Do you believe in ghosts? Any stories to share?

Jukee wrote:

Very good story Is there any truth to any of that?

dustinpardue wrote:

An chapter from my my book "That Just Happened" about a ghost happening. Pretty funny

The Stanley Hotel (Occurred Winter 2004)

These types of stories are sometimes better left unsaid because people tend to think you are a nutjob when you them. But, this story needs to be told. I was never a person that particularly ever believed stories of the supernatural or ghost stories per say. That all changed for me in the Winter of 2004 in Estes Park, CO when I stayed a night at the infamous Stanley Hotel. Before I get started, a little background may be needed to fully establish the setting. The Stanley Hotel is the hotel Stephen King stayed in when he wrote the famous novel “The Shining” about a family that accepts the job as caretakers of a hotel in Colorado for the Winter while it is shut down. The father develops a little case of cabin fever and tries to murder his family. A great story about the psychological effects of isolation and a person’s removal from society, laws, and reality. Stanley Kubrick did a film adaptation of the King novel in 1980 which starred Jack Nicholson and was incredible in a way that only Stanley Kubrick could capture, even though he changed the ending. The name of the hotel was changed to “The Overlook Hotel” in the novel and the film. The famous hotel is still there and in business. The hotel scenes from “Dumb and Dumber” were shot there (the bar scene “we’ve landed on the moon!” the staircase, and outside in the fancy car) as well as a second movie adaptation of the “The Shining” that was made for TV and shot there in the 90’s which righteously sucked. Guests of the Stanley Hotel have often had stories of strange things happening. I even fucked around with the front desk guy about it when I checked into the hotel that Saturday afternoon. The gentleman told me if anything happened to let the front desk because they like to log those events (sounds like someone is collecting information for a book to me).
http://www.stanleyhotel.com/
After a 4 hour drive from Glenwood Springs to Estes Park in the snow, Tirso and myself along with my wife at the time and another girl, Chelsea arrived at the Stanley Hotel to begin a night that none of the four of us would ever forget. Tirso and I were both big fans of the Stephen King novel and the Stanley Kubrick film, so this was very exciting to be in the hotel the book and movie were based upon. The evil of the hotel is the whole centerpiece of “The Shining.” But not at all being “normal people,” we thought we would raise the bar a little and make this trip as spooky as possible. So what is the most un-normal thing one could bring to a hotel that is historically known as haunted? I mean, this hotel is so fucking haunted it inspired one of the most bone-chilling horror novels and movie of all time. We thought it would be a good idea to bring a Ouija board, but we couldn’t find one in any store before we left. However, when reading up on the subject, we found that in order to reach “the other side” through a Ouija board one must make their own and not use the Parker Brothers store-bought version for kids. So we bought a piece of plywood, some paint, and made our own. The rectangular game board is covered with a woodcut-style alphabet. The words yes, no, and good-bye, and the numbers 0-9 are present on the board. Also included is a heart-shaped plastic planchette. The planchette is the 'pointer' that is supposed to glide over the board under the direction of supernatural forces and form comments and questions by pointing out questions and comments. A little background on the Ouija board from aroundtheaccult.org:
“Satan and his demons can use the Ouija board to give advice, or even to guide a person in a certain direction. This guidance will even seem to be true, good, and helpful. Satan and his demons pretend to be caring. They try to appear as something that appears harmless. The Bible says, "And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve" (2 Corinthians 11:14-15).

Satan and his demons will do this in order to get a person even more deeply involved in spiritist practices. Things like the Ouija board appear to be innocent at first, but soon a person finds themselves addicted to guidance from the spirit world - thereby allowing Satan to control and destroy their life. 1 Peter 5:8 warns us, "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." The Ouija Board may be advertised as just as game, and that is exactly what Satan wants us to believe.”
Pretty crazy shit huh? Tirso and I thought it would be a good idea to make the Ouija board, bring some candles and make a pentagram in the hotel room and try to summon some evil spirits to visit our hotel room and get drunk with us. We thought it would be a great way to freak the women out, but had no idea what a bad idea this was for all four of us that would culminate into a collective frightening that still gives me goosebumps five years later.
It was around 7pm and the four of us had just returned to the hotel after having dinner at a local brewery in Estes Park. My wife and Chelsea wanted to go to the bar and have more drinks. Tirso and I thought it would be a travesty to stay at the Stanley Hotel and not watch “The Shining” while we were there. We were prepared. We had the DVD and a laptop. The ladies went to the bar and Tirso and I made some margaritas and watched the movie while they were gone. As they were in the bar, Tirso and I decided that we really wanted to scare the girls. We set up the pentagram of candles throughout the room.
From Wikipedia:
“A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha or pentangle or, more formally, as a star pentagon) is the shape of a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes. The word pentagram comes from the Greek word πεντάγραμμον (pentagrammon), a noun form of πεντάγραμμος (pentagrammos) or πεντέγραμμος (pentegrammos), a word meaning roughly "five-lined" or "five lines".
Pentagrams were used symbolically in ancient Greece and Babylonia, and are used today as a symbol of faith by many Wiccans, akin to the use of the cross by Christians and the Star of David by Jews. The pentagram has magical associations, and many people who practice Neopagan faiths wear jewelry incorporating the symbol. Christians once more commonly used the pentagram to represent the five wounds of Jesus,[1][2] and it also has associations within Freemasonry.[3]”
We lit white candles at each of the five points and placed the Ouija board in the middle of the star and dimmed the lights. All we had to do now to start summoning the evil spirits was to wait for the girls to get back from the bar. Tirso and I had made a pact to take everything extremely serious throughout the night to add to the tension and make the entire situation “freakier.”
Our plan had timed out perfectly. We had finished the movie, set up the stage for the séance, and the ladies came back into the room. They were unsurprisingly shocked at the detail we had put into setting everything up. They were a little freaked out. Tirso and I maintained the utmost seriousness. The room was dark. It was a standard type room with two double beds. A short, oblong dresser was at the wall facing the foot of the beds where a TV sat. To the left of that was an entrance to the restroom. Between the two beds was standard wooden nightstand that had a small digital alarm clock and an old lamp. The thing we found odd about the room was the fact there was no window. In the open area of the floor between the feet of the beds and the dresser and bathroom entrance was the center of the pentagram. Candles were lit in five corners of the room leading to the center where the homemade Ouija board sat in the floor. The room was entirely lit by candles.
Initially, a couple of really odd things began to happen in the room that we shrugged off to general weirdness. I got up the get the ashtray off of the TV. It was sitting on top. When I touched the television, I was violently shocked. There was a white visible beam of electricity that connected my hand and the television. This was what an onlooker would describe as a projectile lightning bolt. It shocked the shit out of me and hurt like a bitch. Just for giggles, I tried turning on the TV, and it wouldn’t power on. We had been watching it previously, but now was completely dead. We just chalked it up to “it shocked the fuck out of Dustin and is now broken.” We definitely didn’t want the front desk to know the TV was broken because I didn’t want to pay for it, obviously. After the initial shock of the TV incident, I sat back down in my spot in the circle in the floor around the Ouija board to start our session. No more than a couple of minutes after I sat down, the room became noticeably very cold. It was cold and snowing outside, but we had the thermostat set on 72 degrees and it had comfortable all day. We were now under the impression the heat was broken along with the TV.
The four of us sitting chilly in our circle lit only by candle light began to ask questions to the Ouija board. How the game works is everyone in the circle places a hand on the planchette and as you ask questions the planchette moves to letters and numbers to answer your questions. The “game” is that someone is always under the impression someone else is moving the planchette. Tirso and I, maintaining the utmost seriousness, began to ask general questions such as “is anyone here?” and “if there is someone else with us, can you tell us about yourself.” The planchette isn’t moving at all. We continued this charade for about half an hour until the point we all began to get a little bored. I then took over the question asking and removed my hand from the planchette. I wanted to just sit back and ask questions. The room became a little colder.
I was asking some questions along the lines of “is there anyone here I know?” and “how do I know you?” I began making statements instead of questions. “Talk to me, are you scared?” The planchette began to move around the board. The Ouija board pointed to “yes” when I asked if someone was there I knew. Who in the fuck could this be? I figured Tirso had moved the planchette to “yes” to cue me to start freaking these girls out. I took the cue. I asked the board; “OK if I know you, then tell me a little about yourself.” As the planchette moved around the board, the numbers 1-9-9-7 came to light. I replied, “so I know you from 1997?” and the board pointed to “yes.” Still playing along, so I thought, I asked “what kind of car do you drive in 1997 then?” The board moved around for a bit and pointed to the letters V-W. So who in the hell did I know in 1997 that drove a Volkswagen? I began to get a sick feeling in my stomach. You know that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you hear terribly awful news? That is the feeling I got. I got quiet and was thinking to myself “no fucking way.” This HAS to be a coincidence. I didn’t know what to say and I didn’t want to say it out loud, but I had a friend pass away in 1997 that drove a Volkswagen that none of these three people knew about mainly because it is a subject I just don’t like talking about. My wife knew I had a friend who died, but that’s it. I had never elaborated as to how or when or any details. The extent she knew was that I had a friend pass away and I along with all of my friends at the time took it pretty hard.
After than initial feeling, I still felt they had just ran across some random numbers and letters that fit into a personal pattern for me. I figured I would ask some more detail. I took a deep breath and asked, skeptically “OK where did you go to school?” The board spelled out the letters U-N-C. I was beginning to show signs of fear and amazement according to the others in the room. I didn’t know whether to be scared or what to think. The rule of the game is that if you stumble upon a spirit, the moderator isn’t to give any information to the others in the circle information as to what or why you are asking what you are asking to control the integrity of the game. Needless to say I was fucking shocked and nervous. A quiet came over the room as the look on my face and the loss of color was really starting to scare everyone else in the room. The only thing that was muttered was “are you ok?” from my wife. I didn’t respond. I sat in startled silence. As everyone sat there looking at me, the TV came on. The volume was wide open and the power button was set to off. Everyone got up and screamed and freaked out accordingly. The power button was set to off and the TV just came on an hour after it had shocked the shit out of me. Tirso pulled the power cord from the TV to turn it off. Most of the circle agreed that this shit was getting a little too weird and we should stop. We were scared enough. The look on my face was scaring them enough. I said; “No way we are stopping this now! Everyone sit back down. I have some questions that need to be answered!” Everyone could see a calm come over me and that I meant what I was saying. They sat back down in the circle. I continued to ask questions.
The mood in the room was tense. Everyone was on edge, a couple of people to the point of trembling. I asked “So where did you live when you were in school?” The planchette was moving for about 10 seconds. Suddenly, it began moving with all three hands on it, the planchette travelled to the letters G-T. My face turned absolutely white. GT was the abbreviation for the suite/dorm building my friend lived in while he was in school. All I could do was take a big swallow and ask “So where did you grow up?” The planchette quickly moved to three letters, J-O-N. Those were the first three letters of the small town he grew up in. I began to quiver with excitement or fear. I still don’t know which it was, but I had to stand up and walk around the room a few times while everyone sat in the circle. My wife kept asking me if I was OK. I just kept replying “yes” and “I think so.” With this feeling I can describe as scared, excited, yet calm, I sat back down and asked another question. “Where was one of your favorite places in the world to go?” The planchette moved around the board for what seemed like an eternity and gave me the letters B-R-P. I was floored, I didn’t know whether or not to scream or cry. The mathematical chance that these questions being answered correctly one after another this many times in a row from three people controlling a Ouija board that had no clue who this person was and who were from nowhere near where this person and I were from and have no way of knowing this person let alone details like I am asking is slim to none. One of his favorite places to go was the Blue Ridge Parkway by the way, where ultimately he passed away. I was almost scared to the point of panic, but at the same time I felt a calm that I am unable to describe. Why wasn’t I screaming or running away? I finally asked “OK this is freaking me out a little bit dude, can you tell everyone your name?” Nothing happened. “Tell me who you are man, because this is really freaking me out” I exclaimed. Nothing happened. “I can’t keep doing this unless I know who this is” I said. The planchette began to move. I don’t feel comfortable writing out the letters, but the board spelled out his initials. First, middle, and last name. I put each of my hands on my cheeks and began to tremble. I didn’t want to believe anything like this shit was possible and I began to angrily ask questions like “what was your girlfriend’s name?” The board gave me her first and last initials. “Where was the last place I saw you?” The board spelled B-O-N-E. The last place I saw him was in Boone. “The last time we were in your car, what CD did we listen to and talk about how great it was for the whole ride?” The board gave me the letters V-S. I lost my shit. I was officially all to pieces, with a sick feeling in my stomach, trembling. The CD we had listened to was Pearl Jam’s “vs.” I told the others in the room who were absolutely petrified just by looking at my reactions that I simply couldn’t do this anymore. They were especially scared because when I have said out loud that any of these answers were right or said anything specific to the person. They have just been scared as shit watching me react. My body was literally trembling. The room was cold; the candles were still at full burn. My wife stood up and started yelling “I don’t know is in this room with us, but you are upsetting Dustin. Please stop.” They asked if I wanted to keep talking, I said I couldn’t. So, my wife began to ask questions.
The person I was communicating with was one of the funniest people I had ever met. What made him funny was his wise-ass personality. He would say things to mess with a person just to get a rise out of them. He wouldn’t say some of the most messed up things you can imagine just to get a reaction with absolutely no apologies. The next line of questioning by my wife would further solidify the experience to me based on pure personality and what turned out to be prophecy.
She was asking questions the board didn’t want to respond to such as “why are you upsetting Dustin?” and “who are you?” There were no responses when she started asking questions. She introduced herself as Dustin’s wife and just began talking out loud to the “person” in the room with us. There were no responses and the chill started to leave the room and it got warmer. It got warmer until she asked a certain question. “What is your problem with me?” she asked. “Am I not good for Dustin?” she asked. The room got chilly again within a few seconds. With only Tirso and Chelsea’s hands on the planchette, it moved to N-O-N-O. The board answered “no” to both questions. She looked dejected. She then asked “Will our marriage last?” The board pointed to the word “no.” My wife, getting visibly angry, asked “why the fuck not then?” Four letters came up, W-H-O-R. In true personality fashion of this person, the board gave us the first four letters of the word “whore.” The planchette began moving around more and more. I started giving us initials of her past boyfriends, fraternity abbreviations of frat boy boyfriends she had in the past. She started to lose her complexion and started having the feelings I felt earlier, just a sick feeling in her stomach. Her feelings weren’t met with a calm like mine were, but with anger. Severe anger. What I knew that nobody else in the room knew was that this sounded exactly like some shit this person would have said to her in person if he had known her. This person once told my friend Robert, whose family owns a couple of jewelry stores, that “he prays for the day they go out of fucking business” because he was a prick. That is just the kind of stuff he would come out with. He would say it in such a comical way that it was nearly impossible to get mad at him. Needless to say, I am now divorced.
My wife began to scream at the “person” or spirit in the room. “You have no right to judge me! You don’t even know the fuck I am! I don’t know who the hell you think you are!” At the same time she was yelling Tirso quickly stood up and told her to stop and be quiet. “Hey hey hey everyone be quiet. Slowly turn around and look at the alarm clock.” We turned around the see the digital alarm clock on the nightstand scrolling through random numbers as fast as the eye can see in no particular order at all. As the numbers were scrolling, some numbers would randomly go dark and off the screen and then come back and start shuffling again. Collectively, all four of us in the room officially freaked the fuck out. As fast as we possibly we could we opened the door to the hotel room and all bolted down the hall in a frantic hurry. None of us knew exactly where we were going, but we knew we wanted to get the hell out of that room.
We stopped at the end of the second hallway we frantically ran down. “We have to go back” I said. “We can’t stop, I need some answers. We have to go back. Come with me.” Everyone could tell I was as serious as serious gets. We calmly walked back into the room. It was as we left it when we scurried out leaving the door open. The clock was still at a constant speed shuffle scrolling through random numbers. We closed the door. Everyone was scared shitless, on edge, goosebumps, shaking. I began to ask loudly and firmly “Nobody understands why you did what you did. Why did you do what you did? Why? That’s the only question I have for you……Why?” The board spelled out G-F twice. G-F, a few seconds later back to G-F. I asked “what do you mean?” This was the first answer I didn’t as plain as day understand. I don’t know what GF means and still don’t to this day. As I was asking what this meant, my wife who was scared out of her mind watching this alarm clock going absolutely crazy behind us, started yelling again. “I don’t who the fuck you think you are or what you are doing or why you are upsetting Dustin, or anything else, but you are scaring the hell out of all of us so please STOP!”
At the exact moment the word “stop” came out her mouth, the alarm clock stopped scrolling numbers. I mean perfectly. At that exact moment she said “stop!” the alarm clock stopped like the snap of a finger. The clock stopped on 10:04. My mouth dropped open. “Oh my god you guys” I said. “Holy shit. We have to get out of here yall. This is too much. Let’s go somewhere besides here.” I led everyone out of the room, outside the hotel. I didn’t give a shit how cold it was. It wasn’t until that moment that I told them why. My friend was buried on my 20th birthday, October 4th 1997. The clocked stopped on 10:04. My heart was beating so fast I felt like I had ran a marathon.
It took a few minutes but we all got the nerve to go back to the room. The door was still open, the candles were still burning, the lights were still out, the Ouija board was still in the floor pointing to the “F” or “G-F,” and the alarm clock was still stuck on 10:04. We blew out the candles, put the Ouija board face down in the closet and unplugged the alarm clock. The chill in the air was no longer there. It felt “normal.” Like it did when we first got there earlier in the day. It was at this point I had everyone sat down and I told them the story of the conversation I was having with the “other person” and the significance of the answers the Ouija board was giving and how dead on they all were. This left everyone in the room speechless and they could not sleep. I felt an unbelievable calm that I had never felt before or felt since. I went straight to sleep. Nobody else slept and they woke me up very early to get out of the hotel and return home. I didn’t argue. Whatever happened in that room is something I can never fully capture or explain. I can write it in words and tell the story, but the feeling we all felt in that room in the Stanley Hotel will always be something that sends a tingle down the spine. Whatever happened was special. I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything in the world, but I hope it never ever happens again and I will never ever return to the Stanley Hotel. It stops there.


-Dustin M Pardue 5/15/09