The actual hotel that inspired Stephen King to write his masterpiece ‘The Shining’ is now hosting a contest to design a new maze. The maze of the Stanley Hotel formed the setting for one of the most climactic endings to a movie adaptation of a book, thanks to Stanley Kubrick’s rendition of ‘The Shining’. The maze that wins the contest will be constructed and it’s bound to be a tourist attraction for film geeks when it’s finished. The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado wants everyone to design their own unique maze, of which one will be constructed using 1,600 to 2,000 Alpine Currant hedge bushes, taking up 61,500 square foot. The winner will be honoured with a placard bearing their name placed at the site. You can enter the contest yourself by submitting your design to The Stanley Hotel website by January 31, where you can find helpful templates and tips for newbies to making mazes.

Stephen King famously stayed at The Stanley with his wife Tabitha in 1974 and they were the only guests to be checked in as the end of the season was drawing in: “When we arrived, they were just getting ready to close for the season, and we found ourselves the only guests in the place — with all those long, empty corridors… That night I dreamed of my three-year-old son running through the corridors, looking back over his shoulder, eyes wide, screaming. He was being chased by a fire-hose. I woke up with a tremendous jerk, sweating all over, within an inch of falling out of bed. I got up, lit a cigarette, sat in a chair looking out the window at the Rockies, and by the time the cigarette was done, I had the bones of the book firmly set in my mind.”