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| True Colorado Ghost Stories
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Stanley Hotel
Estes Park, Colorado
The Stanley Hotel is a 138-room Georgian hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, that was built in 1909 by Freelan Oscar Stanley and catered to the rich and famous. Freelan Stanley was the inventor of the Stanley Steamer, a steam power horse carriage. In 1903, F. O. Stanley came to Estes Park upon suggestion from his doctor. Stanley suffered from tuberculosis and came west from Maine for the fresh air. Impressed by the beauty of the valley, Stanley decided to invest his money and his future there. Equipped with running water, electricity, and telephones, the only amenity the hotel lacked was heat, as the hotel was designed as a summer resort. Any heating in the hotel came from fireplaces on the first floor until 1979 when heating was added. The Stanley hotel is reported to play host to a number of entities from the spirit world. The ghost of F.O. Stanley himself is most often seen in the front lobby and his favourite room when he was alive, the Billiard Room. Stanley is said to appear to behind people in tour groups while visiting the hotel and bartenders has reported seeing him walk through the bar towards the kitchen. Flora Stanley, Freelan’s wife haunts the hotel as well. Her piano playing can be heard in the music room. Employees and guests alike have reported hearing music coming and they look into the room they could see the keys on the piano actually moving on their own. When they walk through the door to get a closer look, the music and the movement of the keys stop. Guests who stay on the fourth floor often report hearing children playing in the hallway at night when no children were even staying in the hotel. Room 418 seems to be the room with the most activity in the hotel. Staff and guest have reported seeing the impressions on the bed as if someone had been sleeping there when in fact there had been nobody in the room. Room 407 is believed to be haunted by the spirit of Lord Dunraven, the previous owner of the land. He is seen in the corner of the room near the bathroom and he turns the lights off and on. A shadowy figure has also been seen peering through the window when the room is not occupied. Strange noises and footsteps are heard throughout the massive building.
Brook Forest Inn
Evergreen,Colorado
In 1913 Edwin F. Welz, of Vienna, Austria, and his wife Riggi of Switzerland, settled on the land that now houses the Brook Forest Inn. When they first arrived there was a cabin that they renovated. They also built some additional structures, landscaped the ground and planted some vegetables. By 1919, the Brook Forest Inn was opened. The Inn had running water, baths, and electricity and could accommodate up to 130 people. These were luxuries at the time. By 1935 the Welzes had built several guest cottages, a stable and swimming pool and in 1937 construction was completed on a medieval turret of white and rose quartz that is known as the Bell Tower House. Edwin and his wife owned and operated the Inn until 1946 when they sold it. The couple had one child, a son, who was born in 1911 and passed away in 1922 because of pneumonia. Prior to World War II, the Inn was a meeting place for the Nazis. It is reported that the dining room carpet covered a large swastika painted on the floor. Rumor also had it that a large sum of Nazi gold was buried in or near the Inn at the outbreak of the war. Tales of murder involving Bund members and a secret burial in the Inn have also been told. It is also believed that Jesse James visited the area in 1876 after the Northfield, Minnesota bank robbery to bury the money. There are stories of many afterlife visitors as well. It has been reported that a small child who died on the third floor possibly of influenza is heard running up and down the third floor hallway knocking on doors. There is another story about a stable hand named Carl. Carl is rumoured to have strangled his wife, who was the chamber maid, in one of the suites. There are two versions of what happens next. One story states that after murdering his wife, Carl hung himself in the livery stables up the street from the Brook Forest Inn. The other version states that he hung himself in one of the rooms on the second floor. Carl’s spirit has been seen lurking throughout the hotel on numerous occasions. Neighbours to the Inn have reported seeing a full apparition of a woman on the balcony of one of the suites when the Inn was known to be vacant. Maids in the Inn have complained about the smell of rotting flesh on the second and they have reported objects in the Inn moving around on their own. The sounds of doors opening and closing on their own can also be heard. There have also been reports of light anomalies and ghostly sounds in the Inn.
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