Just a couple of months after seeing a fascinating ghost tour in March of 2017, at the Stanley Hotel, I finally made reservations to stay the night. I chose to stay in the famous room 217.
When I was on a ghost tour on March 3, 2017, I took these images. I was surprised to see a moving orb roaming the hotel.
When I took the ghost tour last March, the experience of feeling intense energy in certain parts of the hotel made me more open to the belief in spirits. However, I still had my doubts. I needed a lot more than an area of intense energy to convince me. I thought to myself that perhaps what I thought may have been energy from actual ghosts roaming the hotel, was all in my head. But after staying in room 217, I can certainly say that I am a believer in spirits.
Why Room 217 Is So Popular
While there have been many reports of ghost sightings throughout the Stanley property, room 217 is probably by far the most famous haunted room. In 1974, Stephen King and his wife stayed the night in this particular room. It is also where King was inspired to write his horror novel The Shining. Room 217 is where comedian Jim Carrey was said to have stayed while he was making his 1994 comedy Dumb and Dumber. Due to an experience that left him terrified, he walked out and demanded a hotel room anywhere else besides the Stanley.
In addition to the famous who have once stayed in room 217, there is another significant reason from this room’s popularity. That is, reported ghost sightings throughout the years.
Who Is Elizabeth Wilson?
Elizabeth Wilson was one of the Stanley’s first maids. During the summer of 1911, she was in a serious accident that nearly killed her. While in the process of lighting acetylene lanterns in room 217, a gas leak occurred. The leak caused an explosion that sent Wilson through the floor. Despite being buried under two floors of debris, she survived with only her ankles fractured.
While Ms. Wilson has been gone since the 1950’s, guests at the Stanley hotel have reported returning to their rooms to find their luggage unpacked. There have also been reports of shoes being neatly lined up on the end of the bed, as well as shadows passing through walls. Some reports come from unmarried couples who claim that Ms. Wilson gets in their bed between them, with the intentions of supporting the morality standards of her time.
What Happened That Night
On May 27, 2017, my partner and I arrived at the hotel around 5 p.m. As we got to our room, I felt the same intense energy I felt when I was near room 217 two months earlier. After taking a look around the room, we decided to leave our bags and head downstairs to grab something to eat. Around 7 p.m., we came back to the room and stayed in for the night.
This is a framed picture of Stephen King that was in our room.
Unlike what some guests have reported in the past, we did not come back and find our bags unpacked, or anything moved around. However, it wasn’t long until the first bizarre experience of the night took place. Below is a list describing each scary encounter.
The Sounds Of A Trolley (around 8:00 p.m.)
Due to the popularity of room 217, tourists would often come to the door to take pictures and seek ghost activity. One lady shouted out, “Are we alone?”
Around 8:00 p.m., we suddenly heard what seemed to be the sounds of a trolley outside our door. However, as soon as we heard the noise, my partner went to the door and — no one was in sight. While we were shocked that we didn’t see anyone outside our door, we simply let it go and moved on.
A Call To Ms. Wilson
Before we decided to call it a night, we reached out to Ms. Wilson with hopes she would respond back. I said to her: “If you are really here with us, prove it.” And boy did she!
The Sounds Of A Big Bang (around 2:30 a.m.)
At approximately 2:30 in the morning, I had an experience that I will never forget. We were woken up by an extremely loud noise. It sounded like someone picked up a large object and forcefully slammed it to the floor. The sound also woke up people in adjacent rooms. This is known because just a second or two after the loud noise, we heard people talking and whispering. While I tried to tell myself that it was just something that had fallen, I knew it was something unnatural. I was truly terrified.
I didn’t know what had caused the loud noise until the morning when I saw my partner’s 20 oz. Mountain Dew bottle on the floor. Yes. A Mountain Dew bottle.
What is extremely bizarre is that in addition to the soda somehow falling to the floor, I know that no 20 oz. bottle of soda would have made such a loud noise. I believe that the only explanation for the noise was the ghost that I had reached out to earlier in the night.
An Interview With Other Guests Who Woke Up From A Big Bang
The next morning, I overheard a conversation about a loud noise in the middle of the night. We immediately came out of our room and ran into Toni Wallace from Loveland, Colorado. She stayed with her daughter in the room directly above 217. When I asked her if she heard the loud noise in the middle of the night, she said: ” Yes. I heard it around 2:30. It sounded like a large barrel fell.” When I told her is was just a Mountain Dew bottle, she was stunned.
Wallace also talked about a woman in room 324 who also was woken up from the noise in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to interview the other woman.
At around 11:00 a.m., it was check-out time. Luckily before we left, we met Christopher Dinunno who stayed with his father in room 326. He was more than happy to inform us that him and his father were taking pictures outside our door that night. He claimed to have captured many orbs that were floating outside our door late that night. Dinunno also revealed that a loud sound woke him up in the middle of the night. When I asked him to describe the sound he said: “It was a loud boom that woke me up late last night.”
(updated content)
In July of 2017, I received an email from Toni Wallace’s granddaughter Abigail Allman. She also stayed the night at the Stanley on May 27, 2017. The following is Allman’s email, as well as images she took. One which includes room 217.
Thank you for allowing me to go into your 217 hotel room.
And just so you know, there was a young man across the hall from our room who we talked to and he had told us some experiences he had.
He said he had heard a big thump that night, same as you. Another one he said happened during the ghost tour that night, and he felt someone grab his calf with their hand but no one was there. Lastly, he showed me a video he took while in the room to the right of the piano on the lower floor (I believe the ballroom) where he caught an orb zoom across the screen while he was video taping.
I took multiple pictures when I was just walking through the hotel. I caught an orb in the very first picture I took in your room, 217. Then, very large orb between one of the large mirrors in the hallway and my nana. And finally, an orb, that I caught at 4 in the morning to the right hallway of my hotel room.
Allman’s mention of yet another guest who heard a “big thump” that night corroborates that the mysterious bang was clearly not the fall of a Mountain Dew bottle.
Here is a picture of several orbs floating around our room. Allman took this image while I was speaking to Toni Wallace about the loud bang she heard that night.
The next two images were also taken by Allman. Clearly, you can see all of the orbs that were wandering the hallway.
A Woman’s Chuckle (around 4:00 a.m.)
I woke up again around 4:00 a.m. and noticed my partner went back to sleep. A minute or two later, I suddenly heard the chuckle of a woman. It sounded like the giggle was coming from just centimeters away from my face. After I heard the woman’s creepy chuckle, I decided I had heard enough for the night. I chose to go back to sleep. If the ghost activity I experienced in room 217 came from housekeeper Elizabeth Wilson, she must have had a good sense of humor.
Final Thoughts
Whether you believe in ghosts or not, I recommend you stay a night at the Stanley Hotel. If you are a skeptic, come with an open mind and perhaps you will leave the hotel as a believer.
Now that I stayed a night in the famous room 217, I’m ready to visit some more haunted places around the world. Even if I never experience any ghost activity again, I can definitely say that my stay at the Stanley Hotel turned me from a skeptic, into a believer in ghosts.