Colorado Hotel That Inspired 'The Shining' Could Be Turned Into Horror Museum
Organizers in Colorado are planning to build what is being called the world’s first horror-themed museum, and they’ve got the perfect venue: the Stanley Hotel, which famously inspired guest Stephen King to create The Overlook Hotel in his 1977 bestseller The Shining, the source for Stanley Kubrick’s seminal 1980 cinematic chiller.
Denver Business Journal reports that an organization called Go NoCO is working with the hotel to raise $24 million to create a 43,000-square-foot horror film center. In addition to the museum, the grounds would also home a film archive, 500-seat auditorium, and production studio with a 3,000-foot soundstage and post-production and editing suites.
The Stanley Hotel is located in the resort-filled Estes Park, Colorado, home of the Rocky Mountain National Park and located 70 miles northwest of Denver.
The Stanley Hotel (StanleyHotel.com)
King stayed at the Stanley while on vacation with his wife in 1974, and a nightmare he had during the stay sparked the idea for The Shining. The story follows a family man (played in the film by Jack Nicholson) who takes a gig as an old hotel’s caretaker, only to be driven to madness and violent rage by unseen forces in the cold and mountainous isolation of the resort.
Related: A Look at The Overlook Hotel (Yahoo Homes)
It’s probably a wise move for the organizers to act quickly in turning the Stanley into an even bigger tourist draw: You don’t want the folks at Mount Hood, Oregon’s Timberline Lodge, where some of the films exteriors were actually filmed, getting any ideas.
