Potential Paranormal Activity Spotted at ‘The Shining’ Hotel
Entertainment
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The Stanley Hotel, the hauntingly beautiful location that inspired Stephen King’s The Shining, had some guests claiming they saw an unexpected visitor: a ghost.
Henry Yau, the director of PR at the Children’s Museum of Houston, was visiting the Colorado destination this week and decided to snap a panoramic picture of the hotel lobby made famous by Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation of the King novel.
“When I took it, I didn’t notice anything,” Yau said to Click2Houston.com. However, when he was looking at the picture later, he clearly saw something that wasn’t visibly on the staircase at the time the picture was taken. Check it out for yourself:
Now we’re not saying we believe in ghosts, but that’s pretty eerie. Okay, it’s actually REALLY eerie.
Kevin Sampron, a paranormal expert at SPIRIT Paranormal Investigations, believes that the picture doesn’t actually just show one spirit but two. “When we blew up the picture, we immediately saw a second anomaly just to the left of the first figure. To us it looks like the first figure is a lady dressed in black and to the left of her it looks like a child.” Sampron also stated that this could be a “legitimate ghost,” which apparently is a categorization that struggling ghosts trying to break into the paranormal activity business can aspire to achieve.
The hotel and those familiar with it aren’t exactly surprised by this sighting. The Stanley is well aware that beside boasting one of the most beautiful estates in the U.S., they also have a rich, haunted history. The hotel even offers ghost tours for interested parties.
Stephen King stayed at the hotel in 1974 and quickly felt a spooky presence, perhaps heightened by the fact that he and his wife were the only guests staying at the enormous hotel. He later said, “it seemed the perfect – maybe the archetypical – setting for a ghost story.” The story that the hotel inspired became one of the most famous thrillers of all time, both in literature and in film.
The truth behind what’s (or whom) is actually in the picture will remain another of The Stanley’s countless mysteries. But it wouldn’t surprise the staff to learn that the spirits are simply trying to ensure that you have a great stay. The hotel’s website says that the ghost of F.O. and Flora Stanley still roam the halls of their old hotel as if they are still alive and in charge of the business.
“Flora’s antique Steinway can be heard playing in the dead of night, and Mr. Stanley has been captured in photographs surveying the goings-on in the billiards room, once his favorite place.”
