The Stanley Hotel in the Rocky Mountains is most famous for inspiring Stephen King’s The Shining, the basis of the classic 1980 film. A lot of weird things happen in that Stanley Kubrick horror flick. A torrent of blood takes the elevator, a pair of creepy twin girls haunts the hallways, and a guy in a furry bear suit makes an, er, unforgettable appearance.
So maybe the black bear that wandered into the lobby of the still-functioning Estes Park, Colorado, hotel this week was trying to make things weird again.
You can see in the staff video above that the bear plays around on the furniture for a bit but then quickly leaves. Hotel manager Reed Rowley told Denver’s CBS4 that it happened overnight Wednesday and that no guests were around.
“We do have a hotel next to a national park,” Rowley said. “Wildlife is part of the gig.”
The hotel aims to be respectful of the surrounding wildlife, Rowley said, but it never wants a guest to encounter a bear in the hotel lobby ― a good policy ― so it’s working with Colorado Parks and Wildlife to achieve that goal.