The Shining Hotel Could Soon Become a Horror Museum

In 1974, Stephen King was inspired to write his now-classic horror novel The Shining while spending a night at The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. The story was later adapted into a popular film by Stanley Kubrick, which further cemented the hotel's status as an iconic pop culture setting—even though Kubrick didn't use the property in his film. Recently, The Stanley has announced that, pending funding, the property will become the site of the world's first horror-themed museum. 

The Stanley Film Center will be a 43,000-square-foot museum, archive, and production center. According to a press release, the hotel has applied for an $11.5 million credit from the State of Colorado's Regional Tourism Act, which was created for those looking to establish "a large scale Regional Tourism Project that is of an extraordinary and unique nature, is anticipated to result in a substantial increase in out-of-state tourism, and that generates a significant portion of the sales tax revenue by transactions with nonresidents of the zone." The MOA Architecture-designed space would feature a 30,000-square-foot museum, a 500-seat theater, and various classrooms and workshops.

The Founding Board for the center includes celebrities and known horror fans Elijah Wood, Simon Pegg, Mick Garris, Josh Waller, Daniel Noah, and George A. Romero. And the plan already has support from The Walking Dead creator Charlie Adlard, special effects legend Rick Baker, and director Clive Barker, who all committed to providing materials for the exhibits. The organizers and creative directors have even started planning events for the center.

"I would love to have a home for which we could constantly come year-round and celebrate with other fans from around the world," Elijah Wood said in a statement. "There's really no better place for there to be a permanent home for the celebration of horror as an art form than the Stanley Hotel. It was practically built for it."