Rolling Hills Asylum

I enjoyed Brad and the staff that led us on tour, they were friendly and informative. I’m a paranormal investigator from CO and my best friend from NY took me here because of it’s haunted reputation. Unfortunately the night tour was sold out so we did the daytime lock-​in. The intake was fine and I took some notes as Brad told everyone about the history. I wanted to be able to refer back to what he said as I investigated the rooms so I’d have names and details correct. A good investigator should do this… little did I know it would cause problems later. During the tour we visited the room of the asylum’s gentle giant. Funny enough the bookshelves in his room, one entire wall, are filled with romance novels. That’s right, Harlequin and Silhouette’s make up 99 percent of his library. My friend had this instinctive feeling one of HER books was there. It was just a gut feeling, one that proved true! We were tickled by the discovery and shared it with Brad and the two other, nice ladies on our tour. They thought it was so cool and asked her to sign it. She did so, dedicating it to Rolling Hills. Fast forward to that night where we attended a horror movie showing and then asked Brad if maybe they could fit us into the night tour. I really wanted to get photos at night and see if the activity was better, we’d had little luck earlier. Brad said yes and I was more than happy to pay again. Enter Sharon. She pulled my friend aside and asked if she was the author. Thinking the owner would be excited by the wild coincidence, like the rest of us were, she said yes. Sharon proceeded to yell at her and tell her she could NOT write about the asylum. My friend had no intention of that, she doesn’t write nonfiction or paranormal. Never has, never will. Sharon mentioned that someone saw us writing– my aforementioned notes– and continued to ream my friend for daring to write about Rolling Hills. Long story short, she was incredibly rude and basically talked us out of the night tour, saying no one would be able to take pictures, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, that’s why someone posted a full apparition later that night. It’s a shame that the owner has zero customer service skills and couldn’t appreciate a completely innocent occurrence, that also made a great talking point! I’d dissuade other investigative groups from going purely because the biggest monster there is the owner. Neither of us had any intention of writing about Rolling Hills, only investigating, but if we were to write anything now it would be about vengeful spirits who torment the heinous owner of their home.

A group of friends suggested Rolling Hills Asylum and after reading reviews here and on Google, I was a more than a little hesitant to give up my hard earned money for what seemed like a sham. But I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and we went the night after Thanksgiving.
I had taken the time to read over a majority of the website, so I felt like I knew what to expect when I got there, and that’s exactly what happened. Brad greeted us outside and explained the process clearly. He was friendly and enthusiastic.
The ‘intake’ process was a little daunting, but I understand the reason why. You are in the middle of no where, you are entering a building that is considerably aged with steep inclines and minimal lighting. They are protecting themselves and their customers. I don’t know why anyone would want to go to a place like this intoxicated, this is not a fun house or Halloween haunted house.
After going over the rules and giving us a history of the building, we were split up into 3 groups and taken on the historic tour before being allowed to roam the building on our own. The history of the building was very interesting.
I’m a pretty open person when it comes to spirits and such; and have encountered them on my own, but still had the reviews I read in the back of my mind as we began searching the building on our own. I went through the building looking for signs of staging, looking for explanation of things, but open at the same time.
There were a few things that happened that gave us pause, foot steps behind us, shadows etc., but I wasn’t truly convinced until we went into a large rec room on the second floor. Many of the rooms are staged, but this is done (I think) on purpose. There are relatively comfortable places to sit in a room, because sometimes you have to wait and let the spirits come. Toys on the floor to provide objects for spirits to move etc. My group sat in the rec room and just started talking quietly about the room. We then asked if there was anyone with us. Nothing in the room moved, but a friend placed his cellphone on the floor in the middle of the room and said, ‘if you touch the item I put on the floor, a light will come on. if there is anyone is the room, could you touch the item and show us’ about a minute later, the phone went on. We tried it again in a different location and asked again for someone to turn on the ‘light.’ The cellphone came on again. This was not a notification, it was not planned.
We then told the spirit that if the answer to our question was yes, to turn on the light. We then asked a series of questions and got several yes answers. We ended up spending about 30 minutes in the room, talking with what we eventually ascertained was a young boy. It was rather interesting.
We do plan on going back in the spring, when its a little warmer and doing a weekday quarantine (overnight from 8p-​4a). It was a little distracting to have other groups in the building, wandering in and out of the same rooms, making noise in the hallway.
I don’t know if there has been a turn over in the volunteers or if the negative reviews on social media have inspired them to focus a little more on customer service, all I can say is that there wasn’t a negative experience had all evening and we are looking forward to going back in the spring.

Went here Nov 1 2015 We had the most amazing time. The staff was very friendly. I took my 76 ur old Dad. He had do much fun he wants to go back. I was delighted to have Brad as our tour guide he was very patient, as it took my Dad a slow go up the stairs. We got some really good pics of paranormal, and even them talking 2us. This place is a must see, don’t put it off go now and have great time We r going back again. Highly recommend

We had our expectations low, based on Unilocal reviews. But we had an awesome time. Several groups were turned away for being obviously intoxicated. I can’t blame owners of a place that you are about to walk though in the dark that has some dangerous areas in it for making sure the people using their facilities have all of their capabilities about them. Also, we noticed that this policy was clearly stated on the tickets.
After getting signed in we had to fill out a quick waiver form. I expect many of the negative reviews are from young people who haven’t had many experiences at places like this.
There was an informative tour for the first half of our visit and then we were free to check out the open areas of the building. I wish that they had maps, as we got disoriented a few times. In all it was a great experience. Dress for the weather, bring a small flashlight. It is a ghost hunting experience, so I would recommend knowing what you are getting into before you show up.

I went about two years ago and we had a nice small group of about 12 people all together for a 3hr psych hold. Our tour guides were awesome, young heavier set gentleman and a young girl. It was a great experience.
2 years later: decided I’d come over 700 miles to experience this with my family. We had a group of 5, adults not young or immature. We waited patiently, walked in, sat down filled out the information, which is quite personal. As soon as one party member handed in their paperwork she rudely called them out into the hall and said they believed we were under the influence and needed to leave, they continued to call out our names in front of everyone like yelling at a bunch of high school kids. We didn’t fight it or question anything we were going to leave quietly. We apologized on our behalf, letting them know we didn’t mean any respect even though we weren’t intoxicated. She continued to follow us out just waiting for a fight but that’s not us. She was absolutely rude. The whole ordeal left a bad taste in my mouth so I decided to look up more reviews and seems like we aren’t the only one who were treated so poorly! What a shame! If new ownership ever happens it would be a great place but it is not worth it with the current owner/​staff.

I am sorry if people are impatient and not catching anything my advice is stay calm and listen. I went to Rolling Hills to prove to my sister that this crap is not real and its all fake. Boy was I ever wrong, I was behind the group last one and I heard a cough behind me. Quickly I turned to think maybe someone is behind me? Nothing even with my flash light nobody there. Shrugged it off my imagination running wild cause I am in a spooky place. Again I hear footsteps behind me I turn panicking this time cause I know its not my imagination this time and I am holding on to the person ahead of me and telling them someone is behind me. Everyone turns with cameras and flashlights again nothing and I get that look. So walking again I can feel the coldness in my spine quickly I turned fast as I could snapped my camera long behold a fiqure standing right behind me. I am a strong absolute believer now and never again will I look at someone with judgemental eyes when they say they believe in Ghost and Haunted Houses.

Called no returns call no hours or days on web after we waited for the call that never came the people in town said it was nothing and most all people complain after they leave STAY WAY THEY TOLD US !!

Had been wanting to go to this historic location for quite some time and went on one of their summer horror movies nights (The Conjuring). First off the location is wonderful, interesting and definetly a ⁵⁄₅ — the management and organization of things brings the rating down. Trying to navigate their web-​site is near impossible. There are alot of steps and repeated information — and if you miss one step or dont complete the entire puchasing, consenting and ID process to the owners liking you may be refused entry without refund as you are warned multiple times on the web-​site.
Purchased the online tickets for the movie itself $ 15 then for the 2-​Hour flashlight tour $ 20 + Fees, then you must also register for the events on the website which includes multiple consents as to rules and at your own risk information. Parking was simple at the location and there was a line outside the building which was lengthly and slow moving. Sharon (the owner) was checking IDs and such at the door prior to sitting down for the movie. The movie was in a large room with uncomfortable sturdy plastic chairs that still had the plastic bags/​cardboard on the legs. The windows were covered with dark velvet curtains to keep the light out. Snacks included numerous full size bags of popcorn, chips and theater sized boxes of candy enough for everyone. Water or can of soda was included. Snacks were fine but would have been nice to have a bowl or smaller bag of chips. Sharon called out an entire group of people and they had to leave the movie even before it started — I have no idea what that was all about. The remaining paying customers in the room were talkng and waiting for the movie to start and she yelled at the entire group as if they were a bunch of 10 yr olds «Grow up people, be respectful» — It was awkward and unnecessary. The sound system was great, maybe even a little too loud but it really set the mood the the freaky movie The Conjuring. I did enjoy seeing the movie at this awesome, creepy location.
After the movie we had to move the car to the other side of the building so the next group of movie watchers could park which was fine. After moving the car we waited outside for Sharon to again review the rules and we sent to a very crowded, super hot room to fill out another Consent form (extensive — I was waiting for it ask my SSN or past medical history) and then we had to wait in this room «to be checked off.» We were in this side room for over 30 minutes — no order at all. Every so often Sharon would pop her head in — yell orders then come in a few minutes later to completely change it. Finally we were able to go on the tour with one of the Volunteers. We were told right up front by Sharon and the Volunteer tour guide that they have never had this many people here and didn’t plan on it and called us «Guinea pig group.» Well this group paid almost $ 40 per person so I found this ridiculous and offensive. This also doesn’t make sense as you had to pre-​pay for tickets so they knew who was coming.
The tour guide was nice but was very rushed and actually said «We need to keep moving briskly, there is another group behind us.» We literally had to power walk through the location stopping at his choice for a brief historical story at several locations. There was no time to look around at all where I may have wanted. Many rooms were filled with props — not of the time frame of the location. There were bats painted on the walls from previous haunted houses. There were also some actual bats flying around the location down in the tunnel area. The tour was only 80 minutes where we paid for 120 minutes. When we initially bought the tickets we weren’t told there would be more than one showing of the movie — during many parts of the tour you could loudly hear the other movie. I wouldve enjoyed the rest of the 40 minutes of the tour so that I could look around slower.
FYI — There is no heat or air conditioner and no running water so they have a porta potty bathroom. If you are Like them on facebook Sharon posts messages about having trespassers arrested on the property. I completely agree that people shouldn’t trespass and definetly not destroy property but her posts on facebook are a bit much. If you try to post a review on facebook that she doesnt agree with she will reply back very unprofessionally from what I have seen. This is a truely honest review and I have tried to use facts rather than too many personal opinions as the reviews for this location vary so much. It appears with personal tours which are approx $ 70 per person and up management is able to handle situations better.
On a side note — I had previously purchased tickets in the past for a different tour but it was cancelled by management at the last minute due to low interest and and the money was refunded in that case.

Had a great tour today!
We went on the 2 hour historical tour and it was great. I enjoyed seeing the building in daylight & getting to see the character it holds.
The historical walk thru is akin to some given at other hospitals & former institutional properties. Given that the building is known for its ghostly attributes there is a smattering of ghost stories filtered in.
I thoroughly enjoyed it!
I hope to go back in the spring or summer when it’s a little warmer. If you go during winter months be prepared for the cold. The buildings hold in the cold so bundle up!

Contrary to these reviews (I almost did not go because of them) our team had a great private tour. We spent the whole night with just the 9 of us and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I did not get to meet Sharon, but Brad was very accommodating, informative and welcoming. I would happily visit again.

Stay away! Stay far, far away!
Not only do these people not care about you as a customer, or care if you receive terrible service and leave with various complaints, it’s pretty obvious that they consider customers to be a hassle and an inconvenience. Why they even bother having this business when they’re so obviously annoyed by working it is beyond me. I have never, ever been so abused or shaken by such mistreatment at a business… it was as if they were the actors in a haunted house, not business owners welcoming people to their establishment.
Think «The Hills Have Eyes». Think «Texas Chainsaw Massacre». There is something terribly, terribly wrong with these people. They don’t answer the phones; they merely show up at a very specific window of time to lure you through their dungeon, and God-​forbid you show up 5 minutes late. You’ll be tortured by the evil, uneducated (that’s putting it lightly… Sloth from Goonies had more social skills than these hillbillies) henchman that opens the door solely so he can yell at you that you’re bothering them. Then you’ll be threatened with the police. Oh, and don’t even think about getting your car stuck in their mud hole of a parking lot. They «don’t care». They will not offer to help you, and will again just tell you to «get off their property».
This was a terrifying experience and we didn’t even get to go in the haunted building. These people should be shut down and arrested for threatening and harassing people.
DO NOT GIVE THESE MONSTERS YOUR MONEY! DO NOT!
Do yourself a favor and read all of their crazy, restrictive rules on their website. They are unaccommodating to say the least. You better follow their nasty rules or else. Do yourself another favor and take heed of all the other negative reviews out there. The positive reviews are talking about people seeing ghosts. The negative reviews are all talking about the very REAL mistreatment you’ll receive as a REAL person.

Gatekeepers will UNwelcome you with shocking negativity and accusatory attitude. We, a media professional visiting from Europe and a senior citizen, and another group arrived 5 – 10 minutes late, because of obvious road conditions. (We followed a plow for much of the distance.) We each attempted to call to make them aware, but you will not receive an answer from a human being. Upon arriving to the unkempt driveway (an utter mud pit), our vehicle became immediately trapped in the mess. We knocked on the door 5 minutes after our scheduled reservation, but no one would answer our faint calls until the second late party arrived, 5 minutes later. We all understood that being late was a clause, and may not be let us in according to the rules, but we thought to politely ask, as well as ask for assistance with our trapped vehicle. Almost out of The Hills Have Eyes, we were sorely greeted by a foul-​tempered man who growled that the rules were to turn us away, «…so I have to make an executive decision… LEAVE!» He continued, «And don’t bang on my door again or I’ll have the sheriff here in TWO MINUTES!» To which I feared – is the sheriff in on this Leatherface operation? The second party, dumbfounded as we, pleaded for understanding. For example: The group tour was visible from the entrance. No one had answered the telephones. The roads were unplowed. They just changed a tire. His reply? «I DON’T CARE! GET OFF OUR PROPERTY!» To which I asked, «Please on an unrelated point – we are stuck in your driveway because of it’s condition.» The same snap, «I DON’T CARE – CALL A PLOW,» at which point he swung the door shut in our four faces. Lucky for us, the second party were a kind young couple who assisted us for 45 minutes in rescuing our vehicle from the driveway. (We have pictures and videos.) After trying floor mats, kitty litter, snow and digging ourselves out with our hands, we were finally set free! What a letdown, a disillusion, a customer service crime. We would have understood refusal to enter. We may never understand their unbelievably cruel, backwoods attitudes or their unfriendly and irresponsible nature. Trust.