10 Facts About the Real-Life Hotel That Inspired "The Shining"

In September 1974, Stephen King and his wife, Tabby, spent a night at The Stanley Hotel (room 217, to be exact) and were the only guests on the entire property. That night, King had a nightmare about his 3-year-old son running and screaming through the hotel's corridors being chased by a fire hose. According to King's website, he woke up "sweating all over, within an inch of falling out of bed." By the time he got up and finished a cigarette, he had the entire premise of the book mapped out in his head.