Is The Stanley Hotel Haunted?

Anyone who has ever seen the 1980 psychological horror flick, The Shining, is familiar with the iconic Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. Located just a short drive from Rocky Mountain National Park and featuring a stunning panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains, the Stanley Hotel is a favorite destination for travelers to the area. But it also has one more claim to fame – it is allegedly haunted.

                   Stanley Hotel: February, 2011

The haunting claims are many and varied:

Kitchen staff have reported to have heard a party going on in the ballroom, only to find it empty. People in the lobby have allegedly heard someone playing the ballroom's piano; employees investigating the music supposedly find nobody sitting at the piano. Employees believe that particular ghost is of Freelan O. Stanley's wife, who used to be a piano player. In one guest room, people claim to have seen a man standing over the bed before running into the closet. This same apparition is allegedly responsible for stealing guests' jewelry, watches, and luggage. Others reported to have seen ghosts in their rooms in the middle of the night, simply standing in their room before disappearing.1

But there is nothing like photographic evidence to cement a spectacular claim. This photo from 2009 shows the “ghost” of a child in one of the hotel’s windows. “OK, the room number is 1211. Last Friday, there was a single man checked in that room who was part of a business conference. That doesn’t mean he DIDN’T have a child with him, but it is unlikely that he did.” 2

                                 Ghost at the window

Now, I don’t want to burst anyone’s bubble, but photographic “evidence” is about the weakest evidence imaginable. Besides the very likely fact that the boy in this photo is probably quite alive, there is simply no logical justification to conclude that a dead person is staring at the camera from a vacant 2^nd-floor room. The evidence does not support this conclusion.

But I am aware that in our modern age, superstition still rules the day and the belief that dead people roam freely in old houses is still commonplace. Afterall, if you were dead and managed to free yourself from the confines of time, space, and the laws of physics, wouldn’t you spend your free time stomping on floors, slowly opening doors, and making sad little “ooooooooh” sounds in the darkness of night? Of course you would!