The chilling true story behind the haunted hotel which inspired 1980s The Shining

It is arguably one of the most terrifying horror movies in cinema history and launched Stephen King’s career as an infamous fictional writer.

And it’s fair to say The Shining has stood the test of time with Jack Nicholson’s frightening portrayal of Jack Torrance catapulting the 1980s movie into the horror movie hall of fame.

As Halloween comes to an end, the beloved film is set to grip viewers all over again with the fan-favourite film and its bone-chilling sequels returning to a slew of popular streaming services including Netflix and Amazon Prime.

READ MORE:‘Haunted’ Hollywood sets – eerie 666 message, tragic deaths and ghostly phone calls

But what many viewers may be unaware of is that Stephen’s inspiration behind the horrifying Overlook hotel was based on his disturbing stay at an existing haunting hotel.

Now, the Daily Star has taken a deep dive into the author’s life-changing experience at the infamous Stanley Hotel.

The Shining is a fictional tale that follows a budding writer Jack Torrance and his loving family who escape the city in an attempt to cure his writer’s block.

The trio find a home at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado where Jack takes on the role as a caretaker at while the staff and residents take a break for the festive period.

As the family settle into the abandoned hotel, his wife Wendy (played by Shelley Duvall) and his son Danny (Danny Lloyd) quickly become plagued by psychic premonitions.

But it’s not just the duo who are affected by the supernatural dangers that reside in the hotel, as Jack soon discovers some of the dark secrets hidden in the building that eventually sends him into homicidal rage.

While many aspects of Stephen’s 1977 novel are fantastical and far-fetched, one major detail in the chilling novel is all too real.

Several elements of the story – including the Grady twins down the hall and Overlook Hotel itself – were inspired by the Stanley Hotel which has since become an iconic landmark in its own right.

In 1974, King and his wife spent time at the isolated Stanley hotel in Estes Park, Colorado just before the hotel shut down for the winter months.

With their stay colliding so closely with the closing of the hotel, they soon discovered they were the only guests staying in the haunted hotel.

It was almost instantaneous that the author noticed the eerie feeling in the empty hotel, as he explored the historic building.

Inspiration struck him when roaming the dark hallways and long corridors after learning about the history of the building.

The Stanley Hotel was originally built in 1909 by Freelan Oscar Stanley of the Stanley Steamer frame, which boasted 142 rooms initially meant for wealthy vacationers and a health retreat for those suffering with tuberculosis.

When the horror writer stayed at the hotel, the pair were placed into room 217 which is doused in haunted history including the chief housekeeper, Elizabeth Wilson.

In 1911, the caretaker was involved in a horrifying explosion following a gas leak in the hotel suite after lighting a lantern which blew the room apart and threw her body down an entire story.

Although she survived the explosion with a few broken bones, Elizabeth continued to work for the hotel for a few more years before her death, and it is said that she still wanders the room, moving luggage and folding clothes.

During his stay, King claimed to have seen a young boy while heading back to his room one evening which wasn’t considered possible considering he and his wife were the only confirmed guests in the building.

Since his stay there have also been several other supernatural accounts detailing unexplained noises, strange figures and personal objects stolen or broken.

Three years later famous movie director Stanley Kubrick purchased the movie rights for the chilling story and went on to produce the masterpiece we all know and love today.

Despite the 1980 movie Instantly becoming a box office success, the author had a few issues with the changes made to the film adaptation.

Over the years, King has been very outspoken about his disappointment with the movie after the director made several changes to the tale.

The author pointed out how Kubrick’s version of the Overlook Hotel doesn’t match the author’s depiction of the eerie building in the novel, and even took things a step further by changing the layout of the hotel and adding in the hedge maze at the front of the property.

For more of the latest showbiz and TV news from the Daily Star, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here.

He also went on to change the infamous room number which was originally number 217, which is now known in the film as 237.

Due to his disappointment at the director’s adaptation of the film, the author went on to direct his own TV miniseries based on his award-winning novel with the chilling Stanley Hotel used as the filming location.

The hotel has since embraced his supernatural connection and now hosts ghost tours and events relating to the novel and the film.

In 2015, the owners have since embraced the iconic hedge maze seen in the 1980 film to the open area in the front of the property, which has been flooded with movie buffs and supernatural fans.

READ NEXT:

Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk