Stanley Hotel

F.O. Stanley, co-inventor of the Stanley Steamer automobile, arrived in Estes Park in 1903 seeking relief from tuberculosis and found instead a business opportunity: a grand Georgian Revival resort overlooking the Rockies, which opened in 1909 and quickly drew the era's wealthy and well-connected. His wife, Flora, an accomplished pianist, entertained guests in the hotel's Music Room for years afterward.

The hotel's fame took a different turn in 1974, when a young Stephen King spent a night in room 217 during an off-season stay and left with the seed of what became The Shining — a connection the hotel has embraced rather than shied from ever since.

Long-time staff describe Flora's piano still being heard after hours, unexplained laughter from children on the fourth floor when no children are registered, and doors that lock and unlock on their own. Guests in room 407 and 418 in particular have reported apparitions some attribute to Lord Dunraven, the Welsh nobleman who once claimed the land before Stanley bought it out from under him.