The Stanley Hotel
A night at a Colorado hotel inspired Stephen King's The Shining, and guests still report strange happenings there.
What was reported
The Stanley Hotel opened in 1909 in Estes Park, Colorado, beneath the Rocky Mountains. In 1974 Stephen King and his wife stayed there as nearly the only guests just before it closed for the winter; King had a nightmare there and went on to write The Shining (1977), set in the fictional Overlook Hotel.
Guests and staff report piano music in the empty music room, footsteps and laughter in quiet corridors, and room 217, where King stayed, is especially requested.
Explanations offered
The hotel embraces its reputation with ghost tours. As with other 'haunted' hotels, the reports are personal experiences, often shaped by expectation and by the famous novel. King has said the grand, empty hotel simply fired his imagination.
- When
- Opened in 1909
- Where
- Estes Park, Colorado, USA
- Witnesses
- Guests and staff
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.