Favorite Haunts the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Co.

“Heeeere’s Johnny!” We’ve all seen Stanley Kubrick’s the Shining. What on Earth gave Steven King the creepy inspiration to terrorize us and make us afraid to enter hedge mazes? Enter the Stanley Hotel in beautiful Estes Park, Colorado. This is where Steven King stayed in an almost deserted resort, as it was getting ready to close for the season. It was at the Stanley Hotel that Steven King encountered many of the paranormal events that made it’s way into the book. Staying in room 217, many guests have been unable to stay the night in that room, including actor  Jim Carrey, who supposedly ran from the room within hours of checking in. And then there’s the infamous visit during season 2 of Ghost Hunters. Room 418. Lord Dunraven’s room. With cameras fixed on the closet door and others facing  Jason’s bed, we see the closet swing open, and Jason’s drinking glass crack and smash to pieces on film. The Stanley Hotel is at the top of every list of America’s most haunted locations.  What makes it so active and what’s more, so consistently active?   Built in 1909 by F. O. Stanley, it was meant to be a Summer retreat to ease the tuberculosis symptoms of Stanley and his wife, Flora. They bought the property from Lord Dunraven after a hunting trip in the area.  The resort consists of several original buildings, the main hotel, the music hall, and the carriage house. After it’s initial purpose to house buggies  subsided, the carriage house was used for basic storage. What’s interesting about this is when a guest passed away at the Stanley, the mattress they had slept on was stored in the carriage house. The carriage house became known to hold an oppressive, creepy energy, and was seldom allowed to have investigations.  It has been since torn down,  due to age and decay.  To accommodate additional guests,  a  newer building was added.  Now you would think being a newer structure it would have relatively little paranormal activity.  Right? Remember Ghost Hunters Season 2 again, when Grant was sitting at a table trying to change a battery and the table tilted and jumped?  That was in room 1302!   So what DOES make the Stanley so lush with paranormal activity?  Well, it’s 100 years old.  It sits high on a mountain top.  Now if you’ve read my blog on Stone Tape theory,  (you have, right?)  you know that minerals such as quartz,  limestone, iron,  and granite have the ability to capture and retain energy, memories, and events from the past.  These minerals are frequently found in conjunction with paranormal anomalies and activity.  Now in 2008, the Rocky Mountain Paranormal group contacted the USGS and had them conduct a survey of the area. Results showed nothing anomalous except high levels of granite in the Estes Park area. Now I have investigated areas in mountains and canyons and deep magma and old lava content can cause high levels of negatively charged magnetic fields in the ambient areas.  High negatively charged areas seem to coincide with paranormal activity. (Such as Benedict Canyon in So Cal).      I can only tell you my experiences within the Stanley…  There are some haunted locations that seem to …stay with us….to beckon us..   They call us back like sirens.  The more often we visit,  the more welcome we feel. We are drawn back to a location as if we belong there.   Like Jack in the Shining, finding himself in the old photograph.  You truly start to feel as if you were meant to be at these  places for a reason…or you’ve been there before… ( without an axe! )  The spirits of the Stanley have been there a while. Don’t be fooled. They know you’re looking for them.  I think they enjoy screwing with us, and they are good at it! Take Lord Dunraven’s room. Remember the closet and the breaking glass?  Yeah, that room. We set up our camcorders poised towards the infamous closet door. It’s known to open and shut, lock and have voices coming from within. Lord Dunraven in life thought himself quite the ladies’ man. So  after about an hour with no activity, I started taunting a bit. ” We girls are not impressed.” “We know you can hear us”.  No response. Deciding to move on, we shut off our camcorders. As soon as he heard the click of it shutting off, the closet door dutifully swung shut and latched! He waited until I shut it off!   I was chomping at the bit to get into room 1312. I  planted myself at that table and waited for furniture to fly!  Exactly Midnight… The digital clock flickered.. the fern rustled from an unearthly breeze…My sister, pinned against the wall because she didn’t like the room’s energy, suddenly doubled over in pain! “I have to get out of here! Something is trying to get at me!” she cried. Now, with a room  of several paranormal investigators and with my sister in distress, what to do? In unison, we all turned our equipment towards her and documented! What else?!  (jeez, she’s fine!)    We also had something ghostly visit our bathroom during the night, turning on water, flushing, and making much noise during the night, too!   The Stanley Hotel is  historic. It is unbelievably beautiful with amazing views and herds of elk on the grounds. It is crazy alive with full body apparitions, anomalies, and poltergeist activity. If you have the chance to visit, please spend a few days. They even hired a guy who looks like Jack Nickolson to stand around and look like Jack Nickolson!   Don’t be put off by the almost hourly ghost tours in the corridors. The ghosts don’t seem to mind, in fact, they seem to thrive on it!      Please visit my website at kittyjanusz.com