The Stanley Hotel
The true story of “The Shining”
It all started with a dream… one Halloween night in 1974, Stephen King dreamt of his son screaming and with a deep terror in his face, as he was being chased by a fire hose down a hotel corridor; when Stephen King woke up in a blaze of joy, he went to the window of the hotel where he was staying and began to admire the rocky mountains that bordered on a black sky, and that was the moment when he was inspired to write one of the greatest stories in horror cinema: “The Shining”.
The hotel where this crucial experience in the life of Stephen King and many of us horror fans took place is the Stanley Hotel, located in Colorado, United States, where Stephen not only had a dream, but also experienced paranormal events with his wife. The hotel is known to be one of the most haunted places in the United States; this place was another of the elements that inspired the writer to create the horrifying novel.
During the stay of Stephen and his wife, who accompanied him, they slept in room 217, and although it seems hard to believe, they were the only guests inside the sinister hotel. The resort only opened its doors a few months of the year, and closed shortly before winter arrived, by October 30 when the couple arrived, it was already the end of the season.
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The first mysterious event that the couple experienced was when they returned to their room shortly after dinner in the desolate dining room, because when they entered, all their belongings were scattered, as if someone had shaken their suitcases, but not someone human. The hotel employees assure that no one entered room 217, where a hotel employee was electrocuted in 1911.
Another event was in the early hours of the morning when Stephen walked alone through the hotel corridors and saw the carpet move as if by magic.
This is the information that Stephen has told the media, however the dark rumors say that Stephen also had an encounter with dead children who wandered into the hotel, as well as attending a party in the ballroom, where the other guests were spirits.
Even though this is where the spooky story of Stephen King and his visit to the haunted hotel ends, hotel’s own story of the paranormal continues. Many hotel employees and as guests, made reports witnessing ghostly manifestations, and most agree, that child spirits dwell within the hotel. Child silhouettes pierce the walls, and the voices and laughter of the children rumble through the rooms and long hotel corridors.
Another type of manifestation is that the guests’ belongings are moved from the place in an inexplicable way, noises of invisible presences can be heard from inside the rooms, the lights flicker sinisterly, and the water faucets from sinks would open by themselves.
But without a doubt, the paranormal focus of the hotel is room 418, which is currently closed, because there lives an evil ghost that in the past frightened the guests away in the early morning, always appearing furiously in the corner of the room.
Due to its high ghostly activity, paranormal tours are performed in the hotel. Would you dare to go?
