The Stanley Hotel, is an architecturally beautiful hotel located in Estes Park, Colorado, United States. It is surrounded by mountains and greenery and is in an overall beautiful environment to spend some good time in.
But what happened in this hotel that made it the Disneyland for the paranormal researchers and ghosts?
Most Haunted Places in the Stanley Hotel
It is the most haunted hotel in the United States and is one of the top 10 most haunted hotels in the entire world. The hotel even has a Stephen King book based on it, ‘The Shining”.
The Stanley Hotel first opened in 1909. It is built on a burial ground and that is just flat-out terrifying. It is even listed in the National Register for Historic Places. Some of the places inside the Hotel, however, are not so beautiful and calm as it looks from the outside.
Room 217
Room 217 is the most haunted room in the entire hotel. This is where Stephen King stayed and wrote the plotlines for his famous book ‘The Shining’. King and his wife were the only ones in the hotel since it was closed for the winter season. King had a terrible nightmare of his 3-year-old son running down one of the hallways of the hotel being chased by a fire hose which eventually catches up to him and strangles him to death.
After waking up from that, he went out to the balcony to smoke and that is where he had the idea for ‘The Shining’.
Elizabeth Wilson, a.k.a. Mrs. Wilson, is said to haunt the room. She was the hotel’s head housekeeper and was injured in an explosion while lighting the lights in room 217 during a storm in 1911. Her soul seems to be a regular in the room. Items have been moved, luggage has been unpacked, and lights have been turned on and off, according to guests.
The Concert Hall
Paul, one of the most sighted ghosts haunting The Stanley Hotel, was a jack-of-all-trades around the hotel. Among his duties was enforcing an 11 p.m. curfew at the hotel, which could be why guests and workers often hear “get out” being whispered late at night in the concert hall.
Another frequently sighted ghost is of a girl named Lucy. She was a runaway aged around 13-16, she used to live in the tunnels joined to the basement. During construction work in the concert hall, some maintenance workers saw Lucy and forced her to leave. Due to it being Winter, she froze to death when the temperature dropped below 0 degrees.
She has often been sighted in the basement and in the rooms. She is not harmful or dangerous, but often opens and closes doors and move lollipops around because they were her favorite.
The Vortex
The Vortex is located in the center of the Stanley Hotel. It is called the vortex or the portal because many ghosts and apparitions have been seen specifically on the stairs. There are pictures of an old man standing on top of the stairs but when looked at security footage, there is no one present.
Another incident involves the picture of a young girl standing on top of the stairs, looking at what seems to be a party. The reason why that area is the most paranormally active area is that there are a lot of mirrors facing each other, 10 to be exact. Facing mirrors is said to create a portal for the dead to communicate and enter the living world. This is apparently worse than playing with an Ouija board.
This is also known as a ‘rapid transit system’ for ghosts are known to haunt the hotel because of all the mirrors constantly facing each other.
Room 401 and 428
The entire fourth level was a gigantic attic more than a century ago. It was a safe haven for female employees, children, and nannies. Children will now be heard running around, laughing, giggling, and playing, according to today’s visitors. In this area, there’s also a well-known closet that opens and closes on its own.
Honestly, staying in any room on the fourth floor of the Stanley Hotel is really brave. But if you can get room 428, that’s even better. Guests have reported hearing footsteps and items moving around above them. However, tour guides claim that due to the roof’s slope, this is physically impossible. The true specter in this room is a pleasant cowboy who appears at the bed’s corner and kisses people on the forehead.
Conclusion
Many stories have been reported about ghost sightings from the Stanley Hotel but an even bigger number of people visit this hotel just to stay in the above mentioned rooms for their YouTube videos, documentaries or many other paranormal projects. After the acclaim gained from the Stephen King book and movies, the Stanley Hotel attracts more and more people.
If ghosts in this hotel actually exist, or they were created to keep up the mystery and thrill, is something we can only find out by visiting the Stanley Hotel.
