Stanley Hotel: Come Play with Us

Our third destination on our Colorado vacation was the Stanley Hotel. Honestly, when Lucas made the suggestion to visit the hotel a few months ago, I was extremely hesitant. Originally, he wanted to spend the night there to see if we would see any ghosts. Did I mention that I was hesitant? The hotel is known for at least two things: 1. Stephen King was inspired to write “The Shining” while staying at the hotel. 2. There had been ghost sightings for years before Stephen King’s visit. 3. F.O. Stanley and his brother F.E. Stanley founded the Stanley Motor Carriage Company, which built the Stanley Steamer.
So I agreed to take a daytime tour of the hotel. It ended up being one of my favorite places on the trip. I’m fairly certain that most people will enjoy the hotel tour, even if they haven’t seen “The Shining.” For example, my mom hasn’t finished the book or the movie. She gets to a certain point and turns the movie off. I’m not sure if she has the book is in the freezer or not.
Our tour guide was very funny and knowledgable about the history of the hotel. He had been skeptical about ghosts, until a few years ago when he heard Flora Stanley play the piano at 2 a.m. Flora passed away in 1939.
The tour guide also mentioned that someone with a red sharpie wrote “Redrum” on a door to the attic. I tried to take a picture of it. However, I could not get the flash to work. It seemed strange to me that I could not get my very simple flash to work. Was it a ghost playing with my camera? I can’t say for sure.

P.S. Stephen King stayed in Room 217, which is booked for the next few years. If you want to have a ghost experience, the fourth floor has had quite a few ghost sightings.