The Stanley Hotel was born with its founder Freelan Oscar Stanley near death. In 1903, the 54-year-old inventor of dry plate photography and the Stanley steam engine was diagnosed with tuberculosis.

"I don't remember anyone being" on the staircase, he recalled. Henry Yau captured this creepy photo on a visit to The Stanley Hotel, made famous by Steven King's The Shining.

Many who fit that description flock to the Stanley for a ghost tour led by the hotel’s staff or to participate in a séance (More than 100,000 people visit per year; October is busy also because ...