The Haunted Stanley Hotel of Colorado - 3rd Palm Paranormal Places

Image from the Stanley Hotel webpage.

From 3rd Palm Paranormal's home state of Colorado, the Stanley Hotel is the most notorious hotspot in the entire state. A lot of that has to do with its connections to Stephen King's writing of The Shining, as well as Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of the same name, with Stephen King opting for a television series in later years. But there's a ton to be discovered underneath the surface of Hollywood fame and glamour, involving an eerie past that almost caused the hotel to shut down completely.

The hotel itself officially opened its doors in 1909 after Freelan Oscar, and his wife Flora Stanley travelled to Estes Park in 1903 search of a nature-bound cure for F.O.'s tuberculosis. After a single seasonal stay in Estes Park, F.O. was recovering drastically and not only vowed to return each summer season but eventually decided to establish a posh hotel based on their experiences back on the east coast.

Before the Stanley's arrived however, the Ute's and Arapaho tribes had laid claim to the lands, with many of their dead being buried around the lands surrounding Estes Park, Colorado. Then, many years later, the deaths of both of the original Stanley's, as well as an alleged homeless woman, and an explosion in 1911 causing at least one horrific death has led to this hotel becoming one of the most haunted hotels in all of America.

Presently:

Image from the Estes Park Gazette.

The Stanley Hotel is far from the recognizable hotel that it used to be, even within the past decade and longer. With 31 different condos available to stay in, the new 53-room Aspire Spa and hotel having been opened along the same premise, and The Lodge which holds a more boutique setting compared to the condos (The Residence), The Aspire, and the original hotel itself, the Stanley as a business was widened its amenities sufficiently over the years. Owners of the Stanley Hotel have even opened up a somewhat controversial Chocolate Factory along the historic main street.

To top things off, the Stanley has also begun to shift towards a more dynamic approach in terms of its business model, opting in for more concerts and events to be held within its general location. What once one of the most haunted hotels in the country has quickly become more of a maritime escape and set of festival-like wonderment that many natives of Colorado have pushed back on.

It's almost sad as Coloradan Natives ourselves to watch a historic piece of our culture and history become nearly indistinguishable from every-other transplanted Californian mock-up that we've watched erect themselves over the past two decades. But without spite, we'd like to examine the Stanley Hotel for all that it's worth, past and presently. As the history of the location is quickly dissolving, it's important to remember the Stanley Hotel's origins.

The Stanley's Creeping Past:

Image from Stanley Kubrick's film The Shining, based on the novel by Stephen King

Way back in 1903 Freelan Oscar (F.O.) Stanley, inventor of the Stanley Steamer (a steam-powered automobile that was revolutionary for its time) had moved from Maine to Colorado due to rising health issues related to tuberculosis and more. He was told by doctors and the like that the dry, fresh mountain air would revitalize his health, and they were correct. In just a few weeks he had seen drastic improvements in his health. After such a feat of health-related improvement he decided to invest in a hotel that would cater to men-only (at the time) within a hotel that accommodated its guests with the most modern accessories, including electricity, lighting, heating, and more.

But by 1926 F.O. Stanley was ready to sell the hotel to wealthy investors. Though it only took them three-years to run the business into the ground before F.O. Stanley outright repurchased the rights once more. Then with the financial crash of 1929, the Stanley Hotel itself was lost in a whirlwind of substantial losses. These losses were followed by internal combustion engines outpacing the steam-powered automobiles of the past, bringing in even more losses then gains. In fact, between the years of 1909 and 1974 the Stanley Hotel had around 26 differing owners, 16 whom had gone bankrupt during their ownership of this legendary hotel.

It wasn't until October of 1974 that a struggling writer would purchase a room with his wife while seeking out a mountain vacation. This writer is of course Stephen King and his wife Tabitha, where they'd stay in the infamous Room 217 while King wrote his most acclaimed piece of horror fiction "The Shining".

On the set of The Shining film by Stanley Kubrick.

It wouldn't be until 1977 when The Shining would gain peak recognition, becoming a best seller across multiple literary outlets. Not soon later in 1980 Stanley Kubrick would utilize his directing genius and release "his" version of The Shining, which many advid movie-goers to this day would claim is "an adaptation better than the book". Regardless of one's preference between the novel and the film, as The Shining was released in multiple forms of media it only helped strengthen the Stanley Hotel's reception to the general public.

Though the hotel itself would seemingly continue to struggle, it wasn't until 1995 when the Grand Heritage Hotel Group purchased the hotel out of bankruptcies. As the decades followed, eventually The Stanley Partnership for Art Culture and Education would solidify the hotel as an integral piece of Coloradan history, along with the Sage Hospitality Group overseeing various operations.

It's even been mentioned during the Stanley Hotel's "Stephen King" tours of the property that King himself holds some very specific rights to the hotel. Most of these rights include delegation over the hotel's aesthetics and its historical, original foundation and build. Though, much of this information isn't shared online and might be brokered through a strict set of guidelines with various lawyers.

More Than A Horror Movie:

We at 3rd Palm Paranormal have had our own haunted experiences at the hotel, which we'll be sure to cover soon. But for now, we'd like to delve into what others have said in terms of its paranormal activity, most of which has reportedly occurred on the fourth level of the hotel.

It's hard to say when the hotel itself became "haunted" or was known for its unusual level of paranormal activity. But Room 217, the notorious room in which Stephen King had a nightmare about being chased through the hallways of the Stanley Hotel by a malicious firehouse (yes, this is real) that formed the foundation for his book The Shining has been considered haunted since his stay. But good luck booking room 217, as we've been notified that there is a 10+ year waitlist just to stay within this room. It's allegedly haunted by a former housekeeper by the name of Elizabeth Wilson.

Two other locations along the premises, the hotel lobby and, more so, the concert hall have had numerous reports of disembodied voices and shifting furniture haunting the areas. In the concert hall specifically some have claimed, both guests and workers alike, that they could hear the grand piano playing while nobody was in the room. It's said that F.O.'s wife, Flora Stanley, sometimes plays the piano when no one is around.

Finally, along the fourth floor of the hotel most guests witness the most paranormal activity of the entire hotel (seeing as the concert hall and room 217 don't typically permit passers through their corridors on most days). The fourth floor was once home to both children and nannies at the time, and as such many guests and workers have claimed to hear children's voices and the like sounding out through the hallways, laughing and running throughout the space.

When we had stayed at the Stanley Hotel in December of 2017, we became fortunate enough (as two of a very few guests staying at the hotel at the time) to have been upgraded to a haunted room on the fourth floor. In the middle of the night, I had awoken to the sounds of children playing in the hallway just outside of our room. It was around midnight when this instance occurred. With only a small handful of individuals staying at the hotel, it was extremely strange to have witnessed these disembodied voices manifest themselves, and it wasn't until years later that I discovered that this was a common occurrence on the fourth floor.

Image from Chickpeameatball

Regardless of whether the hauntings were an after effect of the Stanley's noteriety after King and Kubrick created its acclaims, or if the location had always held a strong paranormal upbringing, there is something about this hotel that terrifies guests to this day. Though, much like Las Vegas these days, the hotel has undergone many numerous transformations and additions that many in the paranormal community, as well as the Coloradan community, consider extensive, over-baring, and capitalistic.

As the historical foundation of the Stanley Hotel seems to waver, with more and more renovations happening to the property by its board members and owners each year, its important to recall its value within horror (literature and film) as well as its amazing survivalbility over the many decades that its come back from bankruptcy.

Is the Stanley Hotel truly haunted? Well, you can spend $400.00+ to find out, or take our word for it. Otherwise, if you have the funds and the ambition to do so, check it out for yourself and make your own assumptions.

The Haunted Stanley Hotel of Colorado - 3rd Palm Paranormal Places