The American writer Stephen Edwin King was born on September 21, 1947 at the Maine General Hospital in Portland, ME.

Today, the hospital is called the Maine Medical Center, and contains the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital (named after the former First Lady).

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Stephen King came up with the idea of what would become his third published novel The Shining after staying at The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado with his wife in 1974. The hotel, which was about to close for its off-season, became the basis for the book's fictional Overlook Hotel. They were the only guests there, although King was able to have a drink in the bar served by a bartender named Grady.

Some of The Shining tv mini-series that aired in 1997 (starring Wings Steven Weber as Jack Torrance) was filmed at The Stanley.

The hotel is rumored to be haunted and if you stay there you can catch Stanley (no relation to the hotel) Kubrick's version of The Shining playing non-stop on channel 42.

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