The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 107

THE PALM BEACH POST SUNDAY, JULY 27, 1 997 51 shi on, 9Wev Where's the real key to Room 217? Down the road at the Baldpate Inn vJ II krVi TV Til i a mm 1 BMf STANLEY II 'J mm if I i'-. 1 1,1 I a -i '-j Ml I 1 W-' v. v'" I tt fit. ABC-TV painted the lobby of The Stanley before filming The Shining mini-series. Kate (left) and Tess Crowley of Lake Worth feel the spirits.

In Room 217 (below), Kate is engrossed in the book that made the hotel famous. Ptiotos by JAN TUCKWOOD fH, i itrt A i ii ij-iiT in I Mill The Baldpate Inn is famous for its key collection. Room 217 at The Stanley Hotel isn't really scary. It isn't even the original Room 217. Long before Stephen King stayed there and was inspired to write The Shining, this room was number 109.

The original leather key to Room 109 is in a glass case 7 miles south of The Stanley at another inn The Baldpate Inn, which is known for its collection of approximately 20,000 keys. Also in the collection are the keys to Mozart's wine cellar, George Washington's Revolutionary War headquarters, Adolf Hitler's desk, Buckingham Palace and possibly your very own house keys. Who knows? Hundreds of keys are added each year. History buffs could spend an hour in the key room at the Baldpate, but that's not even the best part of this 80-year-old inn. The best part is the soup and salad buffet served daily for lunch and dinner.

Do not scoff at the limited menu. I have dined at five-star restaurants in Paris, but I have never tasted anything as delicious as the Baldpate's warm banana butterscotch muffins. This summer, we dined at the Baldpate on cornbread day. Between bites, my husband muttered, "I'm in heaven." And he wasn't talking about the spectacular mountain view. The inn's 13 charming guest rooms and three cabins cost $70 to $125 per night, including breakfast.

Call 970-586-6151. JAN TUCKWOOD if-: v. I y-' From Hotels bought The Stanley in May 1995. ABC arrived soon after Grand Heritage had painted the historic hotel's lobby white and added light, bright new furnishings. The art director swept through, proclaimed the renovation all wrong "we must have darkness!" and sent paint crews in to make the lobby walls look like dark wood.

"We kept the look," says Paula Peat Page, The Stanley's director of sales. "We're not thrilled with it, but we know the market value." It's that dark lobby and the lure of all things Shining that draws thousands of tourists to the hotel year-round. Some, like my family, decide to stay overnight. In Room 217. When King stayed in this room in 1973, he and his wife were the only guests at The Stanley.

"The wind was high and it was blowing around, and one of the shutters had come unanchored, and it was clapping against the side of the building," King has said of his stay. "The orchestra was still there, and they were playing, but except for our table, all the chairs were on the tables "The music is echoing down the hall and I mean, it was like God had put me there to hear that and see those things." The result: A wicked tale i about Torrance, the winter caretaker of The Overlook Hotel, whose family gets snowed in with a bunch of mean-spirited ghosts. One of them inhabits Room 217. I The Shining's infamy has prompted a run of ghost sightings and perpetrated three myths about The Stanley, Page says. "One, the hotel is open year-; round, not just in the summer," she says.

"Two, we don't get 'nearly the amount of snow that shown in The Shining. They had to truck in snow from higher elevations to get that 'snowed-in' look. "And, three," Page assures Jme, "thousands upon thousands of people stay here each year and report no strange experiences." Sure, sure. But what could 'happen to us? 2 p.m., July 6. We check in to Room 217.

"Ooooooh, you're in the spooky room," the clerk says as she hands me the metal key with "X17" engraved on it. If they put "217" on the key, they'd never see it again. You'd be surprised how far King fans will go to get a piece of The Shining. My husband, Pat, our three daughters and I take the manual Otis Elevator a novelty in 1909 and today to the second floor, where there is a lovely, sunny lobby with mahogany furniture. Nothing to be nervous about.

Yet. We find Room 215 and Room 219, and an unmarked door in between. Turns out, they can't put a "217" anywhere at The Stanley. Even the number plate of Room 219 has been chipped away by fans. The maid in the hallway assures us that, yes, this is Room Mountain IITIX IU Grand Nationi LaKf.atK 'GranBy xi Boulder jj Centra, City 217.

It's unlocked. Quick! Check the tub! Room 217 is huge and gorgeous, with two queen beds, dark furniture and pale pink and sage green decor. A balcony overlooks the front of the hotel and the mountains. But before we call the all-clear on terror, we check the bathroom, scene of vast horror in The Shining. It's tiny, with a white sink, pink modern tub (not a claw-footed model) and, whew, no bloated bodies anywhere in sight.

At last, we relax. Until 4 p.m. A frantic pounding on the door. We all jump to our feet. Even my husband gasps at the knock it sounds like a machine gun.

We discover that the door to Room 217 does not lock automatically, and it fits loosely in the frame, so each knock sounds like 10. A tourist is at the door. She's come all the way from Corpus Christi to get a picture of Room 217. On summer weekends, at least 50 tourists a day ask to see this room. In fact, just the night before, a bride and groom spent their honeymoon here.

In the morning, when the bride got out of the shower and walked back to the bedroom in her bra and panties, she got a surprise greeting not from her new husband, but a group of tourists. 6 p.m. A trip to the bar. No stay at The Stanley is plete without a drink at the Dunra-ven Grille, where Jack Torrance bellied up in The Shining and Jim Carrey got stood up in the movie Dumb and Dumber. Our bartender is named Dennis, not Lloyd.

(A good sign, since Lloyd's face dissolved into a gooey mask of festering sores in The Shining.) We order "Rocky Mountain Smoked Trout Cheesecake a la Room 217" for $5 from the special souvenir "Overlook Hotel" menu. Also on the menu are such temptations as "Grilled Mallet-Pounded Polenta" and "Center Cut Tenderloin of Bludgeoned Beef." Estes Park home to more than hotel The final fourth of the movie Dumb and Dumber was shot at The Stanley in the spring of 1994. The hotel appeared as the fictional 'Danbury Hotel in Stars Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels and Lauren Holly stayed at The Stanley. Summer is the high season at The Stanley, with rates from $159 to $209 (Room 217 is $209). From Oct.

15 to May 22, rates drop to $129 to $179. F.O. Stanley, who built The Stanley Hotel, and Enos Mills, who advocated the creation of Rocky Mountain National Park, were the two men most important to the growth of Estes Park, which is 71 miles northwest of Denver. Trail Ridge Road, which cuts west through the middle of Georgetown DENVER He returns to bed, and the creaking begins again. Louder, then softer, off and on, for the next half hour each creak followed by our cries.

Finally, Jillian screams, "Take us to the Comfort Inn!" and flips on the lights. Immediately, she spots the demon. And shades of The Shining it's Dad! My husband rocks maniacally in the bed and lets out a horrifyingly gleeful shriek. "I got you! I got you all!" He had rigged the room with thread from a hotel sewing kit. One end of the thread was tied around his finger, the other was attached to a lamp shade he had loosened in the corner.

And what about those thuds in the bathroom? He had stacked shampoo bottles on ice cubes in the tub and waited for the ice to melt. Is this the behavior of a twisted and possessed man? Yes. But, I can't blame The Stanley Hotel or Stephen King for my husband's insanity. Unlike Jack Torrance, this man was nuts when we checked in. The trout's tasty.

So's the Red Rum ale. But don't ask Dennis about The Shining. "I'm tired of the whole thing." 11 p.m. Our terror begins in Room 217. My 7-year-old, Tess, too chicken to sleep on a rollaway, is tucked between my husband and me.

Jillian, 15, and Kate, 9, are in the bed next to the bathroom. Moments after we close our eyes, we hear two mysterious thuds coming from the bathroom. Jillian and Kate shriek. They had been hearing small noises from the bathroom all day, but we had ignored them. "Must be the guy next door," I say.

"Go to sleep." Within minutes, we hear another strange noise a creak, creak coming from the corner of the room. We all sit up in bed. Had the ghosts of The Shining come to life? "Dad! Check the windows! Check outside!" Jillian pleads. Pat gets up to check. Nothing.

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