EP 214 - The Stanley Hotel | Estes Park, CO

Hometown Ghost Stories

This episode explores the haunted history of the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, renowned as the real-life inspiration for Stephen Ki

Key takeaways

• Stephen King's stay in Room 217 inspired the core concept of 'The Shining' after a terrifying nightmare.

Main topics

• Stephen King's inspiration for The Shining
• Paranormal experiences at the Stanley Hotel

Notable quotes

It was then he saw her reflection in the mirror. Skin sagging, oozing boils, patches of rotten flesh.

Conclusion

The Stanley Hotel remains a living monument to fear, where history, le

Transcript preview

Speaker 4 (0:00) I'm John Grylls from Creepy, and I listen to the Be Afraid Podcast Network. Speaker 4 (0:06) This week on Hometown Ghost Stories. Every hotel seems to have its ghost story, but only one hotel was the inspiration for one of the most iconic ghost stories of all time. In 1974, Stephen King checked into room 217 of the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. It only took one night in that infamously haunted room and one vivid nightmare for King to come up with the bones. for the shining today the stanley hotel has earned a reputation as one of the most haunted hotels in the world and according to staff and visitors the spirits that haunt this building are no work of fiction this is hometown ghost stories the stanley hotel colorado Speaker 1 (0:59) Hometown Ghost Stories contains serious and often distressing events and is not intended for all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised. Speaker 4 (1:10) Jack wrapped his arms around the mysterious woman, wondering to himself how such a beautiful person could be interested in him. They were standing in the hotel bathroom. It felt like a fever dream. Where did she come from? Where was his wife? The mysterious woman tightened her grip around his shoulders. He tightened his grip around her waist. It was then he saw her reflection in the mirror. Skin sagging, oozing boils, patches of rotten flesh. He stepped back in horror as the vestige of a beautiful woman now stood in her true form. A corpse-like hag who cackled through a jack-o'-lantern grin of missing and rotting teeth. Speaker 4 (1:58) Jennifer shut the TV off. She had thought it would be a good idea to watch The Shining in the very hotel that inspired it, but that proved to be the wrong idea, especially after the strange day that she'd had. She had gone on a hike earlier that day with her friend when something strange happened. They were making their way down from the top of Estes Park when they spotted a stop-off point a little way down the path. They agreed to stop there, but when they reached the area, It was gone, as if it never existed. Other strange things happened as well. When they entered their room, the fireplace suddenly ignited, startling both women. When they called maintenance, the old man who showed up tried to put their minds at ease by telling them not to worry. It was just the ghosts, and there were lots of them. Unsurprisingly, this had the opposite effect. They didn't know it at the time, but everything they had experienced so far would pale in comparison to what came next. The tour of the hotel started just after dusk. The crimson sun sank beneath the shadowy silhouette of the mountains as the two women stepped into the lobby. The tour guide was eccentric, maybe a little too eccentric, but I was still better than one who didn't want to be there. At first, it was like any other ghost tour. A few unsettling facts about the history of the building and surrounding land, some run-of-the-mill ghost stories, and plenty of references to Stephen King and The Shining. The Stanley Hotel, after all, was where King found the inspiration for his famous novel. The guide led them through corridors lined with old photographs and antique furniture. He pointed out rooms where guests had heard children laughing in the middle of the night, hallways where footsteps followed people, and staircases where shadowy figures had been seen disappearing around corners. As the tour concluded, the group moved deeper into the hotel. Eventually, the guide stopped outside a closed door. He peeled back his cracked lips. revealing a yellowish, toothy grin. He choked back a laugh and told them that the next room made some guests uncomfortable. Inside was a collection of mannequins. Some wore faded period clothing, others stood bare and expressionless against walls. A few had no faces at all, their pale heads reflecting the dim overhead lights, while their glassy eyes stared past visitors at nothing. Jennifer immediately hated the room. The group spread out as the guide began explaining the display. Jennifer stayed near the doorway, keeping her distance from the figures. One mannequin in particular caught her attention. A woman in an old-fashioned dress standing alone in the far corner. It looked unnatural. Head bent down, chin tucked, shoulders sunk low. Jennifer looked away and tried to focus on the guide. Then she glanced back. The mannequin's head was upright. She froze. Something was off. But only slightly. Just enough to make her question whether she had remembered its position correctly. She stared at it for a few seconds, waiting for something else to happen. Nothing did. She told herself it had been the angle. The poor lighting. Her imagination already poisoned by the movie and stories that she heard all day. Then, someone stepped between them. briefly blocking her view. When the person moved aside, the mannequin's head was turned toward her. Jennifer grabbed her friend's arm. Her friend studied the mannequin for a moment, then shook her head in disbelief. The guide called for everyone to follow him into the next room. One by one, the guests fled through the doorway. Jennifer waited for her friend, refusing to turn back to the figure. After a few moments, her heart rate began to settle. The tour guide began winding down his narrative. Jennifer breathed a sigh of relief. And at that same moment, something breathed a sigh right into her ear. She whirled around expecting to see another person, but it was just a dark room filled with the looming silhouette of lifeless mannequins. I'm Jesse Wilkins, and this is Hometown Ghost Stories. The Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, Colorado. Speaker 4 (6:48) Estes Valley. John Estes, a Kentucky-born adventurer who had participated in the California Gold Rush, discovered the valley in 1859 while hunting. He moved his family there in 1860, becoming the first permanent Euro-American settlers. They built log cabins and ranches until leaving around 1866 due to harsh high-altitude winters and a short growing season. In 1864, Rocky Mountain News editor William Byers visited. Not that one. And he stayed with the Estes family and named the area Estes Park in their honor. Griff Evans took over the former Estes property and established one of the area's first dude ranches, hosting travelers, hunters, and notable visitors such as English traveler Isabella Bird. who wrote A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains. In the 1870s, settlers like Alexander and Clara McGregor established cattle ranches. Lord Dunraven, the fourth Earl of Dunraven and Mountain Earl, an Anglo-Irish peer, arrived on a hunting trip in 1872. He aggressively acquired large tracts. Estimates range up to 6,000 to 15,000 acres by stretching Homestead Act provisions and other means. He was aiming to create a private hunting preserve and resort. Locals resented his tactics. He largely left by the mid-1880s, leaving the land to overseers. Other early tourism infrastructure included Elkhorn Lodge and efforts by figures like Enos Mills, who later championed the creation of Rocky Mountain National Park, which was established in 1915. The town of Estes Park was formally incorporated in 1917. In comes Freeland Oscar Stanley. also known as F.O. Stanley. He was the co-inventor of the dry plate photographic process, which later sold to Kodak, and the Stanley Steamer automobile. Stanley was diagnosed with tuberculosis around the age of 54. Doctors gave him limited time. In 1903, he and his wife Flora traveled to Colorado for the dry mountain air. They spent the summer in Estes Park, and it turns out Stanley's health improved dramatically. He credited the climate and returned annually, building a summer home nearby. Stanley was not content with rustic accommodations. He envisioned turning Estes Park into a refined resort destination for upper-class Easterners and health seekers. He improved roads, helped to establish the first bank, water company, sewer system, and more. He used his own Stanley Mountain wagons, which were specifically designed steam-powered multi-passenger vehicles, to ferry guests from rail depots in Lyons and elsewhere. Stanley partnered with Burton D. Sanborn to purchase land from the Dunravins Holdings. This deal was finalized in June of 1908 for about $80,000. Construction of the main hotel began around 1907, on a south-facing rocky hillside, with views of long peaks and the Continental Divide. Designed primarily by Stanley with architect Robert Weger, it used steel framing, local timber, and granite. The complex included a main hotel, a concert hall built for his wife Flora, who played piano, a carriage house, and later the manor house. The hotel opened on June 22nd, or July 4th in some accounts, 1909, with roughly 80 to 140 rooms. Now sources will vary on the exact initial count, and expansions followed. It was one of the first fully electric hotels, including the kitchen, powered in part by Stanley's hydroelectric plant. The cost was around $200,000 to roughly half a million. Stanley was originally going to name it the Dunraven, but locals petitioned him to name it after himself. And it hosted plenty of famous guests in the early days. Stanley operated it more as a passion project than a pure business. He was often spending more than it earned. He sold it in 1926, and it later faced financial troubles, so he took it back briefly via foreclosure, and then sold it again to Roe Emery in 1930. It was painted white in the 1930s, and went through periods of decline, multiple owners, and renovations. It became official year-round after heating was added in the 1980s. So all of this sounds good and normal. Just a beautiful hotel in the middle of nowhere, clearing up some tuberculosis and hosting some fine guests. So how did the Stanley Hotel gain such dark reputation? The hotel's early history was largely peaceful. This was back in 1911. After a storm or a flood disrupted power, Stanley installed and used acetylene gas lighting as a backup. There was a gas leak in or near room 217, and this led to an explosion when the head chambermaid, Elizabeth Wilson, sometimes reported as Lambert, entered with a lit candle. And things went boom. She was injured. Some accounts say that she went straight through the floor, landing in the dining room and breaking both of her ankles. But she survived. She actually returned to work and stayed employed for decades until around 1950. The blast damaged a good chunk of the building. Reports say about 10 % of the building was damaged. But no guests were seriously hurt and everyone survived. By the 1970s, the hotel had declined. In late October 1974, Stephen King and his wife Tabitha stayed as the only overnight guests on the last night of the season before winter closure. They were assigned room 217. King wandered the empty halls. He had a drink at the bar, chatted with the bartender, and then when he went to bed, he had a vivid nightmare. He dreamed that his son was being chased by a living fire hose. He woke up, had a cigarette, By the end of that night, he was inspired to write The Shining. Speaker 3 (12:41) If you're unfamiliar with The Shining, this is the 1977 novel that was later Speaker 4 (12:44) turned into an absolutely insane horror movie that was really, really good, and you should watch it and read the book. But the Overlook Hotel in The Shining is based on the Stanley Hotel. However, none of the 1980 film was actually shot there. There was later a Stephen King-involved miniseries that did actually use the location, but the movie? No shots shot at the Stanley Hotel. Reports of the Stanley Hotel having strange paranormal activity date back before Stephen King ever stayed there. Like I said, Elizabeth Lambert survived this enormous explosion that sent her crashing through the floor and breaking both of her ankles. But decades later, after her death, guests began reporting a housekeeper who still worked in the room. Not a living housekeeper, but the ghost of a housekeeper. Their clothes would be folded, bags were packed, a bed made around a sleeping couple. Unmarried pairs have described a cold pressure forcing them apart. In 2014, engineers even recovered original floral wallpaper and carpet fragments from the blast, matching pre-explosion photographs from the suite. Stephen King later wrote about Room 217, because this was the same room that he stayed in. Quote, wandering through its corridors, I thought that it seemed the perfect setting for a ghost story. That night I dreamed of my three-year-old son running through the corridors, looking back over his shoulder, eyes wide, screaming. He was being chased by a fire hose. And that gave him all the bones for the shining. Quote, any big hotels have got scandals, just like every big hotel has got a ghost. Reports of paranormal activity at the hotel certainly multiplied after the book and the movie, but Staff's testimony is much more specific. A night clerk in 1976 followed piano music into the empty music room and found the keys still moving. In 1984, a bellman saw, in lobby window glass, a woman in an off-the-shoulder gown who was gone when he reached the hall. Housekeepers on the fourth floor, once the attic space for nannies and servants, have found body impressions on freshly made beds in room 418 and watched the television. switch itself on. One couple checked out at dawn because children ran down the corridor all night. That's all they heard. Children up and down. When she went to open the door to yell at the kids eventually, there was nobody. And not only that, there were no children registered on that floor. Tour supervisor Rachel Thomas said that she was made suddenly ill on that floor. A waitress named Candace felt a hand close on her neck there. Room 401 has a darker male reputation. A guest watched a figure lift his wedding ring from the nightstand and walk into an empty closet. Room 428 is rumored to have the ghost of a cowboy at the foot of the bed, sometimes identified with Rocky Mountain Jim. He was shot in 1874 on land absorbed into the estate, not in the hotel. And this is a common thought. They think it isn't the building itself that's haunted. but it's the land that the hotel was built on. Room 407 is allegedly haunted by Lord Dunraven, the earlier landholder. They've seen his face in an unoccupied window, and the bathroom light seems to have a mind of its own. Sometimes it's reported that if you ask it to turn on, it will just turn on. Flora Stanley died in 1939, but many believe that her ghost is still there. She died from a stroke, some say at the hotel. Guests and staff still report classical music being played from the concert hall. The keys that will press on their own at the bench and the lid will even slam on unauthorized hands. Stanley himself died in 1940 at the age of 91, but his ghost is still seen in formal dress at the desk. He's also seen in the billiard room and he will often vanish toward the kitchen. In the concert hall, there's the ghost of a former employee named Paul. and it seems that his ghost isn't so welcoming. He'll apparently yell at guests and tell them to get out at the old 11 o'clock curfew. Ghost Hunters filmed there in 2006, and they returned for a six-hour live Halloween broadcast. They recorded a heavy table in Manor House Room 1302, which appeared to jump, and there was knocking from inside a padlocked tunnel door, and what they took for a child's laugh underground. We have countless. paranormal investigation teams that have visited the Stanley Hotel. And one thing is for sure, the vast majority of paranormal enthusiasts consider this building to be one of America's most haunted hotels. I'm Jesse Wilkins, and this is Hometown Ghost Stories. Speaker 4 (18:08) what's up folks welcome to hometown ghost stories episode number 214 covering the stanley hotel estes park which i pronounced wrong every step of the way so i'm sure we'll hear it from uh the comments on that one but estes i think it's how it's pronounced anyways Speaker 2 (18:26) i'm jesse wilkins joined by rob coakley hello rob it took us 214 episodes to get here this has been one of our most requested episodes to cover and we are finally covering the Stanley Hotel. Speaker 4 (18:40) Speaking of finally covering, Dave finally covered up his giant muscles. He's back today. So welcome in, Dave. Speaker 3 (18:48) Thank you. Speaker 4 (18:49) Enough Speaker 3 (18:50) was enough. Speaker 4 (18:51) Couldn't take it anymore. Shout out to the cigar apostles who apostle who threw 10 jewels and super chat, whatever that means. And $20 in super chat from tests for the HTGS Stanley Hotel Investigation Fund. We will put it towards that. This is on the list, folks. It's on the list. We'll talk about that in a little Speaker 2 (19:10) bit because it might not be on the list. I've never been to Colorado. I don't think it's one of the, one of the few States I have not been to that I really would like to get to is, is Colorado. Speaker 4 (19:24) It sounds like it's back on the list for you. Well, Speaker 2 (19:27) we'll talk about it. We'll talk Speaker 4 (19:29) about that. We will, that we will. Uh, let's talk about block Island. I believe we still have one room available. So if you want a, Speaker 4 (19:38) To join us. Halloween Speaker 2 (19:40) weekend. We will be there. Speaker 4 (19:43) On block. Halloween Speaker 2 (19:44) weekend. I mean, it's a good try. Book Speaker 3 (19:47) this room. We sold this trip out pretty quickly. And we don't even get to brag that we have a sold out show. Because you guys won't buy the last ticket. Speaker 2 (19:56) Buy it. Speaker 3 (19:58) Muscle Speaker 2 (19:58) Dave might come back out if you guys don't buy this last ticket. Sold the Speaker 4 (20:02) show out immediately. Speaker 2 (20:03) And then put an extra Speaker 4 (20:05) room. Speaker 2 (20:05) Open more rooms for people. That's what they said. Yeah, so now there's one room left. And if you – oh, my God, now we're getting cool, Dave. I'm trying to – if you do want to book that room, if you