keep it maintained. When she bought the property, she decided to use it as a Country Mall. Renting out rooms on the first floor to vendors. Because many of the vendors had paranormal experiences, people just left…they didn’t want to be part of it.The mall closed in 2007, and opened to the public for ghost hunts. There is a fee, but goes directly back to the building to keep it opened. Giving the opportunity for people like us..paranromal investigators more experience, and hopefully more paranormal experiences. It’s like school for the paranormal enthusiasts. Like me!!! =)

Now…the fun began last Thursday when we went to the Holiday Inn in Batavia to pick up our badges, and the info about the weekend. After, there was a meet and greet with the TAPS members. So, we hung out…met some GREAT people, then the guys came in!! They even remembered us…Jason remembered Conny by her first name!! (We have not seen them since August!!) We were impressed to say the least! Now, if you have ever watched the show Ghost Hunters, what you see on TV is what you get in person! Very nice guys!

Friday we drove up to Rolling Hills and stayed for a conference here and there. If we were not interested, we were free to roam the massive building! Over 65,000 sq. feet people!! It’s creepy in the daytime, imagine what it’s like in the night! Oh…it was REALLY COLD! You know I don’t do well in the cold!! There were about 150 people there. They broke up the investigations into two nights. We chose Saturday night. (Which we had heard that it was the better choice b/c things get really stirred up by the second night, more activity!). So, Saturday, we drove up again, to stay. We went out to lunch, filled our bellies so we could skip dinner. When a large amount of people left, we stayed and walked through the building. We ran our equipment. Actually caught a weird EVP. By 10:00 it was time for the other half of the group to leave and the Saturday night investigators to stay. We would investigate from 10-2. Our group (about 17-19 people) started on the third floor with Steve (from Ghost Hunters). In one room that Conny and I had to ourselves, trying to do an EVP, in walks Steve. It was really great!!! Then, after an hour, off to the  basement we go with Jason and Grant. We were the first people to arrive, so we had a minute to chat with them. Then off to the first floor with Dave Tango (from Ghost Hunters). He was actually a great help. In one room (now remember..it is totally DARK) we are trying to do an EVP. While one of us is doing that, another one documents it by video recording it. (Just incase there might be a strange anomalies that we would not see by the naked eye). So, I am doing the EVP, while Jason is across the room from me leaning on the wall video recording me. Not even a minute into it, he says “wow—wow—get over here!!” He rewinded the tape, and there was a bright small ball of light that went right in front of me as I asked if there was anyone in the room with us. We went right over to Dave Tango, and he came in the same room with us to try to help us debunk it. Unless it was a very large bug…(which I doubt it was it didn’t look like one), it could be indeed something paranormal. After that hour, we went onto the 2nd floor. That floor had a buzz about it. Much talk about it being very active, especially rooms 25, and 28. For as hard as we tried to get a clean EVP, we really didn’t get much. We did hear some taps, and some noises coming from behind Conny.

I got a great birthday present eariler that night from the host Dave Shrader. He invited anyone who was having a birthday that weekend up to the “stage”. There was a total of 5 of us girls. We all went up to the stage where Steve and Dave were sitting. The whole crowd sand happy birthday to us and then we were presented with a DVD. It was so great!

I was so fortunate enough to do what I have always wanted to do! Every second of that trip was a thrill of a life time! I met so many nice people who I will be seeing again in May. That is when we are going to Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia PA, May 1st-4th with the Jason and Grant from TAPS/Ghost Hunters. Check it out here and see the castle like jail. http://www.darknessradio.com/TRIPS/easternstatepen2/ Also, for those of you who are into podcasting, check out the darkness on the edge of town. Host Dave Shrader has on a different guest every week, and talking about the paranormal. I have been able to hang out with him a bit here and there throughout the weekend, and he is so freakin funny, and very nice!!! So, check out this podcast http://darknessradio.com/Also, to see some video of Rolling Hills, go here http://techchannel.att.com/site/home/index.cfm and in the right hand side, go into advance serch and type in Rolling Hills.

One more link…http://www.rollinghills-ghosthunt.com/ is the official Rolling Hills site.

I had the time of my life, and very greatful for that. I am still in a state of bliss!!!!

Enjoy the pictures, and please, visit the links above!!

Talk to you soon!!
Lorraine