They say it is haunted. They talk about the ghost children on the 4th floor of the hotel. They say certain rooms are truly possessed by spirits.
So it made perfect sense to spend Halloween, in a raging snow storm, at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado.
It felt like we were in outtakes from The Shining. The grounds were feet deep in snow. The town was pretty much shut down. We drove through the storm, over the icy mountain roads, at night to get there. That was a feat in and of itself.
Once there we went on the tour of the corridors, staircases and legends of the Stanley.
We snapped pictures of what appeared to be empty hallways and stairwells.
We felt some "cold" spots along the way.
But later that night as we looked at the pictures we took we saw the images of what we did not see in the hallways and stairwells.
A rod of some sort moving before the lens and an image, but of what or whom exactly. The profile of a man? A profile of a face? What exactly was this?
Explanations were given at the hotel. Later, tech experts and photography buffs played with the photos but only could say that it could not be explained.
We still look at the photo and wonder what was captured on that picture. An illusion? A shadow? A lighting fluke? A spirit? A ghost? A what?
Can we really explain any of this. Can we truly understand what we are doing here in the first place. Are we so sure of any of it or is it possible that we know so little. We occupy such a small space in this vast story. You hold your hand over your eyes and you block out the moon, the sun, the horizon. Does our belief that we are so wise actually block out the rest of the story.
Do the definitions imposed by others limit our ability to see beyond the obvious. Can we break these bonds and see the larger picture. The other dimensions. The other stories taking place all around us. Is age one of those self imposed limitations. What is on that photograph…whatever it may be it is ageless. Who can say it is not. Think outside the ordinary. Think into the extraordinary. What is that on that photo? I don't know. I just know that it permits me to dream that we don't have all..or maybe.. any of the answers. Maybe not even the right questions yet. I find that comforting.