The Stanley Hotel
Adapted from Volume 1, Issue 7 sent December 5, 2015
Friends, for most of us, cabin fever season is here (or "cuffing season" as my more romantically-inclined peers might call it), the time where temperatures and snow fall around us while we are confronted with the reality of our own bodies' evolutionary failures when it comes to the cold and avoid going outside at all costs. For the winter, I am going to dig out some spooky stories, legends, and history buried deep in snow. Predictably, I'm starting off this week with a classic.
I know, I know, I KNOW. I TOLD YOU I WAS BEING PREDICTABLE. The Shining is one of Stephen King's most beloved novels, and the Stanley Kubrick film adaptation of the same name is perhaps even more widely known and loved (much to King's chagrin). Kubrick's The Shining was the first horror movie I really enjoyed and loved. I've watched it over and over and over again, and I find it terrifying and oddly comforting after becoming so familiar with it. I'm currently reading the book and am finding it also terrifying and wonderful, so there's a mini recommendation for this movie and book in case you've been living under a rock.
"But Sammi," you might say, "what about the ghost story? We all know what The Shining is, I don't need to read a stupid newsletter to get the FRESH SCOOP on a 38 year old novel and 35 year old film." Well, dear reader, I would say three things: 1. you're not wrong. 2. I really don't appreciate your tone, here. I slave away over a hot keyboard all day and this is the thanks I get? 3. I AM GETTING TO IT.
So, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, The Shining is a complex work of horror where the monster is really just a hotel with a lot of bad juju that is kicked into overdrive by a dysfunctional married couple and their gifted son's abilities. And, while Jack and Wendy Torrance and five year olds who "Shine" may not exist, the spooky haunted hotel in question does. The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado is one of the most well known haunted locations in the United States. It may not come as much of a surprise that the reports of hauntings began in the 1970s, around the time of Stephen King's fateful winter stay in the nearly empty Stanley Hotel in 1974(the hotel closed for the winter every year until 1983), but since then the ghost stories have been constant.
Today, the Stanley has several paranormal investigators in residence, and hosts a 5 hour ghost tour year round. Their website has a list of haunted rooms, and requests that you call well in advance of your stay to book one of them, as they are some of their most requested rooms. As a Colorado local and a frequent visitor of Estes Park, I'm fairly well-acquainted with the legends of the Stanley Hotel. I thought I would tell you one of my favorites.
One of the most well-known ghosts at the Stanley Hotel is "Lucy", a female spirit who is known for opening and closing doors, occasionally getting randy with handsome young paranormal investigators, and vamping for the camera, as you can see below, she's wearing the latest in afterlife fashions, pink is SO IN RIGHT NOW.
Though Lucy is a well known and sought-after figure in her death, this does not appear to have been the case in her life - in fact, very little is known about her. The most popular legend I found about Lucy is that she was a teenage runaway who took up residence in the basement of the Stanley Hotel. After successfully hiding in the massive hotel for awhile, she was discovered by maintenance staff getting ready to close the hotel for the season and asked to leave. That night, temperatures reached well below zero and Lucy, unable to find shelter in time, perished. She is known to be a kind spirit with an uplifting presence and people come from all over the country to try to communicate with her. Though her life is shrouded in mystery and likely tragic, I like to think that Lucy has found a permanent happy home in the Stanley Hotel. She has plenty of people to talk to, staff who speak highly of her, and she never has to be cold or unwanted again. Then again, I really love a happy ending.