What real hotel was the inspiration for the novel The Shining? t all started at The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colo. Author Stephen King spent a night there, and his own strange experience, along with other stories of supernatural happenings at the hotel, led to his writing The Shining. King and his wife found their bags mysteriously unpacked for them shortly after their arrival, and no one knew who had done it. Thats just par for the course at The Stanley, where unseen children are heard playing at night, rooms cleaned moments earlier end up in disarray, windows go up and down by themselves and ghosts of past inhabitants are seen. The hotel, which is located just a few miles from Rocky Mountain National Park, opened in 1909. Its now listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a member of the Historic Hotels of America. Most notably for The Shining fans, however, the Stanley Hotel has been featured as one of Americas haunted hotels [source: The Stanley Hotel]. Among stories are wanderings of the spirit of founder F.O. Stanleys wife, Flora, who is said to play the piano after hours in the hotels music room or roam the lobby. If you love paranormal adventures, you can stay in room 418, where guests have reported hearing children playing outside the rooms door, only to open the door and find no one there. Or you can ask for the same room that King stayed in during his stay -- room 217. Its considered one of the most haunted spots in the hotel. The hotel recently celebrated its 100-year anniversary and the 30th anniversary of The Shining, providing special Historic Ghost Tours that featured peeks at Kings guest room, stories of ghost sightings on the property and even a tour of the hotels underground tunnel [source: Scott]. In fact, the recently renovated hotel regularly books accommodations, and from time to time books ghost and history tours. Even though The Stanley Hotel inspired Kings story and offers up its own haunted history, the movie wasnt filmed there. Exterior scenes representing the Overlook for the movie were shot at Timberline Lodge in Mount Hood, Ore., and interior shots, along with exterior shots with actors in them, were filmed at London studios [source Warner Bros]. Its said that the lodge did not want to use room 217 in the film, fearing visitors would no longer sleep there; filmmakers changed it to room 237, which did not exist at the Timberline.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 12:48:34 +0000
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