The Colorado hotel that helped inspire Stephen King’s The Shining may have just been home to some paranormal activity after a photo was snapped showing two ‘ghosts.’
After doing the ‘spirit tour’ at the iconic Stanley Hotel in Estes Park last month, the Mausling family from Aurora, Colorado, noticed a small girl walking down the stairs and another lingering in the mix with people on another portion of the steps.
John ‘Jay’ Mausling – who took the photo – and his wife, Jessica Martinez-Mausling, assert that their 11-member party had no little girls in it.
After doing the ‘spirit tour’ at the iconic Stanley Hotel in Estes Park last month, the Mausling family from Aurora, Colorado, saw two ghost in their photo – a little girl (right) and another figure on the steps with the people (left). Last year, a photo was taken showing a ‘ghost’ at the same location on the steps
John ‘Jay’ Mausling – who took the photo – and his wife, Jessica Martinez-Mausling, say no girls were in their group but one showed up in the image
Last year, a photo was taken showing what appeared to be a spooky figure on the steps, close to the same area.
‘At first we tried to be logical and think we somehow missed her so we asked our kids, their girlfriends and our friend if they remembered seeing a little girl,’ they said in an email to Huffington Post.
‘Nobody did. We do not remember seeing anything on the stairs when we took the picture.’
The photo was checked for signs of foul play by Ben Hansen, a former FBI agent who is now host of Syfy’s Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files.
‘I really like this photo,’ Hansen said.
‘Assuming that it’s not doctored, it ranks up there as one of the best photos of possible paranormal evidence I’ve seen.
‘At first we tried to be logical and think we somehow missed her so we asked our kids, their girlfriends and our friend if they remembered seeing a little girl,’ they said in an email to Huffington Post
King’s third book, 1977’s The Shining, was born out of an experience at the hotel and was named the third-best novel for the respected writer in a 2014 Rolling Stone poll. It was set at the spooky Overlook Hotel. It was turned into a movie in 1980
‘If it is faked, I’ve got to hand it to them for their level of detail and creativity because there’s usually enough easy signs to suggest hoaxing.’
The photograph may include another ghostly apparition not quite as obvious to the eye as the girl.
‘Assuming that it’s not doctored, it ranks up there as one of the best photos of possible paranormal evidence I’ve seen,’ said former FBI agent Ben Hansen
At the time the photo was taken, the Mauslings claim that only the tour guide and someone on their phone were on the steps.
But the photo appears to show a third figure who is walking away from the tour group, up the stairs.
At first analysis, Hansen believed that the image showed some of the people in same motion blur but that soon would change.
He added: ‘Through the stair railing posts you should see the lower half of this person like you do the tour guide and the shoes of the person on the stairs… but I can’t make out any lower half.’
Because there was no litmus test done on the photo, it is hard to actually verify what is in it, according to Hansen.
Last year, a photo was taken showing what appeared to be a spooky figure on the steps, close to the same area.
The hotel has long served as a destination for those seeking the paranormal thrill.
King called the hotel ‘the perfect ― maybe the archetypical ― setting for a ghost story’ after a stint there in 1974.
On his official website, the lauded author shared that he and wife – fellow author Tabitha King – were the only visitors to the hotel when it was closing for the winter.
Stephen King called the hotel ‘the perfect ― maybe the archetypical ― setting for a ghost story’ after a stint there in 1974 and created The Shining, three years later
He said: ‘That night I dreamed of my three-year-old son running through the corridors, looking back over his shoulder, eyes wide, screaming.
‘He was being chased by a fire-hose. I woke up with a tremendous jerk, sweating all over, within an inch of falling out of bed.
‘I got up, lit a cigarette, sat in the chair looking out the window at the Rockies, and by the time the cigarette was done, I had the bones of the book firmly set in my mind.’
King’s third book, 1977’s The Shining, was born out of the experience and was named the third-best novel for the respected writer in a 2014 Rolling Stone poll. It was set at the spooky Overlook Hotel.