As the location that inspired The Shining, the Stanley Hotel is notorious for bizarre and unexplained paranormal activity. Each of its 140 rooms holds a secret, each of its walls tells a story. But is that unassuming hotel in Estes Park, Colorado really haunted by the ghosts of its past residents?
An event in Room 217 may have opened the way for its numerous paranormal experiences.
According to the Estes Park Trail Gazette, one night in 1911, a thunderstorm knocked out the hotel’s power, and chambermaid Elizabeth Wilson entered Room 217 with a lit candle to relight the acetylene gas lamps. What she didn’t know was that the room was already filled with leaking gas, and as soon as she entered, it erupted in an incredible explosion. However, there are many conflicting reports about what happened that night, and the truth of the story is itself a compelling mystery.
But something happened. Elizabeth Wilson, or whoever entered Room 217, did not die that night, but like lightning striking the elevator at the Hollywood Tower Hotel, perhaps that event sparked some kind of opening to the dimension of the other side, a road leading directly into…The Twilight Zone.
Above is a video from inside Room 217, recounting the story as well as some bits about Stephen King, who himself spent a night in Room 217 in 1974. Only he and his wife were at the hotel, aside from staff, and that night he had the strangest nightmare of his son running through the halls screaming and being chased by a wild fire hose. It was then that the idea of The Shining came to be, and King used the Stanley Hotel as a model for the novel’s setting.
What else is up at The Stanley Hotel?
Ghosts on a staircase – On April 18, 2016, CNN shared an Instagram image posted by tourist Henry Yau. He’d taken a photo of a staircase, only to find what appeared to be two apparitions at the top of the stairs. The figures have been described as a woman in old-fashioned clothing with a child standing next to her.
A figure from above – On April 22, Meghan Levy and her fiancé, Kyle, visited the Stanley Hotel and took some pictures, only to find a strange anomaly in one of them – a mysterious figure that seems to peak through one of the windows (top left).
Ghostly ghosts – In October 2017, a new photo of ghostly activity surfaced, this one of two haunting, vaporous girls near a staircase inside the hotel. Jay Mausling, who took the photo, claimed there were no girls present in the room when the photo was taken.
A strange encounter – Flickr user David shared a photo from the exact moment a Stanley Hotel tour guide had a ghostly encounter of her own in Room 418. She’d been talking about the room’s ethereal occupants when she shuddered and said, “One of them is hugging my leg right now.”
A haunted ballroom – According to the Stanley Hotel’s official website, the Concert Hall is also haunted. While you may hear a ghostly tapping on the piano keys, and there are also reports of an occasional ghostly “Get out!” The ghost of Lucy has been found in the Concert Hall, answering questions for curious staff and ghost hunters. She can sometimes be heard humming distant melodies.
