The case record
What was reported?
The Stanley Hotel’s ghost reputation combines guest stories, a real early accident and its connection with Stephen King’s The Shining. The fictional Overlook Hotel and its screen appearances are not additional evidence of events at the Stanley.
A familiar story links room 217 with chambermaid Elizabeth Wilson. A 1911 gas explosion injured her, but she survived; retellings that kill her in that accident distort the historical premise. Other traditions describe sounds or figures elsewhere in the hotel.
1909 dates opening and 1911 a real explosion. The alleged haunting and Stephen King connection are later and do not prove an apparition began on either date.
- Reported date
- 1909 hotel; 1911 accident; later ghost stories
- Witnesses
- Residents, staff, visitors or later storytellers; distinctions described in the case narrative. · No independently established total; repeated retellings are not additional witnesses.
- Investigation
- Source authors, heritage custodians and investigators identified in the references.
Evidence in the record
A National Archives article discussing registered historic properties separates the explosion and survival from what guests later say they experienced. The hotel’s tour page explicitly combines history, folklore and popular culture. Neither supplies a controlled test establishing that a former staff member still acts in the rooms.
Competing explanations
Official and research context
No official finding establishing a supernatural cause was identified in the reviewed sources.
Conventional explanations
Guest activity, building sounds, dreams and expectations generated by a famous novel offer conventional possibilities. Specific reports need their own dates and documentation. The strongest conclusion is that the hotel has a well-attested storytelling tradition, not that fictional scenes or an old accident establish a supernatural presence.
Arguments that remain contested
The cited material records history and reported experiences; it does not establish that any unexplained detail had a supernatural cause.
Locations & timeline
Coordinates are representative. Area and route labels do not imply exact paths or object positions.
- Primary reference location
Stanley Hotel
Representative map point for Stanley Hotel; this is not an independently measured apparition location.
Representative setting for the reports or tradition · Approximate area radius: 0.5 km
40.384°, -105.519° · area · Approximate representative locality
Record notes
Reported haunting or folklore; historical events and later supernatural interpretations are distinguished.
Historical accident corrected and folklore context reviewed; feature must not claim Wilson died in the explosion.
Original dataset status: disputed