The Stanley Hotel History and Reported paranormal activity




History:

Earl Dunraven visited the Colorado property in 1869 and then again in 1872 with Sir William Cummings and Earl F. Fitzpatrick during hunting expeditions.

    Lord Earl Dunraven

Dunraven eventually hired agents to purchase the land. There was a total of about 15,000 acres purchased from the government.

Dunravens claims were contested twenty-one different parties including R.Q. McGregor. They claimed that Dunraven could not own property because he was not a U.S. citizen.
He did have cattle on the property for about 25 years, but never got to build the property to his expectations.

In 1903, Freelan Oscar Stanley was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He was sent to Denver, Colorado but was not expected to live beyond six months.  After a month after renting a house at 1401 Gilpin Street in Denver, he was still not showing any signs of change, arrangements were made for him and his wife to stay at a friend's cabin in Estes Park. In 1904 they purchased 8.4 acres of land in Estes Park and built a home.

Freelan Oscar Stanley  (1849-1940) was the co-founder along with his twin brother  ( Francis Edgar Stanley) of the Stanley Motor Company. The company manufactured the Stanley Steamer.
    

The first steamer was built for the Stanley's however interest grew because in 1898 on of their cars won the hill climbing contest at Charles River Park, and a Steamer that was driven by Mr. Stanley with his wife as passenger, was the first car to climb Mt. Washington. The product and orders grew, they had over 200 initial orders.
In the beginning the advantage of a steam car was the start time, however when electronic ignitions became available for internal combustion engines the race was lost. ( the average time to start a steamer was about 20 minutes)
Production of the Stanley Steamer lasted over 25 years.

The first Stanley Car was made in 1897

The cars were made from 1902-1904 as the Stanley Bros. under the corporate name Stanley Dry Plate Company (later sold to George Eastman) 1902-1924 as the Stanley Motor Carriage Company.
   
  
There were approximately 10,500 cars produced.

1899- First car to climb Mt. Washington
1899- First car to be ridden by a U.S. President (McKinley) the car was driven by F.O. Stanley
1903- World one mile steam track record
1904 World one mile/one kilometer steam record
1906- World one mile, five mile, one kilometer records
1906- Broke the two miles in one minute barrier
1906- World land speed record 127.659 mph



At one point during production the Stanley's Closed down a section of the manufacturing and started a Violin Business. They had both loved making violins and the Stanley Violin is still one of the most sought after in the world. Freelan traveled to Cremona to purchase spruce for his Violin tops and to Germany for the Bosnian Maple for the back, sides and neck.

F.O. Stanley's brother Francis Edgar Stanley (1849-1918) the co-founder of the Stanley Steamer Motor Company Died July 21, 1918 when he was in a car accident near Ipswich, MA.

Because of the death of Mr. Stanley's brother, the Stanley Steamer Motor Company was sold to Abner Doble in 1918. The company was able to have a few good years but the internal combustion engine won the race in time.









With business partner B.D. Sanborn, Mr. Stanley purchased the Dunraven property and formed the Estes Park Development Company.

In 1914 Mr. Stanley's partner B.D. Sanborn dies.

The Hotel featured all top of the line features including a phone in each room, running water, indoor toilets and even electricity.


The only thing that the Hotel did not offer was heat in each room, the fireplaces on the main floor supplied the heat. This was not a problem because the Hotel was designed to be used as a summer lodge, it was only used in the summer until 1984.

Mr. Stanley was an entrepreneur as well, he and his brother had patents on such items as:
The Stanley Steamer - his steam powered automobile
The air brush
The process of manufacturing photographic dry plates - he later sold the patent to George Eastman (Eastman Kodak)
He also put together a kit for technical drafters that was sold as the "practical drawing set" and sold for $1.00.


Because of her brothers enterprise in photography, Chansonetta Stanley Emmons (1858-1937) became one of the first women photographers. She is known for her images of landscapes, and Maine life. She also had an interest in hand coloring photographs.

In 1908 Mr. Stanley with the assistance of four partners founded the Estes Park Water Company.

On October 30, 1908 Mr. Stanley started the Estes Park Power and Light Company. An interesting note about the company was that they had no way to measure the use of electricity that was going to the customers so they charged by the light bulb that they sold to the customers.
 He had the hydroelectric plant built in the mountains to provide the electricity. The plant provided power for the Hotel as well as the village. The plant was in operation until 1982 as the result of the Lawn Lake flood. The plant was re-opened as a museum in July 2002 thanks to the State Historic Fund.














Construction of the property was completed in 1909, with the help of architect T. Robert Wieger and Contractor Frank Kirchoff. 

Originally Mr. Stanley wanted to call the hotel "The Hotel Dunraven" but because of the reputation that Dunraven had in town he decided not to. In August 1908 Mr. Stanley agreed to a contest that was suggested by a local paper. They offered a $10.00 prize to the person who would name the Hotel. The winning suggestion with 132 residents signature ( Written on Deer skin) was submitted on October 15, 1908.

The Hotel included the main lodge, 2 Dormitory residence halls, 1 Warehouse, 1 Auditorium and a House, complete with a bowling alley, billiards room and casino, for the total cost of $5000,000. The rates for rooms at the the Stanley were extremely high compared to other hotels, the range was from $5.00-$8.00 per day or $84.00 per week.

The Manor House was the second building to the East of the main hotel. It includes a dining room, pool hall, kitchen and its own heat, so unlike the main hotel this building could be used in the winter.

The Auditorium was the third building to the east of the hotel. It include the amenities for Concerts, Casino nights, a basement with two bowling lanes.

The Carriage House is the fourth building to the east of the hotel. It was built to house Stanley Steamers

Opening day for the Hotel was June 22, 1909, however construction was not completed until 1910.

In 1979 the addition of water heat to the rooms was added.

During the filming of The Shining mini-series, the addition of a bandstand was added.

The Dining room in the main Hotel is called the Macgregor dinging room, named after the man who started the claims against Earl Dunraven.

On the opening day, Mr. Stanley hosted  a 20th anniversary for a Pharmacy convention. The convention consisted of 125 members and their wives. The members were escorted in style from the Loveland train station to the "Stanley Hall" (Concert hall) via 22 Stanley Steamers.


The Hotel has hosted several famous guests including: Molly Brown (she stayed in room 217), John Philip Sousa, Theodore Roosevelt, The Emperor and Empress of Japan, and many more.


In June 1911 the Stanley’s power had gone out, so a chambermaid (Elizabeth Wilson) went to room 217 to light a lamp. However the gas had been on for quite some time so when she attempted to light the lamp the gas was ignited and she was blown out of the room, sustaining broken ankles. The damage was extreme estimates of up to $60,000 to repair the damage were given. During the blast four busboys were hurt as well.

Mr. Stanley sold the Hotel in 1926, and it was intermittently open some summers until 1980 however it was closed during World War II.

Flora Jane Record Tileston, later Mrs. Stanley (1848-1939) was born in Maine and died in Estes Park.
She was an active member of the community in Estes Park. She was known for her dressing as a gypsy and telling peoples fortunes as a fundraiser for the Estes Park Women’s club.

Mr. Stanley Died  of "heart complications" October 2, 1940 in newton Massachusetts.

In 1995 the Hotel changed ownership due to a Bankruptcy.

On March 25, 2002 the Concert hall had bee rebuilt and was hosting a grand opening.

The Shining:
Stephen King stayed at the Stanley in 1974 while he was writing the Shining. He and his wife were the only guests (it was just before the Hotel closed for the season) and they were given room 217.  He says that the Hotel did inspire some of the book but it is not based directly on the location.

Mr. King is reported to have said that he did see a small child who was calling out for his nanny on the second floor but there was no child in the Hotel at the time.

Steven king did return to the hotel in 1995 to film the ABC mini-series of The Shining.








   

    
On an interesting side note: Bryan from Rocky Mountain Paranormal was hired to photograph a wedding at the Stanley during the filming of the mini-series. When Mr. King found out about a wedding being scheduled at the location during this time he said that it was ok to continue with the wedding, because the production would not be filming that weekend. That was a good experience, because it allowed access to places in the Hotel that are not normally open to visitors. (Such as the tunnel and employee areas)


     

Photographs taken in the "Tunnels" during the Wedding that Bryan photographed.

There is also a report that in the mid 1990’s a homeless person, who needed a place to stay that found a crawl space under the Auditorium, went in and apparently froze to death.

Dumb & Dumber:
The film Dumb & Dumber filmed some of the movie at the Stanley.



Reported Activity:

The music room has a piano that is reported to play on its own. The story is that either Mr. or Mrs. Stanley likes to play the piano, however there are conflicting stories as to which one it is that plays it.
On December 30, 1970 Arty Robert's a housekeeper was cleaning the dance floor in the McGregor room and stated that she felt “like I had entered another time” she saw what she described as a room full of people in period clothing and attending a party. They did not seem to notice her, so she went to the front desk and asked if they had seen anything. Nobody else had seen anything. She returned to the room and continued cleaning while still seeing the ghostly party. She also reported seeing a woman in a green dress and a broad brimmed hat while she was cleaning the Manor House. Arty also reported that while she was in the Concert hall she was locked in the men’s room and “something” grabbed her hand and made her write “Mary Donovan, Aug. 18, 1927” on the mirror. She thought that this was the name of the lady that she saw who was dressed in green.
 In 2003 Carissa Delisse a night clerk reported that she was having feeling of being watched and eventually saw what she reported as being Mr. Stanley looking at her from the other side of the counter. She said that he just faded away.
Mark Lorenz a bellman, was behind the front desk around 10:30 in February of 2004 and he says that he heard footsteps from the Bar and stop when they were outside the bar. He says that then he saw the reflection of a woman in the window, but after further looking he could find nobody there. He also had an experience in 1983 when the elevator was working with nobody at the controls.
The fourth floor that was once the servant quarters seems to have the majority of the activity. There have been reports of children playing in the halls. House staff has reported the sound of children coming from room 418. They have also reported seeing the indentations of someone in the bed when there was not. One couple complained upon checkout that the children running around on the fourth floor were very noisy, but no children were in the Hotel.
Room 407 is reportedly the favorite for Lord Dunraven. He has been seen standing by the bathroom door. The lights in the bathroom also seem to have a mind of their own, they will turn on and off for no reason. Many people have reported that they have seen someone looking out of the window of room 407 as well.


Mr. Stanley is reported to have been seen in the Billiards room.
The Swinging doors in the billiards room have been seen opening and closing as if someone was entering the room by many different witnesses.

Room 217 also has had reports of peoples bags being packed while they were not in the room.
Rooms 219 & 222 have also had reports of noises, opening and closing doors and windows.
In 2003 a housekeeper reported seeing a “see-through person” in room 318, there is also a guest that reported having his mattress move in the room.
Guests reported that in room 340 the bathroom door slammed and the door locking by itself. Rev. Kimberly Henry and her husband were staying in room 401 and they reported seeing a man standing by the closet who had a “distinct bald spot” they also had issues of articles moving by themselves in the room.

There have been reports of Mr. Stanley being seen at the Managers residence.

The Old Gate House has had reports of footsteps and doors being unlocked and opened on their own.

Most of the rooms at the Hotel have had reported activity at one time or another. Reports continue to come in from both staff members and guests.






Rocky Mountain Paranormal Research Society’s investigation of the Stanley Hotel

A production company that is producing a new show featuring different paranormal groups around the country contacted us.
They suggested that we do an investigation at the Stanley Hotel, so we agreed and they sent it up for us.

We preceded the investigation with a look into the history of the location and the people who built it. (See below)

The Investigation:
04/04/2007
8:00p.m. – 5:00 a.m.

Team members present:
Bryan Bonner
William Fontenot
Carol Olivacz
Ginger Inskeep
Vikki Heikka

Bill, Ginger, Matt, Bryan & Viki are visited by
 Grant and Jason from Ghost Hunters before the investigation.

The team had a meeting to determine the best location to set up the equipment as well as the locations for different team members.
We had 4 locations reserved for the investigation:
Room 401
Room 418
Room 1302
And the Concert hall / Theater

We determined that the setup would be:
Matt & Vikki covered the Concert hall with 4 video cameras as well as Audio recording equipment.
Bill, Bryan & Carol covered room 401 as well as the hallway just outside the room, that has had reported activity.
Ginger and her guest moved between locations as well as stayed in room 1302 (that had not monitoring equipment)
We also set up 2 video cameras, a digital voice recorder and an E.M.F. meter in room 418 that was locked in and not bothered for the duration of the evening.


   

   

The investigation of room 401 and the hallway was reasonably quiet. On a few occasions the production team broke up the quiet time but it was not too much as to hinder the investigation.
Equipment:
1 I/R camera at the head of the bed looking towards the closet
2 I/R cameras on the closet side of the room looking at both sides of the bed
1 microphone in the middle of the bedroom
2 microphones on either side of the doors on the hall side
1 microphone at the top of the stairs leading to the attic
1 I/R camera looking down to the hall from the top of the stairs leading to the attic
1 temperature sensor in the middle of the bedroom
1 temperature sensor at the top of the stairs leading to the attic

Temperature readings did not change any more that would be expected with the cooling of the building. (72-66.7 degrees)

E.M.F. readings were taken throughout the evening, but the levels never changed to a degree to suggest abnormal activity. (An average of 1-2.2 Milligaus throughout the room)

At 3:30 there was the sound of a woman (we saw her on camera) leaving the location, she came from the elevator went to her room and then returned to the elevator and left within a 3 minute window. After she left, the sounds of people walking up and down the halls and doors closing were heard but nobody was seen on the video. This continued on and off for about 9 minutes.
Click here to listen to the "footsteps"

 

Room 418 was left alone during the investigation to have the recordings examined later.
Equipment:
2 I/R cameras looking from the head of the bed towards the television and the bathroom door
1 E.M.F. sensor located in the middle of the bed in view of the camera
1 digital voice recorder to assist with the 2 camcorders recording at the same time

There were reports of a Hypnotist that had been in the room seated by the base of the bed on the chair that is also near the bathroom door. This area is extremely hot with electromagnetic energy, the meters that we have would be overpowered in some of the areas where the head of the person in the chair would be. When the Hypnotist was in the chair he stood up and almost collapsed, however he was assisted back into the chair by another person in the room. At that point they noticed what seemed to be a “charge” in the body of the man. We tested and determined that the readings were most likely caused by the proximity to the wall and not any residual or stored energy in the body of the man.

   

This is what sounds like a door closing. When the sound happened we had cameras pointed at the exterior doors and nobody but us were present in the building.
We checked all of the doors in the building to see if one sounded like the recording and did not find one.

The Concert Hall
Equipment:
1 Microphone located in the middle of the theater (Because of the acoustics of the location it was more than enough to cover the building.
1 I/R camera looking towards the front door of the building
1 I/R camera looking over the entire Theater room
1 I/R camera looking in the storage room in the basement ( there was reported activity there recently so we decided to place it there)  The activity was that during a tour with the team from Ghost Hunters, Grant stated that a table that was leaning against a wall suddenly fell from a negatively inclined position. On the following day Bill Murphy of Ghost Town had felt so bad in the room that he had to leave the location.
We determined that the building was being rewired because of major electrical problems. We also noticed that there was a very strong smell of natural gas because the room is connected to the room with the gas fired heater.
This could account for some of the reported activity in the room but it is inconclusive.
    

It was a a difficult investigation due to an Electrician working on the main power paned in the basement until just after 2:00 a.m.  We were able to spend a little time getting used to the normal sounds of the theater such as the heat turning on and off, pops and cracks due to the temperature changes in the old building, the rare car that would go by, etc... Around 4:00 a.m. we heard what sounded like people talking and walking up to the door getting ready to walk into the hall (however there was a camera looking at the main door and there was no sign of anyone coming to the door) This was the first of an escalating trend of noises. First there were clicks, bustling noises, slow foot steps, bangs and what sounded like whispering and what sounded like a door creaking open ( closing? ) This was remarkable and unmistakable. That was when we decided to go investigate any possible explanations for the sounds. We attempted to recreate the sound with every door in the building, but were unable to do so. The downstairs had previously been checked to make sure that the electrician was gone. His truck had been parked by the downstairs back entrance and there was no truck in sight.

On an interesting note, while taking E.M.F. readings at the right stairwell to the hall heading to the basement the meter would take a while to settle down (30-45 seconds) before a reading could be read. The needle would spike and slowly settle down.


The E. M.F. readings were were consistent throughout the building for the duration of the evening. The only exception was the area by the hallway leading to the basement from the front of the building. It was averaging 0-2 milligaus, however at 12:10 the readings were between 3-6 milligaus

   
Ginger and her guest went to room 1302 to see if they would notice any activity in the room.
When we visited the room earlier we could not find the light switch to turn on the lights in the entranceway but when Ginger returned they heard sounds of someone outside the room but when they came out there were no people and the lights were now on. It was determined that the lights are on an odd circuit that requires switches to be in specific positions for a certain series of lights to be on.

It was also determined that some of the noises that have recently been reported in the building could have possibly been caused by a “visitor” that we met.

We discovered that the Raccoon (Casper) like to come into the building via open windows on the top floor.
    

We are still going over the evidence and will post more as we continue.

  Click here for a gallery of our visit to the Stanley Hotel

  

    


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