Colorado Day Three: JonBenét Ramsey’s Home & The Stanley Hotel

The pictures and stories that you’re about to view and read are all from Monday, August 30, and although it might seem a tad bit early to some, for me and Melissa, this was the official kickoff of our Halloween Season! This day personified every aspect of all that we love about our favorite holiday. From the candy, to the creepy and the scary, to the macabre – for us – This Is Halloween!

Obviously candy is an important aspect of the Halloween season, so what better way to start our day than with a Hammond’s Candy Factory Tour! Hammond’s has been making candy in Denver, Colorado since 1920! For over a century now they’ve been delighting fans of all ages with scrumptious treats crafted by hand from start to finish! The tour itself was brief, maybe just slightly more than a half hour total, but it was highly informative and enjoyable. Plus, it was free! If ever in the Denver area, I would most definitely recommend a trip to Hammond’s! You’ll love it!

Having watched as many JonBenét Ramsey documentaries and specials as she possibly can, Melissa wasn’t about to let us drive past Boulder, Colorado without a stop outside the family’s home where a six year old JonBenét was brutally murdered back on Christmas Day in 1996. Her death created a media frenzy and dominated news cycles for months on end. The most chilling factor of this macabre story though is the fact that this still remains an unsolved crime and an open investigation with the Boulder Police Department. A simple Google search instantly gave us the address of the house along with hundreds of pages of information regarding the murder. Outside the home, we just parked on the side of the street with all the other cars in the neighborhood, got out, and took a handful of photos. No one bothered us in the ten minutes or so we were walking back and forth along the city sidewalk, but given how many other photos of this house we found, I’m certain moments like this are a regular occurrence. Something truly bizarre happened to me immediately after our time here, but that story will have to wait till I post “Colorado: A Retrospective.” Let’s just say I definitely think that I picked up some bad energy from our visit.

Following our quick visit to the former Ramsey residence, we went and had lunch and shopped along the historic PEarl Street there in downtown Boulder. This pedestrian avenue was super cute and full of quaint little shops and restaurants, including the delicious Italian one we ended up dining in and all my bizarre occurrences happened. Nonetheless, we loved it. If ever in Boulder, Pearl Street is not to be missed!

The Stanley Hotel opened on July 4, 1909 in Estes Park, Colorado, but not to the general public. Its original purpose was to house the wealthy guests of Yankee steam-powered car inventor Freelan Oscar Stanley, who would come out to Estes Park, Colorado and visit with him and his wife during the summer months. It was a sprawling campus of eleven buildings including the main hotel, which is where Melissa and I stayed in room 213, a concert hall, which will be discussed in great detail coming up, and nine other structures. The Stanley remained a peaceful place – minus a gas explosion in 1911 that entirely decimated room 217 – until 1974 when Stephen King and his wife spent a single night in that very room. From this experience King wrote his acclaimed bestseller, The Shining, and from then on The Stanley gained a reputation as a setting for paranormal activity.

The next five photos were taken in or around the Music Hall. Built as a 1/8 scale replica of the Boston Music Hall, this is where a violin-playing Stanley and his piano-playing wife would put on elaborate concerts for their guests. This structure is also one of the most haunted places on The Stanley campus. We got to go inside as part of our night tour and it started off pretty standard all in all. We got a brief history of the building and a rundown of some of the famous individuals who’ve performed there in the past, but when we went downstairs to the powder rooms, things got extremely creepy and scary.

In one of the powder rooms, the tour guide handed each of us a lollipop as a ploy to help summon the ghost of “Lucy.” Lucy was a fifteen year old homeless girl who had froze to death after she was found hiding away inside this very powder room and forcibly removed from the premises. Her story is incredibly tragic, but even in death, she had obviously maintained her love for candy. Well, fortunately for me and Melissa, some avid ghost hunting enthusiasts were on our tour and they had set up all this EMF reading equipment and such in the center of the room. Their machines were going absolutely crazy with signals and sounds and the three of them remarked how they had never seen their equipment act this way before. The tour guide assumed this meant someone else was in the room with us, so he asked if the spirit would be so kind to tell us their name then I shit you not, clear as it could possibly be, we heard a gravely voice call out from that damn machine, “Paul.”

I about shit my pants. I got so cold and chills shot up and down my spine. We were all standing there in complete and total darkness, minus the little flashes of light from the EMF equipment and hearing that old ass sounding voice call out, “Paul,” was just surreal. I’m so proud of Melissa for not running away in a panic because that very thought even crossed my mind initially before realizing just how lucky and amazing this experience truly was. Yes, I was scared and nervous, but also extremely excited. So much adrenaline started pumping through me though that I could’ve listened for ghosts all night!

Our tour guide then led us back to the main building where the entirety of the fourth floor is extremely haunted as well as the old ice and wine cellars, which is exactly where we ended up. The third picture below of the red lit door was taken down in one of the old tunnels.

Well, I do hope this blog helped put you in the Halloween spirit! It definitely did me! As always, THANK YOU so much for viewing! I truly do appreciate your support! PLEASE feel free to leave me a comment below! You know I LOVE reading and responding to them! I’ll be back with “Colorado: Day Four” as soon as I’m able, so until then, I wish you all, all the best!