"Do you believe in ghosts?"
I nearly dropped the book, startled by the worn, raspy voice of the restaurant hostess. From behind the podium just a few feet from where I sat at the bar, she lowered her head gingerly, her brown eyes flashing above the edge of red trimmed glasses. Paula, as her name badge read, grinned widely. I found it unnerving.
"Oh, I'm sorry, honey," she sighed, pushing the glasses further up the bridge of her nose. She turned her attention back to the list of customer dinner reservations. "I didn't mean to scare you."
Paula looked up again, leaned forward and winked.
"That's the Stanley's job."
I winced, closed the book and laid it on the bar. Glancing at the hardcover, I caught the image of ghostly eyes peering through the clouds that now seemed to bore right into me. I sipped my beer - Redrum ale, no less - and pushed the book away, flipping it over.
Unconsciously, I flinched again.
This place is eerie
Though blessed with old world charm in a majestic setting against the rocky mountains, the hotel does have its creepy factor. The spiraling staircase. The long corridrors. Those creaking noises in the night. I understand how this place inspired Stephen King to write "The Shining" during a mini-vacation here.
Room 217
The Kings almost weren't able to check in. The hotel was closing for the off season the next day and the credit card slips had already been packed away when the Kings rolled in. They ended up the only two guests in the hotel that night, checking into room 217, rumored to be haunted by a chambermaid who had served the hotel's namesake's family most of her life and reportedly packed away King's clothes in the drawers as he and his wife went for a walk. King immortalized her in his novel as the terrifying "dead woman in the bathtub."
Placing my hand on the door where my favorite author stayed, I felt star struck. And a tad nervous. Though I felt no presence or saw anything out of the ordinary, I wondered how King felt staying there, especially after waking up screaming from a nightmare where a fire hose was chasing his children down the hallway. While filming "Dumb and Dumber" there, Jim Carrey lasted only a few hours in the room before calling for his chauffer to drive him to another hotel to stay. He has refused to talk about the Stanley. What scared him so bad?
The orbs are everywhere
Exploring the fourth floor, formerly the servant's quarters, provided the chills I had hoped to find. Paranormal activity is quite active here with the sound of children playing in the halls when none are present. I didn't hear them, but I did capture these images of orbs floating on that floor, on the staircase leading to it and all over the place in the ballroom.
Orbs are believed to be floating bubbles of energy and proof of the human soul. Sometimes, you can even see faces in the orbs. Sure, they could also be dirty lens or kicked up dust. But where's the fun in that?
When I magnified the orb in the ballroom photo, the image of a human face is distinctly clear. Flora Stanley, wife of the hotel's namesake F.O. Stanley, is said to haunt the ballroom and play the piano. The orb is right above the piano keyboards.
Things that go bump in the night
I’m certifiably insane.
The sun set hours ago, draping much of the grounds in darkness save for the rays emanating from the lamps within the hotel.
In the small hotel room on the third floor that I’ve staked as mine, however, light is in short supply. Brightening the four corners are only the moving images across the television screen.
“My girls, sir,” the caretaker in the movie droned to Jack Nicholson. “They didn’t like the Overlook at first. One of them tried to burn it down. But I ‘corrected them’, sir. And when my wife tried to prevent me from doing my duty, I ‘corrected’ her.”
The Shining is on TV. And I’m alone with my imagination and the image of “those girls.” Jesus, those ghostly images are scary. More than once as I turned a corner in the hotel, I expected to see them standing there staring at me, chillingly taunting me with pleas of “Come play with us … forever.”
This what crazy people do, right?
I slept with the lights on that night. In full sweats with shoes near the door … just in case. I'd hear a creak every now and then and without thinking, buried myself further under the covers. Probably just the age of the building venting.
Probably. Maybe.
I awoke early the next morning, packed my items into the duffel bag and scanned the room as I opened the door. I wasn't thinking so much of what I was potentially leaving behind. But rather, what was I taking with me?
Another chill. Then I closed the door.
