9 July 2007
191
R. Linda:
That night I did not sleep, not because I was plagued by visiting spirits, but by the other kind that were consumed by the patrons of the hotel. Me room overlooked the back terrace where the fountain and parking lot are located. On the terrace are cafe tables where small groups can sit and converse. Only these tables were filled the entire night with rowdy wedding guests, where the level of rowdiness would elevate, come down to a low roar and escalate back up the scale. Since there was no air conditioning, me windows were open with a small fan; supplied by the hotel, buzzing the hot outside steam AND noise pollution into me dark room.
(Let me preface this wedding business before I go any further. It was 07/07/07, BIG lucky day. So weddings were booked that entire weekend one after the other. So did I get any sleep the entire stay? NO.)
Having had no sleep, I made me way down to breakfast, where I met me equally sleepy associate. We had planned on taking the Ghost Tour (yes, the hotel has one, and I think this be a great idea). The tours run throughout the day. I returned to me room to watch the hotel station that runs The Shining (Kubrick's version), not the one made at the hotel (I wondered why on that), and to try to catch a few z's before returning downstairs. I watched a little of the movie and flipped through the newspaper at the same time until me eyes got heavy. I took me reading glasses off and folded them, placing them on the bed stand next to me. When it got to 15 minutes before the tour, I started to get meself together, and I noticed me eyeglasses were not on the table. It took me a few minutes, but I found them open under the middle of the bed. Now, I did not throw them there. I sat on the bed the entire time, not moving much because I was watching the movie and falling asleep, and was not anywhere near the table. Strange that was, crawling under the bed to retrieve them.
The tour gathered in the front hall, where we had to battle our way to the door because a wedding was taking place outside on the steps, and the wedding guests were having drinks on the verandah, milling about the large hall where we of the tour were ponying up. That was a chaotic start. Here, you had all this gaiety going on, and we were primed for a haunted tour.
Once at the tour site, people queued together. Our guide, a cowgirl type in a business suit, took us immediately to the basement, where there were tunnels that workmen made when they first constructed the hotel. The boulders are all carved out of fool's gold, so they sparkle in the camera flash and are quite disconcerting to the eye. There is even the stump of a tree (still in the dirt and rocks) where one of the tunnels begins. This one particular tunnel is where the Ghost Hunters (of the same series name) heard the little girl laugh and say hello. Now, when I saw that on the TV, I thought it sounded like a frightened animal. Turns out that a cook (a few years ago) felt sorry for a raccoon that had found its way into the tunnel. He started to feed it, and of course, that brought more of the critters. It got so bad they had to close the door to the basement area to keep the nighttime raiders at bay. The cook was told not to feed them anymore, but he did for the next TWO YEARS! When the raccoons found they could not get into the basement, they found a way onto the fourth-floor cornice moulding outside, ripped through the open (remember no AC) windows, and terrorised the guests. Many of the guests on the most haunted of floors thought a ghost was ripping the screen to get in, eyes glowing in the dark, and quickly, the occupants flew from the rooms down to the first floor in absolute terror.
This made me wonder how much of the phenomena on the fourth floor were spectral and not animal.
The tunnel and tree roots on the right
We left the basement for the hall where we started, which had cleared of wedding guests. The ceremony was in full swing out front. There is an antique Stanley Steamer in the great front hall, which still works and was one of F.O. (yes, initials, no name had he nor his twin brother E.O.) Stanley (the founder of the Stanley Hotel and inventor of the Stanley Steamer) inventions. Then, onto the MacGregor Room, which was being set up for yet another wedding. This room is a large reception area where a stage is said to have been built by the film crew of the second Shining movie. It is the stage where Stephen King plays the role of band leader, and there are plenty of pictures of this event. The Historical Society of Estes Park wants the stage torn down since it is not historical to the old building. Fat chance, AND the stage looks old the way the film crew constructed it to fit perfectly in with the style of the room. I say leave it be. It is historical now that King stood on it.
The Stanley Steamer in the front hall
King's Stage
Nothing ghostly happens in that room, just that it has King's stage built specially for him for the mini-movie. Back through the hall to the other side is Flora Stanley's (F.O.'s wife) piano, which plays by itself at night. The night staff have heard it and seen the keys move by themselves, but as they approach, the playing stops. We didn't venture down at the dead of night so we don't know if it is true or not, though one night I did hear a piano playing, but chalked it up to another wedding reception.
Flora's Haunted Piano
We went to the haunted fourth floor to room 418, the most notorious of the 4th-floor rooms where things break and disappear, and strange lights come from nowhere. We did not get inside; it was occupied, we were told, but ghosts have been seen in the room, and the closet opens on its own. We couldn't check if the closet door was plumb, which might be a physical reason why it would open independently, so I don't know. From there, we went to the cupola that looked like a bell tower where there was no bell OR CLOCK. The trap door at the top is bolted shut as well as nailed. There are cracks that would let the wind draft through, causing a moan. But guests have taken pictures up the ladder to the trap door and have recorded an image of a bearded man. I took pictures, but no such image was in me photos. I did ask where the clock was since we heard it strike midnight the night before and was told there was no clock.
Steps to nowhere
The fourth floor is supposedly haunted by two little girls who play up there, and sometimes, you can see a ghostly ball rolling down the hall. We heard the laughter, as I said, but no ball sighting, and we have no plausible explanation for what we heard.
We left for the third floor, my floor, where not a whole lot of activity takes place, but people have taken pictures where there are lots of shiny orbs floating in the air. Being a reporter who takes pictures, I know that phenomena might indeed be caused by dust on the lens of the camera and it reflects off the overhead lights. But I didn't say a word. Me pix show no orbs because me lens be clean.
We then went to the second floor, where our guide hurried on before us, I wondered what that was about, and as we came down the stairs and around the corner, there she was on the floor, half in a room and half out, her head sticking out of the doorway trying to scare us as we came around. She succeeded with only one person who hadn't been paying much attention and didn't expect the floating head in the doorway. I have pictures to prove this.
R. Linda:
That night I did not sleep, not because I was plagued by visiting spirits, but by the other kind that were consumed by the patrons of the hotel. Me room overlooked the back terrace where the fountain and parking lot are located. On the terrace are cafe tables where small groups can sit and converse. Only these tables were filled the entire night with rowdy wedding guests, where the level of rowdiness would elevate, come down to a low roar and escalate back up the scale. Since there was no air conditioning, me windows were open with a small fan; supplied by the hotel, buzzing the hot outside steam AND noise pollution into me dark room.
(Let me preface this wedding business before I go any further. It was 07/07/07, BIG lucky day. So weddings were booked that entire weekend one after the other. So did I get any sleep the entire stay? NO.)
Having had no sleep, I made me way down to breakfast, where I met me equally sleepy associate. We had planned on taking the Ghost Tour (yes, the hotel has one, and I think this be a great idea). The tours run throughout the day. I returned to me room to watch the hotel station that runs The Shining (Kubrick's version), not the one made at the hotel (I wondered why on that), and to try to catch a few z's before returning downstairs. I watched a little of the movie and flipped through the newspaper at the same time until me eyes got heavy. I took me reading glasses off and folded them, placing them on the bed stand next to me. When it got to 15 minutes before the tour, I started to get meself together, and I noticed me eyeglasses were not on the table. It took me a few minutes, but I found them open under the middle of the bed. Now, I did not throw them there. I sat on the bed the entire time, not moving much because I was watching the movie and falling asleep, and was not anywhere near the table. Strange that was, crawling under the bed to retrieve them.
The tour gathered in the front hall, where we had to battle our way to the door because a wedding was taking place outside on the steps, and the wedding guests were having drinks on the verandah, milling about the large hall where we of the tour were ponying up. That was a chaotic start. Here, you had all this gaiety going on, and we were primed for a haunted tour.
Once at the tour site, people queued together. Our guide, a cowgirl type in a business suit, took us immediately to the basement, where there were tunnels that workmen made when they first constructed the hotel. The boulders are all carved out of fool's gold, so they sparkle in the camera flash and are quite disconcerting to the eye. There is even the stump of a tree (still in the dirt and rocks) where one of the tunnels begins. This one particular tunnel is where the Ghost Hunters (of the same series name) heard the little girl laugh and say hello. Now, when I saw that on the TV, I thought it sounded like a frightened animal. Turns out that a cook (a few years ago) felt sorry for a raccoon that had found its way into the tunnel. He started to feed it, and of course, that brought more of the critters. It got so bad they had to close the door to the basement area to keep the nighttime raiders at bay. The cook was told not to feed them anymore, but he did for the next TWO YEARS! When the raccoons found they could not get into the basement, they found a way onto the fourth-floor cornice moulding outside, ripped through the open (remember no AC) windows, and terrorised the guests. Many of the guests on the most haunted of floors thought a ghost was ripping the screen to get in, eyes glowing in the dark, and quickly, the occupants flew from the rooms down to the first floor in absolute terror.
This made me wonder how much of the phenomena on the fourth floor were spectral and not animal.
The tunnel and tree roots on the right
The Stanley Steamer in the front hall
King's Stage
Nothing ghostly happens in that room, just that it has King's stage built specially for him for the mini-movie. Back through the hall to the other side is Flora Stanley's (F.O.'s wife) piano, which plays by itself at night. The night staff have heard it and seen the keys move by themselves, but as they approach, the playing stops. We didn't venture down at the dead of night so we don't know if it is true or not, though one night I did hear a piano playing, but chalked it up to another wedding reception.
Flora's Haunted Piano
We went to the haunted fourth floor to room 418, the most notorious of the 4th-floor rooms where things break and disappear, and strange lights come from nowhere. We did not get inside; it was occupied, we were told, but ghosts have been seen in the room, and the closet opens on its own. We couldn't check if the closet door was plumb, which might be a physical reason why it would open independently, so I don't know. From there, we went to the cupola that looked like a bell tower where there was no bell OR CLOCK. The trap door at the top is bolted shut as well as nailed. There are cracks that would let the wind draft through, causing a moan. But guests have taken pictures up the ladder to the trap door and have recorded an image of a bearded man. I took pictures, but no such image was in me photos. I did ask where the clock was since we heard it strike midnight the night before and was told there was no clock.
Steps to nowhere
The fourth floor is supposedly haunted by two little girls who play up there, and sometimes, you can see a ghostly ball rolling down the hall. We heard the laughter, as I said, but no ball sighting, and we have no plausible explanation for what we heard.
We left for the third floor, my floor, where not a whole lot of activity takes place, but people have taken pictures where there are lots of shiny orbs floating in the air. Being a reporter who takes pictures, I know that phenomena might indeed be caused by dust on the lens of the camera and it reflects off the overhead lights. But I didn't say a word. Me pix show no orbs because me lens be clean.
We then went to the second floor, where our guide hurried on before us, I wondered what that was about, and as we came down the stairs and around the corner, there she was on the floor, half in a room and half out, her head sticking out of the doorway trying to scare us as we came around. She succeeded with only one person who hadn't been paying much attention and didn't expect the floating head in the doorway. I have pictures to prove this.
You can see our tour guide's "floating" head in the fourth doorway from the right.
 |
| Floating head in the doorway down the hall |
That took us to the other infamous room in the hotel, room 217, King's room. Our guide told us about a couple in their nineties who stayed in room 217 to scare people. Yeah, I know what you're thinking, and I was thinking the same thing -- yeah, right. Why would a retired couple want to do that, and where were they getting the money to pay for a week's stay in room 217? It's expensive. The cheapest room is $199 a night. The rest are over $300, so give me a break! Anyway, this wizened old couple would wait for people to come to the door (which is in an alcove by itself, and the reason people go is to get a sense of the spirit there and to have their picture taken next to the door). The old man waited until he heard footsteps (he was too bent over to see out the peephole) and slowly opened the door so it looked like it was opening on its own. Sometimes, that is as far as it goes as guests go screaming down the hall to the concierge. Others stand there, too frightened to move, and when that happens, the old woman jumps out at them. YUP.
Infamous Room 217
Let me say the hallways are quite interesting. I'll attach a picture, but the hallways are better than the original movie had; they are way more spooky, and the carpet is dark, muted red with burgundies and browns that make an imaginative mind think of dried blood.
Hallway
We hoped to be creeped out, but it didn't come off that way. Our guide would ask us which Shining movie we liked, and it was always the Jack Nicholson flick, and we'd get an "I love you guys!" which was peppered throughout her narrative. She talked like every haunted event was fact, though there were no facts to back any of it. It was like she was the best thing in tour guides, and we were a bunch of schoolchildren on a day trip. I'd rather have had someone who was less enthusiastic and more serious to make me feel a little creeped out, at the very least, instead of so happy! Then I might have felt I was on a haunted tour, not a tour at Disney World, but that isn't exactly fair, the hosts of the Haunted Mansion are far more spooky than the cowgirl/tour guide we had.
She told us about some cruel tricks played on the children staying at the hotel and the guests. I was not amused, nor was anyone else, but she loves us guys.
So we had the unexplained laughter in the hallway, the eyeglasses disappearing off the table and a disappointing tour. Was this it? Nooo, some other things occurred we have no explanation for.
Gabe
Copyright © 2007 All rights reserved
Let me say the hallways are quite interesting. I'll attach a picture, but the hallways are better than the original movie had; they are way more spooky, and the carpet is dark, muted red with burgundies and browns that make an imaginative mind think of dried blood.
Hallway
We hoped to be creeped out, but it didn't come off that way. Our guide would ask us which Shining movie we liked, and it was always the Jack Nicholson flick, and we'd get an "I love you guys!" which was peppered throughout her narrative. She talked like every haunted event was fact, though there were no facts to back any of it. It was like she was the best thing in tour guides, and we were a bunch of schoolchildren on a day trip. I'd rather have had someone who was less enthusiastic and more serious to make me feel a little creeped out, at the very least, instead of so happy! Then I might have felt I was on a haunted tour, not a tour at Disney World, but that isn't exactly fair, the hosts of the Haunted Mansion are far more spooky than the cowgirl/tour guide we had.
She told us about some cruel tricks played on the children staying at the hotel and the guests. I was not amused, nor was anyone else, but she loves us guys.
So we had the unexplained laughter in the hallway, the eyeglasses disappearing off the table and a disappointing tour. Was this it? Nooo, some other things occurred we have no explanation for.
Gabe
Copyright © 2007 All rights reserved
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