The Frozen People of Vermont and the Stanley Hotel

This one is a doozy!  First we discuss a legend from Vermont where apparently cryogenics was invented in 1887 per the tale:  The Frozen People of Vermont.  Next Yasmine takes us to the Disneyland of Ghosts--The Stanley Hotel in Colorado made even more famous by Stephen King's The Shining.

Spooky season is upon us-Reach out and let us know your personal encounters with the paranormal, or a local legend in your town!

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Transcript

Hello, mavens. Welcome to Mavens of misdeeds. The podcast about folklore, the paranormal and historical true crime. I am Jen and joined by my equally spooky cohost Yasmine hello   I have a confession slash apology. I know I had promised that this epide would be a continuation of the Bucksport, Maine murder mystery.

However, I discovered that there was a book.  and I ordered it, but it didn't get here. It it's here now, but not in time for me to have really read through it. Yeah. And it was really good.  I I'm still in new England with my  my story tonight. But I had to put that on hold because the author that, that wrote it, I believe is fairly local to, you know, the region and had me unique insights and that kind of thing.

 I, once I found out about the book, I had to have it and there we are.  The time 

it serves that's yeah, that's. 

Exactly.  I will be for sure now doing that for our next epide.  We just have a little bit yeah. Of a, a detour in between.  I guess we established that I was going to kick us off and we are just gonna go let's say we're gonna skip over Maine, skip over, not skip over.

Well, we are skipping over Maine and we're gonna skip over New Hampshire and we're gonna go into Vermont which is an aweme, lovely state. I ablutely love Vermont. And this one is a real doozy,  this could, oh yeah, this could be a mixture of, I guess, local legend. It could be folklore. But it's kind of on the legend thing.

And I will leave it up to you guys to decide if this is true or not. Aweme.  My urces for this one and actually have it.  My urces were an online magazine, the vermonter.com and the times argo.com the article  uh, titled a strange tale revisited.

And that articles kind of cool.   This article was from August 5th, 2022. Nice.  Just to, it's got me staying power. Yeah. And  and another scientific urce frontiers in front. Wait, what? Oh, frontiers I n.org. And that is an article titled. Oh, well neuroprotection by therapeutic hypothermia, right?

yes. It's like, where am I going with this?   This is widely known as the frozen people of Vermont.  If you do a a Google search on that, you'll come up with with quite a bit of, of articles and, and people talking about this story.   It begins in 1887 and a very strange story mehow made its way to the front page of the  Argus and Patriot newspaper mm-hmm

And that newspaper is still in existence today, but is the Argus Times and it was titled a strange tale by and only the initials, A M. Okay.  Interesting that, you know, just a, a really, you know, not meone with the, even giving their full name would make their way to to the front page, but you'll see.

You'll see why,  what I'm going to to read to you is reportedly a true story, told via diary entries from a man's uncle. And the, what I'm gonna read was said to have happened while he was visiting a small town in Vermont, that was approximately 20 miles from Montpelier. Okay.  Let me go ahead and read through his his journal entries, as it was published in the paper.

"I am an old man now and have seen me strange sites in the course of a roving life in foreign lands, as well as in this country, but none  strange as one I found in an old diary kept by my uncle William that came into my possession a few years ago at his. The events described, took place in a mountain town, me 20 miles from Mont hill at the Capitol of Vermont, I have been to the place on the mountain and seen the old log house where the events I found recorded in the diary took place and seen and talked with an old man who vouched for the truth of the story and that his father was one of the parties operated on the account runs in this wise.

 January 7th, I went on a mountain today and witnessed what to me was a horrible site. It seems that the dwellers there who are unable either from age or other reans to contribute to the support of their families are disposed in the winter in a manner that will shock the one who reads this diary, unless that pern lives in the vicinity.

I will describe what I saw. Six perns, four men, and two women, the man, a cripple about 30 years old, the other five passed the age of usefulness lay on the earthly floor of the cabin, drugged into insensibility. While the members of the families were gather about them in apparent indifference. In a short time, the unconscious bodies were inspected by several old people who said, quote, they are ready.

They were then stripped of all their clothing except for a single garment. Then the bodies were carried outside and laid on logs, exposed to the bitter cold mountain air. The operation having been delayed several days for suitable weather.  it was night when the bodies were carried out and the full moon, occasionally obscured by flying clouds, shown on their upturned Gastly faces and a horrible fascination kept me by the bodies.

As long as I could endure the severe cold on I could stand the cold no longer and went inside where I found the friends in cheerful conversation in about an hour. I went out and looked at the bodies. They were fast freezing again. I went inside where the men were smoking their clay pipes, but silence had fallen on them, perhaps they were thinking of the time when their time would come to be carried out for in the same way.

One by one. They at last laid down on the floor and went to sleep. I could not shut out the sight of their freezing bodies outside. Neither could I bear to be in darkness, but I piled on the wood in the cavernous fireplace and seated on a  shingle block, past the dreary night.

 January 8th day came at length, but did not dissipate the terror that filled me. The frozen bodies became visibly white on the snow that lay in huge drifts about them. The women gathered about the fire and on commenced preparing breakfast. The men awoke and conversation began commencing affairs, assumed a more cheerful aspect.

After breakfast, the men lighted their pipes and me of them took a yoke of oxen and went off toward the forest while other proceeded to nail together boards, making a box about 10 feet long and half as high and wide. When this was completed, they place about two feet of straw in the bottom. Then they laid three frozen bodies in the straw.

Then the faces and upper part of the bodies were covered with a cloth. The more straw was put in the box and the other three bodies placed on top and covered the same as the first ones with cloth and straw boards were then firmly nailed on top to protect the bodies from being injured by caribous animals that made their home on these mountains.

By this time, the men who went off with the ox team returned with a huge load of spruce and hemlock boughs which they unloaded at the foot of a steep ledge, came to the house and unloaded the box, containing the bodies on the sled and drew it to the foot of the ledge near the load of boughs there were on piled on and around the box and it was left to be covered with snow, which I was told would lay in drifts 20 feet deep over this rude tomb quote.

We shall want our men to plant our corn next spring, set a youngish looking woman, the wife of one of the frozen men. And if you want to see them resuscitated, you come here about the 10th of next may. What with this? Yeah.  with this agreement, I left the mountaineers living and frozen to their fate and returned to my home in Boston, where it was weeks before I was fairly myself, as my thoughts would return to that mountain with its awful.

And I have don't know what this word is. S E P U L C H R E. I meant to look it up and I forgot. I don't even know how you would pronounce that.  Anyway, yeah. Turning the . 

Yeah,  

turning the leaves of the diary. The old man recounts, he came to the following entry May 10th. I arrived here at 10:00 AM after riding about four hours over muddy unsettled roads.

The weather here is warm and pleasant. Most of the snow is gone except here and there are drifts in the fence, corners and hollows, but nature is not yet dressed in green. I found the same parties here. I left last January, ready to disinter the bodies of their friends. I had no expectation of finding any life there, but a feeling that I could not resist and peed me to come and see.

We repaired at once to the well remembered spot at the ledge. The snow had melted from the top of the brush, but still laid deep around the bottom of the pile. The men commenced work at once. Me shoveling and others tearing away. The brush on, the box was visible. The cover was taken off the layers of straw removed and the bodies frozen and apparently lifeless lifted out and laid on the snow.

Large troughs made out of hemlock logs were placed nearby, filled with tepid water, into which the bodies were placed separately. With the head slightly raised boiling water was then poured into the trough from kettles, hung on poles nearby until the water was as hot as I could hold my hand in hemlock boughs had been put in the boiling water and such quantities that they had given the water, the color of wine after lying in the bath about an hour color, began to return to the bodies when all hands began rubbing and chafing them.

This continued about an hour when a slight twitching of the muscles of the face and limbs followed by audible gasps showed that life was not quenched. And that vitality was returning spirits were given in small quantities and allowed to trickle down their throats. On they could swallow and more was given to them when their eyes opened and they began to talk and finally sat up in their bathtubs.

They were taken out and assisted to the house where after a hearty meal, they seemed as well as ever and in no wise injured, but rather refreshed by their long sleep of four months. Truly truth is stranger than fiction.   Oh my God. What are your, what are your first thoughts?  

That's they put me people down to what is it hibernate for the winter, like right.

This  great. Yes.  yes. 

And hemlock, you hear it over and over again in, you know, when you hear about me of these tales and nature and things like that. I wanna look into hemlock a little bit more. I can't that's. 

Incredible. Yes. That stood out to me. Yeah. As well.  On the the side of well, a little bit more about, well, on the side of, of, of it potentially being a a hoax, I guess is the word.

 It's thought that this story is supposed to have taken place in Calais Vermont, which is approximately 11 miles at least today with, you know, our shore improved roads and things like that from Montpelier.  Still, you know, not, not far off from the, the 20, you know, 20 miles that he references in his diary, diary entries.

But around 1952, the authors,  this was am granddaughter. Is said to have come forward and named the author as Alan Morse who she described as a well known storyteller who basically enthralled his family and anyone who would listen to his yarns  no she reported that her mother,  Alan Morse's daughter worked for the Argus and Patriot from 1879 to 1888 as a type setter.

Okay. And that is how she managed to get the story published as a surprise birthday present for her father for his 52nd birthday.  This story that he was well known to tell at family reunions and such she manages to, to get on the front page of a well, you know, the state capital's, you know, paper.

Right.  It would've been, you know? Yeah. I mean, most people would think that was a pretty cool deal even today. Yeah.  I'm sure, you know, then it would've been even more   that's the, you know, Wawa. Yeah. Hoax part . But there are still other people that, you know, say,  is it a made up story or could there be me parts of that that were true and in his storyteller nature rt of Because he was known to embellish, you know, things in everyday life, just a, you know, a natural storyteller is what they do.

 The the first thing that people that I, when I was researching, they said they were like,  basically, how did he know about cryogenics?  

honestly  

and I was like, Ooh, creepy. Yeah. That is a little bit like yeah, suspended, animation and, and all of those things. And then, you know, my thought was exactly what you said first.

I was like,  this unds to me like. Basically taking this tail off of animals that hibernate for the winter.  Cuz there's clearly a lot of, you know, well, an easy parallel there, you know, for where he would I don't know if, how mehow he started thinking of, of me old people in his life that were useless and beyond their prime  and then, you know, this, this story came from that.

I don't know.  Yeah, but  that's a, another, you know, another thing. But then it does start to lead you down the path of thinking about therapeutic hypothermia.  That is mething that's very much used in medicine today. Yeah. I, you know, am on the, the. Periphery of the, the healthcare system, but I, you know, I see charts and things where people are in you know, they've experienced a cardiac arrest and they've, you know, brought them they've, they've gotten their pulse back, things like that.

It's a proven, you know, benefit to, to practice therapeutic hypothermia in order to protect the brain basically. And give them doctors a little bit more time to be able to do whatever medical intervention that they need to do.  They're finding it to be super beneficial in traumas. You know, that allows, again, it buys them a little bit of time to get them to surgery or maybe a tertiary hospital, whatever the case may be and strokes is another area.

 There's very much, yeah, a lot of research. You know, that's, that's still going on today. Granted , we're definitely not talking four months that they can wait for their surgery or whatever.  we are much more talking in buying extra minutes to an hour or .  right. You know? Definitely. Yeah, definitely not to, not, not months.

, but I did though find it very interesting that, because again, I'm thinking,  we're in 1887 though,  yeah. He's not gonna know a ton about, you know, therapeutic hypothermia, cuz this is really just mething I think since the eighties the 1980s. Yeah. That's been even remotely, you know, practiced here, at least in the United States.

 I do a, you know, I do my, my side googing and  it's first mentioned therapeutic hypothermia. I swear the Egyptians. I just, I can't. 5,000 years ago, what? Yes.  It's not exactly therapeutic hypothermia, like I just talked about, but by then they had already figured out that using ice packs to treat like hemorrhages and using ice packs as a numbing agent just, you know, things like that cooling down fevers.

And I know that unds like duh to us, but 5,000 years ago. Yeah. I mean, come on. That's not bad. That's not bad at all. But for anybody that wants to really nerd out they there's the the treatis the Edwin Smith Papyrus which is the oldest known medical text. And that is where they find that evidence of the first mention or known mention of, of therapeutic hypothermia.

Oh, that's. Yeah. It's, I'm telling you the Egyptians though. Really? And that is why this is a total like woo. Going down a rabbit hole. But we talked about this before that we have to look into this, but or do an epide about this, but that is why I'm like, when I see like these ancient civilizations with their crazy things that can be seen from space.

Yeah. You know, their designs that I'm like aliens. I mean, I, I feel like they may have yeah. Known, I mean, me stuff  

no stuff for sure. 

 Cuz yeah. These people quite amazing.  Anyway, won't, won't do that anymore, but the other thing about rt of going back to like hibernation or you know, that kind of thing there.

Most, I didn't know this, but like bears do not, technically all bears do not technically hibernate as the true definition. Mm-hmm  a lot of animals actually enter the state of torpor T O R P O R . I, I don't know which is a state of physical or mental inactivity or lethargy, according to the great dictionary.

 Animals do this by lowering their body temperature, which, and then slowing their heart rate, subsequently their metabolism and their respirations dramatically. Right. And it differs though from hibernation because that it is very short term.  I just found that interesting because it's like, that's what basically.

he would have us believe is kind of happening is, 

and they skipped whatever that like, is that makes an animal do the hibernation versus the torpor right. 

Right. 

I know. See here's my limited animal knowledge.  oh, I know. There's,  me turtles that hibernate under the water in the ice, right? Oh I think there's snapping turtles.

Don't quote me on this, but this is very limited animal knowledge and it's usually, I, I wanna say it's more aquatic animals that do the hibernation versus mammals that do the shorter one. Okay.  Why would humans skip over that? Like, you know what I mean, like scientific right. Would probably be closer to a bears type of type and then a turtle.

Yes. No, that makes sense. It does. I follow exactly. Yeah. Which it's interesting because I mean, we know that, you know, for a long time people have, have realized that animals can and do and hold the key to me of our medications, our vaccines, different, different things that we completely take for granted today.

And, you know, a lot of people have no idea is, you know, in life saving medications and, and things like that, or how they scientists were able to figure out how to treat, you know, a variety of illnesses. Right. And I thought this was very interesting slight rabbit hole, but just really cool. I think it's still relevant to this.

  They actually have very recent and ongoing research around Arctic ground squirrels. Study to combat Alzheimer's and this is amazing because they have found that. And I never, I should know how to pronounce this. And I don't it's that T a U tau it's that buildup that happens that protein buildup that happens in an Alzheimer's patient's brain that causes basically everything to, you know, just deteriorate.

Wow. Okay.  They, that, that protein, that tau I'm gonna say tau just to whatever go with it. But that builds up in these squirrels brains during their hibernation, but when they come out of hibernation, their bodies, Just eliminate it. Whoa.  Yeah.  They're trying to figure out what in the heck is happening, that these squirrels are able to do that amazing and try to apply it.

Yeah. Too to us.  I thought that was that was pretty cool. Yeah. I was like, I'm pretty sure I had like, let me see if it's like relevant or not  oh, yes, duh.  You mentioned the hemlock and that rang a bell for me al, cuz I was like, oh wait a minute. And spruce rang a bell too. Yeah. .

Hemlock was primarily used historically in executions. And I had forgotten about this, but that is how they executed crates. I completely forgotten that they forced him to drink a, you know, tea or concoction of, of hemlock. Yep. And  what hemlock does, is it gradually paralyzes all muscles, including your heart and lungs, but oh, al used medicinally?

Not now, but for its sedative properties and as an antispasmodic when used carefully 

what? Okay,  that, I mean gives a little bit more yes.  like, what do you, what do you say? Like, what is the 

Validity? It is mething, but. 

Story that, I mean like, wow, that's a big I thought and for him to be  specific.

Yes. And then I'll go and talk about spruce and we can  spruce and, you know, they mentioned, you know, that very specifically.  Historically that was used for lung ailments, calming, cleansing the system and externally for wounds, ulcers, res, and stimulating stiff muscles. 

Interesting. 

,

wow. I mean that tracks al, like, could it be that far outta the question? 

Right.  My my folklore. Loving  self wants to believe that that two things happened, that he did witness mething Uhhuh, extraordinary Uhhuh, and that the storyteller in him took over and embellished it to a point of, well, he took me liberties with what actually happened.

Right, 

right. I mean, any amount of time back then to put mebody in a state where they are not alive to being alive is a big deal to me. Yes. Like that's a big deal.  Maybe the timeframe he exaggerated. 

That's what I'm rt of thinking. I can see more the drugging them, which he does mention. Okay. I can see him more doing that and I was really interested in the spruce being a calming agent.

Right. And then of course, obviously the hemlock when used, you know, ablutely correctly or in mod Mo very small quantities having that, that sedative effect that basically when you kind of, you know, hear what it says or what it can do yeah. Is basically putting you like into a hibernation, like state.

 I could see that part being mewhat  that they could make it through the winter with not having to feed, you know,  as many people as much, but do I believe that they were like, you know, Juliet and just like, I don't, I don't know about that. Yeah. Wow. But either way, it's a fun. Well, if it's true, that's less fun, but it's really creepy.

It is, it is creepy either way, but it's fun. It's still, you know, it's an interesting, it's a very interesting story. Yeah. And I really even like though that we were even able to get another side, like from such a close family member. Right. You know, to kind of come forward and say, because that story would run in like Yankee magazine, which is still, you know,  as far as I know, still happening today, which is a pretty big, you know, magazine and another kind of prominent one that I didn't write down now I've forgotten, but , but it would be revisited in the forties in the twenties I think.

 It, it really did, you know make an impact on people, you know, that read it. They definitely remembered it, you know, and would it just, it had staying power, which I could, I could see that cuz yeah. Wow. I've never read anything quite like it. I don't think 

I love the like journal aspect of it.

I think a lot of people have gotten away from writing their thoughts down on a regular basis. Right. And it's  interesting to me to hear. Like just kind of a day in the life or a clip or whatever, even if it was a story, like just the way that he spoke and the way that he expressed with yes. You know, was describing is just  interesting.

That's 

 

Cool. Yeah, it makes me because if it, if it was just one, either way, if it was that he took liberties with mething extraordinary that he did witness, or if he just literally was that good and made up, you know, that whole thing, his style and the way that he presented it was really good. I'm like, I would love to read, you know, more of, of this guy's stories.

Ablutely. You know, if that's the case. 

Yeah. That's great. Yeah. Give us more  

cause I was you know, I was thinking, I was like, he really did do the perfect amount of. Of detail Uhhuh, but then not enough specific detail to you know, that could keep you guessing kind of keep you wondering. Right. You know?

Right. Is this real or no?  

have you questioning. Wow. Like, could it be possible cuz there's me things there that, you know, kind of make it yes. Almost, maybe, you know 

exactly. Oh yeah.  Yeah,  that's my, my little legend 

I guess. Yeah.  well, that's aweme. Alright. Well I guess I will tell you a story now.

Okay. Today I am going to be talking about the Stanley hotel. Hmm. Are you? Yes. What I said? Yes, yes. Yeah. I know I'm excited. I grew up a very. Just a lever of all things, Stephen King. , you know, movies would come out. Books would come out like the Stanley hotel for those of you that don't know is what Stephen King based his the outlook hotel and the shining the movie, the book, the shining on.

 This is the sad hotel is a historic place. I did, as my notes went on, I wrote down the websites that I kind of went to, but I al watched me videos on YouTube.  Really quick, I'm just gonna credit legends of america.com. And actually that was a video from YouTube. That was not an article.

And okay. This was really cool because it was a lot more historic than spooky. I got into the other spooky stuff on good old Wikipedia  night. What is it nightly spirits.com. That was a good one. Ooh. 

I was gonna say, I like the title that, yeah, yeah, 

yeah. That one's a good one. They had a lot of information on a lot of different stuff and they were pretty thorough on, on their website about the specific hauntings.

, ah, what through history first, 

Quick side note on the Stephen King thing.  Yeah. We often, when we go to, when we go to Maine, we fly into Bangor and we've gotten to yeah, like do the whole, like stand outside of his house and that's okay. It is  creepy. Beautiful, really like his per. Yeah.

Yeah, you can you, I mean, you can't, he doesn't allow obviously like it's, you know, but you can, it's on, you know it's in a historic district in town you can just, you know, there's like these tours like that, there's like Steven King tours. I've not done that. I just, you know, at one point we felt like we needed to, you know, say that we actually saw it.

I mean, huh. I mean, I'd seen pictures of it, but. Ablutely Beau beautiful as any Victorian home is that especially people like Steven King that can afford to really restore, like keep it, you know? Yeah. Keeping it very Victorian very Gothic Victorian  that's  cool. It's beautiful. And it's cool.

Yeah. And it has a lot of neat touches to that. ,  anyway, yeah. 

Continue. Rry.  that is aweme. Well maybe I'll talk about that part first then since we're kind of already talking about Steven King, we'll go back and forth a little that's okay.  Steven King and his wife, Tabitha in 1974, they lived in Boulder, Colorado for a very short time.

I think I saw mewhere that said like four months. It was a very short time. He was in the middle of writing his book, dark shine set in an amusement park and he was needing me setting inspir.  Me locals suggested that they go up to the Stanley hotel and the area called Essex, wait, Estes park.

It's not estate Estes park, Colorado.  That's kind of like a valley in Colorado, very mountainous, very beautiful. And  he goes up there, he has this friend, which I thought was really interesting. There's this whole long quote, I'm gonna read it, but he is got this good buddy George beam. And I mean, I guess Stephen King being who he is he's got a lot of like friends that can speak on, you know, certain events or whatever.

And this, this is a big one.  , I'm gonna read what his quote says. On the advisement of locals who suggested a rert hotel located in Estes park, an hours drive north. Steven and Tabitha king found themselves checking into the Stanley hotel just as other guests were checking out because the hotel was shutting down for the winter sean.

 After checking in, after checking in and after Tabitha went to bed king, roam the halls and went down to the hotel bar where drinks were served by a bartender named Grady, as he returned to his room. Number two 17, his imagination was fired up by the hotel's remote location. It's grand size and its eerie delation

And when king went to the bathroom and pulled back the pink curtain for the tub, which had cloth feet, he thought, what if meone died in here at that moment? I knew I had a book was the quote being said, oh wow.  , I mean, even in the movie. And in the book, the, the couple comes to the hotel with their n and everyone's leaving.

It's like a mass Exodus, like people are driving down the hill, all this stuff.  I'm gonna, before I, before I go more into what king said, I am gonna jump back to the history a little bit, just  we have a good picture in our minds. 

Can I just say too though, that am I alone in the fact that that's rt of the thoughts that I have?

Cause I love staying at these historic locations when I go places, Uhhuh. If I can, you know, like bed and breakfast kind of thing in these old houses. And then I find myself rt of, kind of like that, like I wonder. What happened here?  

yes, I 

don't, I don't think I've ever been now. I'm gonna be like, you know, I don't think I've, I've never stayed in one that had a, you know, like the clawfoot tub you know, no, as of yet, but I don't until now, I don't think I would've ever thought.

I wonder if meone died in this time, but now I'm gonna be like, 

yeah, my present thought now. Oh my gosh. Geez. Okay. Well, this is a very old hotel, even in the 1970s, it was old hotel.  It was actually built in the early 19 hundreds, like I said, Essex park. It was built by F O Stanley.  His full name was Freeland Oscar, but everyone calls him F O 

that's a name.

it's a great name, right? Yeah. I mean, you're destined for greatness. I feel honestly  

.  F O was a he was a builder and kind of a merchant type type guy. He was entrepreneur, but back then they didn't call it that he was like a magnate or whatever. Right.  He opened the hotel in 1909. It was a majestic Georgian style catered to the rich and famous.

And he initially traveled to the area because he was suffering from consumption. , ah, we know that's a tuberculosis now, you know, it affects the lungs.  According to the doctor, he only had months to live. , oh,  the doctors were telling him he had limited time. His friends were saying, Hey, let's, you know, get you out into me fresh air.

Now I'm thinking about this, but I should have checked where he came from.  oh, I not, probably in a much more human environment, I would think . Yeah, maybe, but  he stayed at a friend's cabin in Estes where he fell in love with the area. It's beautiful. I saw the videos. I haven't been there, but it, you know, it looks real nice.

His illness began to dissipate and FO's health improved, , oh, wow. Got better. It worked  he, they I'm, I laughed because they, thing that he built was called the Stanley steamer. Nowadays, like that's a carpet steamer, right? Yeah. Or makes carpets cleaner, 

right?  yes. I was like, yeah. I was like, I was doing it in my head  

but he, they were cars.

Like they were vehicle engines, it was a Stanley engine.  He made the steam engines and that's what he was for. But he al did like an electric powered engine and a gas powered engine. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. , but they didn't do like Ford did and swooped in with the conveyor belt type. What is that way of building things?

Anyways, Henry Ford made it affordable for everybody.  It kind of right. Got away from people like Stanley who were just doing very custom built type engines. Anyways, that's my, 

 He was like the, the rolls royce of engines. 

Yeah. Yeah.  just like a different way to do it anyways.  Stanley steamers.

 He built a home for his wife, Flo about a mile and a half from where the Stanley would be built.  Super convenient. Construction was started in 2006, a wood and rock from the surrounding wilderness was used in construction and talking about construction. There was a lot of quarts and what was the other thing?

Oh, quarts and granite. Interesting. And those are me interesting factors.  We'll get back to, yep. Yeah.  It had all available luxuries of the time, which included running water, electricity and telephones. And I mean, for nine, the early 19 hundreds, that's, that's pretty. The Stanley was designed as a summer retreat,  no heat was added and quickly the Stanley became a place that hosted celebrities, presidents.

And like I said, in the 1970s, Stephen King and he was inspired to write the shining there, which is one of my very favorite movies. Yes . Okay. , okay. We're gonna jump back to Stephen King. 

Oh, just one I'm  rry, go ahead. Just one, one more thing. I'm

I know we've obviously talked about that. We love psych. What about the epi? Is it Here's Lassie? When he's like being poined and they have that shining moment of those twins, the older twin  in, in 

his new apartment. Right. That was yes. Perfect. His new apartment. Yes. Yes. 

Well, he is waiting on Marlow to get out of 

prin.

Oh my gosh. Yes. I just had flashbacks to  

Rry. Okay. I'm rry. 

Continue that on that note. Just remember the bartend, the bartender's name and his friend's story. It's Grady. Okay.  King was interviewed in 1977 and he says the following regarding his 1974 stay. He says, while we were living in Boulder, we heard about this terrific old mountain hotel and decided to give it a try.

But when we arrived, they were just getting ready to close for the sean and we found ourselves the only guests in the place. With all those long empty corridors king and his wife. Okay. With all those long empty corridors end quote. I love that because I mean, ever since the shining, it gets me, I cannot go to a hotel without thinking about the long corridors.

It gives me. Right. No matter what. Yes. But anyways, yeah. He's 

ruined that for everybody forever.  

yeah.  King and his wife were served dinner in an empty dining room accompanied by canned orchestra, orchestral music. And he says, except for our table, all the chairs were up on the tables.  The music was echoing down the hall.

And I, I mean, it was like, God had put me there to hear that and see those things. And by the time I went to bed that night, I had the whole book in my mind.   He is wow. Pretty curious about this situation. I mean, can you imagine this luxury hotel and you're the only one in the middle of the dining room, like 

yeah.

Having the whole place to yourself just apart from staff, which I'm sure at that point, just probably a lot of staff was gone too. Yeah. And that is wild. Yeah. That would be a very weird feeling. . 

 In another telling king says, I dreamed of my three year old n running through the corridors, looking back over his shoulder eyes, wide screaming.

He was being chased by a fire hose. I woke up with a tremendous jerk sweating all over with an inch of falling off the bed. I got up lit a cigarette, sat in a chair, looking out the window at the Rockies. And by the time the cigarette was done, I had the bones of the shining firmly set in my mind.  I just love, he was  very inspired.

By this day, it just, it, and of course the results of it are incredible and timeless and you know, all those things. Yes. ,  why is the Stanley  haunted? We know it's old. We know Stephen King got spooked out there  

which is really saying mething I 

feel . I mean, yeah. And he's like, yeah, he is the professional of spook, but like, why is it  haunted?

 It it's been called the Disney land for ghosts, which is really fun.  kinda love that. Yeah. Ghost hunters from all over have done investigations, even travel channels, actual ghost adventures from sci-fi ghost hunters have come there.  the, the Stanley has a ghost adventure package, which is amazing.

That includes a stay in a room on the fourth floor, ghost hunting equipment and a mug that says red room  oh,

 I'm gonna kind of go through like the specific hauntings that people talk about. Okay. Just to kind of give us me idea of what's going on there.  Specifically room two 17. Now I don't know why they were put in that room. A map. I think I, I, I just don't know why room two 17. It seems really random.

It seems like it would be down the hall a little bit, like not super convenient for a stay where only one pern was staying in the building. Oh, right. You'd think that'd be like super close to the office or, you know, the kitchen or mething, you know, . The room king stayed in. Anne was made famous by the shining.

 That's room two 17 in 1911 during a large storm. Elizabeth Elizabeth Wiln, the head housekeeper was lighting lanterns in the room and they were gas lanterns.  It was fire mm-hmm  and there was an explosion. Elizabeth was blown through the floor, breaking her ankles, but she survived. Oh, okay. And six black employees were al injured in the blast, but at that time, no one died.

How  the room is thought to be haunted by Mrs. Wiln.  This is what she does. Items and luggage are moved and tidied without explanation. Ah the lights flicker and they turn on and off and unmarried guests report feeling a cold force in between them. Oh, . And they wake up to the man's luggage, having been repacked and placed by the door.

like, get on out of 

here. Have time to go.  

yes.  

 . That is aweme. That is aweme.  When, okay,  the movie dumb and dumber was al filmed there. That giant hotel that they stay in in Aspen. Yeah. That's the Stanley hotel. Oh, wow.  okay.   He stayed in room two 17 during the filming of dumb and dumber.  and he reportedly got  spooked in the middle of the night that he ran out of the room half naked.

Oh, wow. Yeah. Got  freaked out that he that's.

And al I would like, you know how they say like, metimes ghosts can like attach to, like, you can bring them home with you, like they'll get attached to you. Mm-hmm  I feel though that I would be okay. Right with her attaching to me and tidying up my house. Yes, please. 

I'll yes.  she's the one like, come on, Mrs.

Well, yes.  Let's go.  just, yeah. Whatever 

work, your magic, whatever you need to do. Yeah.

oh my gosh. Yeah. , okay. That's room two 17. There's a thing called the vortex, which is that's what they refer to it as, but it is al The giant staircase, the Stanley SP or they spared no expense in the building of the hotel. The grand staircase is evidence of that. It's for the time it, you know, it's huge.

It's formidable. It's beautiful. The staircase and the area surrounding is a tornado of spiritual energy.  okay. Orbs  have been seen. And F O and his wife, flora have al been seen on the staircase.

Wow. Yeah.  Full on apparitions. You're getting like people walking up and down the stairs, you're getting conversations that you don't know where they're coming from.  A total. More text. Oh, 

I love a disembodied 

voice, right? I mean, , I think I'm gonna use this term though. A tornado of spiritual energy.

I love that. Yeah. 

That, that is pretty intense. That tells you all you need to know, 

honestly.

okay.  We're moving on to the concert hall. It was built as a gift for flora. She used to play the piano. She loved it. She would play well into the night when she was alive and has been heard playing the piano in her death. Oh, wow. Yeah. She loved it there. Yeah. She created for her like a full stage.

 You you're thinking like top quality for the time full stage trap door. For through theatrical entrances and exits a lower level, even had a full bowling alley.  This thing is pretty intricate. It's got side doors and places to go in and around. Yeah. , you know, you get me voices and things in there as well.

And there's a ghost called Paul. I didn't find his like job title that I looked a little bit. But he, he haunts the concert hall in life. He enforced an 11:00 PM curfew.  I'm thinking he is like head usher or maybe concierge or mething like that. Right. Where he was running the concert hall. Yeah.

And he would make sure everybody was out by 11. And  now guests and employees report hearing. Get out late at night, if they're still in there.   He comes and still tells them to get out. It's time to go. Guys. 

I love the dedication of these employees. I mean, I can't say that I'm that great of an employee 

that I'm gonna enforce.

Yeah. Stay around all these rules when I'm gone.  making sure people are outta the concert. All my death. My goodness. I've Al I've al never been there.  Maybe it's just  wonderful. You'd wanna stay. Forever. True. Ooh, that's creepy. Why did I say that? Ooh, I don't know.

but you did. I did. I'm glad my husband's not gonna work

note to do and the world do not let has been no, 

go to this hotel. Oh. Cause she will stay forever.  

she'll add to the tornado. 

Mm-hmm  heck yes. . Oh, wow. That's funny. Whoops. Okay.  We're still in the concert hall. A construction worker reportedly felt nudges like he was being bumped until he left, which Paul enjoys flickering the flashlights when tour groups come through.

 They do have tour a tour that goes through and talks about all the haunts. And if the tour guests ask or ask in a way he likes, he might flicker your flashlights. 

Oh, that's fun. Okay. Yeah. 

Yeah. Definitely interacting, which is . 

Hello? That's aweme. 

Yeah. Yeah. Pretty cool.  We're gonna move up to the fourth floor.

This floor is the, well, I don't know. I think it's the very top floor, cause I don't think the Stanley is super like super high. Just long, long. Yeah.  It once housed female employees and their children and nannies originally though, before this you know, these rooms were built for the employees. It was just a huge attic.

They oh, okay. It was like a cavernous at. It's like a giant, giant, nothing. Like there was nothing in between. And again, we mentioned that how long the hotel is. It's very right. It's very spacious.  Just a huge empty room up there, but now it, you know, they, they outfitted to house originally female employees and their children.

 The und of running, laughing and playing can still be heard from the floor below.  Guests staying on the fourth floor.  Now it's guest rooms.  They've renovated again. Now it's guest rooms.  Guests staying up there they've reported doors and like closet doors, opening and closing on their own.

They, you could hear laughter like giggling being, playing that, that type of thing. King's depiction of the Grady twins could be accurate or at least, you know, he felt the energy or mething because right there were children up there, there were children wandering the, you know, not necessarily wandering the whole hotel, but there were definitely kids.

And I mean, that bartender that searched him could have had twins. Right. You don't 

know. Oh, that's wild. Yeah. 

 Room 4, 28 reports of furniture being moved around and heavy footsteps. Oh, that's this one, a friendly cowboy has appeared at the end of the bed in 4 28.  There's no reports of an actual cowboy dying at this Stanley, but I'm thinking you don't necessarily have to have died in the Stanley to stay there.

Ms. Wiln did not die in her accident.  there's no reports of Mr. Paul dying in the hotel.  Maybe he just enjoyed it  much. He just came back and stayed.  right.  He's, he is thought to be this cowboy that was used to, used to be called Rocky mountain, but his name was Jim Nuk. Ooh. And he tends to appear to the ladies and them ghost party does  and what, give them ghostly kisses.

Oh,  of course does. Okay. Oh my gosh. 

See, you can't be appearing at the end of my bed. That is like one of my worst fears. Like I would like to actually see mething I think, but I have rules about that, right. You cannot be hovering over my bed.  and I can't be sleeping and then wake up and you're sitting on my bed.

Well, you're in such a vulnerable position in your bed, in your room. Like you're not wearing shoes or cks or, you know,  

yeah. I don't know. I it's just a, it's just a, a thing. And like the fact that you're probably gonna be asleep and then be startled, you know, in the worst kind of way. But that, those are my rules for, you know, I tell, you know, my family and friends, when, you know, we all like have joke about like, huh, if I can, I'm gonna like haunt you when I, you know, I like I have roles.

Yeah. And I'm serious. Like, I'm very serious about this.  

you're like, yeah, come back and visit, just stay out of my bedroom, 

please. Just, yeah. Just let's just stay exactly right. That's my new, yeah. Let's 

yeah. I mean, . Okay.  all right,  we're moving outside. We're gonna go over to, oh, the ice house. Okay. Back in 19 hundreds, refrigeration was still an emerging process, a, you know, emerging idea.

They weren't necessarily accessible in the same way that they are now.  They had this building called the ice house. That was very well insulated. I'm not exactly sure of what materials, but probably me of that Brock and grata I talked about. 

Yeah. And buried. Yeah. Yeah. But I don't know. And didn't, they usually try to keep, 'em kind of almost like the spring house, like,  that you had like cold water.

Well, okay.  They brought big blocks of ice into this building, and then that's where like all the perishables and things like that. Mm-hmm  kept , right. Yeah. They have this this little building.  Two spirits are thought to inhabit the ice house that has now been remodeled into a museum.  The museum has like old artifacts and like, you know, stuff about the hotel and the Stanley's.

And one of those spirits is Billy. Billy is a kid. He's a shy kid that shows up as a blurry figure in photographs.  When you go to the museum, you're taking pictures, you make blurry child. And his name is Billy. Wow. 

Poor. Okay. 

Yeah.  That's the, the, nothing was said about the other spirit, just Billy.

 Hopefully he has a friend in there. I know. Yeah, there's a pet cemetery. This has no correlation to oh, friend Steven King.  this was there before he was there. It's a small pet cemetery has only a few animals, but Cassie, a golden retriever and KA Manchi a fluffy white cat. They have both been seen and heard all around the property, especially outside.

 That's kind of cool. Oh, wow. CA we don't know how they died. There's I, I didn't see anywhere that said the years, but that's kind of cool ghost dog, and it's very 

cool. I mean, I know I'm yes. I love that. 

I think we have a ghost cat in this house. Let me just say that. Oh, I've never admitted to it admitting to the first time on the show.

yes. And everybody likes to joke that there's ghosts, but we don't ever hear talking. We don't ever hear, like, feel shifts in like temperature or anything like that. Metimes things will be knocked over, like off of count. Yeah. Or whatever 

out of nowhere. Oh, that's  

cat. And then  my husband. I've had cats my whole life.

My husband had cats when we, when we started dating, but I'm allergic to them. Oh, metimes you'll feel well, you have cats that pressure when they first jump on the bed and then they settle in next to you, that heavy feeling. I get that probably two or three times a week. Like it's pretty often. And our bed it's, it's not the best bed.

We're not, we're only half grownups. Like we still have just,  just the mattress on a frame. We don't have like a nice like bed, you know, but right. If you jump on just a frame mattress, metimes it makes a tiny und of the frame shifting. I've heard that in the middle of the night and it's just me in bed.

Oh.  That's our ghost cat, but I don't mind it. I'm not. Oh, 

but I, I was gonna say you don't have to worry about your allergies. Nope. And you still get the fun of them just randomly for no rean at all knocking crap, knocking 

over, sitting with you. I mean, I haven't, I usually feel it like, cuz I have this little light next to my bed and when I'm ready to go to sleep, take my glasses off, turn the light off.

And in that time where it's just you and the TV, you know, and it's just quite dark. That's when you'll, that's when I'll feel it. Oh, I'm not asleep yet. And that's when I'll feel it. Ooh. Oh, that's  cool. Okay. Thank you guys. Cat. We're happy. You're here. Be nice. I know 

you need a name for 

it. No, I'm not gonna name the goat yet.

I keep  everyone in the family is like, oh, we have a ghost. And I joke. I'm like, no, we have goats. Like it's a goat. It's a goat goat play ghosts. Cause you give it energy anyways. And now I'm talking about it all. Think mebody's gonna get snuggles tonight. Oh my gosh. I'm to think of a name. I am cuz now I feel like I need to name it.



Yeah. I mean, if you're calling it go ghost cat. I mean you might as well give it a real name. 

Yeah. We'll think about it. Woo it's. Yes. Oh, my, I just damn the ghost cat. Oh, that's aweme. I'm never sleeping again. Okay. Here we, if she, 

if she wakes up with scratches of, then we'll know Stanley's out.

Oh, okay. Cause that's a real 

thing that happens to me and I'm like, what are, am I real like that I can actually, you know, I definitely know they're real with that.  due to me. Oh my God. At 

night. 

Okay. We'll see. Oh, love it, Stanley. Okay. 

I'll I'll do an update. Okay.  We got two more areas to go to. I was surprised when I heard about this, but they had underground caves underneath the hotel.

Underground caves were created as an intricate system for employees to travel around the hotel back then. Well, I mean, They, they wanted the employees to go unnoticed by the guests. Yes, 

I was gonna say, yeah, that was a very common yeah. Thing in those, in those hotels, for sure. Yeah. 

 I mean, thinking, oh, passageways, like in the walls or, or like on the outsides or whatever, but no, they, they called these caves like 

underground.

I know. I feel like that's quite elaborate. 

Yes.  A high concentration, because usually there 

would be like a back, like a separate staircase and you know what I mean? Like for staff that wasn't. Obvious, you know, to the guests and that kind of thing. Right. And that's how they would maneuver, you know on floors and stuff like that.

Yeah. But like a cave that's a lot, that's, that's extra 

the type of stone now.  In the caves, there was lime, I mentioned granite and quarts that to capture paranormal energy. Aweme. Yep. And in these caves, what I'm thinking is maybe it's just like unfinished basement type deal. Maybe that's why they're calling it a cave.

Maybe, you know, they did dig into the rock face or whatever. But, eh, anyways, now I'm trying to picture in my minus too.  There was a chef, who's a pastry chef that worked at the hotel in the very early days and he would take his baked goods through the caves. To go from one dining, you know, from the kitchen or, you know, the place where they baked, well, the kitchen and go to like the dining room or the, you know, whatever the guests areas for breakfast in the rooms or whatever.

 The smell of home baked goods is reported by current employees with no apparent urce . Ooh. Yeah.  You'll just smell me croissants or me cookies or whatever. Okay. I see 

why everybody wants to go and haunt there. Yeah, really. I'm gonna make that a, a priority. I think  

 It's it. The smells attributed to the pastry chef that worked at the Stanley hotel when it opened.

And again, it does not mention that he died there. Like it doesn't say that he died at the hotel. He was an employee. They loved it. I don't know a gray cat with glowing green eyes has al been seen in the caves and it is not.  Comanche cuz Comanche's a fluffy white cat.  It's a separate gray cave 

cat. I that's what I was going.

I was gonna call it cave cat too. I don't love the und of cave. Cat cave. Cat. Yeah.  I don't need your eyes glowing at me from a cave. No thanks. But there's nothing about that. 

No, I'm okay with . All right. Now the final area in front of the hotel we're gonna talk quickly. Well, okay,  the hedge maze, we've all seen it in the movie, the hedge maze the area in front of the hotel was once a long driveway and they would park those Stanley steamers.

We talked about and it was like a promenade area for the guests to walk.  Just a long driveway. And I guess in my head and I think. Maybe I saw it mewhere that it was kind of like a circular type drive. Okay.  The hedge maze was only put in in 2015, which I was blown away by. This is I didn't development is the hedge maze.

Oh, wow. In the shining at the outlook. But even in the book there, there's no hedge maze in the book. It's topiaries, it's big animal shaped plants that kind of creep and cont like slightly move in the peripheral and slightly move again. Closer. Ooh. Yeah. Okay. In 

that weird how you like create this narrative in your head though, and you 

literally, I and shocked.

I was like, I cannot even picture in my head that hotel without the hedge maze in front of it, but that's because we've seen the outlook  much and that we have. In our head. I mean, and it's such an epic ending to that movie just, and it 

just feels like, like with all of the, you know, flash and whatever that this hotel had, it just feels that I'm surprised he didn't have one

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they had that Pade thing, but it was just like an open space, I guess. 

Although harsh winners, I guess, maybe not practical. I don't know whatever true. That's 

true.  In the outlook, the book version. Okay.  No specific ghosts are connected to the maze. It's only what, seven years old or mething like that.

Yeah. Seven years old, the specific ghosts, no specific ghosts. People have reported feeling panicky and having trouble breathing while inside though.  Maybe we're just in our own heads about it. You 

know, I could see that. Yeah. Yeah, 

yeah. , yeah, that is the Stanley hotel, a place that I would love to visit meday.

Oh, I would too now, especially, 

yeah. A lot of stuff that I didn't realize, because like, like you said, we have this like idea in our heads because of Steven King that, I mean, even going away from it a little bit is like almost shocking.  does 

it still, yeah. Does it still close in the winter? 

Ooh, that's a good question.

I don't, I'm not SU I just wonder now if they but I don't know the area. I just wondered now if, you know if it's like a ski, you know, snowmobile, snowing, you know, whatever, you know, destination I could see, or I could still see it just being a. Seanal, you know, thing. I mean, yeah. I, I really, 

I should have looked more.

I did look up there.  their packages for like the ghost tour or whatever, and the, oh yeah. How much is it? That's interesting, but I didn't, I, I didn't even think to look, to see if they stayed open year 

round. How much are the packages? I'm just curious. I forgot. I mean, was it like crazy or no? Were you like, oh, they're 

like, oh, you save up, you know, to go they're right.

But it's not. Yeah, no, they're not bad. I don't. Oh, exactly. But not terrible. Oh, 

that would be  fun. That would be  fun. Yeah. And just beautiful. I imagine still, I mean, if it's good enough for all these people to stay forever,  right. Even after working there, they weren't even guests there. They had to actually work there.

Yeah. Then yeah. I feel that as a, a living pern, I feel that I would find it quite enjoyable. 

Quite acceptable for a few days. Yeah. Oh, 

wow. Well, that was aweme. Yeah. I learned a lot about that. That, yeah, I did not know. And that's just really 

cool. Yeah.  That's more of like I guess like current legend or folk tale, or, you know, what have you, that's a little bit more in our, our modern psyche even now, you know, with doc, what, who was that other book?

Dr. Strange coming out in that, that book a couple years ago. And then the movie that's like the second part of the shining or whatever,  okay. Just came out a couple years ago.  I mean, that's kind of, it makes it all fresh in our minds again, , yeah. 

Aweme. Yeah.  thank you for that. That was great.

all right.  I guess that's it for us.  I will let you do your magic and take 

us away. Yes. Look for us on all the cials. We would love to interact with you on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. We are mavens of Ms. Deeds on, I said it wrong again on 

Nope. You had it on everything, but Twitter, 

everything but Twitter.

 Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram. We are mavens of miss deeds on Twitter. We are mavens, miss deeds, right? Yes, too. Yes. And again, we'd love to interact with you. We will be posting more and more. We're kind of just getting, going with our, you know, cial media and yes, like I said, love to interact with, with any of you, if you guys have questions or corrections suggestions 

or anything like, oh yes, let us know.

Yeah, we can, we can take, you know, whatever.  But yeah, suggestions on you know, cuz every little town, you know, across the world has their own little local legend you know, or traditions, things like that.  Would love to to hear from, from you guys about me of those lesser known things that would be aweme.

That would be, and Halloween is around the corner.  If anybody has any really great suggestions coming up on spooky sean that they'd really like to, to share or for us to talk about, we would love to hear 

about it.  That is a great idea. Yeah. We would love to have me spooky suggestion. That'd be 

great.

All right. All right. Aweme. All right guys. See you 

next 

week. Bye.