Welcome to the Hotel Paranormal

In the basement of a restored concert hall dating back more than 100 years, paranormal investigator Lisa Nyhart opens her Ghostbusters-style metal suitcase of gadgets and pulls out a Spirit Box, which uses radio frequencies to monitor EVP, words and noises from the beyond described as Electronic Voice Phenomena.

Flipping the box on, she adopts the firm yet friendly tone she uses to communicate with the Stanley Hotel's unseen guests. "Paul?" she calls out into the dark hallway as members of her tour group huddle closer together. "Are you there?"

Located in Estes Park, a Colorado resort town just east of Rocky Mountain National Park, the venerable Stanley Hotel has earned a spirit-ridden reputation. Stephen King wrote The Shining after spending the night in Room 217. The popular Syfy TV show Ghost Hunters and Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures have both filmed there.

And every year, thousands of believers and wannabe believers converge on the property to test their inner skeptic and decide for themselves if the truth really is out there.

Nyhart, who works for the hotel as the resident paranormal investigator, says that on her ghost hunts people realize they are in the presence of a spirit when they feel cold air or spidery touches on their heads or the backs of their legs. Doors crack and creak. Voices can be heard singing. Flashlights turn on and off, occasionally on the guest's command.

One of the most reliable spirits is a former maintenance man named Paul, who worked at the Stanley Hotel for 10 years before his death from a heart attack while shoveling snow in 2005, Nyhart says. Sometimes on her tours around 11 p.m.—the hotel's one-time curfew—he gets active, occasionally interacting with people.

"We have more nights with activity than [without]," says Nyhart. "It's a Disneyland for spirits."

You don't have to be a guest to take one of the hotel's many ghost tours, which range from simple storytelling sessions to five-hour, hi-tech hunting expeditions around the property. But many people opt to stay, paying a premium for a night in one of the specific haunted rooms.

more here: USAtoday