I'll be upfront: I don't believe in ghosts. But...
Here I am at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colo., on Sept. 27. It's a white-and-red wedding cake of a Victorian resort hotel nestled in a lovely if overdeveloped alpine valley in the Rockies outside Denver. Besides being a venue for weddings (I observed no fewer than three on Saturday), the hotel derives much of its cachet from being the inspiration for Stephen King's The Shining and is one of the supposedly most haunted places in the United States.
The promotional video on the hotel's own TV sets suggests grabbing a bite in its restaurant after a day of "chasing ghosts."
Why am I here? SCI FI Channel is hosting a weekend of news conferences for digital press (and SCI FI Wire) to promote its slate of reality programming, including CHA, Estate of Panic, Scare Tactics and Destination Truth, as well as Sanctuary (we'll be running stories on each in the coming days).
The day is capped by a real-life Ghost Hunt through the hotel's most haunted precincts, hosted by none other than Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, the real-life Ghost Hunters of SCI FI's hit series and founders of the Atlantic Paranormal Society, or TAPS.
It's a little before midnight. Investigators Steve Gonsalves, Dave Tango and Kris Williams usher groups of journalists through darkened rooms and hallways where visitors have reported the most frequent "activity": children running and laughing where there are no children, red balls materializing out of nowhere, strange figures glimpsed through windows, unseen entities moving furniture around.
We see and hear nothing on our ghost hunt, even using the TAPS team's infrared cameras. (Well, we do hear one particularly enthusiastic bride through the hotel's thin walls.)
Finally, we find ourselves on the main building's fourth floor--setting of the most reports of spectral encounters. The lights are out. We are ushered into Room 401, where Jason spent a fateful night for one of Ghost Hunters' more memorable episodes. He was awakened by a smashing glass and a door that opened and closed on its own.
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The Stanley Hotel, inspiration for Stephen King's The Shining.
This night, Jason is seated next to the bed. Grant stands by the dresser. In the murk, I can make out the bed, the open door to the bathroom, the closed door to the closet. In the early years of the hotel, we are told, a man would hide in the closet and spy on sleeping women.
On a small table beside Jason is a "K2 EMF meter," a remote-control-shaped device familiar to Ghost Hunters viewers, which can detect electromagnetic fields. And, according to Jason, it flashes in the presence of ghosts.
Jason is telling us that a previous group this night had some unsettling encounters, including one that so unnerved a woman that she came unglued and had to flee the room in a panic.
That's when the K2 meter flashes.
Does anyone have a cell phone? Jason asks. No. Jason asks a question: Is anyone there?
The meter flashes again.
Now, mind you, Jason tells us that the meter only reacts in the presence of strong electromagnetic fields or cell phones. I don't have one, and the rest of the people in the room have switched theirs off. Earlier, Jason and Grant cleared the room of any devices that could possibly cause the meter to flash.
It shouldn't be flashing. Yet it does.
A few more questions.
"This is your chance to talk with an interdimensional being," Grant says, with a laugh.
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An image from the "Stanley Hotel" episode of Ghost Hunters, which aired last fall. ( Paul Trantow for SCI FI )
Do you see us? Flash.
Are you able to count us? Flash.
More than five? Flash. More than 10? Flash. More than 15? No flash. Less than 15? Flash. Is there 14 of us? No flash. Is there 13 of us? Flash.
Jason does a head count. One. Five. 10. 13.
There are 13 of us in the room.
A few more questions. Is there more than one of you? Flash. More than two? Flash. More than three? No flash.
Are we in the 21st century? No flash. 20th? Flash. Jason narrows the time period through a series of questions. Finally: Is it 1936?
Flash.
Three ghosts who think it's 1936.
I'm skeptical. You guys are doing this, right? No, no, no, Jason insists. This isn't the first time the K2 meter has responded in Room 401: The guys say they've used it nine times in the room and have been investigating the place for three years.
OK, so we have some inexplicable flashing. But, Jason says, earlier, our friend April MacIntyre from MonstersandCritics.com, volunteered to enter the closet.
While in there, something--or someone--touched the back of her leg.
Twice.
We track down April in the hotel lobby and bring her back to Room 401.
It's still pitch dark. Jason asks: April is here again. Would you like to touch her?
Flash.
April puts on her game face, goes into the closet. I shut the door. You OK in there? Yes.
Jason asks: April's in the closet. Would you touch her?
Flash.
We wait.
One minute.
Two minutes.
The closet door flies open. April's out. She's touching her hair, her shoulders, then tells me:
Something touched my shoulders and neck, like it was running its fingers on my skin. She runs her fingers on my back to show me.
Jason asks: Are you OK?
Yes, I'm fine.
We try it again. This time, nothing.
We leave. Down one flight of stairs, into the lighted hallway of the third floor. We look at each other. What just happened? April's green eyes are wide, but she's more excited than scared. She's faking, right? She's in on it, right? No, no, no, she insists. I swear to God, she says.
The others seem spooked.
Me?
I don't believe in ghosts. But...
Ghost Hunters returns with 25 new episodes in early 2009.
