Stanley Hotel Hauntings YouTube Script

Title: Real Haunts of the Stanley Hotel’s Spectral Ghosts

Narrator (Voiceover): Since its opening, the Stanley Hotel has loomed ominously over the small mountain town of Estes Park, Colorado, harboring dark secrets within its creaking wooden halls. Founded in 1909 by Freelan Stanley, who was stricken with tuberculosis, the hotel bearing his namesake would draw visitors from around the country to its romantic and seemingly serene location perched high in the Rocky Mountains for years following its opening. As the hotel grew in popularity, so did its reputation, and it wouldn’t take long before strange tales of odd sightings and unexplainable encounters would begin to circulate among guests and employees with firsthand experience in the hotel. Stories of strange noises, lights flickering on and off, and even unexpected visitors in the night who sat, watching guests as they lay sleeping, would become commonplace, many of which such tales persist to this day. But It begs the question, just what exactly are these strange and often ominous experiences or, perhaps even more disturbingly, who could be the cause of these encounters? Stay with us through today’s video as we take a look at and try to understand for ourselves the mysterious history of the Stanley Hotel’s spectral ghosts. Viewer discretion is advised.

[Cut to: Intro]

Narrator (Voiceover): When Freelan Stanley and his wife Flora arrived in Estes Valley in 1903, they were awe-struck by the massive nature of the ancient Ute and Arapahoe homelands that stretched from the barren 14,000-foot peaks to the dark, low river valleys where French and Spanish fur trappers had roamed the previous decades. Stanley was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. After a troublesome journey to get here, he had finally arrived, and now he was one step away from his final goal: to die in a beautiful place. Having been diagnosed with the incurable disease of tuberculosis, Stanley had made it his goal to get to Colorado where the air was drier and where it was said a man could die on God’s doorstep in the sacred lands of the local native tribes. As summer came and went though, something odd happened, Stanley didn’t die. In fact, he seemed to be improving. Stanley made a full recovery by the end of the year and by his own words credited the fresh air and sunshine for his health, though doctors had no explanation for how a recovery of this degree could ever have been possible.

Having now recovered, Stanley decided he needed to share the amazing healing powers of this land with others, which is why in 1909, he officially opened the Stanley Hotel. For decades, guests marveled at the elaborate winding halls and modern amenities of the hotel which included running water, electricity, and even a full-service kitchen service all the while being surrounded by utter wilderness on all sides. Despite the posh face of the hotel, there seemed to be an ever-present darkness looming over the property, as even early guests to the hotel would confirm that there was something oddly malevolent about the property.

These tales would gain more attention when, in 1911, the head chambermaid Elizabeth Wilson, entered the hotel’s Room 217 with a lit candle, unaware of a gas leak coming from a lantern that Stanley himself had installed in the room. In an instant, a massive explosion set ablaze nearly 10% of the entire hotel, and Wilson, though alive, was knocked into a deep coma. Waking up nearly 2 years later, Wilson miraculously returned to work at the Stanley in full health and would continue her duties until 1950 when she retired.

By all means, this should have been the end of Wilson’s story, but it wasn’t. Some 20 years later in 1974, while world-renowned writer Stephen King was staying the night at the Stanley in the infamous Room 217 itself, he would awake in a cold sweat, his sheets soaked with sweat. In his dream, he had seen his son being chased down the hallway by a fiery horse, screaming as he looked back over his shoulder at its horrendous figure. Quickly jotting down what he had just experienced in his dream the night before, his experience would eventually become the basis for his book The Shining. Many have speculated on the meaning of King’s nightmare, but it’s difficult to ignore the connection between the flaming horse image and the 1911 explosion in the very room in which he slept that night. It comes as no surprise as well to learn that to this day, guests in Room 217 report an oddly tidy room greeting them upon their awakening, or even more disturbingly for unmarried couples, a chilling presence settling into the bed between them under the sheets at night.

Narrator (Voiceover): Despite a relatively tame run of events for the decades following the explosion, there was still much to be wary of in the Stanley. Alongside the ever-present unease guests would report were two bizarre elements, an onsite pet cemetery, and a series of complex  underground tunnels that wove throughout the hotel. The cemetery itself is said to often be chilled and upon visiting, guests have reported an odd feeling of lethargy. This is to say nothing about the reports of guests who swear they hear scratching like a dog’s claws on their door at night, only to open it to see an old newspaper, folded and placed on the floor right outside their room.

The tunnels have been an odd addition since the opening of the Stanley, further complicated by their intended use as a passageway for servants and employees to make their way around the hotel unseen. It’s odd, then that some of these tunnels run on for yards in total darkness only to terminate into a wall with no clear entrance or exit. Some of these dead ends have been reported to have changed positions over the years too, with early guests and builders reporting strange trapdoors leading into the tunnels appearing and disappearing at seemingly random access points throughout the building. Once inside the tunnels, one can occasionally catch a faint smell of sugar and bread, supposedly the lure of the ghost of a chef once employed by the hotel who may have become trapped within the tunnels somewhere in their depths.

Narrator (Voiceover): But if the cemetery and the underground tunnels aren’t creepy enough, the 4th Floor as a whole is said to have drawn the most intense hauntings within the hotel. Patrons and employees who frequent this part of the establishment have commented on the feeling of pure dread in and around the extended hallways, common areas, and more specifically several of the rooms on this level. Guests on the 4th Floor have collectively said to hear the haunting sounds of children’s laughter as they race up and down the halls, only to find the common areas completely abandoned upon opening their room door. Most of these encounters seem to be isolated to the hallways and common areas outside of the most terrifying rooms, though.

Guests staying in  Room 428 have reported some of the less frightening, though still disturbing occurrences, on the 4th Floor. Many patrons have described a feeling of being watched as they doze off, only to see a tall figure in a cowboy hat leaning over them. Upon investigation, it is said the strange figure can be seen sitting in the corner of the room, watching the guests patiently before dissolving into thin air. Room 428 guests have also often been critical of the noise of footsteps which seem to come from the floor above the room, even though no rooms exist above this area. In another part of Floor 4, Room 407 guests claim to have experienced a soft pair of hands gently tucking them in at night, and an aura of comfort gently washing over them before an oddly heavy weight settles onto the foot of the bed. As a feeling of sudden dread is said to strike the guests, a glance towards the bed’s foot reveals nothing but an indentation in the covers in the infamous room.

But Room 401 poses perhaps the strangest and most disturbing occurrences on the property. A male figure is sometimes said to manifest within the room, visible only as a shadowy figure for moments before vanishing. Multiple women have claimed to have experienced an icy-cold touch only to quickly spin around and find nobody there. Several female employees have claimed to have fallen mysteriously ill in and around this room as well. Male guests, too seem to draw the wrath of this being as there have been reports of wedding bands moving instantaneously from one side of the room to the other, or falling off the fingers of their owners while they lounged about the room. All these signs point to some sort of dark and malevolent force in Room 401 that could just be the beginning of things far more sinister to come.

The true horror of these 4th-Floor entities is their hard-to-explain nature. There seems to be a clear agenda and theme to their actions, and yet at the same time, it seems that anyone entering this area of the Stanley is at risk of falling victim to their acts. Despite several investigations into the 4th Floor, even the leading paranormal investigators in the nation have yet to produce a definitive answer for just what exactly seems to be plaguing this floor.

Narrator (Voiceover): After finally passing in 1940 at the age of 91, 37 years after his tuberculosis should have seen him put in the ground, Stanley’s presence is said to have joined with his hotel in the afterlife. Since his passing, guests have seen him in an ethereal state having drinks at the bar late in the evening when the hotel sits silent. Sometimes faint laughter can be heard from the billiard room before Mr. Stanley’s ghost is seen exiting into the adjoining hall. Flora, his wife, can also be heard joining him as she plays despairing tunes on the hotel’s piano. Many suspect that the pair have been joined in eternity thanks to their hotel, which perhaps imprisons them within its walls.

Since its opening, many have wondered just what is it that has caused these strange events to occur within the Stanley? Being stationed high in the Rockies on what some have more recently claimed to be ancient Native burial grounds, this could explain a number of the odd occurrences such as Stanley’s prolonged life and the malevolent beings who seem to occupy the 4th Floor seeking to scare off those who do not belong there. Yet still are theories that Stanley himself designed the hotel bearing his name to be a conduit for some type of ritual or process that bestowed him with life but demanded life as payment in the process. One of the more common stories is that of cursed or defiled ground where the Stanley now sits being the cause of these odd occurrences.

For the decades leading up to Stanley’s arrival in the Estes Valley, French trappers had reported legends coming out of the region of rich lands, ripe with beautiful country, untainted by the hand of European man. The Natives in this area also warned, however, of an ancient curse that was said to plague the lands of this region of the United States. Supposedly a cursed man-killing beast, fueled by the insatiable lust for blood, was said to emerge in the winter to stalk and consume its prey. Perhaps it is this creature that plagued the property, cursing it and dooming it to its horrific fate. Or perhaps the source of the Stanley’s disturbing haunts can’t be traced to just one of these theories, but multiple.

The mysteries surrounding the Stanley Hotel persist to this day, fueling speculation just as it has throughout the rest of its obscure history. Despite past and ongoing efforts of paranormal investigators and psychics alike, the truth remains elusive, shrouded in the dark aura of the building's history. Yet, it is precisely this mysterious nature that perpetuates the fascination with the Stanley, having now become a mainstay of the Estes Valley’s folklore. As guests continue to occupy its halls and drift to sleep in its luxurious rooms, the Stanley Hotel remains alive, both in its operation and in its tradition. No matter the cause of the haunts of the Stanley Hotel, one thing that can’t be denied is that if you decide to book a night inside the pearl-white walls of the Stanley, you won’t be sleeping alone.

What do you think is really behind the hauntings of the Stanley Hotel? Let us know in the comments and for more true stories of terrifying haunts, check out our video on Eastern State Penitentiary by clicking here. 

[Cut to: Outro]