If you’re a big horror film buff, you have to make sure that you visit the Stanley Hotel if you’re ever in the Estes Park area. The hotel, which is where the famous movie The Shining was filmed, (the second movie, not the first) sits up atop one of the mountains and kind of overlooks the entire town of Estes Park. It’s really hard not to notice and you would want to go inside once you saw it, even if you didn’t know that it was a famous landmark. The place is so huge that you can actually see it when you first start driving into town. It’s that massive. At the same time, it is also really beautiful and elegant. It’s easy to see why they chose it to film the original movie.
Not only is the hotel famous because of the whole crazy movie thing but it’s also on the register of historic places. Construction on the hotel was started in 1906 and completed in 1909. It’s been a landmark in Estes Park ever since.
The place is so big, it looks like it would have more rooms but there are only actually about 130 of them. From the hotel you can see the Rocky Mountain national park as well as Longs Peak and Lumpy Ridge.
This is definitely the place to visit if you want to do something out of the ordinary. As if the fact that the Stephen King movie was based on this place isn’t enough, the hotel is reported to be haunted. It was the reports of the hauntings in room 418 that apparently inspired the story around the room. In the movie, its room 217 but in real life, it’s apparently room 418 where most of the ghostly activities take place. According to reports, you can hear children playing on the entire fourth floor, even when there are no kids around. Add in the fact that the original owners, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley, are said to ‘visit’ from time to time.
If you’re interested in finding out for yourself whether the rumors are true, the hotel will gladly arrange tours, including tours of the rooms where most of the ghostly activity is said to take place. They also do murder mystery parties.
If you are planning to travel to in the near future, you should be aware of the fact that a travel warning has been issued for this region. The reason for this travel warning is the continued threat of kidnappings and assignations of citizens and non-governmental workers throughout . The security risk may be significant, at times.
At this time the U.S. Department of State has warned against all travel to by citizens. The concern for security in this region is so great, the U.S. Department of State has urged citizens to seriously consider whether their pending travel to is absolutely necessary. The security throughout is considered to be highly unpredictable. The Kenyan authorities have only a limited ability to detect and potentially deter named threats against citizens and other countries.
If you do travel to this region, be aware that overland travel between major cities should be avoided at all costs at night. In some cases, overland travel may be blocked or restricted, due to security concerns.
While you are in this region, you should take prudent security precautions. These precautions should include ensuring that you have adequate amounts of fuel and provisions. If you are staying at a hotel in this region, be sure that adequate security is provided in order to avoid as many potential dangers as possible. Be aware that possible targets in this area include clubs, hotels, places of worship, restaurants, schools and outdoor recreational facilities. Attacks may include carjackings, bombings, suicide operations, rocket attacks, assassinations, assaults and/or kidnappings. Be aware that the threats against Westerners in the capital of Nairobi as well as some coastal areas are considered to be high.
If you do plan to travel to , make sure that you obtain the most up to date health information for this region. If you are an American traveling into this region, be sure that you register at the U.S. Embassy, located on United Nations Avenue, Gigiri, Nairobi, ; telephone (254)(20)363-6000; fax (254)(20)363-6410. In the event of an after-hours emergency, the Embassy duty officer may be contacted at (254)(20)363-6170.
