My personal expirence working at the Stanley Hotel

Ok well I have posted a bit on this here and there on the forrums. But I just wanted to share with you all what my expirences were at The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park Colorado.

I started work at the Stanley in 1999 as a houseman. I quickly was promoted to accounts payable. After a while I went on to be the night auditor.

Being the night auditor at the hotel was loads of fun. I had a routine job bordering on boring because the set tasks I had to preform to get the job done right were simple. I would get them done in a couple of hours. The rest of the night belonged to me.

Well on to the meat of this thread and why your reading it. Yes the Stanley is haunted by no fewer thain five ghosts. They are distinct entities that move about the property. For the most part they are not evil or malicious in any way. They for the most part are memories of the people they represent.

I would hear people talk in the lobby, when no one was there, I would see things out of the courner of my eyes while walking arround. Usualy this was just one person. The founder and first owner of the hotel F.O. Stanley.

If you went downstairs it would sound like the lobby above you was filled with people walking arround. Downstairs there was "the tunnel" a passageway from the garden level to the west end of the hotel and beyond that was the employee parking lot, the general managers house, the old gate house, the old corral and both dorms.

The fourth floor was the most haunted area in the hotel. I was often warry of going up there. One morning while delivering the papers to the various rooms that had guests I felt a tugg at the back of my pants leg as if a small child was trying to get my attention. I would often get complaints from people on the fourth floor of a small girl crying and they would want me to investigate the noise. Of course I would never find anything up there but I have heard the crys before. (the most heartbreaking sound I have ever heard)

Annother time I was in my office working, listining to the blues on internet radio and I went to the bar to smoke a ciggarette, I was siting there enjoying my break when I turned arround and saw a shaddow stand up from the corner of the bar and walk twards me.

I once was nearly dosing off in my office when a voice screamed out my name. Woke me straight up.

I got loads of stories about the Stanley and I will post them here as time goes on. (and if anyone is interested)

I"d love to hear you stories.

The best ghost story that I have concerns the building that I currently work in. I came in on the weekend one time and was there all by myself.

My desk faces an outside wall. As I was working on my computer a pretty good sized object flew over my head. It was the size of a large owl. It made me jump because I thought something was there.

It must have gone right through the outside wall because when I jumped/ducked it just kind of disappeared. I asked another person if the building was haunted and they said that it was. I didn't tell them my story because the time wasn't right.

One thanksgiving morning I was finnishing up my shift. In the winter time in Estes Park there isnt a whole lot of people staying at the hotel. One of the cooks came in and a dishwasher they usualy stoped by the front desk to say hi so that I knew someone else was in the hotel.

I decided to walk back to put in my order for breakfast (as I usualy did before I left cause the cook was realy cool and would hook me up) when I got to the door of the mcgreggor room I noticed a group of people standing in the middle of the room.

a few moments later the cook and the dishwasher walk into the room from the other door by the kitchen they froze immediatly at what they saw too. It was a group of about 7 people dressed in early 1920s garb looking like they were having a conversation. They werent transparent or feetless they looked like they were just normal people but the hair on the back of my neck stood strait up.

I summoned up my courage and walked into the room but as soon as I steped foot across the threshhold they dissapeared. I walked over to the cook and the dishwasher and we all had seen the exact same thing.

That's way better than my flying dark thing.

I have to admit that might have freaked me out a little.

Or, as I usually stumble though life absorbed in my own realities, I might have wondered where all those people got off to so fast.

did somthing ever happen to you that totally freaked you out and made you never want to go back?

The shaddow freaked me out quite a bit, but I never felt afraid to be there. Not many people would do the job because of the weird things that would go on at night there. I had people that I trained on the job quit when I took a day off cause they would hear things or see things that freaked them out.

The ghosts at the Stanley wern't malicious in any way they for the most part were just spirits that inhabited the place.

THe Ghost Hunter guys went there a few years back and they filmed one of their hotel room closet doors open and close by it's self two times. A glass on the side of one of their beds shattered at the same time the door closet door opened.

In a different hotel room they kept jumping at a shadow that kept darting around their bed. In another room while setting up a camera one of the guys kept saying that he heard a mans voice a few times. Later that night while they were in the same room the table lifted off the ground violently, and at the same time a chair slammed against the wall.

What is your take on what they filmed. Is that typical stuff for the stanley hotel? Can you cooberate with what happened to them. Just trying to figure out if they (Ghost Hunters) are for real or not.

THey said that the hotel staff frequently get complaints about children running around on the 4th floor and sometime even a ball being thrown around.

yah, im not too sure that i would be able to hang in there. I think in the back of my mind the whole entire time i worked there i would be nervous of what i was going to see next. I think that just thinking about what i was going to see would drive me crazy and i wouldnt last. The few ghost experiences ive had hadnt been good

Yea thats pretty typical, so much so that most staff there that had been there for a while wouldnt even flinch at most of that. we had gotten a new general manager at the hotel and as he was touring the property he went to the fourth floor and every door on the floor opened up and then slammed shut at the same time. I didnt see that one personaly but that was cooberated by a couple of managers that were with him that day.

Doors would open and close all the time, chairs would move on their own, these things would happen often. Seing things out of the corner of your eyes there is pretty normal. Not many people could deal with the night shift, especialy because they would be completely alone.

Just about everything that the ghost hunters saw and expirenced at the hotel I think at one time or annother happened to me and other staff. Except the little girls voice in the tunnel I never heard any voice in the tunnel, although I wasnt down there too often. So it could be.

The fourth floor is especialy haunted. It's pretty creepy up there sometimes. I would get complaints about the little girl on the 4th floor often. As far as the footsteps, it could have been the little girl but I always atributed it to the raccoons that hung out at the hotel. they would always get in and some nights I would spend hours catching them and taking them outside the hotel to let go.

Was it you that had the thread a few months ago on this Hotel?I remember it peaked my curiosity and after looking at the promotional photos on the Hotel web site ,I found a random picture that had a strange girl walking down the stairs ,she looks not all there but could be just a bad photo of a real "Guest".Do you know anything about this picture?
i32.photobucket.com...

Looks like a real guest to me. Most of the ghost photos I have seen in and around the stanley are of mist or fog or orbs. I don't think I have ever seen any one take a picture of an aparitian fully formed. I don't think that is a ghost, although I am not imaging expert. So I couldnt tell you for sure.

On more thain one occasion I or other employees have seen ghosts walk down the main staircase. In my case they would dissapear before I had the chance to get a good look at them. Others have claimed that they watched a ghost walk all the way down the staircase before dissapearing at the bottom.

There was a thread a few months ago about the Ghost Hunters Expirence at the hotel and I had to jump in to that one but I didnt have any photographs. I don't have any photographs at the hotel. I tried several times to catch something on film but I never had the luck. Out of all the pictures I had taken of the hotel you couldnt claim a ghost was in one if you squinted realy hard and imagined one.

I am fascinated by the thought that Stephen King stayed there and got the idea for "The Shining"The movie even seems to show the Hotel looking very similar.I wonder about the one room he imagined an old lady dying in the bath tub and haunting the room.That was a spooky scene in his movie..Any stories of that really happening?Finding someone dead in a room?

My other question would be,Of all the rooms,which one would be the most haunted and due to the TV shows making it famous ,how easy would it be to book the room for a touring vacation?I know I would be a bit freaked if I heard any noises but to capture a photo would be interesting.

Originally posted by mistr_b2
My other question would be,Of all the rooms,which one would be the most haunted and due to the TV shows making it famous ,how easy would it be to book the room for a touring vacation?I know I would be a bit freaked if I heard any noises but to capture a photo would be interesting.

Well Stephen King made the hotel pretty famous overall basing the shining on the hotel.

Reportedly 401 is the most haunted room in the hotel but I have had reports from 417 and 412 of hauntings, besides many other places. I would reccomend that you go there sometime in the late fall winter or early spring, Estes Park is a tourist town and many places fill up durring the summer months. Winter time is the time to go to Estes because its quiet and if you want to capture a ghost on film, the best time I would think would be the winter, at night about 3:00 in the morning seemed like the most activity occoured in my opinion. Although seing things out of the corner of your eyes was a normal occourance.

Of course going and looking for ghosts at the Stanley is overall a pastime of many guests and the hotel staff usualy are quite accomidating. I would check out the garden level, the MacGreggor Room, The Pinion and Billiard Rooms and also check out near the carriage house near the far east end of the property. It's an old barn but there has been a lot of reports of strainge lights and noises comming from that location.

401 eh?Thanks for the info,If I ever catch anything on film or audio in the Hotel I'll definitely post it here for all .

Whatukno

Fascinating stories and what a magnificent building to work in.

I hope you don't mind but I have lots of questions and would be interested in your replies if you have the time or the inclination.

Given the high level of paranormal activity there, what are your theories as to why there is so much? Is there anything in the history of the building that would suggest why so many energies remain there? Is there one period, for example, you mention 1920s, that seems to be prevelent in the hauntings? Is there any event that took place that could explain that?

Also, what is the history of the ground on which it is built? And, I apologise for my ignorance, but what is the geology of the ground that the building is on? Also the faint smell of burnt wood during the summer months, I can understand a wood smell but why burnt wood?

Cheers

Whatukno, after re-reading some of your experiences there,I just find it absolutely fascinating the prospect of staying there on the 4th floor for a few nights.I believe I would have enjoyed working there by myself in the night just to really experience something unexplainable.For me it would be a real "rush".I have stayed in many run down abandoned houses before where people say they saw or heard frightening things but I rarely found any real evidence.I am very open-minded and it seems like that Hotel will be quite an adventure.Your stories of what other people experienced with the invisible kids and that shadow you saw,all reminds me of The shining.I wonder if Stephen King saw those things too?Anyway ,please if you have any other experiences you can mention I think we are all very curious to read them.

sorry about all the questions for whatuknow,You mention an outdoor garden area.Is that anything like the huge garden maze portrayed in the movie where you can explore and get lost in?Also you mention a tunnel where people heer a voice.This sounds like something to investigate around midnight--3:00AM in the morning hours.For EVP recordings.Do they mind if any guests go wandering these areas at night?

The hedge maze in stanley kubericks version of the shining is actualy in England, The hotel portrayed in that movie is located in Mt. Hood Origon. The tunnel is kind of misleading, there is not much to it, it is a passageway from the garden level entrance to the west end of the hotel, and it's where most of the employees come into the building at. All in all it's not that exciting but it usualy is open. They usualy don't let the guests back into the tunnel arrea for liability perposes but I am sure if you asked the night auditor they probably wouldnt mind.

At one point there was a fire in the west end of the hotel, The fire had completely engulfed the interior of the general managers quarters. (a separate building just west of the employee entrance) At the time that I worked there they had not renovated the building and it was not safe to enter. The fire had aparently moved to the western end of the hotel and singed parts of the MacGreggor room. These parts were completely restored. There was a rumor (probably invented for the tourists) that several people had died in the fire. But I couldnt tell you that was a fact.

One of the more prominant ghosts is aparently F.O. Stanley himself. People often tell of how they saw a man in brown clothes with a brown dirby hat out of the corner of their eyes. This man is seen all over the hotel. Most of the time nothing is spoken from the man, but one night in particular a rather intoxicated man was lounging around the lobby and he started to talk to someone. They were having quite a laugh aparently. When I asked the person if they were talking to me the man replied "no im talking to this fellow" There was no one there, and the guest was quite taken back by the expirence. I brushed it off and chalked it up to the man being drunk and asked that he return to his room for the evening.

Guys, those stories you tell are dawm good men!
I almost # my pans in here.. but i wanna see some pictures of inside that hotel, can someone maybe take pictures there by 12.00 pm. that would be cool.

Sorry for my bad english but im from the Netherlands.

I personally wanna see some footage from the inside.. men if i ever come near there i proberly go take footage by myself if i have to becaus these things are fasinating