The Stanley

The Stanley Hotel is such a beautiful historic building. Walking through it is like walking back in time. The lobby, restaurant and bar are probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, and the exterior of the building and grounds are maintained impeccably. But... I don't believe in the paranormal...I don't believe in ghosts or spirits... I will lay the facts out of my experience and let you decide... We were at the bar at around 11:00 pm, I believe it closes at 1:00 am. After a few drinks I had to use the bathroom so I went to the one in the basement to use the men's room. There was nobody in the basement but one or two employees milling around who were quickly out of sight. As I walked into the men's room which was fully empty, I got this gut feeling of uneasiness. I chalked it up to having a few drinks and falling for the folklore of the hotel. As I stood in the men's room I felt burning on the left side of my neck. I ran to the mirror and saw four deep scratch marks. I didn't scratch my neck. I believe in science and facts and have been racking my brain trying to find a scientific explanation for this. I have physical photograph proof. I quickly googled the hotels history and read about a "Big Mountain Jim" that allegedly roamed the halls. I remembered back to being at another restaurant earlier on the day, The Bird and Jim. I had a "Big Mountain Jim" burger there. Paranormal? A strange set of coincidences? You tell me.

Great for history and paranormal interest. Otherwise rooms are not worth the money. Customer service is poor if you have an issue. Watch out for any activity you book, it could be canceled at the last minute. We planned our trip around the Hannibal Seance, spent many $’s on room and dinner and @ 6pm it was canceled !!! The Stanley offered to refund 10% of the too . Really?

When the idea of writing a blog about boutique hotels came to mind, one of the first I wanted to be sure to include was a profile of The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. The hotel has such a unique history and such an iconic place in pop culture, I couldn’t resist. The Stanley Hotel is also a part of my personal history as it was one of Dave’s and my stops on our honeymoon where we stayed for a few days. I’m not going to regurgitate the hotel’s history and significance to anyone who considers themselves a fan of Stephen King or The Simpsons. I find an insider’s view far more interesting. And you can expect no less from me here. Dave and I enjoy long-leisurely road trips, the kind where you the drive is just as significant as the destination. An professional academic, my husband prepared a playlist of Stanley-specific podcasts for us to listen to as we traveled from Kansas to Colorado. By the time we arrived, we were well versed on all the folk stories, supernatural lore, and urban legend evolution as the hotel changed hands and perspectives. At the time of our visit, a marketing shift had re-written many of the hotel’s stories from dark and foreboding to friendly and benign. As scary as this may sound to Shining fans, this isn’t that unusual. Many hotels have found steering away from a ghostly image is better for business. But Dave and I agreed The Stanley Hotel did an excellent job of balancing both the family-friendly tourist trap and the horror and freak followers. We pulled into Estes Park around nine in the evening, well after dark. The trip had been relatively uneventful except for a couple construction delays we encountered as we neared the town. The waits we experienced were excessive. Dave and I are both used to flagmen and construction crews stopping traffic so to allow oncoming cars to use the same lanes, but crews in our part of the country stop traffic for no more than ten minutes at a time. Colorado road crews must switch directions of road traffic when they run out of moving cars. We sat in line for twenty minutes the first time, close to thirty minutes the second. So I was eager to reach the hotel by the time we emerged from construction-Dave even more so. He practically chewed on the steering wheel in frustration as we pulled into Estes Park. Not that we recognized the town right away. Estes Park was plunged in darkness. At first, we thought we had perhaps arrived as the town experienced a power outage, but this was not the case. The town simply didn’t have its street lights on-even though we could see the silhouettes of lamp posts reflecting the lights from our Jeep. We experienced much of the same as we circled the town and entered the grounds of The Stanley Hotel itself. None of their street lights-or sign lights we on either. This wouldn’t be a big problem for an average hotel where the confines of the building are well defined and all you have to worry about is where to park and where to enter. But The Stanley isn