The Stanley Hotel is a place that Mike and I have always wanted to go to. Now that our friend, Crystal another TAGO member, moved near there, we are planning a hopeful visit this year.One of the most beautiful places I had the pleasure to visit was Estes Park, Colorado. I remember the long drive on the wining roads witnessing the most incredible scenery on this earth. Nestled in this serene place, within the Rocky Mountain National Park, is The Stanley Hotel which has the most picturesque panoramic view of the Rockies. The Stanley hotel can boast having many famous guests like Margaret Brown (the unsinkable Molly Brown, Titanic), John Philip Sousa, Theodore Roosevelt and other Hollywood celebrities. In 1903, Freelan O. Stanley, inventor of the Stanley Steamer along with his brother, came to Estes Park suffering from tuberculosis on the suggestion of his doctor. He and his wife stayed in a cabin while Stanley saw vast improvement in his health. They were so grateful for his improving health and loved the beautiful valley of Estes Park; they knew that their future was there. In 1909, the Stanley Hotel was opened as a classy, elegant, upstanding, Georgian style hotel that was designed with the rich and famous in mind. With its long history and tragic accidents, The Stanley Hotel has its fare share of haunted stories.
The Stan
ley Hotel was the inspiration for the novel, “The Shining” written by Stephen King. The 1980 movie was directed by Stanley Kubrick, who also co-wrote the screenplay and starred Jack Nicholson as a tormented writer. His ability to see ghost called, ‘the shining’, drove him mad to where he tried to kill his wife and son. King and his wife did stay at the hotel in 1973 and were the only ones staying there at the time. They had their share of strange phenomenon while staying in room 217. In 1911 that room had a gas leak and explosion, killing the maid, Mrs. Wilson. It is told that her spirit still lingers in that room. After Mr. and Mrs. King put their luggage in the room, they went downstairs for at least 45 minutes. When they returned, their clothes were put away in the dresser drawers and the luggage was stacked in the closet. Looks like Mrs. Wilson is still cleaning that room. Many of the other rooms have similar reports of paranormal activity. The Music Room had reports of a piano playing on his own where either Mr. or Mrs. Stanley loved to play the piano.
The Billiard Room has also had reports of the apparition of Mr. Stanley hanging around watching the guests.
The MacGregor Room is where sightings of people wearing period clothing are attending a party. They appeared to be on continuous reel, repeating the same scenes, not noticing any live humans watching them. Some of the cooks working at the Stanley Hotel have heard a party going on in that room, opened the door to check it out, and no one was in there. This room was used by Stephen King for his “The Shining”, mini series for all the ghostly party scenes.
In the Lob
by, the apparition of F. O. Stanley himself has been seen staring at the night clerk, and then just disappearing. While behind the front desk, a bellman heard footsteps from the Bar and saw a reflection of a woman in the window but found no one there. Also, books have been reported flying off the shelves and the elevators operating on their own.The fourth floor is believed to have the most ghostly activity in the hotel. This floor used to house the servants quarters and is where the ghost children like to play and run up and down the hallways. These children, a boy and a girl with blonde hair, were told to be the children of a maid that worked there. Stephen King himself saw the ghost children while on the fourth floor. People staying there have reported seeing balls being thrown up and down the hallway like it were being thrown between two children. The children can also be heard in room 418 where some have seen an indention of a person on the bed when there was no one there. Room 401 is one of the most haunted rooms in the hotel where jewelry and other personal items have been reported missing while lying on the nightstand. An apparition of a man and woman has been seen grabbing the items, running in the closet and disappearing. When Ghost Hunters did their first investigation of the hotel, Jason slept in that room. The video recorder caught the sound of the creaking closet door unlatching and opening up, then shortly afterwards, the glass on the nightstand broke. Upon further investing the glass, it looked like it was broken from the inside which puzzled Jason. His camera also caught the sound of the closet door shutting and latching itself. The closet door was examined by Jason and Grant but they could not find anyway that the door could have unlatched itself. That would take some force to do that, and then open. Creepy! Room 407 is where the ghost of Lord Dunraven has been seen standing by the bathroom door. Also in this room, the bathroom lights turn on and off with unseen hands while an apparition has been seen looking out the window. Room 412 has the strangest story of them all. One evening a lady staying in the room with her husband started screaming for no reason. She told the hotel employees that while on the bed she felt energy like someone was trying to take over her body. While the employees were trying to take her to the ambulance for a trip to the hospital, she fought them all the way. After she was examined, they found no drugs or alcohol in her system and were completely puzzled on why she had this outburst. She did not remember any of it at all.
Many of the surrounding buildings have also had their share of reports of paranormal sightings. The Managers residence has been visited often by the ghost of F. O. Stanley. In room 1302 on the third floor of the nearby hall, a playful spirit doesn’t appreciate the hard work of the maids that clean and straighten the room. After cleaning the room, a maid stepped outside the room with the head housekeeper. Within minutes the head housekeeper looked in the room to check it out and found the lamps on the floor and all the pictures had fallen off the wall. They were right outside the room and heard nothing. On their second night of investigating the Stanley Hotel, TAPS members, Grant, Tango and Lisa were in room 1302 where Tango felt like they were being watched. Grant was at the table near the window changing the tape on the video camera they had set up. As the camera man came over to shine a light so Grant could see what he was doing, the table moved and the chair lifted up and slammed against the wall. The two of them were very startled as you can imagine. Only the edge of the table was caught moving on film but it was not enough to use as solid evidence.
Most of the rooms have many reports of paranormal activity at one time or another. Guests and employees are always reporting sightings even to this day. So if you are looking for a place that seems to have a hotbed of ghostly activity, the Stanley Hotel is for you. Book a room today……….”here’s Johnny”.
--Julie--
