Best Haunted Hotels: The Stanley
High up in the Rockies of Estes Park, Colorado sits the victorian hotel that inspired Stephen King to write The Shining. But is the Stanley Hotel really an evil place full of malevolent spirits?
Well no…. and yes!
We spent a weekend at The Stanley as part of a ghost hunting event and I can safely say this place is very haunted. But not by anything evil — at least from what I experienced. In the three days we were there, we had many encounters and met a few new friends (the unseen kind.)
For ghost hunting, I use a mini maglite that twists on and off. This is important, as a click on/off doesn’t work. I twist it so that it’s just barely turned off, but easy for a spirit to use energy to jump the circuit and turn the light on and off at will. I use yes and no questions and allow the spirit to use the light to answer — yes (light on) and no (light off). Read more on my method of ghost hunting in this post.
Stanley Ghost #1: The musician
It was early evening and dinner had just concluded. Before the evenings panels and bar fun began, I broke off from the crowd to wander the main floor a bit. The hotel is big and very cool and I wanted to find a quiet spot to put out my maglite to see if anyone wanted to chat.
I headed to the music room. It’s about a forty foot by forty foot classic concert room. The warm wood paneled walls and wood flooring combined with the low light transported me back to the turn of the century when the hotel was built. It was like walking into the past.
A big, beautiful white grand piano sat at the front of the room. I set up my maglite on it and began asking questions. Within just a few minute on came the light. As always, I asked if whomever was there could turn the light off. Unless a spirit can control the light, turning it on and off at will, it’s impossible to converse. It took only a few more minutes for this spirit to get control enough for me to start asking questions. Thought the conversation was short, I was able to find out that it was a woman, that she was a musician (not surprising finding her hanging out by the piano) and that she was not a fan of modern music, she preferred classical. Chopin being a favorite. The spirit was friendly and I felt her positive energy. But she wasn’t able to stay long, as her energy weakened and a small group came into the room, I said thank you and goodbye and how much I appreciated her sharing her love of music with me.
Stanley Ghost #2: Lucy
Lucy is rather famous at The Stanley. And we were lucky enough to have a chance to hang out with her during a group hunt one night. About twenty of us were in the basement of the concert hall with a flashlight out on a table when Lucy made her appearance.
As we were told, Lucy is thus named because of her love of the song “Lucy in the sky with diamonds.” But it wasn’t the Beatles she was into that night. It was Janis Joplin. Lucy had been turning on the flashlight for about ten minutes when someone threw out the idea, “Hey Lucy, would you like to sing some Joplin.” The light rang brilliantly, which generally means an excited “YES!”
So twenty of us began singing, “Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz. My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends…” And the light was singing with us!! It brighter and dimmer with the melody, and was very in rhythm which I can only surmise meant she was a passionate singer. Lucy sang the entire song with us. And a few more after that. We laughed, we sang. It was quite a fun night. In the end we all applauded Lucy’s talents and party spirit and thanked her for coming out to hang with us.
Photo credit: Visit Estes Park
With its proximity to Rocky Mountain National Park, its beauty and history, The Stanley is really a great place to make your base if you’re visiting the area. The friends you’ll make while there—seen or unseen—are really just bonus.
