The Shining hotel’s paranormal activity – ghost kids to ‘closet of screams’

Spooky goings on at the hotel which inspired Stephen King's The Shining have seen guests experiencing so many weird things that they've asked to be moved.

The 'King of Horror' himself was so shaken by his stay at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, US, it led him to pen the chilling classic, which went on to be one of his most famous works.

From rooms haunted by children to sightings of animal ghosts in the nearby pet cemetery, it's easy to see why the hotel attracts as many guests as it scares off.

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While fans of Stanley Kubrick's movie adaptation of the novel might have a love for the fictional Overlook Hotel, its inspiration has been a huge draw for paranormal fans.

According to the hotel's website, when inventor Freelan Oscar Stanley arrived in the valley of Estes Park in 1903, he discovered the mountain air helped ease his tuberculosis symptoms.

He and his wife, Flora Stanley, built the Stanley Hotel, which officially opened in 1909, as a home away from home where they could host friends and other guests.

By 1917, the tiny hamlet of Estes Park was an official municipality that owed its development to Stanley and his hotel.

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Throughout the hotel's history, there have been reports of ghostly apparitions, and guests have been able to check them out by signing up for a ghost tour of the most haunted rooms in the building.

Stanley himself is said to wander the halls, most often in the hotel bar.

While sightings of his wife have also been reported, usually of her playing her piano in the ballroom.

Employees and guests have reported hearing piano music coming from the room and seeing the keys moving.

Room 407 is supposedly haunted by Lord Dunraven, the man who owned the land prior to Stanley, with some guests claiming to seeing his face in the window, even when the room isn't booked.

Children are said to be haunting room 418, whose laughter can be heard in the hallways by guests.

The ghost of a small boy is said to appear outside of room 217, where author Stephen King stayed, and he reportedly saw the child, who was calling out for his nanny.

Brave guests on the hotel tour can stand in the closet in one of the haunted rooms, where voices are said to be the loudest.

There have been several unexplained or spooky accidents over the course of the hotel's history, which only adds to the legend of the building be cursed.

On June 25, 1911, Elizabeth Wilson, the head chambermaid at the two-year-old hotel, went into room 217 with a lit candle, only to tragically discover there was a leak in the hotel's gas lanterns.

The candle ignited the gas and there was a major explosion, destroying about one-tenth of the hotel and putting Wilson into a coma.

Wilson miraculously survived and continued working at the hotel until 1950.

However, according to some guests who have stayed in room 217, the maid stills works there in the afterlife, with some claiming they woke up with their room straightened up and their suitcases neatly organised.

As if human ghosts weren't enough, there is a pet cemetery on the property where the owners of the hotel buried their pets over the years, and guests have reported seeing the ghosts of some of the animals buried there wandering the property.

Among them are a golden retriever named Cassie and a white cat named Comanche, and they have been spotted throughout the grounds, hallways and guest rooms.

As far as experiences are concerned, one person who nearly checked in said: "We made it to the parking lot of the Stanley Hotel while in Estes Park, got weird vibes and left! Quickly!"

While another person, who actually made it inside said: "Y’all should check out the Stanley hotel in Estes Park, Colorado and stay in the room Jim Carry stayed in which is 217.

"Weird stuff was happening to the point where he wanted a different room and left the hotel to stay somewhere else. There’s also a floor that is haunted by child."

One spooked out visitor said: "Spent the night at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, CO. Supposedly it is haunted. Weird stuff happened – I slept with the tv on all night!"

Another said: "We took a ghost tour at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Co. Everyone in my family had something weird happen to them during the tour except me. I was so bummed."

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