“Around them, the Overlook came to life again.” The Overlook Hotel is the home of ghosts and monsters and is one of the creepiest places in modern literature. This sinister hotel was created by Stephen King for what would be his first masterpiece: The Shining (1977). Did you know that the Overlook is actually inspired by the Stanley Hotel and that this hotel managed to scare the master of terror himself? We tell you the story.
The Stanley Hotel and The Shining
About The Shining
You’ve probably read the book, seen the Stanley Kubrick movie or the television mini-series (made on the grounds of Stephen King’s disgust at the filmmaker’s adaptation of his masterpiece). If so, you will know a little about the story that is told in The Shining and you will also have had more than one nightmare remembering what happened at the Overlook Hotel.
In the story, the Torrance family (Jack, Wendy and their son Danny) travel to the Overlook Hotel in Colorado, USA, because Jack has gotten a job as a winter watchman at the hotel. The problem is that, due to the position of the hotel, the Torrances will have to remain isolated by the snow for months. The Overlook was plagued with ghosts and monsters, and as time passed, it began to take hold of Jack, ordering him to kill his wife and son who, by the way, had The Shining , a gift that allowed him to see and know things before they these happen.
Thanks to the success of The Shining, in 2011, 34 years after his first masterpiece, Stephen King published the continuation to the story of Danny Torrance. In the new book, Doctor Sleep , the Overlook Hotel, or what’s left of it, also appears.
Stephen King’s visit to the Stanley Hotel
Stephen King’s mind is capable of creating places, monsters and situations that make the skin crawl and sleep. However, the terrifying Overlook hotel was not born entirely of Stephen King’s imagination. On the eve of Halloween 1974, the author and his wife checked into the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. The Stanley is a colonial-style compound from which it is possible to contemplate Lake Estes, the Rocky Mountains (one of the most iconic and symbolic places in the United States) and the impressive Mount Peak (4,346 meters high). What happened to King that night inspired him to bring the Overlook Hotel to life.
As the author himself has told his biographer, when he and his wife arrived at the hotel, they found that they were the only guests, as the hotel closed seasonally (the same as happens in El Resplandor ). For dinner, which was served in the dining room, they could only order the only dish available at the hotel for those dates. The Kings stayed in room 217 (the room that, in the book, is the most sinister of all and houses a terrifying ghost) and, while his wife was sleeping, the writer took a walk through the deserted corridors of the hotel. and ended up at the same bar. There, masterfully, she conceived Jack Torrance.
Jack Torrance is an almost autobiographical character. According to Stephen King’s own confessions, like Jack, he suffered from alcoholism at that time and also, at times, it was said that he might be calm if his son died; Jack lived in torment because Danny would not let him write and that is one of the reasons for wanting to kill him, was the same thing happening to King? The worst for the master of terror was yet to come.
Stephen King and room 217
As he himself tells for his biography, that night he had a nightmare. In it, his son was running desperately and screaming, trying to escape from the hotel fire hose (which happens to Danny Torrance in the book). When Stephen King awoke, startled from his nightmare, he lit a cigar and had the book on his head. In an interview, the author confessed that, when he entered the bathroom of the room and, shortly before drawing the curtain of the bathtub, he thought he saw something or someone inside. When he drew the curtain, he had the feeling that someone had died in that place. Did something happen in that room? They say that during a storm, one of the cleaners was electrocuted there, but did not die. Since then, they say there is paranormal activity there.
Ghosts at the Stanley Hotel?
Stanley History
The Stanley Hotel opened its doors on July 4, 1909. Throughout its 111-year history, guest rooms at the Stanely have hosted a host of personalities. Besides the Kings, Theodore Roosevelt has passed through there; Emperor Akihito of Japan and his family; Bob Dylan or Jim Carrey, to name some of the most famous guests of the famous hotel.
The Stanley Hotel was built by Oscar Stanley, a businessman who, for health reasons, decided to isolate himself in the mountains. Seeing that his health improved, he decided to build an establishment for his close friends and members of high society. Despite Stanley’s efforts, he had to sell the hotel as it was not profitable. Thus, for many years, the hotel changed hands several times (the same thing happens in the book)
On the verge of bankruptcy and in full decline, the miracle that the owners had been waiting for happened: Stephen King (who had already published Carrie and The Salem’s Lot Mystery ) decided to spend a night in the hotel and, when he left it, he had already in the head The Shining. Three years after that night in October 1974, the book was published and catapulted King to fame, establishing him as a horror writer. Fans of terror and the paranormal began to flock to the hotel, looking to meet a ghost. But are there ghosts?
Some paranormal events
They say that the spirit of Oscar Stanley can be seen in the hotel’s billiard room; They also say that it is common to hear children playing in the hallway on floor 4 when in reality there are no children staying at the hotel. Stephen King himself is said to have seen these same children, although he has never confirmed this.
It is also possible to see Lord Dunraven, the previous owner of the grounds where the Stanley Hotel stands, sitting in room 407, next to the bathroom door. Stanley employees are used to it. It is common to see photographs on social networks of people telling their paranormal encounters or specialists in this type of phenomenon studying the property in search of an event.
The hotel has a restaurant, spa, bed and breakfast and guided tours. If you are looking for a place with a certain charm and mystery, and that served as the inspiration for one of Stephen King’s most acclaimed works, then the Stanley Hotel is what you are looking for. Who knows: you might come across the ghost in room 217 or Oscar Stanley himself.
