The Stanley Hotel

When I knew I was going to Colorado-I didn't hesitate.  I  needed to experience the spooky and disconcerting room 217.  Fact: all of the pictures I took around said room turned out blurry.  Fact: I did not intentionally gear them to be out of focus. I personally did not get to stay in "the" room or for the matter the two surrounding it which are purported to be equally as terrifying but I heard the haunting surrounding them and just traversing the ominous hallways left me with an uneasy burn in my gut that can not be replicated.

Apparently these rooms scared the pants off Jim Carey when he filmed Dumb and Dumber here and inexplicably drove him to run out of 217 one night and demand that he be taken to the nearest hotel. For the duration of filming he never stepped foot near the room again and only came in the hotel when he had to.

I am scared, very scared. Of this place on my left. What is it? Why, The Stanley Hotel, home of said Room 217-one of the most notoriously haunted locales in the United States of America.  Created by the man who also is responsible for the Stanley Steamer and most modern inventions we associate with all good things today.

On the right you will find me cavorting posthumously with the owner- Mr. Stanley holding a fish.  If you notice his face....he even appears to be inventing while dangling.

Below, I reset my Macauly Culkinesque hands on my cheeks in ultimate and unbridled fear in the employee tunnel of The Stanley Hotel.  This is one of the spots that Ghost Hunters checked when they visited the hotel where they found so much supernatural activity that they came back repeatedly.  Aside from all of the haunting, this hotel is notorious for being the inspiration of Stephen King's landmark book "The Shining."  

Stephen King was having a dry spell during his early career and decided he needed some inspiration.  Him and his wife checked into The Stanley Hotel at the end of the season.  While the entire staff of the then fading and broken down hotel left-King and his wife stayed.  What he proceeded to stumble upon would become the landmark moments that we would later recognize.  

The most tremendous fact, a residual haunting.  On the night when Stephen King stayed in the hotel he ate in the restaurant  by himself.  While drinking a beer he heard coming from the ballroom one room over what seemed to be music and dancing.  This was ludicrous, everyone had left.  The only two people in the hotel were his wife and himself and she was upstairs resting.  Why, King even had the key to lock up when he was finished. When he entered what he saw was a full blown ball.  Women dancing, men cavorting, and the most taxing element that he couldn't understand was-how come none of them would talk to him?  That would be because none of them knew about him.  They hailed from another time completely.  A moment in time that had been played again on this night.  Another fact, the evening happened to be that of October 31st more notably recognized as All Hallows Eve.

I don't want to reveal too much.  If your interest is peaked, you should take the tour or maybe even dare to stay in Room 217.