The Stanley Hotel misses Colorado's ten most haunted places

With Halloween approaching, the Stanley Hotel, Colorado's most famous haunted site, does not rank among the state's ten most haunted places in HauntBound's 2026 index. The index ranks 132 Colorado sites by separate published accounts and how far back they go, not by fame or search popularity.

Freelan Oscar Stanley, co-inventor of the Stanley Steamer automobile, arrived in Estes Park in 1903 seeking relief from tuberculosis and built a Georgia Colonial Revival resort that opened July 4, 1909. On June 25, 1911, a gas leak exploded in one of the rooms after a chambermaid, Elizabeth Wilson, entered with a lit candle; she survived and returned to work. Stephen King stayed in Room 217 in October 1974, nearly alone in the building for the season, and the visit became the basis for his 1977 novel The Shining.

Guests in Room 217 describe luggage unpacked and refolded when no one has entered the room, and a cold presence between them in the bed. On the fourth floor, guests and staff have reported children's laughter and running footsteps when no children are registered there. F.O. Stanley's presence is most often reported in his former billiards room, where guests have noted the smell of a cigar, and his wife Flora's piano in the concert hall is said to sound on its own.

Statewide, Silver Cliff Cemetery in Silver Cliff ranks #1.

"We rank by evidence, not legend: independent published accounts, documented history, and how far back the reports go. We don't claim ghosts are real, or that they aren't. We document where the reports concentrate, and we show our work," said Ben Fineman, editor of HauntBound. The ranking shows each site's documented record.

Visiting:The Stanley Hotel, 333 E. Wonderview Ave., Estes Park, is a working hotel with nightly paranormal history tours and evening ghost hunts available in October.

For media:The full ranking: https://hauntbound.com/most-haunted/colorado/The fact sheet, with cleared images: https://hauntbound.com/press/fact-sheets/colorado/Venue contact: stanleyhotel.comA short version follows.

HauntBound (hauntbound.com) is a family-friendly field guide to more than 6,000 documented haunted and historic places across the United States, ranked by published evidence rather than legend. No venue pays to be listed or ranked.

Media contact: Ben Fineman, Editor, HauntBound, editor@hauntbound.com

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