Sure, Timberline Lodge starred in the movie version of Stephen King's horror classic "The Shining."

But King actually drew inspiration for the paranormal story, featuring ghosts, extrasensory powers and "redrum," during a stay at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado.

Maybe a real ghost was whispering in his ear during his stay.

The hotel appears to be teeming with ghoulish spirits.

Earlier this week, guest Henry Yau snapped a panorama photo of the Stanley Hotel's famous lobby, including the grand stairwell. No one was on the stairs when Yau took the photo, he said.

But check out what his camera captured: An apparition in period clothing standing on the stairwell.

"When I took it, I didn't notice anything," Yau, director of public relations at the Children's Museum of Houston, told Click2Houston.com.

Actually, according a paranormal expert, there are two ghosts in the photo: The woman in black on the stairs and a child to her left.

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What does a paranormal investigator see in this Stanley Hotel picture? https://t.co/7FEnvVOBk5 pic.twitter.com/hzt4kQYPI1 — KHOU 11 News Houston (@KHOU) April 15, 2016

On his official website, King wrote about how he got the idea for "The Shining" while staying at the hotel in 1974.

"In late September of 1974, Tabby and I spent a night at a grand old hotel in Estes Park, the Stanley. We were the only guests as it turned out; the following day they were going to close the place down for the winter. Wandering through its corridors, I thought that it seemed the perfect--maybe the archetypical--setting for a ghost story. That night I dreamed of my three-year-old son running through the corridors, looking back over his shoulder, eyes wide, screaming. He was being chased by a fire-hose. I woke up with a tremendous jerk, sweating all over, within an inch of falling out of bed. I got up, lit a cigarette, sat in the chair looking out the window at the Rockies, and by the time the cigarette was done, I had the bones of the book firmly set in my mind."

Actually, this is far from the first time a guest has spotted a spook at the Stanley. In fact, there's a haunted history section on the hotel's website.

"After a century of collecting spirits, the hotel has become renowned by specialists and experts in the field of paranormal investigation as one of the nation's most active sites," the site reads.

Creeped out yet?

-- Joseph Rose

503-221-8029

jrose@oregonian.com

@josephjrose