As surreal as it gets 1408 It may seem that the film’s storyline is based on real events. Directed by Mikael Hofström. 1408 was released in 2007 and is considered one of the best horror film adaptations based on Stephen King’s books. It stars John Cusack as Mike Enslin, a paranormal skeptic who writes books debunking supernatural phenomena. His latest investigation takes him to a grand New York hotel called the Dolphin, which contains a haunted room in the year 1408. Despite warnings from hotel manager Gerald Olin (Samuel L. Jackson), Mike insists on staying in 1408 and finds his skepticism tested.
The Stephen King film is based on the story of the same name. This story first appeared in his audiobook, narrated by himself. Blood and Smoke and later in his collection of short stories Anything is possible. In the film, Mike writes down his thoughts about number 1408, stating: “Hotel rooms are naturally creepy places, don’t you think? I mean, how many people have slept in this bed before you? How many of them got sick? How many of them have gone crazy? However, the creepy nature of hotel rooms wasn’t the only source of inspiration for history.
The Hotel Del Coronado inspired Stephen King’s novel 1408.
According to reports (via Hotel del Coronado website), Stephen King was inspired to write the story, 1408after reading about an investigation conducted by parapsychologist Christopher Chacon at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego. Built in the late 1880s, the luxury hotel was the playground for Hollywood’s elite during the Roaring Twenties and hosted stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Mae West and Greta Garbo. However, the most famous is a tragic incident that occurred in its vicinity a few years after its grand opening.
Connected
In 1892, a young woman named Kate Morgan checked into the Hotel Del Coronado for Thanksgiving under an assumed name and told the staff that she was expecting a male companion. However, five days after registration, Kate’s body was found on a flight of stairs leading to the beach after she had committed suicide. Since then, hotel guests and staff have reported several spooky incidents, mostly involving the third-floor room Morgan occupied. Hotel staff have reported everything from inexplicably moving objects to disembodied voices and footsteps.
Are any of the events in 1408 real?
Oddly enough, Christopher Chacon experienced paranormal activity in a room that was part of the maids’ quarters at the Hotel del Coronado; not in Kate Morgan’s original room. After installing infrared cameras, magnetic counters and other related research devices, Chacon and his team discovered a total of 37 anomalies in the former maid’s room, including glass that itself fell to the floor. Chacon’s experience was not even remotely as horrific and bizarre as Mike Enslin’s experience in 1408. However, they still established that the story by Stephen King and 1408 the film adaptation has some semblance of reality for them.
More Stephen King stories inspired by true events
“The Shining”, “Pet Sematary”, “The Dark Half” and “A Good Marriage”
Stephen King’s stories are twisted and breathtaking, but even some of the scariest have real-life influences from the author’s imagination. One of the most obvious examples is Shine. Fans still talk about the iconic Stanley Hotel in Colorado, which King based the Overlook Hotel on. King went to the hotel on vacation with his wife Tabitha, and when he heard that the hotel was haunted, it sparked his imagination. The hotel was preparing to close for the winter, and he wandered around the almost empty hotel and Shine began to take shape.
When Stephen King was “writer-in-residence” at the University of Maine in 1979, he rented a house next to a main road where passing trucks always killed pets. King’s daughter had a cat and it died when it was hit by a car. King learned about “pet cemetery“near his house, and they buried the cat there. When King’s son Owen was almost out on the road, he made up a story about how Gage died, was buried and was resurrected in Pet Sematary.
“The Dark Half” showed a writer who abandoned his own pseudonym.
Dark Half is a book of personal significance to Stephen King. At the time, King was writing horror novels under his own name and other books under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. Fans seemed to want King to write only horror novels, and they eventually discovered that he was Bachman. This made King decide to give up the pen name, and The Dark Half showed how the writer gave up his pen name only to have his other half come back and try to force himself to be the only one.
There is also a lesser-known Stephen King story that was made into a movie starring Julianne Moore. IN Good marriageA woman named Darcy comes to the terrifying realization that her husband Bob is a serial killer. He even admits this to her, but she ends up killing him when she gets the chance and escapes. Stephen King Bob is based on Dennis Rader, the BTK killer, and the protests against his 30-year-old wife for not knowing about his killing spree.
Sources: Hotel del Coronado website