The most famous of all haunted Stanley rooms is 217, which was the inspiration behind Stephen King's The Shining. King and his wife stayed in room 217 in the early 70's; they were the only guests in the hotel.
When production began, the hotel expressed concerns that people wouldn't want to stay in its Room 217 if they associated it with a horror story. Kubrick changed the number to 237, since the Timberline doesn't have a Room 237.
After reading an article about the design of Room 217/237 in the Kubrick film, I noted an explanation of the woman in the bathtub, Lorraine Massey, as being someone who lusted after bellboys and killed herself out of disgusted shame by wrist-slitting.
In the 1920s, a gas leak led to an explosion in Room 217 that destroyed the second floor above the main dining hall and nearly killed a chambermaid, Elizabeth Wilson. She ultimately recovered and returned to her job, which she held until her death, at age 90, at her home in Estes Park.
In The Shining, room 217 is the room that is focused on as having a dark history and being a haunted room due to the tragedy of Mrs. Massey. Danny is warned not to enter this room and anyone who enters the room has bizarre encounters.
Massey refused and proceeded to drink all day in the Colorado Lounge. She swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills in the bathtub of room 217 that same night, killing herself. Several characters in The Shining have experiences with the ghost of Mrs. Massey in room 217, including Delores Vickery, Hallorann, Danny, and Jack.
Jack takes his wife, Wendy (Shelley Duvall), and their son, Danny (Danny Lloyd), with him, but little do they know, the Overlook has some dark secrets of its own. Triggered by Danny's psychic abilities, the hotel releases some dangerous supernatural forces that break Jack's sanity — and the safety of Wendy and Danny.
According to the Timberline Lodge website, http://www.timberlinelodge.com, "Kubrick was asked not to depict Room 217 (featured in the book) in The Shining, because future guests at the Lodge might be afraid to stay there. So a nonexistent room, Room 237, was substituted in the film.
Room 237 in the film is where Danny and Jack encounter a ghostly woman, but her true identity remains unclear, leading to different theories. Theories suggest that the woman in room 237 could be the mother of the Grady twins, Bob T. Watson's wife or sister, or represent sexual abuse within the story.
The ending of The Shining, particularly the photo of Jack in the 1921 ballroom, suggests that Jack is a reincarnation of a former hotel employee, although this explanation is not explicitly stated in the film. The Shining explores themes of cyclical violence and abuse, and Kubrick's film is full...
The Shining is partially based on a true story, as the supernatural elements of Jack Torrance's stay at the Overlook Hotel are inspired by a real haunting in Colorado and the Stanley Hotel where King stayed.
It is stated that the Overlook Hotel was made out of evil because it is composed of negative influence from a history of deaths, giving it moral agency issues. Its history of crime caused by the negativity is also confirmed, unlike the 1980 film adaptation and 2019 sequel.
Reasons for omitting a thirteenth floor include triskaidekaphobia on the part of the building's owner or builder, or a desire by the building owner or landlord to prevent problems that may arise with superstitious tenants, occupants, or customers.
After a corpse tries to strangle Danny in the infamous room 217 and Wendy and Jack see the resulting bruise on their son's neck, Wendy accuses Jack of abusing Danny.
In the end, Kubrick settled on 237 because it reflected a piece of history from one of his previous films. 237 is, in fact, the number that needs to be entered into the computer in Dr. Strangelove in order to begin a nuclear holocaust.
Moments later, he would improvise the “Here's Johnny!” line, which was a reference to the intro of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Interestingly, Kubrick originally shot the scene with a fake door, but Nicholson – who once trained as a fire marshal – chopped it down too quickly.
Soon, after a winter storm leaves the family snowbound, the supernatural forces inhabiting the hotel influence Jack's sanity, leaving his wife and son in grave danger.
The family has to care for the hotel for the winter, but they cannot leave the mountainous area. In this isolation every day becomes the same for Jack as his writer's block becomes quotidian. The combination of isolation, monotony, creative frustration, and supernatural forces extract Jack's insanity.
Ullman offered to call the police, but Mrs. Massey refused and proceeded to drink all day in the Colorado Lounge. Later, she commits suicide in the bathroom of 217. Her ghost which haunts the room can appear like a zombie and is capable of affecting the physical world.
