Take A Spooky Tour Through the Hotel That Inspired ‘The Shining’ [PHOTOS]
I got the opportunity to tour the historical Stanley Hotel back in 2018 and it was cool, creepy, and everything in between.
I had two goals when I spent four days in Colorado back in May of 2018 - hike a LOT in Rocky Mountain National Park (which is actually closed right now due to a wildfire, sad face) and take a tour of the infamous Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado.
Look familiar? It should. It's been used in several movies; most famously, it played a huge part in Dumb and Dumber. And while it wasn't physically in the Stephen King movie The Shining, the historic hotel was the inspiration for the classic horror film. It was, however, the filming location for the 1997 miniseries of the same name.
The 142-room hotel is about four miles from RMNP. It opened on July 4th, 1909 and has been investigated by paranormal researchers for decades, including the popular TV shows Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures.
The most famous room in the hotel is 217 - it's the room that Stephen King stayed in when he and his wife checked into the Stanley in 1973. They were the only guests at the hotel that night, and he was inspired to write The Shining based on their stay. To this day, it's still the most requested room at the hotel.
In fact, Jim Carrey stayed in room 217 for a night when they were filming Dumb and Dumber and had an experience so terrifying (which he won't comment on) that he ran out of the hotel and wouldn't stay there another night.
It's SUCH a cool place and I'm so happy that I got to take a tour!