Nightmare novel: How a terrifying stay at the Stanley Hotel shaped a bestseller

Nightmare novel: How a terrifying stay at the Stanley Hotel shaped a bestseller

stanley hotel Oct 4, 2024

To the casual observer, the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, USA, is a posh place. The two-story, white clapboard building is historic, built in 1909 and boasting four stories with four types of rooms. It’s a true boutique hotel. 

It’s also widely rumored to be haunted. 

For years, the Stanley has been named one of the United States’ most haunted hotels, and many a guest has reported paranormal activity while staying there. Nowadays it’s a bucket-list destination for those intrigued by otherworldly experiences, and credit for keeping rooms booked goes to Stephen King. 

When King was a guest in the hotel in the 1970s, he woke after having a lucid nightmare about a possessed fire hose chasing his son down the hotel hallway. That was all it took to inspire the plot for his 1977 book The Shining

But King was hardly the first person and certainly not the last to have a restless stay at the hotel. Guests have reported original owner Freelan Stanley (dead since 1940) milling about the billiard table. His wife Flora’s spirit apparently still plinks away at the hotel piano keys. And a helpful but sneaky invisible maid creeps into bedrooms and straightens them when no one is around—or while people are asleep. 

According to travel website Uncover Colorado, it’s possible all this started way back in 1911. A major power outage inspired Freelan to install gas lanterns in the guestrooms. The lantern in Room 217 developed a leak, and when head chambermaid Elizabeth Wilson entered with a lit candle, an explosion rocked the place, killing about 10 percent of people in the building.

It just so happens that Wilson, who set off the explosion, is believed to be the maid who still slinks about tidying up today. And it is also true that Room 217 is precisely where King was staying when he had that lucid nightmare.

The Stanley’s management doesn’t steer clear of the hotel’s reputation. Their staff recently added The Shining Tour, an indoor-outdoor experience loaded with what it calls “a lot of Stephen King, a bit of history, and a whole lot of stories of the spirited variety.” The tour takes place in The Shining Suite—the restored caretaker’s cottage—and even features one of the axes from the infamous movie. 

The Stanley Hotel coin is the first in 7k’s Most Haunted Places collection. For all you lovers of the macabre, stay tuned for the next creepy installation—but only if you dare.

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