The Haunting of the Stanley Hotel: Where History and Horror Check In Together
High in the Colorado Rockies, surrounded by whispering pines and snow-tipped peaks, there’s a hotel that gleams like a ghost in the daylight. The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park looks peaceful from the outside — all white siding, red rooftops, and old-world charm — but step inside, and you’ll feel it.
That subtle charge in the air. The chill that has nothing to do with altitude. The sense that you’re being watched.
Welcome to the Stanley Hotel — where history, tragedy, and the supernatural collide.
The Man Who Built a Miracle
The Stanley story starts not with a ghost, but with a man racing death. In 1903, Freelan Oscar Stanley, co-creator of the Stanley Steamer automobile, arrived in Estes Park barely able to breathe. Tuberculosis was eating away at his lungs, and doctors gave him six months to live.
But the mountain air had other plans.
Stanley not only survived — he thrived. His recovery felt miraculous, and he wanted to thank the valley that saved him. So, he decided to build something extraordinary: a summer resort that could rival the grandeur of the East Coast’s finest hotels.
By 1909, the Stanley Hotel opened its doors — 48 rooms of luxury with electricity, telephones, and running water, all nestled in the wilderness. It was a beacon of life in a place once synonymous with struggle.
But the Rockies have always held their secrets, and the Stanley would soon gain one of its own.
The Night Room 217 Exploded
On June 25, 1911, a violent gas explosion ripped through Room 217. Housekeeper Elizabeth Wilson had walked in carrying a lit candle, unaware the room was filled with leaking gas.
The blast destroyed part of the hotel and blew Wilson through the floor — but somehow, she survived.
She returned to work just two years later and remained at the Stanley until her retirement in the 1950s. But some say she never really left.
Guests who stay in Room 217 report waking to find their clothes unpacked, blankets tucked in around them, and cold spots that seem to appear when unmarried couples share the bed.
Mrs. Wilson, it seems, is still running her housekeeping rounds — from the other side.
Echoes of the Past
The Stanleys themselves also seem reluctant to leave their masterpiece.
Guests and staff have reported seeing F.O. Stanley strolling the lobby in his trademark suit and Flora Stanley playing the piano in the ballroom after midnight.
When you step into that grand hall and hear the faint sound of music drifting through an empty room — you might just be catching one of Flora’s ghostly performances.
Laughter on the Fourth Floor
The hotel’s fourth floor is its most active. Once used as servant quarters and children’s rooms, it now hosts something… less alive. Guests often hear laughter, footsteps, and the sound of children running up and down the hall — even when the floor is empty.
Some visitors leave candy outside their doors for the spirits, hoping for a quiet night. Others pack up early and leave before dawn.
The Night Stephen King Checked In
By the 1970s, the Stanley was fading. Winter closures and disrepair left it nearly empty — until one stormy night in 1974, when a young writer checked into Room 217.
Stephen King and his wife were the only guests before the hotel shut down for the season. That night, King dreamed of his son running down endless hallways, chased by a coiling fire hose.
He woke up terrified — and inspired. Within hours, The Shining was born.
That dream saved the Stanley Hotel, transforming it from a forgotten resort into one of the most famous haunted hotels in the world.
The Living Legacy
Today, the Stanley embraces its haunted reputation.
Visitors can book ghost tours, stay in the infamous rooms, or sip whiskey in the hotel bar while The Shining plays on a 24-hour loop. Paranormal investigators visit year-round, hoping to capture evidence of what so many have felt.
And through it all, the Stanley still stands — elegant, unsettling, and alive with history.
Because the thing about the Stanley Hotel is this: it was built to celebrate life.
But it’s the dead who made it unforgettable.
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Thank you to Reddit user “Embarrassed-Thing-85” for the photos!
Resources:
The Stanley Hotel. The Stanley Hotel
King, S. (1977). The shining. Doubleday.
Mcguire, P. (2025, September 10). The haunted history of the Stanley Hotel. Uncover Colorado.
Earls, S. (2019, October 1). The Spooky Story Behind Colorado’s Haunted Stanley Hotel. Denver Gazette.
Hotel Colorado. (N.D.). Hotel Colorado’s Haunted History. Hotel Colorado.
Nightly Spirits Blog. (2020, April 27). Stay at the most Haunted Hotel in Colorado. Nightly Spirits.
Ghost City Tours. (n.d.). The haunted Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. Ghost City Tours.
Tremaine, J. (2024, October 21). I Stayed in the Haunted Hotel That Inspired ‘The Shining,’ and It’s Full of Real and Imagined Ghosts. Travel and Leisure.
Visit Estes Park. (2020, October 7). A Stanley Hotel history: Part three. Visit Estes Park.
UG Ghost Adventures Blog. (2025, January 27). Hauntings of the Stanley Hotel. UG Ghost Adventures.
Wright, T. (2019, October 25). Room 217: The haunted heart of the Stanley Hotel. Atlas Obscura.
Ghost Hunters. (2006). Stanley Hotel investigation [Television episode]. SyFy Channel.
King, S. (Interviewee). (2013, October 26). Stephen King on The Shining and the Stanley Hotel [Interview transcript].National Public Radio. https://www.npr.org/
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