The Wanderer by maker.amy.m

FALL 2019

escape the ordinary

THE SILVER ARROW Dystopian Legend THE QUEEN MARY CRUISE Woman in White

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THE STANLEY HOTEL HAUNTING

Stephen King Inspiration

HAUNTED DESTINATIONS

Contents

All It Takes to Create a Ghost Is a Good Story

BY SARAH L ASKOW How our brains process stimuli

What Does Off The Beaten Path Really Mean?

BY JODI E T TENBERG It was simply a matter of genuine, human interaction.

The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS)

BY BILL FREEMAN Members of The Atlantic Paranormal Society can be found worldwide.

The Stanley Hotel History, Haunting & Whiskey BY JESSIC A NOR AH Hotel is best known for the inspiration for Stephen Kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s The Shining

The Queen Mary Opens Up Its Haunted Hotel Suite For An Overnight Ghostly Experience BY JIM DOBSON AKA The Grey Ghost Cruize Ship

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Ghost Hunters at the Otesaga Hotel

Famous Hautnings at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

BY HAUNTED ROOMS AMERICA Meet Marylin Minroe and other famous ghosts at the Roosevelt

The Silver Arrow, the Real Ghost Train

BY ERIC GRUNDHAUSER Fanciful legends about ghost trains

Universalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Halloween Horror Nights 2019 BY ROBERT NITE The return of Ghostbusters to Universal Studios Hollywood

Best Estes Park Restaurants

BY ALI PFENNINGER Top 10 Places in Estes Park

6 Fall Festivals Worth a Trip

BY JAY GENTILE Fall is about more then pumpkins, spices and football

10 Ghost Hunting Tips for Beginners

BY UNKNOW N Be prepared if you plan to go ghost hunting on the next adventure.

Dear Readers,

e are thrilled to present a story about The Stanley Hotel in this issue of the magazine. Located right in the middle of Este National Parks

Colorado, the park offers a plethora of outdoor activities, from rivers to trail, forest to dunes. Add to that a spooky tour of The Stanley and wide assortment of tasty restaurants, unique shopping options, a vibrant artists community, and all sorts of festivals, and well, we’re just happy to share. We hope you’ll come explore the many things that make this a wonderful vacation spot and a fine place to explore. Speaking of exploring, you’ll also find the Silver Arrow Train of Stolkhom to be a spooky ride or the Queen Anne ship for a haunted night in this issue, with lots of tips to help you plan for exploring like a professional paranormal investigator. An Oktoberfest and festivals are great right now, so it’s good time to have a good scare. If you’re a theme park fan, you’ll be happy to hear that Universal Studios Florinda is putting on some fascinating shows that include Ghost Busters, Killer Klowns and Stranger Things. We hope you had a wonderful summer that included plenty of time walking on the beach and hiking. But if you are not yet sated, remember that fall generally brings great weather with no crowds. It’s the perfect time for a visit these locations. Cheers! Amy Maker

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Writers and Photographers

Writers

Jodi Ettenburg is a speaker and author and soup eater. A former lawyer from Montreal who has been eating her way around the world since 2008.

Laurence and Jessica Norah, a travel blogging couple of Independent Travel Cats Savvy Travel Advice share their adventures from all over the world. Jim Dobson is the senior contributor to Forbes magazine and is searching the world for the most amazing people, places and things. Haunted Rooms America provides the experience of a night in a haunted hotel and writer of The Hollywood Roosevelt. Eric Grundhauser is the program lead of Atlas Obscura writing and designing tours. Lives in Brooklyn with his comic book collection and is featured in Slate, NPR, Vanity Fair to name a few. Sarah Laskow was a writer for the Atlas Obscura and is now a reporter, writer and editor at the Atlantic in New York City. Haunted places to go is a comprehensive compilation of places around the globe the features paranormal activity.

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escape the ordinary

Robert Niles is the founder of Theme Park Insider and editor of major newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times and the Rocky Mountain News. Ali Pfenninger is a freelance photographer and painter and a graduate of Fine Arts and Business from the University of Colorado Boulder. Jay Gentile is a writer for the Marriot Bonvoy Traveler and travels the globe capturing places such as New Orleans and the Caribbean Islands.

Photographers Cover

Notre-Dame Cathedral, Ottawa, Canada Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin

Inside this issue Lennart Wittstock Leo Cardelli Rahul Ivandrei Pretorius Roberto Nickson Ekaterina Artem Lupanchuk

Marc Schulte Alex Blokstra MoisĂŠs Maldonado Luke Barkhuizen Lovefood Art Chris Gonzalez Devon Rockola Mads Rasmussen Robert Heiser

WHA T DO ES PATH RE

OFF T ALLY H MEAN E ?

BEAT EN

IE D JO

G ER B N TE

took the subway back from downtown Manhattan to Brooklyn early this week. The R train pulled into Union Square but as I was about to step in, I turned and saw the long line of people waiting for the Q express and thought better of it. Sure enough, the Q sputtered into the station as soon as the R train departed. As it turned out, the express train was anything but express. The train stopped between stations frequently, lurching forward and then stopping again. Heavy sighs from the passengers, squished to the gills. All of us crunched together, separate sardines on a commute home. I looked around me and wondered what peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stories were in this mishmash of humanity on a late Monday night in New York City. I was dressed for meetings in a skirt and silk top and boots; no one giving me a passing glance would think I lived elsewhere, that I had spent the past 3+ years roaming the globe. One never knows what lies beneath the outer layers. As the train ground to a halt for what must have been the 20th time, the giant hairy arm of my neighbor knocked over the woman across from me. We were all clustered around the pole on the train, but only he was oblivious. Lost in his music, or simply uncaring, he kept elbowing her in the face as he moved. FALL 2019

Several minutes passed. Five, six. Still stopped on the Brooklyn Bridge, my neighbor still stuck smelling the arm of the giant to her right. I turned to her and suggested she start pulling his arm hairs out, one by one. She giggled. The man across from us stifled a laugh. More time passed, but we did not move. Six of us were standing in star formation, each joined together by the metal pole affixing us to our allotted subway places, grounding us to the train for the duration of our ride home. There’s a funny sort of intimacy that bubbles to the surface when you’re motionless in the subway; you can’t help but actually start noticing details instead of vaguely staring past the person in front of you. Your straphanging neighbors cease being random strangers and start to take shape into real people, with quirks and personalities and stories. After several service announcements (“broken subway is broken”) and still wedged on the Brooklyn Bridge, the woman to my right cocked her head in my direction and whispered “since I’m not going to pull arm hairs out, tell me – what’s your life story.” So I told her. And she told me hers, and then we both raised our eyes to the man across the way, who shrugged and volunteered that he was from Florida, had just moved here to take a job after years of freelance. “I thought the train was supposed to be fast?” he asked. We nodded, commiserating. What does Traveling “Off the beaten path” really mean? I often receive emails asking for suggestions about where to visit that’s off the beaten path. People who write to say,“I know you put these places on your blog, but where are the secret places, the ones that no one else knows about?” Oftentimes these readers are looking for a connection to others that feels special or sacred, something different. A story that we can look back on and tell the story to friends at home. “And then, she invited me to her family’s house and I ate with them, staying late into the night!” But do we really need somewhere away 12 WANDERER

from all the tourists to get that feeling of sincere invitation or “authenticity”? Every Sunday in Chiang Mai I took take my motorbike to the night market to get a massage and grilled pork and sticky rice. It was a routine that made Sundays the best of the week, full of smoky meat and sharp, spicy sauce and followed by an hour of someone beating up my legs and back. And in the middle of the hustle and bustle and the fluid movement of near and far, I always felt like I was in another world from the endless stream of many tourists flowing by. I would go to the same woman every week and while she worked her magic we’d make fun of the random outfits on those walking by, or berate the men working there for teasing the youngest of the girls on staff. The song and dance between her and the other masseuses was overstated and comical, slapstick humor and lots of laughter. By the time I left Chiang Mai, I was showered with many hugs and given bags stuffed with food to take on my onward journey. And yet, when people ask for suggestions to Chiang Mai, they don’t want the night market. They want something different, something that sets their visit apart from the others. Like an everyday commute in New York, you don’t need the social clout of stepping outside the quotidian to have memorable experiences. Nothing I experienced in Chiang Mai is because I’m special, or because I befriended people specifically. It was simply a matter of genuine, human interacting. You only need to look at the people around you-truly look, communicate and smile. The rest falls into place. Three days before my ride to Brooklyn, I took the subway to the Lower East Side for the Restless Legs travel reading series. Three Frenchmen were lost, and given that I’m from Montreal, I jumped in to help them figure out where they wanted to go next. They stayed on the platform, and as I boarded the train, a woman next to me joked that she ought to have learned French in high school. (Let’s just say these Frenchmen weren’t hard on the eyes.) Originally from Russia, she

lived in New York for some time. She was surprised to hear of my travels through Russia and Siberia. This initial banter turned into a long discussion about the politics of Russia and Siberia and an invitation to her family’s house for dinner. None of these stories make me unique, and none are truly outside the confines of what’s normal for everyday human interaction. So why is it that when I tell people about my new subway friends, their jaws drop and they say “why don’t I meet people on the subway?” While it’s true that I’ve become more open to these random connections by

And then, she invited me to her family’s house and I ate with them, staying late into the night! Photo: The Market at Night in Chiang Mai virtue of my travels, I had similar experiences prior to quitting my job to travel the world. Perhaps it’s the same thing that has me winding my way through cities in search of markets and food instead of sights to see; I’m fascinated the most by the interaction between people. To those who write to say they’d love to travel but aren’t yet ready to go, I suggest that they get outside of their comfort zone, even in their own hometown. You want to get off the beaten path? Start small, then take your show on the road. It’s an excellent start. And when people write me to ask for

isolated places, I do send them a list. But I also suggest that they remain open to the panoply of human interactions as they move through their days. Yes, I love to get away from the tourists and the many people who travel for travel’s sake, but it’s not always about the most far flung places. In the middle of the busiest cities you’ll find those same connections and new friendships.

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The Atlantic Paranormal Society

he Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) is an organization that investigates reported paranormal activity. Based in Warwick, Rhode Island, TAPS was founded in 1990 by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson. In 2004, the organization itself became the subject of Ghost Hunters. The show ran for eleven seasons on Syfy in the US. In 1990, Hawes began what was “Rhode Island Paranormal Society”, after having a personal experience with spirits. After RIPS began investigating cases throughout the New England area, Jason met up with Grant Wilson in 1995 and renamed it “The Atlantic Paranormal Society.” The group was originally run out of Jason’s basement. They pioneered investigative techniques that many other paranormal investigators use. In 2003 they taped ten episodes of “Ghost Hunters” for the SyFy channel.

TAPS sends 3-8 members to perform an 8-16 hour investigation, employing a number of infrared and digital video cameras, thermal camera de-

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vices, EMF (electromagnetic field) detectors, digital thermometers and other equipment throughout the site. While at a site, the members of the team often find common explanations for the claims of the occupants. In conclusion, the team will report on its findings, and express their opinion that a site is “haunted” or “not haunted.” They distinguish themselves from other paranormal groups by claiming they wish to disprove a haunting. Members of TAPS can be found worldwide. TAPS has also made honorary members of some celebrities who have participated in investigations filmed for the Ghost Hunters TV series, several of whom, such as Tapping and The Miz, appear in programming produced by the show’s parent network, Syfy. Many paranormal investigation groups network and assist similar member groups across the nation and around the world. These organizations are part of a network called the TAPS Family. A list of member organizations is available at the The Atlantic Paranormal Society Family Website. o

All It Takes to Create a A tale of two bars in Portland, Oregon

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BY SARAH LASKOWAUGUST When Todd started writing his book, he believed in ghosts. By the time he finished, he did not. One day back around 2006, Cobb saw an ad from a regional publisher that wanted to expand its line of books about urban ghosts, from Savannah to New York, to include Portland, Oregon. While he was waiting for a video to render, for his day job as a media producer, he wrote a proposal and the first pages of an introduction, and he got the gig. He imagined himself as a Carl Kolchak– type, a reporter drawn into the world of the supernatural. Kolchak had been the protagonist, played by Darren McGavin, of a couple of 1970s television movies and a short-lived series, The Night Stalker. He wore a perky straw hat with broad ribbon above the brim, as he investigated everything from vampires to murderous

androids. So Cobb, then 30-something, with a long face and a furrowed brow, got a hat, put up an ad on Craigslist, and waited for Portland’s ghost stories to start floating in. If he were to do it again, Cobb says, he would have done it differently. He would vet the people before meeting them, for one thing. “I paid for a lot of coffee without getting much out it,” he says. A “spiritual cleanser,” for instance, kept him in the coffee shop for almost two hours. He bought her two, maybe even three, fancy coffee drinks, and she told him in great detail about the ghosts that took over her house—how they moved glasses and furniture, smashed things, and worse. After he transcribed the long recording, Cobb went to his neighborhood pub and regaled everyone there with the tales. When he was finished, a

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woman told him, “That’s the poltergeist.” Yeah, exactly, he explained-“No, no,” she interrupted, “the movie called The Poltergeist.” Serial disappointments have a way of dulling one’s ambitions. Cobb couldn’t help it if some of the supernatural anecdotes were a bit boring, or if Portland simply didn’t have enough well-documented ghost stories to fill a book. At least one time, he invented a story entirely. It always seemed odd to him to write about “true” ghost stories, but he did get nervous that he was stretching the truth a little too far. But the publisher accepted what he’d written and the book came out in 2007. He became known, at least for awhile, as Portland’s “ghost guy.”

“The first requirement for there being a ghost in a house is someone believing there’s a ghost in the house,” As the ghost guy, he heard more ghost stories, and then a strange thing started happening. He would hear the stories he wrote-parts he knows he made up-repeated back to him, by people he didn’t know and who didn’t realize that they’d read them in a book. He had written in the introduction, “When we move beyond the realm of science, we’re in the realm of faith. We believe because we believe.” But he was surprised that many people believed so thoroughly and eagerly in ghosts that he’d just invented. “The first requirement for there being a ghost in a house is someone believing there’s a ghost in the house,” says Christopher Bader, a professor of sociology at Chapman University in Orange, 18 WANDERER

California, who has spent years studying various paranormal beliefs in America. A good story can be just enough. So now, two haunted bars featured in on of Cobb’s book, only one of which had a ghost story prior to its publication are equally just as deeply haunted. ONE OF THE STORIES IN the book is about a bar called Scooter McQuade’s, though the old brown sign out front only says “Scooter’s.” Its history goes back to the Prohibition era, when it held underground parties-literally, in bootlegger tunnels under the streets. One night, Cobb writes, a gang dressed as police ambushed their drunken rivals, gunning down a whole group of people. The bar-gloomy, dark, cool, and busy for a weekday afternoon-is just a block past a part of town full of “curated” stores, high-end chains, and white-tiled restaurants. Along one wall, under a red neon sign that says “Knotty Pine,” a couple of guys are hunched over the light-up lotto machines.

When I tell the bartender,her name is Veronica, why I’m here, she doesn’t hesitate at all. The bar is definitely haunted, she says. People have strange moments here all the time. Just the other day, the camera in the basement flickered on and off for an hour, with no explanation, and then just started working again. And the ghosts were messing with the toilet seat in the bathroom. Mostly the bartenders notice small things, especially when it’s quiet. Footsteps. A shadow in the corner of the basement storage space. A chair dragging across the floor of the bar when no one’s there. What makes these little moments seem so supernatural? Shadows, stray sounds, those are everywhere. Sometimes in my office (which, granted, is in a converted old factory building with plenty of its quirks), I hear the floor creak, then a few pops. Hmm, the leaves of the plant by the window are moving. There are easy explanations—a colleague walking by, an old building’s groans, an air vent. But if I

were here alone, at night? Maybe those enthusiast. But maybe if you stick around details wouldn’t seem so harmless. … that could change? “When you think about what they’re “Creepiness is all about the uncertainty actually reporting, it’s kind of nothing, of whether there’s something to be afraid right?” says Francis McAndrew, a profesof,” McAndrew says. That ambiguity puts sor of psychology at the Knox College. your body on edge and paralyzes your “It’s only when you’re in a place you mind as you fight the urge to escape. In believe to be haunted that you find this a bright sunny room, a floorboard creak stuff to be scary.” can be dismissed as nonthreatening. In a McAndrew knows a lot about creepidark basement, a place that lends itself ness. A few years ago he did a study that to haunting, it’s harder to ignore. An asked participants to rate how creepy ambiguous sound or a cold draft can send people in a series of photos seemed, and part of the mind to the darkest possible he came to a few conclusions. Men are place, even while another part insists creepier than women. People think that that everything’s fine. collecting is a creepy thing to do, espeINSIDE CROW BAR AN OLD photo cially when it involves insects, dolls, or hangs on the wall, of the street it sits bones. Clowns are definitely creepy. Too on maybe a hundred years before. The much touching? Creepy. Fascination with building has been around since then, and death or sex? Also creepy. (Atlas Obscura? when the current owners took it over Maybe kind of creepy.) in 2009, they were told it is haunted. These might not seem like great The space is long and skinny and, like insights into the human condition, but Scooter McQuade’s, dark in the middle of having data to back them up showed the day. When I ask the bar staff about McAndrew what connected them. There’s ghosts, the reaction is the same as at nothing immediately threatening about the other bar—they know there’s a ghost insects or dolls or clowns or an extra here, because they have had all kinds of touch on the shoulder or a cemetery spooky experiences. Unexplained sounds. The Portland waterfront, more than 100 years ago. PUBLIC DOMAIN

A presence down the stairs. Hammering. Shadows in the corner. “One time I was here and a pint glass flew horizontally off the shelf,” says Anastasia Browning, one of the bartenders. She’d had other creepy moments there, too. “This was the first time I thought, ‘That was not natural.’” The story about Crow Bar in Cobb’s book described the ghost as a soldier from World War I—so in theory he might be a different kind of specter than the ones at Scooter McQuade’s, who died in the violent gang massacre. The soldier had been sick and wasted away here, and his signature ghost move is supposed to manifest as a wheezing sound or a gust of air. But the experiences that Browning mentioned sounded very similar to the ones from Scooter McQuade’s. Bader, the sociologist, has been in more haunted houses than he can count, and he says that this is pretty typical. “The things that people get excited about are minor things,” he says. The story that people bring to a place can change what they experience, but it doesn’t change what’s actually happening there. A ghost

Tunnel underneath Portland, also probably haunted.

hunter might go into a haunted house and find herself talking to an old lady, but a demonologist in the same place is going to sense a demon. One of the main ways our brains process all the stimuli out there in the world is to use what we already know as a framework. When you encounter a new

“It’s only when you’re in a place you believe to be haunted that you find this stuff to be scary.” type of tree in the forest, you know it’s a tree, without having to think—it’s tall, it’s got bark, it’s got leaves. Ghost stories work in the same way. When you “know”

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a place is haunted, your brain immediately identifies a creaking board or a flickering light as being supernatural. Cobb got it right, though, when he wrote that faith is at the core of these stories. “There’s a very powerful desire amongst the general public to believe that there is a life after death,” says Bader. “Everything tells us we have this innate desire to believe that it’s not over when we die.” Religion in America is declining, but belief in ghosts is staying stable. If no one wanted to believe in ghosts, Cobb’s stories wouldn’t have any power. But people do want to believe, which makes even newly invented ghosts every bit as real as ghosts that have been around for much longer. In his book, Cobb wrote about the one time that he did see something he considered inexplicable, in the Commodore Grocery, a small, supposedly haunted, store in a large, old building. Cobb used to go there almost every day to buy cigarettes, and one day, not long after he’d started working on the ghost

book, he saw an unnerving woman there short, “with a dirty white coat and a long, dark ponytail,” who appeared, disappeared, and the next moment appeared again, “blurry, amorphous, and insubstantial one second and solid the next.” “What I didn’t put in there,” he now mentions, “was that I was so desperately hung over I thought I was going to die. Perhaps I was more sensitive to seeing things from the other world.” When he was collecting ghost stories, he often found that the people who wanted to tell the stories were looking for attention more than anything else. But, though his faith in ghosts was shaken by these encounters, he hasn’t written them off entirely. “When I was young, my grandfather died, and I swear I woke up that night and he was standing in my room to say goodbye,” he says. “I would have sworn that happened, for years. I could have dreamed it. But I was comforted by that experience.”o

THE STANLEY HOTEL HISTORY, HAUNTING & WHISKEY

The Grady Twins 22 WANDERER

HE STANLE Y HOTEL is best known for being the inspiration for Stephen King’s bestselling novel The Shining and the subsequent film starring Jack Nicholson as the slowly driven mad overseer. The Stanley Hotel is located in Estes Park Colorado, the gateway to

one of the most visited national parks in the United States: Rocky Mountain National Park. Set amidst the beautiful mountain scenery of Colorado, The Stanley Hotel was built in 1909 as a grand summer resort that catered to wealthy travelers from the East Coast.

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T HE S TA NL E Y HOT EL has a storied history that begins well before Stephen King stepped foot on the property, and the hotel once hosted guests like Molly Brown, John Philip Sousa, and Theodore Roosevelt. Today the hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a member of Historic Hotels of America. Visitors to Estes Park flock to the hotel to take a tour, have a drink at the Whiskey Lounge, and stay overnight in one of its historical (and perhaps haunted) rooms. We’ll share a bit of this haunting as we go through this article and take a tour of the hotel’s history and our experience touring, eating, and sleeping at this famous hotel.

WHY IS HE STANLEY HOTEL FAMOUS?

The Stanley Hotel is famous for a few reasons. First for its historical place

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in the history of Estes Park and the development of the area. Second for its connection to Stephen King and the book, The Shining, and lastly for the actual supposed hauntings and paranormal activity associated with the hotel. S TA N L E Y H OT E L H I S TO RY The man responsible for building The Stanley Hotel was Freelan Oscar Stanley. Stanley was born and raised in Maine and he and his identical twin brother Francis Edgar were entrepreneurs and inventors from a young age. They sold maple syrup, made concert-quality violins, ran a company specializing in photographic dry plates for Kodak, and designed the Stanley Steamer automobile. However, a life-threatening bout of tuberculosis in 1903 caused doctors to recommend that Stanley spend time in the curative Rocky Mountain air in

Colorado. Stanley and his wife Flora went to Denver and later to Estes Park for the summer. During the summer in Estes Park in a rustic cabin, Stanley’s health recovered and he decided to return each year to Estes Park. In 1905, Stanley had built and moved into his own property in Estes Park, a four bedroom house. However, the couple decided after a couple of years that they wanted to be able to be able to accommodate more of their friends and provide the sort of social life that would impress their East Coast millionaire friends, so they built the Stanley Hotel. Completed in 1909, the Colonial Revival hotel featured the latest of technologies, including a hydraulic elevator, electric and gas heating, running water, steam laundry, telephones in every guest room, and of course a fleet of Stanley “Model Z” Mountain Wagons that would transport guests to and from the local train depot. To entertain guests, a Concert Hall

was built which was also a gift for Flora as she loved to play the piano. However, the hotel lacked central heating until 1983! So it was only a seasonal hotel during most of its history, closing down each winter. Interestingly, The Stanley Hotel was not the first grand hotel in little Estes Park. The first was actually the Estes Park Hotel built in 1877 by Irishman Windham, Thomas Wyndham-Quinn, who became the 4th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl. The Earl enjoyed the hunting in the area and bought up a large amount of land in a manner that made him a very disliked figure among the local people. In 1908, it would actually be Lord Dunraven who would sell F.O. Stanley the land on which he built The Stanley Hotel. Sadly, the Estes Park Hotel would be destroyed by fire in 1911. The Stanley Hotel would host a number of wealthy and famous people in its heyday, such as socialite FALL 2019

Margaret Brown (i.e. the “Unsinkable Molly Brown”), composer John Philip Sousa, and Theodore Roosevelt. The Stanleys would arrange an array of summer activities for their wealthy guests, from concerts and picnics to bowling and horseback riding. The building and development of the hotel would not only give the wealthy a place to holiday, it would also have a great impact on Estes Park. It provided employment and training opportunities for local residents and it helped improve local services. For instance to power the hotel, Stanley constructed the Fall River Hydro-Plant in 1917, which brought electricity to Estes Park for the first time. Stanley helped establish the first bank, funded the paving of roads, funded local schools, gifted vast tracts of land to the town, and helped Enos Mills on his quest to establish the Rocky Mountain National Park. The Stanleys and their grand hotel quite literally helped put the town on the map. The park was founded in 1915 and Estes Park became incorporated in 1917. F.O. Stanley never made a profit on the hotel and operated it more as a pastime and eventually ended up selling it in his later years. Flora and F.O. continued to spend summers in Estes Park at their private residence with Flora passing away in 1939 and F.O. in 1940 (age 91). Without Stanley’s vast fortune, subsequent owners had a difficult time maintaining the large resort hotel and it passed through several owners, who like Stanley never managed to make a profit. By the time Stephen King fatefully showed up, the hotel was not in its best condition and it would be the fame of the novel and subsequent film The Shining that may have saved the hotel from the wrecking ball.

THE STANLE Y HOTEL AND STEPHEN K ING CONNEC T ION The Stanley Hotel has a strong

connection with Stephen King and The Shining. A big disappointment for a lot of visitors to The Stanley Hotel is learning that the hotel was not used in the filming of Stanley Kubrick’s film The Shining and neither will the hotel exterior or interiors look very familiar to film fans. However, the hotel did serve as the inspiration for Stephen King’s third novel of The Shining and was used in the TV mini-series. In 1974, Stephen King and his wife Tabitha stayed overnight at The Stanley Hotel due to bad weather. Upon check-in the Kings discovered that it was the last day of the season, and the hotel was closing the following day, meaning there was limited staff and they were the only guests in the hotel. They had a bit of an eerie and surreal experience being the only guests in the large resort hotel and that night King had a nightmare about his son being chased by a fire hose in the hallways of the hotel. He reported that by the time he left the

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hotel, he had the basic plot of The Shining in his mind, which he would later publish in 1977. The novel quickly became a bestseller and remains one of King’s most popular novels. In 1980, Stanley Kubrick would direct the film version of King’s novel, choosing to film the vast majority of the movie on a film set, and using the Timberline Lodge in Oregon for a few of the exterior shots of the fictional hotel in the movie. The room number was changed to 237 in the film, something the Timberline Hotel requested as it did not relate to an actual room number at the hotel as they were afraid guests would not want to sleep in the room featured in the horror film . The memorable hedge maze in the film did not exist at the Stanley Hotel, the Timberline Lodge, or King’s fictional Overlook Hotel, but was added into Kubrick’s retelling of the story. Interestingly, a hedge maze (although much smaller in scale) was planted at the Stanley Hotel in 2015 because of its connection with the film. King was generally disappointed with Kubrick’s adaptation of his novel and in 1997, Stephen King wrote a teleplay and produced a three-part The Shining TV mini-series directed by Mick Garris, using the Stanley Hotel as a primary filming location. Today both the film and the mini-series are played on a loop on one channel at The Stanley so guests can enjoy the films while staying overnight at the hotel. The fact that Stephen King stopped at The Stanley Hotel was very fortuitous for the future of the hotel. The hotel at that point had fallen into decline and the success of the novel and film helped to greatly boost bookings for the hotel as well as lead to a fascination with the supposed hauntings at the hotel. The hotel also served as a filming location for other films and TV shows, notably the 1994 film Dumb and Dumber. Jim Carrey requested to stay in room 217 during the filming but left the room after only a few hours, and refused to return. It is unclear why he refused, but it seems he got spooked by something. It is not surprising that 217 is one of the most popular and

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requested room at The Stanley Hotel. If you want the chance to stay here, be sure to book this room well in advance.

THE SPOOK Y TALES AT THE STANLE Y HOTE L.

The Stanley Hotel has been regularly visited by Ghost Hunters and is believed to be one of the most haunted hotels in the country. Some of the reported paranormal activity includes mysterious figures appearing on the staircase, clothing being folded and packed away, the piano playing by itself, strange apparitions in portraits and photographs, unseen noisy children running up and down the halls, moving nightstands, and shadowy figures. One supposed ghost is a former hotel chambermaid named Mrs. Elizabeth Wilson who in 1911 entered room 217 with a lit candle. A gas leak caused an explosion and she fell through the floor to the MacGregor dining room below. She survived with broken ankles and injuries; she was well taken care of by the Stanleys after the accident and spent the rest of her working life at the hotel. Now she is believed to be responsible for folding and putting away guests’ clothes and for her disapproval of unmarried couples sharing a room. Other ghosts include the Stanleys, Lord Dunraven, children, and a kissing cowboy. Most are said to be friendly ghosts (laughing, folding 28 WANDERER

clothes, playing the piano) or standoffish, not sinister. The large number of strange happenings is believed by some to have a geological basis related to the types of minerals and rocks under the hotel which you can learn about on the hotel tours that are provided. If you are interested in the haunted history of The Stanley Hotel, I’d suggest considering the evening Ghost Tour, the Ghost Adventure overnight package (includes a K2 meter!), and choosing a room on the fourth floor. We were told the most haunted hotel room is 401, but rooms 217 Elizabeth Wilson, 407, 428 kissing cowboy, and 1302 are also said to have a fair amount of paranormal activity. The billiards room, hallways, and the Concert Hall are also frequent settings for reported ghost sightings (visits are included in the hotel tours). We personally did not see any ghosts and are not huge believers in the paranormal, but there were certainly some true die-hard believers on our hotel tour!

OUR OV ERNIG HT STAY AT THE STANLE Y HOTE L.

We spent two nights at the Stanley Hotel and during that time we did a hotel tour, ate two meals, visited the gift shop, and had drinks in the lounge, ensuring we had the full Stanley Hotel experience! We found it a great and convenient base for exploring the town of Estes Park

and the beautiful Rocky Mountain National Park. Read Laurence’s post about our tips on exploring the Rocky Mountain National Park. S L E E PI N G AT T H E S TA N L E Y H OT E L . We arrived in Estes Park around noon, and decided to try to check to see if our room was available early even though check in was not until 4:00 pm. Our room was not ready but the reception called housekeeping and told us that it would be given priority and we would be called when it was ready. We left to grab lunch and received a call about 30 minutes later telling us that our room was ready, so we returned and checked in. We were in Room 219, which I believe was a King Deluxe room. Our room is not considered one of the “haunted rooms”, but it was once part of the L-shaped Presidential Suite that also included 215 and 217. It was the presidential suite, room 217, that Mrs. Wilson, the chambermaid, had entered and fallen through the floor after the gas explosion. This area of the hotel was destroyed in the explosion and the large presidential suite was separated into three different rooms. Our room was spacious with historical charm, a comfortable King size bed, a wardrobe, a large desk, a jacuzzi bathtub, a large bathroom, a flat screen television, and free wi-fi connection. The room also included complimentary bottled water, toiletries, a hair dryer, iron, alarm clock, and a coffee maker. We had views overlooking the front courtyard and a view looking out into the distance towards the mountains. The second evening at the hotel, we watched Kubrick’s The Shining on the hotel TV (it plays all day) as Laurence had never seen it before! A great place to watch the film for the first (or fourth) time! We have nothing but good things to say about the room itself; however, there were two minor issues we had during our stay. First, we had difficulty connecting all our devices to the hotel’s Wi-Fi as the hotel’s router kept getting overloaded with devices (we were only able to connect 2 of the 4 our first day). This was a bit frustrating; the hotel staff apologized and said they were working on increasing their network capacity. By the second day, we were able to get all our devices to connect which was great and the connection strength was good once we were connected. The second issue was that because our room was right next door to the room where Stephen King had spent the night, all the

hotel tours stopped about ten feet away from us and we had to listen to a 5 minute tour talk near our room all afternoon, about every 30 minutes. Also there were a few annoying tourists who thought it was fun to come up and scream and jump around next to the rooms and even knock on the doors. I was working one afternoon in the room and this noise was very annoying to deal with. Of course the tours stop in the evening, but if you want peace and quiet, I’d recommend a room in the more private The Lodge (no public access and it is was built just a year later) or at least avoid the second and fourth floors of the main hotel and tours. That said, we still really enjoyed our room and it was a very comfortable place to spend our two nights in Estes Park. We’d definitely choose to stay here again. TO U R S AT T H E S TA N L E Y H OT E L . We did the regular Stanley Hotel Tour which is a 90 minute guided walking tour. All tours begin on the ground floor area and here you’ll find the Tour desk, a few museum display cases, and a video waiting area. The display cases included both historical pieces related to the Stanleys family and the hotel, as well as pieces related to the book The Shining by King. Our tour began on time and there were about 12 people on our tour. It started with

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a short introduction by our guide and then a short video about the hotel which focused on the interiors and history of the so-called haunted rooms. I thought this was a good way to show visitors these rooms since you don’t see any room interiors on the tour. Then we all headed outside and visited the Concert Hall, passing The Lodge on the way. Built in 1910, The Lodge was originally called the Stanley Manor, built as a 2:3 scale replica of the main hotel. It was initially used to house unmarried male guests as it was considered inappropriate at the time to house single women and children in the same building as the single male guests. In the Concert Hall we were able to sit down for a bit and our guide told us about the lives of the Stanley family, the building of the hotel, and about the famous guests and performers (e.g., composer John Philip Sousa and magician Harry Houdini) at the hotel. The lives of the Stanley brothers who began their first business together at age 10 was very interesting and quite inspiring, making significant contributions to the photography and automobile industries. I also enjoyed hearing about the good marriage between F.O. and Flora Stanley. We were then given free time to explore a couple of areas of the Concert Hall before heading back outside. We then walked to the front of the hotel to admire the recently planted hedge maze and facade of the grand hotel. Inside, we were taken through the lobby, music room, billiards room and MacGregor dining room. People were given time to take photos and given tips for the best places for paranormal activity. Most of the rooms on the tour are generally closed off to the public and only used for tours and special events. We also briefly explored the main staircase, the second floor guest hallway, and the supposedly haunted fourth floor of the hotel. We also learned about Stephen King’s stay as well as the making of The Shining film and mini-series. The last part of the tour we headed back downstairs to the museum area and then into a short section of service tunnel area which connects the hotel to the staff entrance. The entire tour mixed historical information and facts with the supernatural information about ghosts and paranormal activity. We both really enjoyed the tour and learned a lot, and it is a great way to see the hotel even if you are not staying here.

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DI N I N G & W H I S K E Y AT T H E S TA N L E Y. We had one breakfast and one dinner at the hotel’s Cascades Restaurant, as well as drinks in the Whiskey lounge with friends one evening. For breakfast, we thought there was a lot of selections and the portions were fairly large and tasty. But we were especially impressed with our dinner at the Cascades Restaurant. For the appetizers we ordered the onion soup and the buffalo sausage with lentils, both were quite good. Then we had the Colorado elk loin and the beef short ribs, and while both were great, we highly recommend the elk loin as it was the stand out dish for us during our time in Colorado. The restaurant is known for its steaks and Colorado inspired dishes so we’d recommend focusing on those dishes. We also had an order of the truffle parmesan shoestring french fries which were so highly addictive! Sadly we did not have any room for dessert that evening but there were some great options on the menu.

During our time in Estes Park, a fellow traveling blogger and friend Caroline happened to be staying at The Stanley Hotel with her sister, so we met up for some drinks at the Whiskey Bar. The bar serves a large variety of beer, wine, and cocktails, but it is best known for having Colorado’s largest selection of whiskeys, bourbons, and scotch. Laurence tried something called a Smoked Old-Fashioned which looked quite interesting and he really enjoyed the taste. I am not a whiskey drinker and the bartender actually made me my own drink after asking me what types of flavors I enjoyed. It was some sort of pineapple, berry, lime, and mint concoction that tasted delicious and I wish I would have asked the exact ingredients to be able to replicate it in the future! We can highly recommend the Cascades Restaurant and Whiskey Bar, but do make dinner reservations in advance. The bar area can get quite crowded, especially during the summer so come early to ensure a seat.

OVER ALL THOUGHTS ON THE STANLE Y HOTEL. We had a great

2-night stay at. Our room was comfortable, spacious, clean, and had all the amenities we needed. We also enjoyed the hotel tour and learning about the hotel’s rich history and more about the Stephen King connection. The hotel also has the haunted history, which I personally found less interesting but it is a big draw to many of the visitors. Ghost hunter types should definitely consider the ghost tours and the overnight ghost packages. The hotel is a tourist attraction and its appeal to visitors does make for a less peaceful and relaxing stay in the main hotel than one might expect, at least during the afternoons. Those that want more peace and quiet but still want to stay in a historical section of hotel, should consider The Lodge. Staff members were great during our stay, though we learned that the reception desk, restaurants, tour desk, and gift shop operate fairly separately, so it is

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often more efficient to call or go directly to the dedicated staff for whichever service you need rather than try to relay everything through the front desk staff. We had a great dining experience and would particularly recommend diners to try the local Colorado specialties and ask for what is fresh and local. The bar is perfect for whiskey lovers and we both had memorable drinks from the bar. I love historical hotels and this is a grand ole dame of a resort hotel that has a rich history with a spooky twist. For us, it was a perfect base for exploring the lovely town of Estes Park and the beautiful Rocky Mountain National Park. Hope you enjoyed learning about The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park and our tour through this historical hotel! Would this be a place you would stop if you were visiting Rocky Mountain National Park? Do you enjoy either historical hotels or haunted hotels? As always, feel free to ask us any questions or leave us any tips or advice of your own! We were provided free accommodation and one dinner by The Stanley Hotel and the Visit Estes Park covered our breakfast and hotel tour

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in order to review the hotel as traveling writers. We covered all other expenses during our stay. This article contains only our own honest thoughts and opinions.

BASIC INFORMATION

The Stanley Hotel is located 5 miles east of Rocky Mountain National Park. ACCO M M O DAT IO N S I N CL U D E: Main Hotel - original historic hotel rooms with classic furnishings in th 1909 building. The Lodge - updated historic rooms with a boutique feel and more modern furnishings in the 1910 building adjacent to the main hotel. Aspire - modern apartment-style rooms with kitchenettes and laundry facilities Residences - fully equipped 1 to 3 bedroom modern condominium residences. BO O K I N G A RO O M AT T H E S TA N L E Y? Rooms rates range from about $200 to $750 per night, with the Stanley Classic standard queen rooms in the main hotel and the standard queen rooms in The Lodge being are at the lowest of the prices. The “Haunted rooms” cost more than standard rooms.

BO O K I N G TO U R S O F T H E S TA N L E Y? Most visitors to the hotel do one of the offered tours. The main tours currently offered are the historical Stanley Hotel Tour which is offered during the day as well as special after dark evening tours. The tours covers the history of the hotel, the Stanleys, and the haunted aspects of the hotel. Both include a discussion of Stephen King and The Shining. Tours include a short video which introduces the hotel and shows visitors the interiors of the most famous rooms in the hotel, a tour of the Concert Hall, a walk around the exterior of the hotel, access to closed rooms on the main floor (billiards room, music room, MacGregor dining room), a brief hallway tour of the guest floors, and entrance into the service tunnel. Tours do not include access into any of the guest rooms (obviously!) and children under 5 years of age are not permitted on the tours. Tours do sell out, so do book in advance if you know the date and time you want to visit. All those with a booked tour also receive free parking so have your booking confirmation handy when you drive into the hotel.

E N T E RTA I N M E N T AT T H E H OT E L? In addition to its regular hotel tours, The Stanley Hotel also regularly has live entertainment on weekends throughout the year at its Stanley Live venue. The venue hosts comedians, concerts, bands, concerts, mystery dinner events, and more. You can see what’s currently happening and book tickets here. M O R E I N FO R M AT IO N? The Stanley Hotel has an excellent informative website, and you can also email them at info@stanleyhotel.com or call them at (970) 577-4000 or 1-800-976-1377 For more information about the area, check out the Estes Park visitor website, our suggested 2 day Rocky Mountain National Park itinerary, and the official park website for the Rocky Mountain National Park o

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The Queen Mary Opens Up Its Haunted Hotel Suite For An Overnight Ghostly Experience T

he Queen Mary once labeled as one of the “Top 10 most haunted places on Earth” by Time Magazine, has launched its famously haunted Stateroom B340 for overnight guests starting this month. The first time I visited the ship I personally felt its ghostly vibe and was eager to explore areas previously not made available to visitors. The infamous stateroom has a large number of recorded paranormal activity with numerous stories of haunted encounters recorded in the ship’s logs. Its dramatic history proves many lives were lost aboard the ship adding to the mystery of the famed ship. When WWII began in 1939, Queen

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Mary was converted into a transport ship for Allied troops and was nicknamed “The Grey Ghost.” Throughout the war, she transported over 800,000 troops to Europe and in 1942 while carrying more than ten thousand troops when she collided with her escort, the HMS Curacoa slicing it in half. Because of the threat of the enemy ship nearby, the Queen Mary was forced to leave the 239 crew and ship to perish beneath the sea. The Queen Mary was retired in 1967 after failing to attract popularity due to the advancements in air travel. Currently one of the most popular tourist attractions in America, she has become a hotel and museum permanently

docked in Long Beach, California. Through out the years, however, the staff and visitors began to report unusual happenings with ghosts and alarming sounds appearing throughout the ship. Screams and violent noises were reported in the boiler room where an 18 year old sailor was severed in half by a heavy door where he was trapped. And a young girl also haunts the ship as she plays a nightly game of hide and seek with the guests in the empty swimming pool area. The ships Queen’s Salon also contains many reports of paranormal activity with a Woman in White (reported to be a first-class passenger) residing there as she slides across the floor in a long gown dancing to a silent orchestra. It is believed that many spirits attach themselves to antique furniture or personal items remaining on the ship. The infamous B Deck once contained the third class cabins and is now used for guests of the Queen Mary Hotel. Long hallways of shiny wood paneling and burgundy carpets eerily add to the para-

normal feeling throughout the deck. With 314 staterooms and 13 suites, the most famous of them all is suite B-340 which used to be three third class staterooms and were converted into one large suite. Not luxurious by any means, this suite offers the basic furnishings, a simple design and has two fairly small portholes. The lower level passengers did not experience the luxury of the other wellheeled guests. The Queen Mary stopped accepting guests to this suite due to so many complaints that it was haunted. Footsteps, faucets turning on and off and toilets flushing on their own were all common complaints. But after numerous companies tried to rescue the failing enterprise (including Walt Disney Co.) wanting to convert it into a luxury hotel, it never worked out. Now the new operators of the ship are capitalizing on the haunted luxury line to drive new interest in the infamous ship. Due to increased popular demand with guests wanting to experience an overnight in suite B-340, they decided to open it up for reservations at $499 per

night. Guests who stay in the room will be offered a ghostly package including a chest with a Ouija board for private seances, tarot cards, a crystal ball and even ghost hunting equipment. But the future may look a lot brighter for the struggling Grand Dame as developers plan on eventually converting the ship into a major entertainment complex and retail district incorporating the surrounding city-owned land. o

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Ghost Hunters at the Otesaga Hotel 36 WANDERER

“ I have never met a ghost that wasn’t more likable than the average man.” — Stuart Macfarlane

The Otesaga Hotel was built in the early 1900s on Otesaga Lake’s southern shore in a small village called Cooperstown within the State of New York. The meaning of the word “otesaga” is “a place of meetings” and comes from the language of the Iroquois Indians who were originally from upstate New York. This beautiful large resort hotel has one hundred and thirty five rooms and is a member of the “Historic Hotels of America” program. One interesting fact about this hotel is that it has remained under the same ownership since it was built in 1909. While this hotel has an excellent reputation as being one of the best places to stay when visiting Cooperstown, it also has another reputation as being that of one of the most haunted hotels in New York. The Third and Fifth Floor Both the staff and guests who have stayed at the Otesaga Hotel have reported many unusual experiences in the hotel which suggest that the presence of multiple spirits may reside within the structure. These experiences include guests staying on the fifth floor of the hotel reporting the sounds of children running through the hallway to the front desk even though no children were present in the hotel at that time. Another common experience among guests staying on the fifth floor is hearing what sounds like furniture being moved or slid across the floor above them. When they inquire about this activity on the floor above them, they are informed that a sixth floor does not exist and that there is not even an attic but only the roof above them. Another occurrence that was reported by a guest staying in one of the fifth floor rooms is that he observed

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a figure moving down the hallway that appeared to suddenly dissipate as he as came closer to it. The third floor of this hotel has also had several reports by individuals of what seem to be paranormal occurrences. These include one guest seeing what appeared to be part of an apparition out of the corner of her eye that disappeared into the bath area of her room and another who claims to have heard the sounds of moaning or crying during the night that concerned her to the point where a staff member was called to check on the sound. The location where the sound appeared to be coming from turned out to be a linen supply closet and no apparent source for these sounds could be found. Ghost Hunters at the Otesaga Hotel TAPS – “The Atlantic Paranormal Society” - investigated the Otesaga Hotel while there were no guests present with the

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original episode of this investigation airing on their television show “Ghost Hunters” on the 25th of August in 2010. The team focused on the areas of the hotel that seemed to generate the majority of the reports of paranormal activity which included the fifth floor hallway of the hotel as well as rooms 585 and 307. TAPS managed to capture a couple of EVP’s and also saw and heard many of the same things guests and staff members alike have reported. While the team concluded that the evidence backs up the claims of paranormal activity within the hotel, they also assured everyone that there is likely nothing to fear from these permanent guests as they are basically just revisiting the place they may have once enjoyed when they were alive. If you have an interest in staying at a haunted New York hotel, the Otesaga Hotel seems like it would make an excellent choice. o

Famous Hauntings at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel T

he Hollywood Roosevelt is Los Angeles’ longest operating hotel and for a good reason. It has played home to many famous and not-so-famous people, and its still home to those souls who love it so much they just can’t pass on by. Be sure to make The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel a stop on your bucket list. The Hollywood Roosevelt is one of those four-star hotels in Los Angeles that you dream about staying in. Located right on Hollywood Boulevard it opened in 1927 and was named for the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt Jr. The hotel is famous for the celebrities who stayed in it during their lifetimes, and two very famous actors who have never left it, even though they have been dead for decades. Actors such as Errol Flynn, Shirley Temple, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are among its many guests over the years. But, it is Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift, who are both rumored to still be there.

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Photo: The Hotel Roosevelt of Hollywood

Marilyn Monroe is said to still occupy her suite #1200, where she has appeared to guests staying in the room. She has been seen in mirrors by many people staying in her suite. Actor Montgomery Clift, who was a good friend to Elizabeth Taylor and who was nominated for an Academy Award for three different movies, is said to still be most active in Room 928 as well as the hallway just outside the door. Instead of appearing in mirrors, Clift likes to brush up against people and has been heard practicing his trumpet. Some guests have believed he has prevented them from moving while they are lying on the bed. There are also those who say he is a shadow, just pacing the hallways or keeping watch on the guests in his room. Aside from the famous celebrities, the Hollywood Roosevelt is also home to a young girl spirit, 5-year old Caroline who is always looking for her mother. In the Blossom Ballroom are the ghosts of two male spirits; one of which was someone who attended one of the Oscar

ceremonies hoping to win an award. One spirit loves to play the piano, while other spirits have been known to lock people out of their rooms and make noises that sound like the stomping of many boots. BRIEF HISTORY The history of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is long and storied. Built in the Golden Era of Los Angeles architecture, it opened on May 15 of 1927. It played a major role in its first year, as many Hollywood regulars stopped by or made it their second home. By the 1950s the hotel was declining. Some awful renovations went on for the next few decades until it was purchased by Radisson Hotels in 1985. A $35 million renovation then took place, restoring the beautiful lobby as well as adding a threetiered fountain.

Film stars ghosts: Rudolph Valentino, Carole Lombard, and Marilyn Monroe. They tend to like hotels where they lived fabulous lives when they were alive, and so do lots of lesser-known ghosts, such as mysterious little kids, angry teenagers, and silent adults alike.

ABOUT The 12-story Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel has 300 guest rooms and 63 suites. It is FALL 2019

The mysterious citing of the kissing cowboy has been known to haunt the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

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near to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Inside the building is famous for its Spanish Colonial Revival Style look. One of the penthouses is named the GableLombard Penthouse after Clark Gable and his wife Carole Lombard, both of who used to stay there for five dollars a night. There is also a suite named for Marilyn Monroe and 1950s poolside cabanas. There is always so much to see and do at the Hollywood Roosevelt. With over 25,000 square feet of space available, there is any number of notable events that can be hosted there. There is the Blossom Ballroom, where the first Academy Awards show was held in 1929. There is the Oscar Room, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Hollywood Boulevard, and its roominess can accommodate up to 200 guests. The Academy Room also offers you beautiful natural light emanating from Hollywood Boulevard and is perfect for any type of social or reception. There is the Historic Lobby with its arched doorways, stone columns and beautifully paneled ceilings like no other. At its center are the tiled fountain and a gorgeous antique cast-iron chandelier. The Johnny Grant Gallery Space is perfect for an exhibition and its rooftop presence gives you dreamy, panoramic views of Los Angeles. The Bridge, located on the mezzanine level, offers striking views of the Tropicana Pool & Cafe directly below it. Tucked as if in secret between the Tropicana Pool and the Tower is The Garden. With its nearly 2,000 square feet, guests can enjoy a built-in bar, palm trees, fire pits, and stone tile flooring. When you’re hungry or just craving a drink, there is Cognac and Cocktails at the Library Bar, where you can learn everything about the world of Hennessy and how it has influenced some of the world’s best cocktails. Learn to become your own expert in mixing your own cognac concoctions. The Spare Room is The Hollywood Roosevelt’s little secret: a cocktail lounge fashioned to as a Prohibition-Era style, complete with a two-lane bowling alley and custom board games. The Public Kitchen & Bar is everyone’s favorite for

savory steaks, wild seafood, a pasta, some beers, cocktails and an extensive international wine list. There is even a traditional American burger joint called 25 Degrees, which is named after the exact temperatures between a mediumrare and a well done hamburger. THINGS TO DO What’s not to do in Los Angeles. If you are not here for a wide range of workshops or a special event, make plans to visit Disneyland or Universal Studios Hollywood. Don’t miss the Hollywood Walk of Fame or the TCL Chinese Theatre. For shopping in style, there’s the Rodeo Drive or cruise Sunset Boulevard. It’s a short trip to famous beaches such as Venice Beach, Zuma Beach and the famed Santa Monica Pier and Beach. Don’t forget the La Brea Tar Pits or take a Hollywood Homes Tour, so you can see where the stars shop. o

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The Real Ghost Train Haunting the Stockholm Metro BY ERIC GRUNDHAUSER FANCIFUL LEGENDS ABOUT GHOST TRAINS regularly pop up around subway systems, rail tunnels, and abandoned tracks. But in the case of the Stockholm Metro, the ghost train is real. The story of Stockholm’s poltergeist locomotive begins in 1965, according to Christoffer Sandahl, the director of Spårvägsmuseet, the Swedish Tramway Museum. That year, Stockholm Metro purchased eight unpainted aluminum train cars to add to its fleet. This bare aluminium train, which could be made more cheaply than the standard green ones already running on the metro, was mainly used as a test to see how it performed, the idea being that such trains could be a cost-effective option for the expanding urban transit system. The hundreds of trains in the metro system were painted a stock green in the 1960s, so when a silver train showed up on a line, it got people talking. Even before it became a ghost story, the train had earned the nickname Silverpilen (the Silver Arrow) from the locals. According to Sandahl, the train wasn’t very popular among Stockholmers, who took offense at its raw look. But it was not just the shiny silver exterior that set the train apart. The cars were of a slightly different design than the standard Stockholm Metro trains. The doors slid open on the outside of the train, allowing for a slightly expanded interior, and insides were free from the ads and decorations.

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Unlike the generally shining and clean metro trains most commuters were used to, the insides of the silver train were a bit dirtier, bearing the marks of removed graffiti, and generally looking a bit more dystopian. All of this contrast to the regular trains combined with Silverpilen’s unpredictable rarity—at least from the point of view of the commuters— created fertile ground for an urban legend to grow up around it. As Sandahl tells it, the basic legend is that “if you got onboard the Silver Arrow, you didn’t get taken to any station. You just traveled and traveled and traveled and never got out.” Swedish ethnologist and urban legend scholar, Bengt af Klintberg, who wrote about the Silverpilen in his 1986 book, Råttan i pizzan (The Rat in the Pizza), adds stories to some of the legend’s variants: “It is only seen after midnight. It stops only once every year. The passengers in the train seem to be living dead, with expressionless, vacant looks. A very common detail is that a person who just wanted to travel to the next station would remain seated for one week in the Silverpilen. Many girls dared not enter trains which they believed could be Silverpilen.” Whatever version of the legend one might hear, Silverpilen spells doom.

Instead of the sound of a conductor’s announcements, is an intermittent crackling, undercut by the sound of a deep, rough breathing. By the 1970s the legend of Silverpilen was widespread, well-known, and growing. In the early part of the decade, the metro system was expanded, opening the new Blue Line in 1975. As part of this expansion, the Kymlinge station was intentionally built to service in an area that was slated for an economic redevelopment. However this development never materialized. Without the expected demand for the station, the fully completed structure never opened to commuters. Soon this ghost station and stories began accruing urban legends of

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its own, sparking a local saying: “Only the dead get off at Kymlinge.” Like Silverpilen, Kymlinge was blank and unadorned on the inside, without ads or signs, making it look pretty ghostly in contrast to the other bustling stations along the metro. It was not long before the legends of Kymlinge and Silverpilen became intertwined, and the station came to be known as the home of Silverpilen, or the station where the ghost train picks up the dead. Just like Silverpilen, Kymlinge was very plainly real, but stories of the supernatural clinging to it like a fog. Silverpilen continued to be used in the Stockholm Metro until 1995 or 1996, when it was finally decommissioned, and the cars were split up. But the legend continued. “I’ve been working at the transport museum for 10 years,” Sandahl says, “and there are a lot of people who know the legend. All the Stockholmers know what Silverpilen is.” As Klintberg puts it, “The Silverpilen cars have been taken out of service. However, the rumor of a ghost train has survived them, you still hear it, especially among young people.” The ghost of Silverpilen lives on in the minds of metro riders, but the real train hasn’t completely disappeared either. According to Sandahl a couple of the cars survive around the country. Half of one of the trains was moved the Stockholm Police Academy, where it is used as a training setting to teach cadets how to conduct police crime on the metro. (Assumedly not supernatural crime though, or else Silverpilen would likely be public enemy number one.) The only other car that is known to remain is located at the headquarters of Hägglunds, the Swedish company that built the train. Sandahl says it was preserved and at some point there was a cafeteria installed inside. The stories of Silverpilen still haunts the tracks of the Stockholm Metro and Kymlinge still stands silent and mysterious. But there are still those who remember the truth behind the legends. “Have I seen Silverpilen? Sure.” Klintberg says, “I have been seated in the metallic trains innumerable times. But I am sorry to say, nothing strange ever happened while I was there.” o

The silver train was unusual and created a great deal of conversation,

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Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights 2019 U

niversal Orlando kicked off its 2019 season of Halloween Horror Nights Friday night. The 1980s theme returns this year, and Universal is doubling down with one of the greatest hits of the decade. The return of Ghostbusters to Universal Studios Hollywood, for the first time as a Halloween Horror Nights house, promised to be the big story of this year’s event. But while the Ghostbusters house was amazing, it didn’t crack my top three spooky houses for the evening. That’s not a knock on Ghostbusters. That’s just testimony to how stacked this event is this year. I cannot think of another theme park special event that delivers the volume of fresh entertainment that Halloween Horror Nights does: 10 all-new houses, five new scare zones, and two new shows—plus the “regular” park attractions that are open for the evening. No wonder that this event leaves me completely spent every year I cover it. Short of covering the opening of a brand-new theme park, no event crams as much new to discover in one evening as Halloween Horror Nights does. Perhaps that’s why Horror Nights has become a lifestyle for so many of its fans. You almost have to commit to that level in order to take it all in each year. Universal presents each of its 10 houses with levels of detail that command repeat visits. I don’t care if you get the all-inclusive RIP Tour, as Universal provided to its invited media guests tonight. Even that’s not enough to catch - and fully appreciate - all that Halloween Horror Night has to offer. But let’s give it a go anyway, shall we?

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Before the event, I sat down with creative leader Michael Aiello to talk about how his team puts together this event. Sorry, Mike. I’m going with the Mind Flayer. (Confused? Ya gotta watch the video, then!) But before we get to the houses, I want to offer a well-deserved shout-out to Horror Nights’ two shows, including our first lagoon show created especially for the event, Marathon of Mayhem. Employing the same projection systems, water mist screens, and fountains as Universal Orlando’s Cinematic Celebration, Marathon of Mayhem incorporated moments from the Universal Monsters, Killer Klowns, Stranger Things, and Ghostbusters. The show nails its emotional beats, reminding us why so many of us are in love with all these franchises. On the Fear Factor stage, Academy of Villains returns with a new production, Altered States. This was my first time to watch an AoV show, and this hard-rock/ hip-hop/horror ballet definitely impressed me. With a contortionist, silk aerialist, and soccerball trickster leading a crew of dancers, there’s too much on stage at any given moment to watch it all. But I didn’t want to miss any of it. Okay, now on to the houses. First, my disclaimer. These rankings are based on one walk through of each house. I do not doubt that if I went through each house again, that would scramble my ratings. They’re all that close. So we start with my favorite of the evening, one of Universal’s original concepts. Yeti: Terror of the Yukon is a gorgeous production. It just feels different than the other houses, in large part

due to the aggressive air conditioning that helps convince you that you’ve stumbled into the mid 19th century Canadian wilderness. The fur dividers between scenes also provide tactile reinforcement of the setting among trappers taking shelter from a blizzard… only to find a much deadlier foe in their camp. Stranger Things this year includes seasons two and three of the Netflix hit. But that’s too much for one maze. The finale here offers the largest puppet ever created for HHN and it elevates this house to the top half of my list. But I would have rather seen Universal focus on the more maze-friendly season three here to make this an all-time great. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Killer Klowns from Outer Space. I suspect that I immediately lower my expectations for anything that involves clowns, but our tour guide reminded us, these are aliens, so, hey, that makes them cool, right? Okay, whatever, I was swept up by the wonderful cheesiness of it all. And I enjoyed getting squirted when I foolishly pushed one of the big red buttons. How could Ghostbusters not be higher? Maybe I fell in love with some of the scenes from the Hollywood’s version (especially the very practical Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man), and the differences here left me a little less enthusiastic. But there are plenty of amazing scenes in this version and I’d eagerly recommend it. Rob Zombie’s House of 1,000 Corpses delivered non-stop horror camp, sucking me right into the experience. If you’ve been to more than a few haunts, you probably know that your “hit rate” in any given house can vary wildly, as scareactors time their bits. Sometimes, it seems like you walk up to every scareactor as they are resetting between hits. But sometimes, you time your walk through perfectly. I felt like this one was my best-timed house of the night, which surely moved it up some spots on my list. I love the production design in Universal

Monsters, which gives each of Universal’s classics, from Dracula to Frankenstein’s monster and down the list, a moment to scare the life from you. This is another house where I wanted to linger, to better appreciate the work put into it. Depths of Fear shows the power of sound design in creating a terrifying environment. The countdown in this undersea mining station amplifies your distress as the “mouthbrooders” attack the station’s residents, spraying their eggs upon them that soon enough will hatch and devour everyone aboard. There’s some great design work in Graveyard Games, too a revenge tale as the residents of a Louisiana graveyard fight back against a teen couple who defiled their eternal resting place with graffiti. Maybe I just mistimed this one, but this house seemed more like a dark ride than a HHN house, with far fewer scares then I expected. Nightingales: Blood Pit easily wins the “Most Blood” award at this year’s HHN. If you like gore more than I do, feel free to jump this one about four or five spots up your list. Finally, Jordan Peele’s Us does an amazing job of bringing one of the year’s best movie to life on the HHN stage. I loved this house and cannot believe that I am rating it 10 or 10. Again, it’s testimony to how stacked this line-up is this year. This house was so good, it felt like I was walking through a four-minute summary of the movie… instead of living my own experience with the characters and settings, as I felt in the other IP houses. That feeling from it knocked this one below them, for me. But as I said, gimme another pass through these houses, I am sure that I would change my mind. That’s why Halloween Horror Nights runs for more than 40 evenings this year. And why a lot of fans will be there for many of them. By the way, if you are staying at one Universal’s on site hotels when you visit for HHN, especially if you stay at the Cabana Bay, there’s a pop-up photo op for Stranger Things fans who wish they could take time for a photo in the maze. o

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Best Estes Park Restaurants ALI PFENNINGER

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fter a long day of hiking in the National Park, it may be nice to grab a refreshing Colorado beer at Wapitiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s or enjoy an Elk Burger from Grubsteak. Whether you are looking for a quick grab and go with the kids, a romantic dinner for two, or a waterfront viewâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Estes Park, Colo., has it all. Just take a casual walk down the main street of Estes Park and you will be presented with a varied array of fabulous options catering to all price ranges and atmospheres!

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1. Ed’s Cantina & Gril

2. The Other Side Restaurant

Locally owned Ed’s Cantina & Grill serves as a very popular Tex-Mex dine-in restaurant focusing on freshness and quality. Ed’s has specialty margaritas and a lively atmosphere. Situated near the Big Thompson River, you can pair a quality experience with a wonderful view.

The Other Side has 180 degree views of the river and lays just before the Beaver Meadows entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. It is a classic Estes Park restaurant that offers traditional American food with specials throughout the week. The high ceilings draw you into the space and the scenic views are a complement to the food.

390 East Elkhorn Ave., Estes Park, Colo.; 80517 (970) 586.2919

900 Moraine Ave., Estes Park, Colo., 80517 (970) 586-2171

3. Mama Rose’s Restaurant 4. Waterfront Grille Mama Rose’s is tucked away in an elegant Riverwalk Plaza with a wrap around deck situated right on the river. Classic Italian favorites make up the menu with an abundant variety of Italian wines and spirits available. The atmosphere is very welcoming and the aromas of garlic and Italian sauces is enough to make you go take a look! 338 East Elkhorn Ave., Estes Park, Colo., 80517 (970) 586-3330

5. Grubsteak Restaurant

The rustic interior of Grubsteak has walls lined with rich historical photographs of Colorado and this is an attraction in itself. This is a must go for first timers to Estes Park while it is also a popular place for locals. Yak and elk are among a few of the popular game plates on the menu that keep customers returning. 134 W Elkhorn Ave., Estes Park, Colo., 80517 (970) 586-8838

7. Wapiti Pub and Grill

The Wapiti Pub is situated in a quaint corner of the plaza with a patio that is lit up at night where you can enjoy the brisk mountain air. Aside from the uniqueness of Wapiti itself, the draft beers are a major draw—focusing on Colorado’s finest microbrews. The menu has something for everyone and offers weekly specials. 247 W Elkhorn Ave., Estes Park, Colo., 80517 (970) 586-5056

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The Waterfront Grille has one of the top restaurant atmospheres and scenic views. Attached to the Estes Park Resort, The Grille offers an overall fine dining experience with nightly specials. The dining experience will be unforgettable so don’t forget to walk out onto the wrap-around deck and take in the Lake Estes and mountain views. 1700 Big Thompson Ave., Estes Park, Colo., 80517 (970) 577-6400

6. Park Theatre Cafe

Is there a better way to spend an afternoon after hiking then to grab tasty sandwiches at the Park Theatre Café before catching an evening film at Park Theatre? This quaint café is perfect for a light and healthy lunch focusing on classic sandwiches and salads. The café offers outdoor seating along the river walk. 132 Moraine Ave., Estes Park, Colo., 80517 (970) 586-8904

8. Chicago’s Best

Chicago’s Best could be considered a hole in the wall pizza place that is perfect for a quick grab and go, and a great place to bring the kids. Right on the main drag of Estes Park, Chicago’s Best offers classics from greek salad to calzones and a variety of pizzas. It is definitely an easy place to pop in! 112 W Elkhorn Ave., Estes Park, Colo., 80517; (970) 586-4796 o

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From Pumpkin Spice to Halloween Frights

6 Fall Festivals Worth a Trip By Jay Gentile Fall doesn’t just mean pumpkins, football and the sound of crushed leaves beneath your feet. It also means festivals. From beer, music and harvest fests to festivals dedicated to the seasonal highlights, including Halloween and Oktoberfest, it’s time to carve out some more room in your autumn travel schedule and make your way over to these six fun fall festivals taking place all around America.

Dia de los Muertos: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. One of the largest holidays in Mexico is no small deal in the popular resort town of Puerto Vallarta, where the coastal city goes all out for a weeks long celebration (October to early November) that has been increasing in popularity in recent years as interest in Dia de los Muertos, Day of the Dead, has spiked. With a variety of vibrant costume contests, literary workshops, artistic presentations, live concerts, a parade and, of course, tons of parties (this is Puerto Vallarta, after all), visitors are in for an all-sensory experience. You’ll find plenty of sugar skull makeup and colorful Catrinas (the unofficial holiday mascot) that give off a festive vibe that is less in-your-face than Vallarta’s notoriously obnoxious spring break but still packs plenty of fun. Columbus Day Harvest Fest &Brewfest: Stratton Mountain, Vermont. Everyone knows that Vermont is one of the best places on the planet for fall foliage, and the Green Mountain State becomes even more irresistible in the fall once its events are thrown into the whole mix. Experience a crisp slice of the state’s famous small town life at the ski resort of Stratton Mountain, whose Columbus Day weekend Harvest Fest is the stuff of local legend. With events including a brew fest, chili cook-off, hayrides, live bands and scenic lift rides to the top of the mountain, the only thing that would be more fall than this would be diving into a pile of leaves. Which, of course, you are welcome to do.

Shrimp & Grits Festival: Jekyll Island, Georgia. For a true taste of the Southeast, you can’t beat this food focused festival setting up shop in the affable coastal resort community of Jekyll Island. Tucked away in the southeast corner of Georgia and boasting beautiful beaches and a charming historic district, the late-September Shrimp & Grits Festival takes place in various locations across the island’s National Historic Landmark District. With a shrimp and grits cooking competition, craft beer fest, live music, local art and vendors, and … an escape room designed by the U.S. National Guard, there’s plenty of fun for everyone. The best part? You can access the party (and the island) by boat. Halloween Spooktacular: Naples, Florida. For those unfamiliar with the upscale resort community of Naples, perched in prime sunset positioning along the Florida’s scenic southwest coast, 5th Avenue South is where the action is. Which is a good thing, since the city’s annual Halloween Spooktacular takes place right along the most famous stretch of real estate in Naples. Here you will find a family-friendly celebration that packs the streets with tens of thousands of revelers who come for the costume contests (human and pet), live music, games, street dancing, spooky movies, and trick or treating. And with the long hot Florida summer finally in the rearview, the weather is about as perfect as it gets.

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Fall Joshua Tree Music Festival: Joshua Tree, California Breathe in, breathe out. You’re in a safe place. And that place is Fall Joshua Tree Music Festival, a hippie-friendly gathering of all things. Find your Zen as you experience yoga on the beach, Burning Man–styled desert art, sound healing, a “positive vibration station” and some of best jam worthy bands of our modern era, including the high-energy blues rockers North Mississippi All Stars and The California Honeydrops. If that’s somehow not enough, the festival also includes “herbal elixir happy hours,” aerial fitness and a light-box photo booth. The event takes place at the Joshua Tree Lake Campground at the southern edge of the Mojave Desert, offering views of Joshua Tree National Park and some stunning starry skies.

Dia de los Muertos: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

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Snowbird Oktoberfest: Snowbird, Utah Utah isn’t exactly known for beer. Unless you’re talking Snowbird Oktoberfest in Utah’s beautiful ski resort of Snowbird, located just outside of the surprisingly hip Salt Lake City. And Snowbird is quite serious about its Oktoberfest, which takes place every Saturday and Sunday from mid-August to mid-October with more than 50 varieties of beer on hand (German and local) alongside classic Oktoberfest cuisine (bratwurst, pretzels, etc.) at one of Utah’s largest festivals. But, unlike most Oktoberfests, this one also includes an aerial tram and a bungee trampoline offering the perfect opportunity to test out the durability of your new lederhosen.o

10 Ghost Hunting Tips for Beginners 1

These paranormal investigation tips and tricks provided by Joanne Schiavoni, Paranormal Research & Investigation Society of Manitoba (P.R.I.S.M.)

When you want to go ghost hunting, don’t go alone. Take a friend or two to help and also be extra eyes and ears to validate if something does manifest. Tell someone where you are going. Bring your identification.

Start researching a readily accessible location. Don’t trespass. Find out what activity has been reported and the possible entities involved. If you are going to do any EVP sessions you will be able to ask intelligent and direct questions. For a large area, your research can point you to a more specific location.

Once you have decided on a place, check it out during the day and get a feeling for the area. Pinpoint the spot(s) you want to

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investigate and look for any places that could be a problem. Draw a map with hazards, walkways/roads, and the sites you are interested in that could be potential hot spots.

Be prepared. You don’t need a lot of equipment to hunt ghosts. A point-and-shoot camera is just as good as a DSLR camera. Just make sure any equipment you bring is fully charged and that you have extra batteries. It has been said that ghosts have the ability to drain fully charged devices. Make sure that your date/time settings are correct and adjust them if necessary. Dress appropriately for the weather and the area. Wear good walking shoes, tie your long hair back, and bring flashlights.

Say a prayer of protection and guidance before you get started. With varying religious beliefs you can meditate or think of something positive. Whatever is most comfortable for you.

Don’t just charge in and start taking pictures and running around hoping a ghost will show up. That’s like entering a strangers’ house and having a party. They won’t like you disrupting their home and would rather you leave. The spirits were once people too and will probably react the same way. Start your investigation calmly and with a clear mind.

Talk to the spirits like they are living people. It’s probably been quite a while since anyone spoke to them and they’re anxious to hear what you have to say. Introduce yourself and ask permission to take pictures and be on their property. Invite them to be in your photos. If they respond in any way to requests, thank them. When you leave, thank them for having you.

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Before you leave, gather your group and say another prayer, out loud, that nothing follows you home and the spirits stay at their own location. Always leave the location as you found it. o

Follow your instincts when taking photos. If you feel you need to take a picture in a certain direction, take it. Take pictures behind you and over your shoulder. Take lots of photos. The more pictures you take the better chance you will have of catching an anomaly.

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