Mile Marker 87: Haunting the Stanley Hotel

Have you seen the movie, The Shining? The Stanley Hotel is the one portrayed in the famous film. This episode is about the time Gypsie and I went to a Murder By Death show and later Haunted the hotel.

Transcript

Key: Drifter, Male voice. Gypsie, Female voice

Uplifting rock/western tune plays for 15 seconds, music begins to taper down then:

(Drifter) Welcome to the Rebel At Large Adventure Podcast. I’m Drifter

(Gypsie) And I’m  Gypsie

(Drifter) Talking about Ghost towns,

(Gypsie) Graveyards,

(Drifter) Outlaws, Heroes

(Gypsie) And Ladies of the night.

Music tapers to an end

(Drifter) Howdy folks, Thanks for joining us for yet another episode. Today we are talking about a haunted hotel nestled in the rocky mountains made ever more famous by cinema. This is the story of us haunting this very hotel. 

(Drifter) First, we’ll catch you up on what's been happening as you haven't heard from us for a bit.

Birthday

Anniversary

Beyond the grave

(Gypsie) A few years back we went on a trip to Estes Park Colorado to see the music band Murder by Death. We have seen Murder by Death several times in the past but we have never seen them at the Stanley Hotel.  Every year in January the band puts on a spectacular performance at the hotel, and if I remember correctly next year will be their tenth year. They encourage all the event goers to dress up in 1920’s outfits and during the show they take the iconic photo you see at the end of the movie, the Shining. If you’ve yet to see the show, the photo is of a dance in the ball room with Jack Nicholson in the photo.   

(Drifter) We had never been to the Stanley Hotel and had wanted to go there for years. We figured if we were going to spend the night there we should do it with the ability to see one of our favorite bands. We knew that the book The Shining, written by Stephen King was based on his own personal experiences when he stayed at the Hotel in 1974 as well as his struggle with alcoholism. This was King's third published novel and in 1980 a movie was made based on his book. 

(Gypsie) If you have not seen the movie or read the book we suggest you do so. I have not read the book myself but I have seen the movie several times. It is a horror movie starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, and Scatman Crothers. There are some pretty scary parts in the movie but I think the part of the movie everyone knows and remembers is when Jack Nicholson cuts down the door with an ax and then puts his head through the opening and says (Drifter) “here's Johnny”. (Gypsie) Ironically, filming for The Shining took place at the Timberline Lodge in Oregon not at the Stanley Hotel. 

(Drifter) We knew the hotel was old and we knew that the Shining was based on the hotel but that was pretty much all we knew. When we arrived for the show we were a little early and it was not time to check in yet. So to make good use of our time we started exploring the hotel as well as its grounds. Out front they have the iconic hedge maze you see in The Shining movie. The maze was not put up until 2015. The hotel made an announcement the year before asking for submissions for a maze design. The winning design came from architect Mairim Dallaryn Standing. The maze is U shaped with an S on one end and an H on the other. 

(Gypsie) We didn’t walk through the maze, just walked around it checking things out. The maze is out front of the hotel and sits on 10,000 square feet. It is free of charge and was built with 820 juniper bushes. When they first built it the hedges were short and it was easy to see where you were going, now the trees are full grown and it's more of a struggle to get through. Inside the maze they have a statue of Mr. Stanley himself. 

(Drifter) We also spent some of our free time learning more about the hotel. We found out it is of course haunted and they conduct several different tours. They have a tour that is just about the history of the building. Here they walk you through parts of the hotel, telling you about F.O Stanley and his wife Flora. They also tell you about the famous people that have stayed there, As well as show you the different architecture styles that went into the Stanley. 

(Gypsie) They have a haunted tour that takes place at night. Here you get to learn about the ghosts that haunt the building, See pictures of the ghosts, and maybe even get to see a ghost yourself. They do not allow children under the age of 8 on this tour. They also have a new tour that is called the Shining Tour. Here they tell you all about Stephen King, a little of the history of the hotel, and more ghost stories. They show you the Shining Suite that is located inside the 1909 Caretaker’s Cottage. You also get to see the re-created bathroom, and even one of the axes used in the filming of The shining.

(Drifter) Even though we had some time to spare we did not have enough time to take a tour. They are all an hour long and we still needed to get ready for the show. (Gypsie) We have talked about going back to the hotel and while doing research for this episode I found out that another one of our favorite music bands will be there in November so maybe we go next month! (Drifter) You do not have to be a guest of the hotel to go on the tour but if you are staying there they do give you a discount on the tours. You can book online and it is suggested that you do so because they fill up fast. 

(Gypsie) While we were exploring the area we also found out that the fourth floor is one of the more haunted floors and as luck would have it, that's where we were staying. (Drifter)  This time Gypsie was on top of her game and brought her ghost hunting tools along with her. (Gypsie)  Once we were finally able to check into our room we were excited to see if we would have any special guests with us that night. 

(Drifter) Before we get into our experience at the Stanley, let's tell you a little back history on the hotel itself. F.O. Stanley purchased the land for the hotel from Earl Lord Dunraven. He started construction for the hotel in 1906. The hotel is built in the Georgian architectural style with most of the material for it obtained locally. Construction was completed and the hotel was ready for guests in 1909. It had running water, electricity, and even telephones in each room. The only thing the hotel didn’t have was heat, the hotel was built to be a summer get away. In order to supply power for the hotel, Stanley built the Fall River Hydro Plant. This didn’t just supply power for his hotel but it also supplied power for the town of Estes Park.  

(Gypsie) The hotel had only 48 rooms and it catered to the moderately wealthy people Stanley was associated with. Each room shared an in suite bathroom with running water.  

(Drifter) Construction for the concert hall was completed in 1909 just like the hotel, and the manor was completed in 1910. In order to get guests to the hotel, Stanley built a fleet of steam powered vehicles that he called Mountain Wagons. The vehicle was able to carry several guests from Lyons Colorado up the mountain to the hotel. The main building consists of a music room, a smoking lounge that was turned into the Pinon Room, they even have a billiard room. A few years after the hotel opened, a hydraulic elevator was installed. By 1935 the hydraulic system was replaced and a cable operated elevator was put in its place. In 1916 Stanley built the east wing of the main building to add more guest rooms. 

(Gypsie) The concert hall, that was the location where we saw our show, is rumored to be a gift for Mr. Stanley’s wife, Flora. The interior is decorated just like the music room in the main hotel. The stage floor has a trap door for performers to make dramatic entrances. The basement of the building once housed a bowling alley but it has since been removed. 

(Drifter) Stanley ran the hotel until 1926 when he sold it to a private company. By 1929 the hotel was facing foreclosure and Stanley bought it back. The following year he sold it to Roe Emery of Denver. For almost 115 years the hotel is still standing and in wonderful condition. You can feel the love and care the people that work there have for the building and we hope it stays around for another 115 years. 

(Gypsie) Now that you know a bit about the hotel let's get into what we experienced during our stay. Once we checked into our room we started getting ready for the show. We can’t remember what room number we were staying in. Our room was small and there was barely any room for a bed. We did have our own bathroom which was nice since we needed the mirror to get ready. We also got out our ghost equipment and started talking to the spirits to see if anyone was there. The entire time we were getting ready we didn’t get anything from the ghosts but we were not about to give up. 

(Drifter) Once we were all ready we had a bit of time to kill and decided to go downstairs to the bar. We ordered us some drinks and tried to talk to the bartender to see if he had seen any ghosts but he was too busy to get into much with us. After we finished our drinks we walked over to the concert hall. They had us stand in line so we could get our picture taken. We didn’t buy the picture but looking back at it now, we should have bought it! The show was amazing, we have seen Murder by Death perform before but to be in such a historic and iconic location with them was memorable. 

(Gypsie) Once the show was over it was late and we decided to retire for the night and see if we could get any ghosts to visit. We want to share some of the stories we found about the fourth floor hauntings and then we will get into what happened to us. Room 407 is said to be haunted by Lord Dunrave, he was the man Mr. Stanley bought the property from. Stories say that he tends to stand in the corner of the room near the bathroom door. He likes to mess with the lights, turning them off when guests are doing something and turning them on when guests are sleeping. This room is located next to the elevator and there are also reports of elevator noises at night when no one is using it. 

(Drifter) There are also reports of room 428 being haunted by a cowboy. He likes to appear at the foot of the bed and is drawn to women. There is no record of a cowboy dying at the hotel but locals believe it is the spirit of “Rocky Mountain” Jim Nugent. Room 401 on the other hand doesn’t have a nice spirit inside. Guests have reported to be inappropriately touched while standing in the room’s closet. 

(Gypsie) Before the fourth floor was set up for guests it used to be used as storage. Over time the area was converted into a space for female employees, children, and nannies to stay. It is not uncommon for guests to complain about the sounds of children running up and down the halls at night, or even seeing children walking down the hall only to disappear. People have even said they felt what seemed to be a child hold their hand while walking down the hallway. 

(Drifter) That night after the show we poured ourselves a drink, changed into comfortable clothes and got ready to see if any spirits would come visit us. We have a laser that spreads the beam around so it puts a lot of little dots on the wall. We use this to see if anything passes in front of it. We got that set up and then next we got out our EMF meter and placed that on the bed. (Gypsie) For those of you that do not know what an EMF reader is, it is an electromagnetic field detector. This reader can be used to detect and measure electromagnetic radiation that is believed to be produced by ghosts. It has 5 colored dots on the top that light up. (Drifter) The lowest level is a light green, then it goes to a dark green, then yellow, then orange, and finally red. As the magnetic field around you gets stronger the light will get brighter. 

(Gypsie) We just placed ours near the foot of the bed. You don’t have to do anything with it, just let it sit there. We then started asking simple yes or no questions. If there is a spirit with you and if they are trying to respond they will light up the EMF reader. We start with questions like is there anyone here, are you a male, are you female, are you a child. Really easy things. If they want to respond they will light up the reader. So take for instance you ask them, do you like the color pink? if they like it then the reader lights up, if they don’t like it then it wont light up. As you ask questions you can start to get an idea of the spirit or spirits that are in the room with you. 

(Drifter) We turned off the lights and started asking questions. The first one we asked was, is anyone in the room with us and then waited, no response. We asked it a few more times until we got a little flicker on the green light. We got excited, someone was with us. If Gypsie asked a question we wouldn’t get anything from the reader, if I asked the question we would get a small flicker of the green light.  

(Gypsie) At some point in the night I got up to use the bathroom. Drifter continued to ask questions but this time he was getting quick responses from the reader and they were going all the way up to red. When I came back in the room the responses would stop or not light up all the way on the reader. We joked about it saying that maybe they didn’t like me and so I went back into the bathroom just to see what would happen. And just like before Drifter was getting very active responses. 

(Drifter) During the course of the night Gypsie got out her phone and started recording the lights to see if we could see anything. (Gypsie) Sometimes when you are ghost hunting you can go back through your pictures and videos and see things that you didn’t see while you were there in person. (Drifter) As she was recording I asked the question if she would show herself in some fashion. We were hoping for something more than just a response on the EMF reader. We waited to see if anything happened and nothing did. Then I started to say that it was ok that they didn’t need to do that. Suddenly one single light on the wall started to shine a little brighter than the others. It then got extremely bright to the point it was almost blinding. 

(Gypsie) We spent a couple hours hanging out with the spirit asking questions to see if we could get the lights on the wall to light up again but it never happened again. After visiting with the spirit or spirits we made sure to thank them for hanging out with us and let them know that we were going to bed. We unfortunately were only staying for one night and we needed to get up early the next day to drive back home. We strategically placed some small items around the room and let the spirits know if they wanted to move them around they could.  We were a little sad to see the next morning that nothing had been moved. 

(Drifter) We had a great time at the hotel and we are looking forward to going back. We want to stay there for a few days so that we have time to go on all the tours they offer. (Gypsie) During the winter the area is known not only for all the snow it gets but for the large herd of elk that graze on the lawns of the hotel. Who knows, maybe next time we go there we will see more than ghosts. 

(Drifter) I think that wraps up our visit to the infamous Stanley Hotel, are you doing the dad joke thing?

Dad Joke

(Gypsie) What do you call a ghost with a broken leg? A hoblin goblin 

(Drifter) Alright then, Thank you all for joining us here and supporting the Rebel At Large adventure podcast. For our constant listeners, you may have noticed our schedule is off a bit. (Gypsie) If you would like to help us out a bit, share us with someone you think might enjoy what we do. (Drifter) You can leave us a rating and a review on Apple or Spotify, I hear that’s supposed to help spread the word. If you’d like to help put some fuel in our tanks, we have a link to our Patreon below. (Gypsie) You can find links to our social media, email and Merch store below in the show notes.

(Drifter) We’ll talk to ya here in a couple of weeks. (Gypsie) Safe Travels, (Drifter) We’ll see ya down the road.