The Stanley Hotel.
Stories, a little history and of course, my experiences from working here.
333 E. Wonderview Avenue, Estes Park, Co.
“Redrum. Redrum. REDRUM!”
Movies are sometimes known to deliver lines that instantly make it into the vernacular because of the setting or situation in which they are said. And sometimes, those quotes can become more famous than the movie itself.
It is literally impossible to not think of Stephen King’s book, The Shining or even more so, Kubrick’s film adaptation without hearing those three words. And as a young teenager, devouring anything Stephen King wrote, I was enthralled with that movie regardless of how much it deviated from the book. Using King’s framework, Kubrick weaved a menacing and foreboding world that should have been beautiful; then threw tarnished & overly-damaged people into that world. Growing up in Greeley, I was enthralled to learn that I only lived 50 miles away from where the movie was filmed, the actual Stanley Hotel (then I learned otherwise).
While attending Colorado State University in Fort Collins, I quickly became enamored with the supernatural through paranormal reality shows like Ghost Hunters and Paranormal State on A&E (since debunked as fraudulent). I fed myself a steady diet of hard science (microbiology & physics) and humanities (creative writing & Shakespeare). I made weekly pilgrimages to the Stanley Hotel, the Boulderado Hotel, and visited abandoned buildings on the eastern plains. And in the process, I learned how integral history is to all of this.
When the opportunity came to apply for a position at The Stanley (many years later), I jumped at the chance. And within the course of the next couple years, not only did I move to Estes Park, but I landed a job at The Stanley initially doing daytime historical tours. I quickly moved into night time ghost tours (since I had knowledge of the field) and ended up befriending Karl Pfeiffer, “Scary Mary” and Vera, the resident psychic. I also helped Karl and Connor with overnight paranormal investigations on occasion. It got to the point, where only my regular night tours were selling out, something I was a bit proud of. Eventually, I moved into an overnight auditor position at the Front Desk balancing the different departments and doing light accounting work. I was basically working one of my two dream jobs. I was proud of working at The Stanley but eventually, management (John Cullen–owner) would end up taking that pride away. The Stanley was where I had my first ever, paranormal experience. So there will always be that.
The Stanley Hotel opened its doors July 4th of 1909 at the cost of $500,000. It opened with the main building and the concert hall. One year later in 1910, the Manor Hall opened. Suffering from tuberculosis, F.O. Stanley moved westward upon the advice from his doctor in Newton, Massachusetts to seek out a drier climate in the hope, that the lack of humidity would stifle his eventual demise from the disease; it worked. Initially landing in Denver and finding his condition not much improved, plus there was the constant noise and pollution of traffic from a burgeoning city, a friend suggested that he and his wife, Flora, visit Estes Park located up in the high mountains. Well, they fell in love with the valley and decided they loved it enough to build a home and eventual hotel.
The hotel opened its doors initially as a vacation spot for the wealthy and a wellness retreat for those suffering from tuberculosis. F.O. was a genuinely caring man. He saw it his duty to help those also suffering from the disease and sat on the town board of commerce seeing the development of the Estes Valley. He even had a small hand in the creation of Rocky Mountain National Park.
The hotel had 140 rooms and routinely entertained guests with its lavish concert hall. Of course, the main reason for guests to book their expensive stays was to “take the air” in hope it would speed a recovery from the ‘consumption’ that was eating away at their bodies. Then there was the amazing mountain scenery. During the initial days of the Stanley, F.O. and his staff would ferry guests from the small town of Lyons up St. Vrain Canyon (now highway 36) to Estes Park in specially built ‘mountain carriages’ that were steam powdered. Highway 34 from Loveland was as yet, not realized.
Upon its opening, the Stanley was one of a very select few buildings that was entirely electric. It received its electricity from a water plant located further upstream to the west that F.O. had built.
The hotel experienced a devastating explosion in 1911 that injured eight people including a now famous housekeeper, Elizabeth Wilson. The explosion destroyed about 10% of the building. On June 25th, as the gas lines were filled and lamps ready to be lit for the evening, one lamp’s switch had been left open. So all day, that room was slowly being filled with gas. As the story goes, Elizabeth entered the room, the now famous room #217, lit her match and blew the entire left front corner of the building to pieces. She fell through the floor down to the bottom breaking both ankles but did not die. Elizabeth returned to work in 1913 and kept working until she retired in 1950. Some of the modern day tour guides are told to tell guests on their tours she died from her injuries; makes for a better story I suppose.
The hotel upon opening and into the 1970’s, did not operate on a yearly basis, it was strictly seasonal. Reason being, there was no heat. The only sources of heat came from the sporadic fireplaces. So once fall hit and the snow started to collect on the ground, the hotel was shut down for the year. There is some opinion that guests wanting to stay longer, were transferred to the Stanley Manor (Manor House) since it was smaller & easier to warm. It’s roughly a 2:3 replica of the main building.
The main building has four floors. Only the 2nd and 3rd floors and a small portion of the 1st floor were used to put up guests. The bottom floor was primarily reception, a large lobby, a music room since Flora loved the piano, a billiards room for the gentlemen and the McGregor Room for additional entertaining. The fourth floor which, gets most of the attention and for good reason, was used to house staff (and their families) who often stayed for the full duration of the operating season. This of course, is the floor where Stephen King saw the two little boys. But we’ll get to that.
And lastly, there is the employee dorms located behind the main building. This is a small, two story structure that the initial builders used and stayed in while they were building the hotel back in 1907-1908. Not many people know, but this small building predates everything else on the grounds. I stayed in here for roughly six months and had the privilege of having a room to myself since I worked overnights. I was good friends with the HR Director and was able to get him to see things my way, in regards to NOT having a roommate and having an opposite schedule.
The building to my knowledge is not haunted. Nor have I ever heard of anything happening there. Although, quite a number of years ago, an employee died in there from an overdose.
So, what of all the hauntings at the Stanley? After working there for the better of two years in the right departments, I’ve heard multiple stories from multiple people. And of course, I have my own experiences to tell as well. Since I had keys to most of the buildings, it was easy to investigate after hours, most often alone.
Before I start, do I believe the building is haunted? In a word, yes. I do believe there is more than one haunting happening here. But is everything haunted or an indication of a haunting? No, absolutely not. The building is over 100 years old and it’s a wooden structure. So things are going to buckle, creak & groan. This is especially noticeable on windy days. And the buildings insulation is a joke at best. I’ve been working on cold, winter nights when multiple pipes have frozen. This led, expectantly, to some rather odd noises. With a building this large & old, one must be more suspicious and skeptical of conditions. Not everything is a ghost and not everything is a leaky pipe. Being swept away in the romanticism of the afterlife, will only lead to people automatically discrediting ones experiences. In the paranormal field, it pays to be diligent, dubious and perhaps, a little cynical.
One of the going theories as to why the hotel is so active is due largely to the amount of quartz in the granite on which the hotel sits. Related to the ‘Stone Tape Theory,’ is that certain minerals, like quartz and limestone have the ability to absorb energy. Whether or not this is true, these minerals are found at multiple ‘haunted’ sites across the globe.
And one last thing I’d like to address. On my many tours and interactions with guests at the hotel, probably one of the most frequently asked questions I’ve gotten was, ‘Has anyone ever died at the hotel?’ As tour guides and staff, we’re told to say no to this question. So you’re telling me, a 100+ year old hotel that started off as a tuberculosis retreat hasn’t seen any deaths? That’s laughable and insulting at best. Especially considering most of the guests who stayed here, stayed for the duration of the summer. Of course, the Stanley has had death inside its doors, and suicide as well. I know of a gentleman who committed suicide in room #416. But for whatever reason, management (John Cullen) thinks it’s bad for business and tells staff to lie to the guests. This seems extremely illogical considering many people who visit the hotel do so because of its paranormal reputation and connection to Stephen King. But who knows.
The following stories and accounts will be detailed in no particular order. But as you scroll and read through them, you’ll find many stories will revisit ones you’ve already read or possibly know about as some of these are connected. Anyway, buckle in, because this is going to be a long recap of some of the hauntings at the Stanley, including my own personal experiences.
Stories, situations and secondhand accounts that I have heard or have been told
Concert Hall & Manor House
To start, I’ll tackle the story of “Lucy.” This is probably the Stanley’s second best known ghost (after the kids on the 4th floor). As the story goes, probably back in the 1950’s or 1960’s, the concert hall wasn’t used much except for busy summer weekends. At some point either during the late fall or possibly winter, a woman in her late teens had found her way up to Estes Park from Lyons. Being homeless, she floated from one place to another around Estes Park for a while until she happened upon the concert hall. Being that this building has never been properly locked or secured, Lucy found her way in.
In accordance with the fact that the main building wasn’t heated, it goes to say that the concert hall wasn’t heated either. Finding that she could stay in the concert hall as it wasn’t always monitored, she stayed in the basement area. Well, during a particularly long cold snap, Lucy froze to death in what is now referred to as, “Lucy’s Room.” This room is small, located in the basement and halfway down a hallway. Of course, there are many unknowns about this story. For instance, why did she think moving higher in elevation would be a better idea than moving to someplace say, like Boulder? Also, during the time she was in and out of the building, why didn’t any staff think this was odd? Surely she would have been seen at some point. And lastly, considering Estes Park has largely been a “tourist town” for most of its existence, jobs in locations like this is usually aplenty. So, for however many years ‘Lucy’ was in Estes Park, am I to understand she couldn’t procure housing or a paycheck of some degree? To me, this sounds very unlikely. By the way, the name ‘Lucy’ came many years ago during a visit by a Medium who picked up on something inhabiting the concert hall.
Whether or not this story has any merit or truth, there have been a lot of first-hand accounts over the years to quantify that there is something in the basement that answers to Lucy. I’ve probably done close to 100-night tours where Lucy’s Room was a regular stop. I’ve seen & witnessed enough little things in that room whereby, it may not be the spirit of a teenager (I’m inclined to not think it is), but I believe something is there that interacts with people on an infrequent basis.
This next little quip I was going to save for later, but since I just finished talking about Lucy, and this happened near Lucy’s room, I think this is a good time to bring it up.
A maintenance worker, whom I’ll call Jeffery, related a few stories to me over the tenure of our friendship. While I worked there, there was staff in different departments that got along quite well. Of course, having this kind of friendship helped when problems arose concerning guests or when there was something that needed to be repaired. But it also helped connect seemingly unconnected departments by those who had a genuine love of the hotel (paranormal stories included).
The basement of the concert hall does not have true insulation or outside retaining walls. And one can see this first-hand by opening a small door located at the front of Lucy’s room. One can open this door, step into a crawl space of sorts, and walk the uneven rocky ground, left hand on the exterior wall and right hand on the granite bedrock & walk the perimeter of the room to a 90° turn (to the left), open another small door and step into a closet that opens into the main room of the concert hall. This tight space is maybe 3’-4’ across; I’ve done it myself a couple times.
One afternoon, ‘Jeffery’ was in this small crawlspace performing some work. I don’t know what exactly, but I would assume patching up some exterior woodwork or planks. He had a lantern with him and a headlight while working as of course, there was no lighting in there. At one point, as he told me, he got a heavy feeling he was being watched. He looked up, shining his headlight straight down the partition and as he did so, saw a pale face looking at him from the corner. Jeffery grabbed his stuff and bolted out of there. Another maintenance worker had to finish the patchwork as Jeffery refused to go back.
Was this Lucy? No one can say. All I can say is, ‘Jeffery’ had worked for the hotel for several years before he ultimately left to accept a better paying job out of state. I mention this because, he didn’t work in tours whereby, those who did, usually embellished things in hopes that it would lead to better tips. Jeffery had no reason to embellish as I was one of maybe three people he told.
While I was employed at The Stanley, I was trained by some of the ‘old timers.’ Which in hindsight, I was fortunate in that, I was privy to many stories that have since been forgotten. Of these stories, the old night security watchman, let’s call him ‘Bobby,’ related a story to me one night as we were standing on the front porch of the main building. By the way, The Stanley doesn’t have security anymore. That ended over ten years ago. Although, ‘Bobby’ still lives and works in Estes Park.
He was called by the front desk to investigate a noise complaint over in the Manor House coming from room #1302 (now called ‘Grant’s Room’). The Manor House doesn’t get as much attention as the main building, but if one was going to stay in this smaller building, #1302 would be the room to reserve (the building is generally much quieter). #1302 is known to have phantom odors and cold spots that seem to travel about the room. A lamp and pictures are known to fall off the table and walls as well. The name, Grant’s Room comes from a Ghost Hunters episode. Grant Wilson, one of the two founding members of TAPS (Transatlantic Paranormal Society), was sitting at a table in a breakfast nook exchanging batteries in a camera when the table he was sitting at gets partially knocked up off the floor and rather violently at that. The cameraman, Kendall Whelpton, freaked out as he quickly backed away.
On that same investigation, still in room #1302, an associate by the name of Kamren Pasha (a novelist & filmmaker) participated in an EVP session and claims to have heard a male voice say, "I hate you. I'm angry." Frightened, and curious, she asked the spirit, "Are you trapped here, or free to leave?" She claims that when they played the tape back the same male voice was heard very clearly replying, "Free to go."
Anyway, as Bobbie was walking the upper floors, he stopped in front of #1302 and indeed heard the TV on very loud. After confirming with the front desk, which informed Bobby that the room was vacant, he entered the room.
The room was dark save for the blue flickering and noise from the TV. He turned it off, did a quick sweep of the room and left. When he reached the end of the hallway where the central staircase comes up, he heard the TV come on again, just as loud. Bobby turned around and walked back to the room whereby, he entered hesitantly and turned it off again. Bobby told me he stayed in there for a few minutes waiting to see if something would happen; nothing did. So, he got up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him and waited there for a few minutes more outside the door, you know, just in case. The TV never came back on.
Another story related to me by ‘Bobby’ was that of an old telephone positioned inside the old guard shack. To gain access to the main parking lot, one must drive past this. In my time at the hotel, I’ve only seen this shack used maybe a few times. And when it was, it was extraordinarily busy. The telephone in the shack hasn’t been in service for decades. When anyone was stationed out there, we communicated with the front desk via CB’s.
One night as Bobby was making his hourly rounds around the property, he received a call from the front desk saying the guard shack needed help. Naturally, this made no sense to Bobby, and I can only assume the front desk clerk didn’t know any better. He made his way down to the shack to check it out, the door was expectantly locked. He then walked up to the main building and clarified where the call came from. The clerk repeated that the call came from the guard shack. Bobby then educated the clerk that this was impossible as the phone hadn’t been in service for years. I can only assume this left a chill down the clerk’s back.
Staying with the concert hall, one of Flora’s (F.O. Stanley’s wife) favorite locations on the entire property was the balcony. It is often said that many people will smell a rose or slightly floral perfume. Usually this is noticed at the far end of the balcony near the wall where, Flora’s favorite place to sit was. Personally, I’ve never noticed this myself, but I have heard from countless people who have.
There has also been a shadow figure occasionally reported walking across the stage typically going from left to right. This is interesting in that, on the far left of the stage, as one is viewing it from the main ballroom or balcony, there is a small prop storage closet. However, on the right, is a doorway that leads directly downstairs via a small flight of steps. At the bottom of these steps is the end of the hallway where Paul’s room and Lucy’s room are located. I only make mention of this to illustrate how the building is laid out. Whoever this shadow figure is, I’m pretty sure it probably isn’t Lucy but perhaps, a residual haunting of a past performer or even Paul perhaps? This same shadow figure has been seen standing in the attached doorway leading to the downstairs. Again, this isn’t something I have personally witnessed, but I have heard this more than a few times from staff and guests.
Another location that has reported activity in the concert hall is the women’s bathroom. Reports coming from this location include the feeling of being watched, knocks and shuffles coming from the stalls, sensations of the hair on the back of one’s neck standing up and a general sense of unease. These reports are so frequent from the women’s bathroom, that on the old overnight paranormal investigations, this was a mandatory stop. I say, ‘was’ because John Cullen personally eliminated the overnight investigations because he wants the Stanley to take a different direction in business…no more ghost stuff and more heavily reliant on weddings and packages.
Lastly, there is the story of Paul. Paul was an old maintenance/night watchman decades ago who worked for the Stanley. Paul was a heavy smoker. On his nightly rounds before leaving, Paul would walk the property securing buildings and locking doors. This was a nightly routine before going home. Sadly, he passed away on the job in 2005 of a heart attack.
In death, Paul is thought to visit the concert hall from time to time. In fact, his presence is felt so often, that a room in the basement of the concert hall has been christened as his. People have reported the heavy smell of cigarettes & ashes in Paul’s room, the feelings of not being alone and being watched. The door to a rudimentary bathroom will close from time to time and a sense that one is intruding. I’ve witnessed the cigarette smell myself alongside sudden cold spots.
Main Building
While I was employed at the front desk working as an Overnight Auditor, I had a back up for my nights off; let’s call her ‘Tess.’ Tess worked in this position for a while. We got to be good friends and even she would witness strange things from time to time. However, one night’s incidence proved to be too much and she unfortunately decided to quit because of it.
To envision what the lobby looked like, as one is looking out into the front lobby from the front desk, there is/was an antique armoire with glass panes set against the wall just to the right of the front doors. This piece of furniture was at a 30° angle to the front desk. Directly left of the front desk, was a split hallway that emptied out into the back courtyard. The split is caused by the central staircase going up to the second floor and downstairs to the tour office, Vera’s office & bathrooms. At this particular time, the entire lobby was still hardwood floors. Management has since carpeted everything (God knows why).
One night while Tess was working at the front desk, she relayed to me that she heard a loud scuffling coming from the split hallway. Thinking it may have been a coworker from the restaurant trying to scare her, she quickly threw open the left side door to the front desk and looked out into the hallway. There was no one there. To ensure they weren’t trying to hide, she walked around the staircase and checked the two bathrooms on the other side, nothing. If it was someone, I don’t know where they would have gone because even a mouse would have made the floorboards creak. And as far as running outside, the doors would have given that one up as well due to the hinges and wood.
Tess went back to work at the front desk not really knowing what the sounds were about. A few minutes later she looked up from her paperwork thinking about some numbers and saw the reflection of a person in the panes of glass on the armoire walk down the hallway towards the staircase & lobby. She ran to the door and threw it open to catch the person. There was no one there. She saw this person clear as day in the reflection. That was her last shift working overnight audit. I know, because I had to come in and cover the next night.
A few other random tidbits, the spirits of both F.O. and Flora have been seen at the top of the top of the staircase. This doesn’t happen often, but it is reported every blue moon or so. I remember seeing a really creepy picture that a guest took a few years ago that ended up being aired by a local news channel in Denver.
The McGregor Ballroom has often been reported to be the scene of music and loud conversation late at night & into the morning by staff. I don’t think this is a common report, but I have heard stories of it.
Off to the other side of the lobby, there is the music room. This is a beautiful room that was frequented by Flora. It has a music nook that has one of Flora’s original pianos on display. From time to time, it has been heard playing out a few notes. As with some of the aforementioned activities, I personally have never heard this but others have.
In Cascades Restaurant and Bar, a number of years ago, it was reported that a guest’s martini glass not only moved across the bar a few inches but actually exploded. This was supposedly witnessed by patrons at the bar including the barkeep. Maybe the unlucky patron was talking about something disagreeable…I can only speculate.
Now that the first floor is spoken for, let’s poke into the stories that occur in the guest rooms.
The most famous room at the Stanley of course, is room #217, the Stephen King Room. The ‘trade story’ about this room revolves around the housekeeper that caused the explosion back in 1911. Even though Elizabeth Wilson didn’t die in the explosion, in fact, she died well into old age, it is thought she haunts this room; probably due to the tragedy of the event. Staff tells guests staying in this room, that often times, people will leave only to come back hours later and all their belongings have been unpacked and put away for them in the dresser. This story always makes me cringe with embarrassment for those who tell it. I’m sure the priority for any spirit in death is to unpack someone’s tidy-whities and socks.
Also, unmarried couples sleeping in this room will feel a force between them as they try to sleep. Footsteps and creaks have been reported as have personal effects been moved in the bathroom. Room #217 had the hotel’s only claw-foot bathtub. I’ve been told it’s original to the early days of the hotel but I can’t confirm this. It’s hard to believe a porcelain tub could survive an explosion of that magnitude in one piece.
Of the entire two years that I have worked at this hotel, of the many times I have entered this room alone at night to investigate (maybe 6-10 times), never once have I encountered any of the prior reports. Nor have I had strange feelings of being watched. Of course, I can’t speak for anyone else. But I have put myself out there as many times as I possibly could to experience something in this room. I have walked away empty-handed every single time.
Other than Stephen King, Jim Carey also stayed in this room during the filming of Dumb & Dumber. He apparently got up in the middle of the night and demanded to be moved. As the hotel was fully booked, this wasn’t possible. He left and presumably stayed somewhere else in town. It’s still not known what he saw or experienced as he has not talked about it. My question is did he really see something? All I have to say on this is…consider the source.
My personal thoughts are that #217 is completely void of anything. The hotel uses the Stephen King connection, runs with The Shining parallel and has weaved a narrative over the years to great success to charge more money for this room. If I were to hedge my bets & pick a haunted room, I’m staying on the 4th floor. Remember, the 2nd and 3rd floors were for guests. The 4th floor was for staff that often stayed for the duration of the summer with their entire families.
Room #401 is often referred to as the Lord Dunraven Room. This historical figure was a regular presence in Estes Park during the early 1900’s. Windham Thomas Wyndham-Quinn, the 4th Earl of Dunraven acquired nearly 8,000 acres in the Estes Valley. His goal as thought was to control the entire valley and basically turn it into his own personal hunting sanctuary. He acquired his acreage through both legal and some not so legal measures. Located near present day Lake Estes near Fish Hatchery Road was the English Hotel which he used as a base for himself and anyone else wanting to stay there.
Thanks in large part to F.O. Stanley and Enos Mills, largely thought of as the Father of Rocky Mountain National Park, this never happened. In fact, in the end, Lord Dunraven was basically run out of the valley. Room #401 (now the Lord Dunraven Suite) is named after him for activity thought to be caused by him and in my opinion, as a kind of epitaph to his memory even though weirdly, he has no connection to the room or the hotel itself. Despite his questionable character and less than honest business practices, he did help explode the popularity of the Estes Valley.
The reports from #401 include: people’s possessions being moved, the light on the table switching on, bangs and knocks coming from the closet and an overall uneasy feeling of being watched. Women will sometimes be inappropriately touched while standing in the closet. There is an old episode of Ghost Hunters (season 2, ep. 22, May 31st, 2006) that shows Jason being awoken in the middle of the night by a water glass that shattered (from the inside) on the bedside table and the closet door not only opening on its own, but then closing. It’s actually quite impressive. Room #401 by the way used to be the old housekeepers break room.
Room #407 is another hive of activity. Several reports are of a spirit who likes turning the lights off and on. Unexplained noises have been reported in the room numerous times. A face has often been seen in the room’s window from guests looking up to the room whilst outside of the hotel.
And then there’s room #428. This is a large room that looks out to the south over the Stanley grounds and Prospect Mountain. There is supposedly the spirit of a cowboy that haunts this room that will sit on the bed, open the closet door and the table lamp will pop on and off at random. Guests have also reported hearing footsteps above them. However, this is impossible since the eaves of the roof are located directly above. This room is now referred to as the Cowboy Attic.
There is also room #418 which is known as the ‘Children’s Room.’ Reports in this room range from: the hangers in the closet being toyed with, indentations on the bed from someone sitting on the edge, covers being pulled, the lights in the room being switched on and off to muffled giggles. I have conducted tours in this room and stayed overnight twice. I have had experiences in this room. See the section below on personal experiences for further details.
I have never heard of strange things happening in room #417, but I do know someone committed suicide in that room many years ago.
Room #413 has seen reports from guests stating a man sitting in the corner of the room wearing period clothing staring at them while they sleep. Also blue orbs have been reported in the hallway just outside this room and inside with vague appearances to a man’s face.
With all the stories and second-hand accounts I detailed above, my opinion on all the aforementioned is that most of the activity is residual, meaning, these events are simply replaying themselves as if on an endless loop. They do not interact with current people nor do they know what the existing timeline is. I do believe there is a small percentage of intelligent hauntings. These are instances whereby, the spirit is aware of our presence and can interact with us. These are the hauntings that are usually ‘scary’ and or ‘creepy.’
Now having said that, there is one more story I would like to relate that pertains to room #434. You won’t find this room listed or mentioned on any website. Why? Because things typically don’t happen in this room. So why am I bringing it up then? Over the years while ghost hunting, conducting my own research and reading into the science behind various pieces of equipment, I’ve learned not all hauntings are reliable. What I mean is some things will happen like clockwork every week. Some things may happen when only in the presence of other energies (like overly excited investigators) and sometimes, things happen far, far less often.
Back in 2012, I was trained by an old front desk clerk & part time tour guide named Tyler. I was told of a story in #434 whereby once a year, it was thought that an old maintenance employee would lock the bathroom door in this room. Having been in this room myself a few times, I would usually scope the bathroom out as I was prepping the room for incoming guests or running requested pillows, sheets etc. up to the people. The bathroom locks from the inside as one would expect. There is absolutely nothing creepy about this room. But not all hauntings happen like clockwork. Room #434 is one such example.
Hauntings do not happen per one’s request or on schedule. The majority of ghost hunting is literally, “being in the right place at the right time.” And honestly, most ghost hunting is on the boring side anyway. The phrase, “hurry up and wait” is very accurate and succinct in these instances. But I am happy to say, when something DOES happen and you’re lucky enough to witness it, it will completely upend your understanding of how our world works. And that’s where the addiction starts.
I’m sure you noticed that there is one place I have not talked about but yet, seems to get a lot of attention. And that place is the tunnel.
The reason for this is that tunnel is NOT haunted, not by any stretch. All it is, is a means to get to the employee break room and housekeeping office. Inside the tunnel, is a closed off room that houses some the hotels telephony equipment. So not only does one capture a lot of ‘orbs’ in their pictures, from the sheer amount of mica, dust and dirt floating in the air, but this room gives off a large amount of EM fields. In addition, it is located directly below the MacGregor Room. So if anyone is walking around upstairs, all one will hear is a ton of creaks and cracks from the wooden floorboards directly above. During the same episode of Ghost Hunters, Jason & Grant were doing an EVP session in the tunnel. They captured a disembodied voice saying, “Hello.” Because of how close the floor in the MacGregor room is to the tunnel, this could easily have been a little girl calling out (and probably was). Despite what tour guides & Zak from Ghost Adventures say, the tunnel is NOT haunted and there are no spirits residing in there.
Personal Experiences
Even despite with what I said in the above paragraphs, with all my skepticism and doubt and the occasional “tongue-in-cheek” remark, I have had enough experiences at the Stanley whereby, I can’t scratch my head any longer trying to find a logical explanation for most things I’ve witnessed. At the end of the day, one just has to accept that maybe, the simplest explanation is what’s before them; that the place truly is haunted.
One of the most profound incidences I’ve ever witnessed occurred inside the Carriage House. This small, ‘L-shaped’ structure was built and finished in the latter half of 1909. It was built as a garage for F.O. Stanley’s ‘mountain carriages.’ There was even a turn table on the floor so that F.O. could drive in, get out and pull a level which would turn the carriage around enabling him to drive out instead of backing out. It was rather ingenious for the time.
Over the years, the carriage house was also used to store many parts and miscellaneous items that the engineering department used. It became almost a warehouse of sorts. Ultimately, all the electricity was cut & ripped out and what was left of the floors, was taken out. When I was there in 2012-2013, the floors were dirt and the center of the building held low shelving that stored molding, pieces of lumber and planks. There was also an engineering desk. At the bend where the ‘L’ started, there was a 3’-4’ trench dug into the ground and a plank placed across it to grant access to the other half of the building. Here, was stored an antique fire engine, mirrors, posters and pictures and hotel bric-a-brac. In fact, the walls of this building were so unreliable, I distinctly remember seeing 2”x6” placed at an angle against the walls to keep sections from falling in.
A famous (and laughable) scene in season 4, episode 3 of Ghost Adventures, has the crew of guys inside the carriage house. Zac at one point, states while looking at some mattresses leaning against the inner wall, that those are the mattress from people who have died there. I almost spit my beer out at the TV when he said that. As anyone who has ever worked in hospitality knows, such things are disposed of or burned. If anything, they were probably old, used and worn out, waiting to be disposed of. In defense of the Ghost Adventures crew, it is this very degree of sensationalism and over-dramitization that has enabled them to become the most popular paranormal, realty-based program on TV and outlive their competition.
I make mention of this because, in that clip, one can clearly see the inside conditions of the carriage house with its dirt floors and clutter strewn about. This was the state of things I was expecting when Emily and I witnessed our first, honest to God orb.
Emily worked at Cascades as a waitress. I had just gotten off work (night tour) and went to the bar to grab a Guinness. I waited for Emily out on the front porch enjoying the warm night. I made light chit-chat with some guests explaining some things of the Destination America show, Ghost Stalkers. I met John E.L. Tenney and talked with him for a while at the base of the stairs with Karl Pfeiffer about a certain incident he caught at the old Taylor Memorial Hospital.
Emily came outside relieved to be off work and asked what I wanted to do. I asked her if she’d ever been in the Carriage House. She hadn’t and didn’t know we could. Well, since I had keys to everything, and the Carriage House is off-limits to all staff, I mentioned if she wanted to, we could pop in there and take a look. We’d just have to keep quiet about it. I told her to take her phone & use the flashlight feature since there was no electricity.
We sauntered over there quietly and stopped in front of the door to the ramshackle building. It was dark, the moon hadn’t risen yet and there was a light but enjoyable breeze. I unlocked the door and we gingerly stepped into utter blackness. We kept our flashlights off and only used the LED screen. Once I shut the door behind us, it was pitch black.
We slowly inched our way to the right along the wall feeling our way past a desk. We used the weak light from our LED screens on our phones to navigate to an open area. Once there, we switched them off and stood in the blackness. We waited for a few minutes to allow our eyes to adjust. I could see faint cracks of midnight through the eves in the ceiling. It was dusty. After five minutes of some rather nervous waiting, I called out, “Hello? Can you see us? We would like to talk with you if you are here.” We waited a few minutes with no response or sound. Emily didn’t say a word or make a peep. The feelings I was getting off her, was that she was petrified. “Can you see us standing here? Will you talk with us?” This is when, roughly six feet in front of us and maybe ten feet in the air, basically in between & above the shelving, a small tennis ball orb of blue light materialized in front of us. It remained stationary for perhaps 5 seconds and grew to about the size of a grapefruit. It arched toward us and disappeared a few seconds later. It actually had a trail of fading light behind it. I’m still shocked to this day, that Emily didn’t leave a Willey Coyote hole in the wall trying to get out. She begged and pleaded with me to leave but I was momentarily stunned, like a deer in the headlights.
At this point, we turned on the flashlights on our phones and left the building. We walked back up to the main hotel, procured a couple pints from the bar and sat down inside the lobby and talked about what we had just witnessed. I honestly don’t remember much of the details of that conversation. I was still too stunned. This wasn’t the type of ‘orb’ that everyone sees while filming or taking pictures. Those are usually particulates, dust & pollen floating in the air that are refracting off a flash or other light source. This was a HUGE orb that materialized almost on command. It happened in a setting with no light source, no electricity and in absolute blackness. And of that, it increased in size and strafed towards us. This episode remains one of my two greatest experiences I’ve ever been proxy to.
Humming…..
The other event that I witnessed occurred in the elevator late one night as I was working the overnight audit shift. Basically, I received a call from a room on the 4th floor asking if I could run upstairs and put a stop to some kids running around and playing with the elevator…seriously.
Remember earlier, as I was talking about the bathroom in room #434 and that some things [at locations] don’t always happen regularly? This was one of them. “Scary Mary” told me the story of a little girl, roughly 8 yrs. old I believe, who died at the hotel many decades ago. I don’t remember of what. But if I had to guess, I would say probably tuberculosis. Katherine Tremont loved humming & singing and running up and down the hallway and riding the elevator. She’s been seen on occasion but like with room #434, it’s a rare occurrence when she is.
Shortly after 3:00 am, a room on the 4th floor called down and the woman I spoke to asked if I could put a stop to “some kids” playing in the elevator and running back & forth. I don’t remember what room it was, but for posterity’s sake, it was probably room #401 (Lord Dunraven Suite). The closet in this room backs up directly to the elevator. One can hear it and the attending floor bell quite well if the closet door is left open.
I finished running a report and thought that I’d be sneaky in that, instead of taking the elevator up, I quietly used the west staircase hoping I could catch the kids. I was thinking, if this was happening at 3:00 am, their parents were probably ghost hunting and told the kids to have fun with the other ‘ghosts’ in the hallway. It stood to reason anyway.
I quietly stepped onto the 4th floor at the top of the stairs but didn’t hear any laughing. I lingered a few minutes on the landing hoping I could catch them red-handed as they rounded the corner over on the other side or possibly as they bailed out of some room. It was quiet. So I slowly made my way across the connecting hallway heading over to the east side. I slowly walked hoping I could hear giggling coming from a room but never heard anything. Again like earlier, I lingered at the landing over on the east side near room #428 (Cowboy Suite) but still nothing. I walked down the hallway and sat down on a small couch near rooms #418 and #420 and waited for maybe 10 minutes…still nothing.
Satisfied that I had probably timed it just right as they went to bed, it was late after all, I walked down the hallway meaning to take the elevator back to the 1st floor. As I approached the elevator, the bell went off and the door opened! I stood there with a quizzical look on my face and looked inside…nothing.
To get the door to open, one has to press the call button either inside the car or on the panel in the hallway. I had done neither. I watched it for a few seconds until the door closed. I thought it was a bit strange and registered it with no more than a huh. I reached for the button but before I could, the elevator dinged again, and the door opened. This time, I had a WTF look on my face. I peered into the cab but there was nothing. And considering the inside is polished brass, there’s nowhere to hide. I took a few steps back and leaned against the wall waiting for…something. I had no idea what I was waiting for, but I was partially smiling. I thought, ‘is this really happening?’
The door closed. I stayed there for another 10 seconds deciding to take the stairs down. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little spooked. I turned to go left and got no more than 2 steps away when the elevator dinged again, three times now, and the door opened. I looked into the empty cab, all humor gone now, seeing my own reflection in the brass and I heard a little girl humming three distinct notes. I stood there, absolutely rooted in place, unable to move. The door closed and never opened again. I stayed there for maybe a few minutes pretty much in shock. I instantly thought of little Katherine and what Tyler had told me in that, things happen at The Stanley that only occur every few months to years. This was DEFINTELY one of those instances! I was now smiling, and I thought, ‘that just happened!’ I took the stairs down.
The other instance I encountered of things rarely happening occurred in, you guessed it, room #434. It was early in my shift and there was a wedding reception going on in the MacGregor Room. Cascades Bar was also open and packed. The hotel was full. As I was attempting to deal with multiple requests at the front desk and yielding calls from angry guests about the noise, I received a call from room #434. Being pulled in different directions, I didn’t put two & two together until a few minutes later when I radioed for maintenance to come up and watch the desk for a few minutes. The bathroom door was locked and one of the guests was trying to take a shower. She called down and asked if I could come & unlock it. I was eager for the maintenance guy to swing by so that I could go up there!
I knocked on the door and they let me in. We joked a little bit because the one trying to take a shower was still wrapped in a towel and felt awkward. I tried the door and it was indeed locked. I stepped back and smiled a little bit. They asked if I knew how to open the door. The jam was loose. I thought maybe, I could finagle it open with the credit card trick. I took my driver’s license out of my wallet and inserted it in between the door and jam. It worked! The door gently swung open a couple inches. I pushed the door open a few feet and looked at the lock on the other side, it was a twist lock. The handle turned in both directions just fine. When I locked it from the inside, the handle didn’t turn, just like a few minutes prior. In order for the door to be locked, one had to manually turn the dial to engage it. In other words, it wasn’t going to happen because of loose parts.
I turned & looked at them. I think they must have realized there was something else I wasn’t telling them, probably due to the look on my face. They asked what was wrong. I smiled and asked them, “Would you like to hear a quick ghost story concerning your room?”
#418
I have had two experiences happen to me in room #418. The first of which, happened on a tour I was giving. The room was vacant for the night so I was able to procure a key from the front desk & explain the stories and history associated with that part of the hotel in the room. By the way, they no longer do this anymore.
Room #418 is known as the “Kids Room” since so much of the activity on the 4th floor seems centered on this room and the east hallway.
I had about 15 people sandwiched into the room. In keeping with the theme of my tours, the only light source I allowed was the table lamp. Leaning up against the window near a small bedside table (and lamp), I explained the story of the kids. As I was talking, a woman next to me let out a muffled yell. Naturally, it caught everyone’s attention. She said as I was talking, she looked down at a pad of paper and pen on the table because she ‘felt something’ there. She saw the pen move on its own. This is when she gasped. Lots of quiet murmuring erupted from my tour group.
I motioned to everyone to keep their eyes on the pen and table as I finished up detailing the kids. Then we’d walk down to the concert hall. As I was talking, and I was watching the pad of paper and pen as well, the pen slid about an inch across the paper. I stopped mid-sentence and looked up. Everyone else had seen it too. Needless to say, those people got their money’s worth that night.
Another incident involving room #418 occurred as I was staying there. One of the few perks of working at the Stanley is that we get room discounts during slow periods and the off-season. I decided to reserve room #418 for myself one night.
I worked a shift that night. I was looking forward to staying in the room and relaxing, hoping to witness something. I had all the lights in the room turned off and was relying only on the light from my Kindle which I was reading. I had also pushed all the hangers in the closet over to the left side of the bar. Things have been known to get moved and jostled in the closet. I left the door cracked.
It was late, probably around midnight when I decided to turn in. I hadn’t heard or felt anything. I wasn’t ghost hunting either. I just wanted to experience something. Shortly after I turned off my Kindle and rolled over, I heard very distinct giggling and footfalls in the hallway outside. I opened my eyes, smiling and jumped out of bed. I threw the door to the room open and jumped out into the hallway. There were no kids. In fact, I couldn’t even hear anyone up, no talking, no TV’s. I suspected there weren’t too many people staying up there that night. I walked back to the room pretty happy to have heard that. It’s exactly what I wanted.
When I woke up the next morning, the bathroom light was on. I definitely did not turn it on before I went to sleep. Granted, bright lights typically don’t affect my ability to fall to sleep, but I’m one of those weird people that can literally fall asleep anywhere, light or dark. But considering I was inviting something to happen, I kept all the lights off. In the closet, there was one hanger that was a few inches apart from the others. That made me smile. When paired with the pen incident mentioned above, I was overall, pretty happy with what I witnessed in #418.
Cobwebs…
Another major incident that happened to me and in front of my group occurred in the concert hall. Before I began my night tours, I would go to the locations I was taking everyone and set up chairs or make sure there wouldn’t be any obstructions. This way, I could keep things going seamlessly. The Stanley has a reputation of booking tours literally, back to back to back. I’ve had days where I was late to my next tour because the hotel wanted to pack as many in as possible. This is short-sighted because most of the time, a few people want to stick around and ask questions and talk further. I’m happy to do that but when the next tour starts in 5 minutes, it’s not possible.
I had 25 chairs set up in the ballroom of the concert hall in a flattened semi-circle. This was about 30’ in front of the stage. I was walking back & forth in front of everyone talking about the history of the building. This was probably around 9:00 pm. When I switched over to talking about the more ‘ethereal elements’ of the building, namely Flora & Lucy, it felt like I walked right into a massive spider web. I mean, I could feel the tendrils of the web play out against my face clear as day. I actually ‘thbtt’ a few times in front of everyone and grabbed at what I thought were webs. There was nothing. I apologized to everyone, mentioned what just happened & picked my story back up. Then it happened again! This time, not as pronounced. Of course, I knew exactly what was happening and considering what it meant, I’m still surprised I was able to keep it together in front of everyone without freaking out.
By the way, to further clarify what the ‘spider web’ sensations mean, one of the theories is, whenever a spirit crosses your path or moves through you, the sensation most often reported is that of walking into a spider web, cob webs and such. I will say it was definitely a bit unnerving.
For the next few personal experiences, I am going to go through them fairly quickly. This is mostly to keep the length of this shorter.
One night while my tour group was sitting in the balcony of the concert hall, I noticed an older gentleman, maybe early 70’s, look down and brush his lower pant leg. A few minutes later, I noticed him lean over to the side and actually grab his lower leg and brush it. It was at this point that I asked him if everything was OK? He looked up, glanced at the group, sheepishly looked at his wife and said he felt a hand pull at his pants and then actually hold onto his leg a few minutes later. The mood of the group at this point noticeably changed to one more serious.
One afternoon while pulling a few daytime, history tours, I was in the basement of the concert hall with about six people. One couple had a small service dog with them. As we were walking around, we stopped at the door to the women’s bathroom. I gave everyone the “Cliff Notes” story of this bathroom & Lucy. The history tours were only an hour. So, a lot of the information had to be truncated or omitted entirely.
I propped the door open with my foot (it’s a heavy door with a stiff spring) to allow everyone to walk in and have a look for themselves. I watched the older husband walk in, then his wife leading the dog on a leash. The dog would not enter the bathroom! It stopped dead at the threshold. As much as the woman pulled on the leash, the dog wouldn’t enter. I can’t say that this was paranormal, but considering the location, it was very, very interesting.
Another incident that happened occurred after I had stopped working there. I was in Estes Park doing some hiking and made a stop by Rock Cut Brewery. Matt does a fine job with his brews. Before I left town, I decided to drop into the Stanley and take a walk around. I took the elevator up to the 4th floor and slowly walked around reminiscing. As I was descending the east staircase, I was halfway down the second-floor landing, I noticed the housekeeping closet was open. That in and of itself is not a big deal. However as I reached the 4th step from the bottom, the door started to close on its own! I stayed where I was and watched it. The door closed all the way shut! I stood there smiling thinking, ‘Man, I really do miss this place,’ and I chuckled a bit. I finished descending and walked over to the door and peeked in. There was no one in there. An unusual location to have something happen, but not out of line with the place.
One evening I was wrapping things up in the concert hall on an especially full night tour I had. I was recovering from the flu and still wasn’t feeling good. Honestly, I shouldn’t have been up talking & walking around. There were a few people walking around talking in the ballroom, a few people upstairs on the balcony and I was part of a small circle of eight people standing in the foyer. I was clearing my throat a lot trying to get rid of all the gunk. After my 4th or 5th attempt at clearing my throat, I apologized to everyone, swallowed but before I could continue speaking, the sound of ‘something’ mimicking me happened from the center of our circle! I looked up with wide eyes and was greeted with equally surprised looks from everyone. For five seconds, no one said a word. Then I spoke up and asked, ‘Anyone want to call it a night?’ I was still wearing a shocked look on my face. Everyone either nodded or voiced their agreement. It’s always that much more amazing when something is witnessed by multiple people.
Another incident happened one night while I was somewhat new and still training. I don’t remember the room number, but it was located on the inside west hallway fairly near the landing. Connor Randall (who was interviewed by Zac from Ghost Adventures for their episode) was in the front of the room explaining some things about the 4th floor. I was standing in the back. I watched two guys walk into the bathroom and slowly open the shower door using the flashlights on their smartphones for illumination. In literally less than a second, I turned my gaze away to look at Connor and the door to the bathroom slammed shut! It was so loud, some people in the group yelled. Those two guys barreled out of the bathroom so fast, they almost knocked me down. And I was standing a full 6’ away from the bathroom. I have no idea what that was all about, but they didn’t veer from the group much the rest of the evening.
One thing I’ve never been partial to is drinking before or on my tour. Let me rephrase that. I don’t mind if someone has a beer or glass of wine, but I don’t tolerate drunk people. They ruin the experience for everyone else. I’ll even take a beer or two with me on occasion when I’m investigating, but I limit myself.
One evening in January, a notoriously slow time in Estes Park, I was walking down the 4th floor hallway with an overly happy and overly buzzed couple. They were my only guests. I mentioned to them we were going to take the east staircase down back to the tour office and that I would wait for them there, so they could grab their jackets since we were heading over to the concert hall. We passed by room #401 and the elevator. The wife was in the front, I was in the middle and her husband was about four paces behind me. As we walked by room #433 (I believe), I heard the chain lock flicked hard against the inside of the door. I stopped and looked back. The husband was standing in front of the door just staring at it. We both heard the chain clearly. His wife did not since she was already waiting at the landing. He asked me if anyone was staying there, I didn’t know. I told him to get his coat and I’d stop by the front desk and find out.
I met them downstairs a few minutes later. I told the guy that the room was vacant. He seemed to sober up pretty quickly.
One evening while I was off, I walked across town late at night. I had a few pieces of equipment with me in a backpack. I was heading to do a solo investigation of the concert hall. This must have been around midnight. I let myself in and locked the door behind me. I stood in the middle of the foyer for a few minutes absorbing the environment. I don’t know why, but I was feeling uneasy. I took a few steps out into the quiet and darkened ballroom and just listened. I was feeling a little keyed-up and “off.” I turned around and started to walk down the stairs, meaning to start in Lucy’s room. Halfway down the landing, I stopped dead in my tracks. Now, it’s not often that I get feelings about a place. I often joke with others that I am about as sensitive as a piece of obsidian. But standing there in the dark by myself, the feeling of needing to get out of there was as strong as I have ever felt. I knew, deep down, I needed to go, that I shouldn’t be there. I really tried to ignore this feeling but honestly, I was on the verge of being scared. I turned around and walked out of the concert hall. I still don’t know why or what was down there, but the feeling of not being welcomed was palpable. It’s actually the only time I’ve experienced that at the Stanley.
I don’t know if this next one is paranormal or not, I’m actually leaning on the negative side, but I find it extremely unusual. I was in Lucy’s room with a group of guests explaining the story of Lucy. As we were sitting there, about 15 minutes into my speech, a woman sitting in the 4th row started crying. I mean, this woman started crying so hard, she had to leave the room. She didn’t return. She stayed out in the main room and waited for us to wrap up before joining the group again. Again, probably not paranormal, but…odd.
Another incident that happened in the concert hall occurred while I had a group of about 15 people one evening. We were all gathered downstairs in a loose circle in the middle of the central room. There were probably 5-6 antique pianos pushed up against the walls. There was a set of double doors that opened into a small kitchen and concessionaire area. As I was talking, a few people jumped towards the inside of the circle and exclaimed. We all stared at the double doors and watched one of them open on its own about five feet. No one said a word for a few minutes. I was just as stunned as everyone else. I think some people didn’t expect anything to happen and were just there for something to do. That thought alone made me smile.
To wrap all this up, at least with the personal experiences, during the summer of my second year, I woke up early one morning and drove over to the Stanley earlier than usual to grab something to eat in the employee break room.
As I was sitting there, relatively by myself still waking up, Vera came in and knocked on the table. I looked up from my book and said, ‘Oh, hi Vera. How are you?’ I was still a bit sleepy. She immediately said, cutting me off, ‘You be careful! Kiefer, be careful! I’ve been watching you and there are spirits starting to follow you around.’
To say, this hit me like a ton of bricks is understating things. Not only had I recently been having more ‘active’ tours as of late, but I noticed when I’ve been getting home at night, either my kitchen light was on, or the living room light was on. I don’t leave the lights on when I leave home for work. At this point in time, I was renting a third-floor apartment across town by the Estes Park Brewery. So, when Vera said this to me, I REALLY took it to heart and stopped heading to the Stanley by myself at night after hours. It also made me affirm my belief in Vera’s abilities.
The Stephen King Connection
As hard as it is to believe, there are still some people who don’t know the movie wasn’t filmed at The Stanley in Estes Park. Kubrick’s version was filmed on a sound stage in London. All the exterior shots were filmed at the iconic Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood, Oregon. The opening sequence as the Torrence family was driving the long & sinuous mountain road enroute to the Overlook Hotel, was shot along the ‘Going to the Sun’ road in Glacier National Park. The creepy music that was playing in the background is an altered version of ‘Symphonie Fantastique’ by Berlioz.
The Shining (1977) is about a normal family (yes, normal) that moves into a hotel and takes on the role of winter caretakers. Not knowing (or at least believing) that the hotel is haunted, the father, Jack slowly loses his grip on reality and is overwhelmed by the spirits who tell him to kill his wife and son. His son, by the way, possesses psychic abilities.
There’s nothing particularly noteworthy about the premise. But King’s talent for turning the mundane into the miraculous is what catapulted this book into the nightmares of America. It seems, running themes of isolation, depression and seclusion hit home to a degree that many people can relate to. Similar themes, that made Pink Floyd’s opus, The Wall (1979) such a hit.
Then along comes Stanley Kubrick. Already having found success (financial & critical) with films like Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odessey & A Clockwork Orange, he managed to win the rights to film The Shining and turned it into something relatively different. Kubrick took many liberties like changing the hedge animals (from the book) into a maze, made the characters much more broken and flawed and upped the ante on the insidiousness of the hotel. Whether or not Stephen King is a fan of the movie (which he is not), Kubrick filmed something that hits at the core of peoples’ fears. And in the process, it made Kings’ book that much more of a household name. The Shining is now sine qua non for the traditional haunted house troupe, much like The Haunting of Hill House (Shirley Jackson) or Ghost Story (Peter Straub).
Having found relative success with his prior two books, Carrie & Salem’s Lot, Stephen King wanted a setting that was outside of his native Maine. I’ve heard of two renditions of what brought Stephen & Tabitha initially to Bouder, Colorado. One is that Stephen simply pointed randomly at a map and his finger landed on the college town. Two, is that they had friends already living in Boulder and decided to take a trip to not only see them, but also to get some fresh perspectives and ideas flowing in Stephen’s head. I think both are plausible.
Anyway, around the same time, Stephen had a working manuscript of a third novel called, Darkshine. The premise of this was a family (with a son who had psychic abilities) had become trapped, closed in, forgotten etc. inside an amusement park. While there at night, the rides and exhibits came to life and tried to kill the family. Doubleday Books, his publisher, didn’t care much for it. So, Stephen kept the manuscript, decided to go on holiday and find inspiration for something else.
Now here’s where things start to get interesting. While in Boulder, Stephen & Tabitha heard about Estes Park and of course, Rocky Mountain National Park. They took a trip up into the mountains but sadly, were turned around at Many Parks Curve. Trail Ridge Road was closed for the season. Turning back, they decided to check out the Stanley Hotel, a massive white hotel up on the hill.
Either by sheer chance or fate, Stephen & Tabitha booked a room on what was quite literally the last operating day for the season. They were the only ones in the dining room and in the entire hotel. The tables had chairs already up on them and sheets were drawn up and over some furniture. It’s said, their waiter was a guy named Grady. After dinner, Stephen wandered around the hotel for a while. He saw two boys up on the 4th floor (it’s believed) but he didn’t think much of it. He then retired to their room for the night, room #217.
During the night, Stepehen had a nightmare so bad, it woke him up. In it, his son was being chased around the hotel by one of the existing fire hoses that were (and still are) attached to the walls. The hotel was haunted.
Sitting by the window smoking, trying calm himself, the idea hit him. Instead of an amusement park, the family would be held up in a haunted hotel. Instead of a normal family, the father would be struggling with alcohol addiction (much like Stephen’s own life). And of course, the hotel would be located high in the Colorado Rockies. Thus, the final inspiration for The Shining was born.
By the way, the term ‘Shining,’ comes from a John Lennon song, Instant Karma. In it, the line goes, ‘And we all, shine, on.’ Ideas can come from all manner of places it seems!
So, the inspiration for The Shining comes from the Stanley and Stephen King’s experiences while there. But that’s pretty much where all the connections stop. But John Cullen and Grand Heritage Hotels know which side their bread is buttered. They cash in on King’s book with expensive drinks in the bar such as the Redrum Punch, a so-called ‘Pet Cemetery’ on site (although with recent development, this may now be gone), Shining swag in the tour office and in Steamers Café and now, a ghastly hedge maze they planted out front of the hotel replacing the beautiful grass pavilion. Outdoor weddings were beautiful with that backdrop of Lake Estes, Twin Sisters and Prospect Mountain. I find it hypocritical of John Cullen that he would dismiss and poo-poo all the paranormal activities & ideas of the hotel and yet, go to lengths and hop on the ‘Shining Bandwagon’ to cash in on the association. Especially more so considering The Shining is set in a paranormal situation. To say nothing of offering Vera, the resident psychic of Estes Park, whose original location was destroyed in the fire at the Park Theater Mall in 2009, a place to continue her work.
I truly feel that I worked at the Stanley during a special time. The many people I encountered, the employees I developed friendships with and my own education in the paranormal all helped to make a special place, that much more special. There was a small cadre of employees that I was part of, where we helped one another out, had drinks after work & listened to each other’s problems. It was also the first place I got to ‘try’ the insanely expensive Macallan ‘M.’
At the end of the day, as the sun sets, the hotel is beautiful. It’s a 115+ year old wooden marvel that elicits awe in people seeing it for the first time. They have a truly jaw-dropping and impressive whiskey bar that is easily in the top-3 best in the state. However, their customer service is something to be desired for multiple reasons (just read the plethora of reviews on Trip Advisor, Google Maps & Expedia). Their termination practices leave much to be desired and are borderline retaliatory. Rooms are unnecessarily expensive for the quality and service one receives, and the restaurant continues to serve unreliably good food. In one year alone, John went through three F&B Managers.
And try as they may, to sweep the elephant under the rug with new development, posh renovations and erase the beautiful history of the building with refinement & progression, at the end of the day, the building remains haunted…for better or worse.
Looking up the staircase from the ground floor
Look closely at the left mirror...
Tunnel underneath the hotel