0:00

Hello and welcome to the true crime podcast beyond the ferns with your host Susie buckle up Things are about to get a little scary hello, and welcome to the podcast, Beyond the Ferns. I'm happy to have y'all here today. It is October. I Just threw up my hands. It is the 10th month of the year, and not only are we in the 10th month of the year, but we're in the spookiest, most mysterious, most crazy time of the year. The time where We have things that are unexplained. We have ghosts, we have goblins, we have haunted houses. And I am here to bring you all of it. Now, we will be moving from murder, our favorite, I know, to a different flavor today, which is haunted house. A haunted house. And none other than Then the haunted Stanley Hotel, one of the most iconic hotels in the nation when it comes to paranormal activity. Without further ado, let's get into it. I'm going to take you back to the 18 hundreds. The land and era of my parents made me walk 10 miles to school. No matter the weather conditions, snow rain, sunshine, blizzard. Knees to chest kid. That is in the era that we are going to be exploring today. Now in June of 18 49, 2 twins came into the world and that was the Stanley brothers. Freelance Oscar. And he was referred to as And his brother Francis Edgar referred to as F E they were born in Kingfield Maine to parents, Solomon, and a FIA Stanley. They were identical twins, two of seven siblings, their father Solomon, who was a farmer and teacher was a catalyst to instilling a sense of importance around education and entrepreneurship. At a very young age, the Stanley brothers were bright, natural inventors. They were the type of kids in school that you knew could make waves in society. If they use their skills wisely and spoiler alert, they did. EPO started his career in education. He enjoyed this career field immensely after teaching for. After teaching for eight years, he turned his love of education into a business opportunity by starting a company, selling school supplies. And although it was successful fo decided to join his brother in the company he had established, which was the Stanley dry plate company. Fo started his career in education. And he enjoyed this career field immensely. After teaching for eight years, he turned his love and enthusiasm with an education into a business opportunity. This business was a company that sold school supplies. And although it was successful. F O decided to join his brother in the company that he had established, which was the Stanley dry plate company. This was a revolutionary process, which allowed for greater ease of photography. The method was first invented by Dr. Richard L Maddix. Remember those old timey photos where everyone looks tight, Jod and angry at the world. It's probably because that family photo took upwards of 30 to 45 minutes of sitting and holding a pose, hoping that Timmy could stay in one place before having a tantrum. And I asked those mids to make cookies in the oven. Would it burn. They're poor face muscles, all to say the trailblazers are photography made this process easier than that. With the dry plates. Now the profits made from the dry plate venture allowed them to invent the Stanley steamer in 1897, which was alternative. Which was an alternative fuel process. The first steam powered automobiles manufactured by Stanley motor carriage company, and think. With the dry plates. The profits made from the strike plate venture allowed them to advent the Stanley steamer in 1897. Which was an alternative fuel process. The first steam powered automobile manufactured by none other than the Stanley motor carriage company. In 1903 while the Stanley steamer was taking off, fo Stanley was experiencing a major health decline. Having received news that he had tuberculosis from his doctor. Now tuberculosis is an infection of the lungs. And in this day and age, you can receive antibiotics and oftentimes make a full recovery if carried out correctly. However, back in the early 19 hundreds, medicine was not where it is today. Sometimes we're not always apparent. It could mean a matter of life or death quickly. EFA visited his doctor and was met with an unexpected year to live diagnosis. Alongside that diagnosis with doctor's orders, or rather advising him to seek crisp, fresh, dry air that could provide him with a better quality of life. AKA Colorado. And in 1903 F O and flora accepted the doctor's orders move to Denver to the couple, it would be a miracle if he made it the whole year or had a solid one at that given EFA was suffering through these symptoms. And the move reaped little results. They were desperate to try anything and everything. At this point, a couple of retreated to a small mining town in Estes park. The leading at this town could serve as at least a peaceful environment they needed for fo to continue out his remaining months. But the universe said something better in mind for this couple miraculously FL made a full recovery. In Estes park would turn into their forever home. I haven't heard the CS. Yay. Fo and flora bought 8.4 acres and built a house and fo could have stopped retired on a mountain side, breathing in the clean air and feeding the neighborhood sheep. However, He wanted more. He wanted more than that. And he was edging onto his mid to late fifties at this time. But he wanted to use his talents to contribute to the overall town. To add in the prosperity by establishing a new and improved I have in parentheses. Yay. Fo and flora bought 8.4 acres and built a house and fo could have stopped retired on a mountain side, breathing in the clean air and feeding the neighboring sheep. He was edging on to mid to late fifties at this time. However, he had dreams that were unfulfilled. And he wanted to press on making these a reality. F O used his talents to contribute to the overall prosperity of the town by establishing a new and improved road system. This road was compatible with spending a steamer car on it. Smart. You also created a sewer service and with these brains came a townie that wanted to truly get back to his town, offering a kind and charismatic personality that put locals at ease. And offering a hand to local projects and a ride to anyone that may need one. And a steamer car. Of course he was a businessman at heart. Now, aside from the major improvements made in Estes park. F, oh, was I in the land? Wyndham Quinn, Don Raven owned nearly 15,000 acres of Estes park. Some of that land today is the Rocky mountain national park. Owning as much land was unheard of. And when they say also illegal, if we're being honest, but done Raven founded loopholes in the homestead act of 1862, which allowed for a lot of bind land selling to another and buying back land a very complicated process that I'm not going to act like I know anything about, but that's how dun Raven could have possibly inquired. All of this land was through several loopholes. And this homestead act, the whole point of it was to protect this very thing from happening. And allotted 160 acres of land per citizen. Was allowed. So at this point, it's like 15,000 against one 60. You know, done. Raven was on the primary monopoly board. He was the winner here. He dropped us, keeping this area a private game preserve where he could hunt bigger game, like big horn sheep bears and big cats. This is why I don't eat meat, but for real, I hate this and the locals did this to. And the locals did too. the homestead act was supposed to protect this very thing from happening. And it meant that everybody was supposed to be capped off at 160 acres of land per citizen. However, if we're looking at a monopoly board done, Raven would have been a winner because he had this much land. And he dreamt of keeping this area a private game preserve where he could hunt bigger game, like big horn, sheep bears, and big cats. This is why I don't eat meat, but for real. I hate this and the locals did too. And the imbalance of the locals ideas and visions for what the town could be. We're bound to the ideas and visions of one single person, but that would change quickly. And on Raven streams for Estes park would dissolve when more settlers and tourism skyrocket. That would quickly change. Because Don Raven's dreams for estos park and his vision would dissolve when more settlers came in and tourism began to skyrocket. Don Raven then looked into selling the land and there were eager buyers. DB suborn and ours truly fo Stanley. I would jump. At the opportunity to buy land from Dunn, Raven. And all three men would have holdings on the land, but. As soon as done, Raven did relinquish anybody he had in the batter and moved back to England. He did make out like a bandit though, having a mountain named after him in the Rocky mountains, along with restaurants and other places. So EFA Stanley the innovator and visionary up his hotel, thought the hotel could be named after Don Raven, since the land was monumental to the creation of the hotel, from where it's at. But the townspeople were like, hell no. And strongly oppose this name since dumber even had held such power and control over the future of Estes park. The local spell the name, held a negative connotation and local farmers, ranchers, and other locals in the town. Took to the buckskin. Yes. You heard that, right? They signed a petition on a buckskin and disapproval of the name done Raven and offered the suggestion of the Stanley hotel to be named after fo Stanley. They're like, Hey, grab me a piece of paper. Better yet. Make it a buckskin. Fo Stanley obliged and the vision began to come to life and fo drew inspiration from homes, familiar to his and new England. With the help of an architect named T Robert Waker and contractor Frank Kerkhoff the 140 room hotel. In colonial revival style was built. And with wood and steel, this hotel at body, the aesthetics and essence of a call tranquil summer retreat. Catering to the wealthiest of the wealthy. Offering an escape from the bustling city life where one could seek refuge and rejuvenation and the remote mountain valley of the Rocky mountains. Now this hotel offered top of the line architecture. Beautiful scenery. And cutting edge amenities being the first, all electric hotel. Surpassing, even those in New York city. With electricity, indoor plumbing and telephones. Uh, groundbreaking feet for this being a remote mountain valley location. The property consisted of 160 acres with 10 other buildings offering entertainment to guests, such as a concert hall. Bowling alleys and a casino. The property was valued at 500,000. Be right back. Let me go find The property was valued at$500,000. Be right back. I'm going to go find a shack for that price in Portland. Which would be around$17 million today. And hotel guests paid a whopping five to$10 a day, which would include their state entertainment and meals. That would be in this day and age, the price of a number one on the McDonald's. Yeah. So, uh, the addition to best is park community. I turned Now we've gotten through the history. We understand how it was built. We understand the visionaries behind it. But when do the hauntings come in, you ask. Well, now we have hit the point in the episode where I'm going to introduce some ghost to you. But not without explaining a quick story. So in 1911, just two years after the Stanley hotel opened its stores community, a storm flooded into the mountain valley causing a major power outage in the hotel. No FL bean and adventure and be prepared for something like this happen. He made his current backup plan. He was able to figure out what could be done in case of this kind of emergency. And the backup plan for power outages was to supply a gasoline, turned in each guest room. Elizabeth Watson was the head of chambermaid for the hotel. And she entered into each room with a candle and handed to light the gas lanterns. One-to-one. Ashley is making her way through the hotel, greeting guests and offering. She approaches room two 17. Unknowingly this specific room was experiencing a gas leak. With the candle and hand and the gas leak, you can see. Elizabeth was matched with a massive explosion that had her. I'm 30 air and launched from the second floor room. The first floor dining room. Now she did survive this incident. She just suffered. I mean, she only suffered two broken ankles and a total of eight people were injured in this wing of the hotel, including a couple of hotel employees. However, nowadays, route two 17 is a popular pair of normal room. It is the one that oftentimes has bookings for months in advance, years in advance, where people to be able to stay in this room. As it was known as one of the items. Was known to be one of the most active rooms in the hotel. There's been numerous accounts of guest experiencing strange phenomena during their hotel stays. Elizabeth spirit dwells in this room, although she is known to be friendly and helpful on most occasions, guest report, have you been woken up to their clothes? Unfolded suitcase packs and toiletry items neatly arranged on the best. Now that years carried on and hosted many guests. However, with any major hotel, there is a ton of upkeep. And there was a lot of changes throughout ownership of the hotel throughout these decades. And due to a lack of investment in upkeep, the hotel was failing. However an unexpected hotel visitor would change everything for the Stanley. Perhaps you've heard of this author. Steven. King. Now in October of 1974, Stephen King and his wife made the Trek out to Estes park. And when they arrived, they were surprised to find the hotel nearly empty. Now because the season was nearing its end and a hotel close for the winter. Remember it's a summer resort. This massive hotel. Now because the season was nearing its end and the hotel closure for the winter was coming. Remember, it's a summer resort. This massive of a hotel and a haunted one that was only an opportunity for king. Although a horror writer, it was unsettling. The vastness of the long hallways and high ceilings, the hotel seem to be frozen at time. Like a treasured Relic in a snow globe straight out of the early 19 hundreds. So king made his way through the space and claimed to have seen a ghostly figure of a boy. Since it was just them in the hotel. He knew it couldn't have been another guest. Startled. He made a note of this and headed back to his room for the night. As he laid down to sleep, he had a nightmare. His three-year-old son was being chased through the hotel's hallway, screaming and horror. As a firehose serpent, like object began to wrap itself around his body and swallow him whole. Absolutely rocked and startled by the stream. King would do what any sane person would do. Get up. Light a cigarette and begin mapping out the plot and premise of his next novel. This would be none other fan the shiny. The shining, although none of that was filmed at the Stanley. The Stanley was the inspiration to buy King's experience in the hotel, and it would be an American, psychological horror classic of its time. Starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall. This changed everything for the Stanley hotel, moving forward now. And forevermore. This would be a prime destination for movie buffs and paranormal lovers. The Stanley hotel is considered one of the most haunted hotels in the us. And many of the rooms are haunted. But the fourth floor is said to have the most out of any other floor. The fourth floor used to be an attic where kids and nannies and female employees resided. And some of the common things reported our kids giggling running up and down the floor, closet doors and windows opening and closing on their own. And room 4 28, a spirit of a cowboy is known to spend the night with you. The cowboy likes to pace back and forth at the foot of the bed while gazing directly at the person in bed. Only to vanish moments later through the door, out into the floors hallway. Claims of furniture being moved and female guests describing experiences where they feel a ghost sleep KIS have been reported. The most creepy. The most creepiest of things to me is the reports of footsteps on the ceiling. According to the director of tours of the Stanley hotel, clay Johnson, the footsteps on the ceiling don't offer a clear logical explanation. A specific room. There are no other floors. Above this room. North. There are no other floors about this room nor standing room, let alone walking room. There was no roof access and the roof slants, which would make it incredibly hard for anything to walk across. So those tours are held daily at the Stanley hotel. This offers a change. This offers a chance to hear and see things the Callaway room, and while reviewing the photo, he was met with an unexpected Erie image sitting in front of this room was a young boy brown at age of seven to eight, wearing the common attire of the early 19 hundreds off white ruffled shorts and a large brown Bryn hat over his eyes. Room 4 0 1 really. 4, 0 7, several guests have reported being tucked into bed. And then after they be tucked into bed, that presence goes and sits on the foot of the bed. When they're startled and they turn on the lights. No one is there just an indention mark on the covers. Now Stanley's hotel lobby is known to be a hot spot for paranormal activity. This area is referred to as the vortex, The staircase that connects the lobby to the second floor is thought to be a paranormal portal. Guests have reported feeling instantly dizzy and immediate temperature changes to eerily cold. Others have seen orbs. And one guest was able to snap a photo of the staircase and in her photo was an image of a young girl sitting on the stairs. F. Oh, and flora have been seen looking down from the staircase often. Can anyone say ghost goals? Okay. That was terrible. Anyway. So moving on to billard room and piano room paranormal occurrences. Flora Stanley FO's wife passed away in 1939. And fo passed away shortly after in 1940. They may not be in the same form of uni. Their spirits live on in the Stanley. FMS favorite room in the hotel was a billiards room. As he was an avid pool player. His ghostly apparition has been known to be seen walking throughout this area. And flora loved playing piano in the concert hall. Many guests have reported hearing floors, tunes, pod, further inspection of identifying the person, playing the piano. Yes, sir. Gessi only the keys being pushed down. When they go in a little further to inspect the guests movements are enough to stop the music altogether. Another popular paranormal the first few years of the hotel's existence. Paul was the Nightwatch for the hotel. He enforced the curfew at 11:00 PM and he has known to say, get out. If guests are around this area late into the night. After 11:00 PM. That is it. Construction worker who have been doing some work late into the night on the concert hall, reported feeling. The nudge and then two and then three, until he thought he better leave. He thought that's probably Paul. Which takes us to the tunnel. The creepiest of areas in the hotel. At least in my opinion. Since the hotel was built upon a mountain valley, there's a giant exposed tree root. Under the hotel. And as the mountain terrain naturally shifts on its own doorframes in the hotel rooms have gaps along the top, or barely noticeable changes are seen throughout the hotel and other areas. However, generally these things go back to normal with time. The tunnel is located in the bottom floor of the hotel. And originally this tunnel was made to give construction workers, greater access and ease to their work sites. And back to the dormitories. After a long day of work, after the construction of the hotel, it was venues for employees to discreetly navigate their way to different areas of the hotel decades. A decade since this tunnel has, for the most part, been demolished to avoid injuries or as director clay Johnson. For the most part, the tunnel is basically gone. It's either been caved in on its own or it's been demolished to avoid any injuries. Director clay Johnson shared his own personal experience of feeling a tap on his shoulder and turning to what he believed would be an employee or a guest. But nothing was there. There has been reports of giggles, shadows, taps of shoulders and voices near and in the tunnel. Now this tunnel is about. I would say seven to 10 feet at this time. It doesn't go back too far. But ghost tours do take a little look into the tunnel. And oftentimes Paul likes to put on a show and turn on and off the lights for the guest. Whether you want to call the reports as heightened level of awareness to what is deemed to be a highly paranormal activity, haunted place in the U S. Or a real lived experienced event. It's fun to hear about these experiences and different areas of the hotel that are known to carry this kind of energy. But what about the skeptics? During my research, I ran across the blog by Michael Nardin, a creative writer for the discover. Not only is Michael skeptic, but he doesn't believe that goes to real. Although he's open-minded and one team to be open to persuasion. He wanted to check out the Stanley for himself to answer the age old question is the Stanley hotel haunted. Now Michael arrived in early October and booked the famously haunted room 4 0 1. Upon his arrival, his room had a note that explained what he was getting himself into. I'm going to read the little expert. He found a way to read the little note he found in his room. Quipped a male goes to some believe to be the Lord done. Raven is reported to be in this room. Although he never visited the room in his life as it was built 20 years after he left as does park, it was built on land. Around her shoulder or waist or hand moving up the back of their leg. Men don't feel particularly welcome in this room. Sometimes as they have felt someone is pressing them into bed or their jewelry disappearing. This was the room where Jason had the ghost hunters, television show had his drinking glass, which was on the nightstand implode while he was sleeping. The closet door also opened and closed on its own. And quote, as Michael made his way up, the two staircases Michael quote. Michael says, quote, I was met with an unsettling silence. The kind that somehow seems loud despite being the opposite. The room looked straight out of the early 19 hundreds from the old fashioned decor and furnishings. And to the right was a famous haunted closet. There were two chairs set up with a view of the courtyard. Two things did occur while Michael was seen in room 4 0 1. Now one was explained the other not so much. The first thing is the window did shut, close on its own while he state of half asleep, half awake. Close to dreaming. But not entirely aware of it. And at 1:48 AM, he was woken up by stepping, breathing just a few inches near his face. Is that Elizabeth perhaps, and I'm spooked Michael flipped on the lights, but saw nothing. Although Michael was still skeptical of what occurred. His experience opened his eyes to the paranormal. As being more than just to go story or folklore, Michael still carries this experience into his life. Open that there could be much more than the eyes can see. Now the Stanley hotel host upwards to 400,000 visitors annually. And although not everything is straight out of the 19 hundreds anymore, as things have been changed as the years move on and upkeep. Fo flora, Paul and Elizabeth. We'll be more than happy to treat you to a beautiful stay at their hotel. Which is now open all year. and that is the Stanley hotel. I've been so excited to share that one with you. Located in Estes park year round, go check out their spooky scary rooms. Try the state in room two 17. If you are up to it or room 4 0 1 or 4 0 7 or 4 28. Or there's probably rooms non haunted if you want to sleep. But what's the fun in that. Thank you, everyone for listening. I hope everyone has a beautiful week ahead and there is more spooky to come for the month of October. So bring your emotional support animal. Your blanket, your weighted blanket, and let's get into it more next week. I hope everyone has an enjoyable. I am going to go. Hmm, probably eat some junk food. Drink a liquid IB and just be. Hello, everyone. Does the same take care.