Our First Encounter with the Paranormal

Location: The Stanley Hotel; Estes Park, Colorado

Date: June 27-29, 2000

           

In June of 2000, we didn’t realize that we were looking for ghosts, but we found them anyway. 

Certainly, if ghosts exist (and I believe that in some way they do), the Stanley is a prime candidate for their supernatural services. The Stanley Hotel is a grand old place just outside Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park, built back in the early days of the twentieth century by F. O. Stanley (inventor of the Stanley Steamer).  Later, Stephen and Tabitha King stayed there and it became the inspiration for King’s third novel, The Shining.

We slept in room 217, the same room the Kings stayed in some twenty-five years previous.  Upon arriving in Estes Park, we explored the town and took a tour of the hotel.  The tour uncovered no hidden graves or signs of supernatural activity and the guide had no tales of past murders or suicides…  That, however, is not to say that those things didn’t happen; such stories could scare away the guests.

But before the events of that first night— which can only be explained by ghosts or lies— the scariest part of the Stanley Hotel was the pink bathtub in 217’s bathroom.

After going to bed that night, though, the noises started from below us.  The room directly below 217 is the ballroom, and it sounded as though all the chairs (and perhaps a few tables) were being drug across the floor—or, perhaps, pulled out from the tables and pushed back in. But if chairs were moving there should have also been voices and footsteps… there weren’t.

This, of course, made no sense.  I don’t remember the exact time of this occurrence, but it was late, late at night.  Perhaps even during the early morning hours.  Why would someone be down in the ballroom dragging the chairs around?

As it turns out, there was no one down there dragging the chairs around.  According to a hotel employee the next morning, the ballroom had been empty all night, and the room was unlocked and revealed to be in the exact condition it had been in the day before. 

Explanation?  There isn’t one.

Mitch.