OLD Is there an explanation of the July 4th 1921 picture?

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Everyone who views this movie wants to know what the final photo in “The Shining” represents. Unfortunately it’s a purposeful visual enigma placed there by Stanley Kubrick and it has no simple explanation. When you first view the movie you will leave with the impression that Jack Torrance has been in The Overlook before, but this is one of the most perplexing images in the history of cinema and it must be looked at carefully before what it actually represents is fully understood. I believe the photo depicts Jack Torrance’s future, not his past, and it's been “Shined” onto that spot on the wall at the end of the movie by someone else who also posses this special power. Someone that has the ability to move things by telekinesis (click here). “Shining” is precisely what Stanley Kubrick’s movie is about and someone uses this special power to make that picture appear at the end of the movie. The picture is a paradoxical enigma and there are several things that you must look at and address before you attempt any explanation of it.


1) The most intriguing fact about the final photo is that it simply doesn’t exist until after Jack’s death. Stanley Kubrick has it magically appearing on the wall only in the last shot of the movie. You can have any opinion you like but it must include why the photo is nowhere to be found either on that wall, or any other in The Overlook at any other time in the movie. Could Stanley Kubrick have just forgotten to hang the 1921 picture up? Many viewers have missed this. Every other time we see those 21 pictures in the movie they’re different and the July 4th 1921 picture simply isn’t there. It doesn’t exist until the end of the movie.




2) In the dialogue Delbert Grady says, “I'm sorry to differ with you, sir, but you are the caretaker. You have always been the caretaker, I should know, sir. [I've always been here.] ” If he’s "always been" there why is he not in the final photo? If he is real and not a product of Jack’s imagination, he must also be there with him in the final photo; but the fact is that he isn't there.

3) The ballroom depicted in the final picture is not The Overlook’s. It may say “Overlook Hotel July 4th Ball 1921” but the party depicted in the picture is quite simply somewhere else and this cannot be ignored. It isn’t in any room of The Overlook. We see all the big rooms in the hotel and there's absolutely no indication of another one either in the movie or the novel. There should be no confusion about this fact as even Stanley Kubrick states that it’s not The Overlook in his interview with Michel Ciment. In the photo Stanley Kubrick obviously has Jack standing somewhere else, other than The Overlook.

4) In the final shot we see Jack’s image in a picture that's dated 1921. Many believe Jack Torrance, the caretaker in the movie, is a reincarnation of the person in the photo. This cannot be for 2 very good reasons 1) the definition of the word is very precise; reincarnation - the rebirth of a soul in a [new] body. Jack is still the same person. 2) Stanley Kubrick makes it obvious that it’s not The Overlook. The photo is not proof that Jack has ever been there before because the place depicted isn’t The Overlook.

5) Jack Torrance is the winter caretaker and he would not be working in the summer and the person depicted in the photo is not the caretaker, he’s the manager. We must look at the the novel to understand this because in Chapter 48 (Page 261) we find out that Jack strives to become the manager of The Overlook, but he obviously doesn’t make it. The way in which Stanley Kubrick altered Stephen King’s novel (click here) becomes a tremendous help in understanding the final picture. In the movie we’re seeing a mirror image, an inversion, of what happens in the novel and after his death Jack does become the manager of The Overlook in the final picture. And it's, “for ever, and ever, and ever”.

6) Stanley Kubrick creates an obvious visual paradox for the audience in the picture. The date says it’s a summer party but the only item that can be picked out in it indicates it’s a New Years Eve party; the opposite time of year.


7) And this obvious question must be answered; what happened to all the other caretakers that had to have worked in between and before Jack and Grady? Who and where are they and why didn’t they try to kill their families? Have they been “reincarnated” also?

8) We should think about where Stanley Kubrick got the idea for the July 4th picture? The only black and white photo in Stephen King’s novel ends up being of tremendous importance in understanding Stanley Kubrick’s ending. It’s mentioned in Chapter 33 (page 191) of the novel. It tells us exactly what that enigmatic photo depicts at the end of his movie. Here is an excerpt from Stephen King’s novel; “In that instant, kneeling there, everything came clear to him… In those few seconds [Jack] understood everything. There was a certain black-and-white picture he remembered seeing as a child, in catechism class… a jumble of whites and blacks… Then one of the children in the third row had gasped, "It's Jesus!" …. "I see Him! I see Him!" … Everyone had seen the face of Jesus in the jumble of blacks and whites except Jacky… when everyone else had tumbled their way up from the church basement and out onto the street he had lingered behind… He hated it… It was a big fake… [But] as he turned to go he had seen the face of Jesus from the corner of his eye… He turned back, his heart in his throat. Everything had suddenly clicked into place and he had stared at the picture with fearful wonder, unable to believe he had missed it… Looking at Jack Torrance. What had only been a meaningless sprawl had suddenly been transformed into a stark black-and-white etching of the face of Christ Our Lord. Fearful wonder became terror. He had cussed in front of a picture of Jesus. He would be damned. He would be in hell with the sinners. The face of Christ had been in the picture all along. All along.”

Unless you’ve read Stephen King's novel you may not have realized what Stanley Kubrick has done to it. The picture is an exact and purposeful reversal of the novel. The black and white photo we all see at the end of “The Shining” is the mirror opposite of what only Jack sees in the novel. In one black and white photo we have the ultimate good that is inverted now becoming in the second black and white photo the ultimate evil. It’s the devil! Jack represents the devil! The Manager or Master of Ceremonies in hell.





9) You may not agree with what I’ve written but take one last look at this because Jack is obviously posed in that final shot as
................................Baphomet




Who do you think “Shined” Jack’s picture onto the wall? My explanation of the last shot in “The Shining” includes all of these facts and can be seen if you click here.



1) The final photo simply doesn’t exist until after Jack’s death. Stanley Kubrick has it magically appearing on the wall only in the last shot of the movie. It’s not there at any other time in the movie.

2) Delbert Grady must also be there with Jack in the final photo; but he isn't there.

3) In the photo Stanley Kubrick obviously has Jack standing somewhere else. It’s not The Overlook.

4) Jack Torrance is not a reincarnation of the person in the photo.

5) The image of Jack Torrance is not the caretaker in the picture, he’s the manager.

6) The picture is not a July 4th party. It’s a New Years Eve party.

^7) Where are all the other caretakers?

8) The black and white photo in Stephen King’s novel must be looked at.

9) Jack is posed in the final picture and it is an obvious clue as to what it represents.

The Shining

Some of the things You Learned from Watching The Shining.


1.REDRUM is MURDER backwards

2.Guys in bear suits are usually gay

3.A hotel can make you have a nervous breakdown

4.Never have items that can be used as weapons in a hotel

5.Jack would sell his soul just for some beer.

6. Don't build on top of Native American burial grounds

7. Don't use the elevator - it's full of blood

8. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

9. Most people don't keep spare ignition cables for the Sno-cat

10. Don't kiss sexy women that mysteriously appear in bathtubs in an empty hotel, as they're most likely dead and rotten

11. People who have The Shining gift can sense when there's trouble 1000's of kilometers away but don't know when someone's around the corner with an axe

12. When chasing someone through a maze with an axe make sure you dress accordingly, or you might freeze to death

13. If you are an alcoholic writer with an annoying wife and a weird kid that has an imaginary friend, just leave...leave town, maybe go out east, relax, and have a drink. Write that novel and pay some child support. Do not take them to live at a mountain hotel that is closed for the winter. Some things in life just can't be corrected.

14 Stephen King is very precious about his work, even when one of the best film directors in the history of cinema makes a masterpiece of horror from one of his books he's not happy. He prefers un-cinematic hackwork obviously.

15 Advocaat will remove from jackets with plenty of water being applied by an unctuous toady.

16. If you can't think of anything original and cool to say, simply say: "Here's Johnny."

17. Never stop drinking

18. Ghosts can unlock food store cupboards

19. Tennis Balls are sinister

20. Crazy murderous people are unintentionally amusing.

21. Kids with creepy talking fingers should be avoided at all costs.

22. Bashing someone's brains in is different than hurting them.

23. When a man refers to his son as "The little son of a bitch" it means that he loves him.

24. When you're told not to go into a room, you'd better not, or else you'll subjected to the horror of... The door being locked.

24b. Things are not always what they seem. I think Jack may have had to much of that bourbon from the bar because I don't see how he could kiss some strange woman in the hotel when he should have realized they were the only ones there, or how he could talk to Lloyd and not think this is a bit strange.

25. The best way to correct someone is to chop them to pieces with an axe.

26. Philip Stone is cool. Who woulda thought, based on The Clockwork Orange.

27. Joe Turkel is cool. Who woulda thought, based on Paths Of Glory.

28. Wendy and Danny are gonna love it

29. Wendy is a confirmed ghost story addict

30. jack's credit is fine here

31. the Torrance’s bring baseball bats to secluded Colorado hotels built hills

32. Al work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

33. When two twin girls ask you to play with them, they may expect you to play with them forever... and ever... and ever...

34. Some people shine and some people don't shine.

35. When you hear a typewriter clicking in the next room it means you're not allowed to enter.

36. You can write a book in which you repeat the same sentence over and over, as long as you type that sentence in interesting ways.

37. There's no harm in letting your kid watch a TV program about cannibalism.

38. Whoever loses a race inside a hedge maze has to keep America clean.

39. It's better to freeze to death than to break through a beautifully trimmed hedge maze with your axe

40. Secondhand smoke doesn't harm kids that "shine"

41. Apparently, if you SHINE, you like to have naked women with Afros bigger than their bodies hung up on your wall.

42. Men in bear costumes should not be trusted.

43. If you don't fit through the bathroom window, and your husband is trying to kill you with an ax, take the knife and break the effing window.

44. Wendy likes making sandwiches.

45. Mom did not roll the tennis ball to you.

22. is very hard to beat. Kudos.

46. A Costco-size can of fruit cocktail feeds three people.

47. When taking on the job of looking after an enormous hotel for the winter season, let your wife do all the work while you sit at a typewriter and type the same sentence over and over and over.

48. Someone by the name of Tony could be residing in your mouth right now.

49. Watch out, that hot girl you have your eye on might turn into an old lady.

50. NEVER say "I'd sell my soul for a drink"......

51. When your son becomes possessed by his 'imaginary friend', putting him in front of a TV to watch the Roadrunner is a great way to ease the tension.

52. After locking your crazy husband in the pantry and finding your only mode of transportation destroyed, it is a mighty good time to take a nap.

53. The black guy really does always die first.

54. If Jack couldn't honor his obligations to the Overlook, he would be shoveling driveways in Boulder.

55. There's a difference between Jack being grouchy and him just wanting to finish his work.

56. If you need to vent about your home life, the hotel bartender is as good a person to talk to as anyone.

57. Shelley Duvall has a hard time pronouncing the word "alcohol."

58. "Women---can't live with them, can't live without them" are words of wisdom.

59. She's had her whole *beep* life to think.

60 all work and no play makes jake a dull boy all work and no play makes jake a dull boy all work and no play makes jake a dull boy all work and no play makes jake a dull boy all work and no play makes jake a dull boy
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the risk always lives * who’s Jake?

61. Pink and gold are Wendy's favorite colors.

62. French fries and ketchup are Danny's favorite food.

50. People in bear suits are FAR more terrifying that axe wielding husbands.

51. Apparently, there is no skiing in Colorado during the winter months.

52. Even if you ask nicely, your wife and child will not lay down and let you chop them up.

53. When your husband tells you that he had a dream in which he cut you and your child into pieces, there's no cause for alarm. Simply tell him that "everything's going to be all right" and go about your business as if nothing has happened. Even if he's been acting increasingly hostile towards you as of late and you're completely alone in an isolated location.

64. A dish of chocolate ice cream makes you shine.

65. The guy who hires you to look after a hotel during the winter is a liar. He said it was Charles Grady who killed his wife and kids. You know it was really Delbert Grady who did it.

66. Make sure you're not the lucky son of a bitch who gets to trim those hedges.

67. Your twitchy wife accuses you of attacking your son then suddenly trusts you again and believes it was someone else in the hotel.

68. Don't tell your wife that you almost had sex with a corpse. Just tell her there was nothing in Room 237 - nothing at all.

69. Moldy, cobwebbed skeletons are the life of the party. Mingle with them!

70. Next time, just shut up and allow your husband to bash your brains right the *bleep* in. It might save a lot of hassle later. After all, he allowed you to *bleep* up everything else in his life.

71. When having your crazy husband break down the door to the bathroom you're hiding in, the best plan is to watch it up close and scream a lot. Don't attempt to defend yourself, but if you do, make sure it's one slash of the knife across the hand. Then he'll leave you alone and chase your son.

72. Ghostly bartenders always have the best bourbon.

73. "Correcting your family" is ghost talk for terrorizing them, murdering them, and chopping them up into neat little piles.

74. Wendy Torrance interferes.

75. There ain't nothin' in Room 237. But you ain't got no business goin' in there anyway. So stay out. You understand? Stay out.

76. Wendy is very confused and wants to go back to her room.

77. Wendy thinks maybe Danny should be taken to a doctor as soon as possible.

78. Danny doesn't want to talk about Tony anymore.

79. It could have happened to anybody.

80. The apartment is cozy.

81. Hotels need an abundant supply of Tang.

82. Wendy has a big surprise coming to her.

83. Watch out for twins who ask you to come and play with them forever and ever. They were actually murdered by their dad.

84. Don't open the elevator because its filled with a million gallons of blood for no reason at all.

85. Watch out for dog dressing men performing fellatio on other men with doors wide open...completely terrifying.

86. If you suddenly get the urge to leave the warm Florida sun to go off in a blizzard to a secluded hotel in Colorado, be sure to check around dark corners for lunatics with axes....and for gosh sakes, don't yell out, "Is anyone here?"

87. When you're riding your plastic tricycle around, be sure not to run into dead bodies who want you to play with them.

88. If you're chasing someone through a hedge maze in the bitter cold, and their tracks abruptly stop in the snow, its obvious they've vanished into thin air.

89. Ghosts can actually open up locked doors.

90. Some people shine and some don't

91. If you're locked in a store food closet, there’s nothing better to do than take a nap on bags of rice.

92.Danny's room is perfect for a child.

93.Jack should've brought his own booze.

94. Don’t be alarmed—that’s just kool aid pouring out of the elevator.

95. Carry lube around cuz you’ll never know when you have to squeeze out a window

96. If you’re black then don’t try to help white people—you’ll just be the first to die.

97. Don’t go into room 237

98. Ruuun! B itch Run!!

99) How to cast a movie.

100) How to hide something in plain site so that even if you show it to someone, they still won’t believe it.

101) If your dad unexplainably starts chasing you with an axe, don't hide in a drawer full of pots and pans, FRICKING RUN!!

102) if something is hard to beleive, especially since it happened here, face the facts and accept that it did, and appreciate why someone tells you these things, and understand why their people in Denver left it up to them to tell you

103) changing your jacket before the duck and goose something is very wise

104) a few more minutes is no good when you've had your whole life to think things over

105) when you are chasing someone because you are possessed by demons, and you can't find them, lie and say you're right behind them, and if you give up, it helps to shout nonsense words in the air, then after a good chase, its a good thing to sit in a snow bank and cool down, it eases the tension and relaxes the muscles, side affects may include death and/or being claimed by a bunch of ghosts from the past.

106) never let a woman have a baseball bat!

107) it’s ok he watched it on the TV..

108) the higher you go the thinner the air gets..

109) When riding up a steep mountain road that drops off with no guard rails, you should always let your child ride in the back seat, hanging over the front seat.

110) Delbert Grady's ALWAYS been there.

111) Danny's not a-sposed to talk about Tony.

112) Sometimes a job interview can go too well

113) Doc likes ice cream

114) Jack is going to "huff and puff and BLOW your house in"

115) The random seizures of a despondent child suggest he's perfectly fine and suited to spending a winter in isolation sans medical care.

116) If you are in a haunted hotel make sure you get drinks from the bartender, they are on the house!

117) Never chase your son into a maze, especially on a snowy night; he will make you freeze to death.

118) Black chefs from ski resort hotels like to have naked picture frames on their bedrooms.

119) It's okay if your 8-year-old son knows about cannibalism as long as he gets the information from the TV.

120) Those twin girls really do just want to play teatime.


121) Somehow white mother and child always seem to escape bad circumstances and live.

122) Therefore if you're in horror film always stick with the white mother and child.

123) If Tony knows something he really should speak up.

124) All problems can be "corrected.”

125) A thread can die quicker than Scatman Crothers...

126) You gotta stay regular if you wanna be happy.

127) Spectral bartenders can be a great source of "words of wisdom.”

128) The people in Denver who "highly recommended" an alcoholic with serious wife and kid issues for the job of taking care of a haunted hotel during the winter should be axed (pun intended).

129) Don't steal any sheets or towels from the Overlook hotel. It could cost you your soul.

130) If you're going to bonk naked girls in bathtubs, at least close the door first and put up the "Do Not Disturb" sign.

131) Jack's the kind of guy who likes to know who's buying his drinks.

132) We all have our urges to get it on with men in dog suits, but at least close the door beforehand.

133) Grady WAS the caretaker here.

134) Don't screw with Indians. Build a hotel on their burial grounds and evil ghosts will run wild on you, brother!

135) If your husband is staring at you and your son with his head titled slightly downwards from behind a window, all does not bode well for you (In fact, this could be used for almost any Kubrick film).

136) Jack's idea of living up to his responsibilities is killing his family and the hotel's cook.

137) Grady is racist.......and he WAS the caretaker here.

138) British butlers will politely disagree with you after you accuse them of brutally slaughtering their family then turning a gun on them self.

139) Be wary of women in bathtubs. They'll try and choke your son, and that is not a euphemism for masturbating you.

140) Did I mention that Grady WAS The caretaker here?

Where is the actual Overlook Hotel located?

In the movie this is an easy question to answer. The long shots of The Overlook were taken at the Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood in Oregon and the interiors and hedge maze scenes were shot on set at Elstree Studios in London, England. As for the novel everyone knows that The Stanley Hotel in Colorado is supposed to be the actual place that Stephen King based The Overlook on. What’s unusual is that at a second hotel (the Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, New York) old timers will tell you that Stephen King stays there and that it’s the hotel that The Overlook from the novel is based on.

I don’t really care if there’s an actual Overlook or not but it would be nice if my favorite hotel and a place I visit often, The Mohonk Mountain House, were it. But what’s the reason behind two hotels that are rumored to be The Overlook from Stephen King’s novel, and which one is the right one?


Using Wikipedia as a source it’s easy to find where The Stanley Hotel rumor started. Everything points back to the work of an author named George Beahm who has written several books on Stephen King.

In "The Stephen King Companion" (1989) it’s obvious to me that George Beahm is trying to start a rumor that he thinks will morph into The Stanley hotel in Colorado being accepted by fans as the actual Overlook (as it obviously has). What better way to get in tight with the Stephen King crowd that to tell everyone where the actual Overlook is. Upon reading his book he obviously doesn’t know this for sure so he’s cautious as he discusses it in a rather cagey way on page 268. He puts two related paragraphs together so readers will connect the dots themselves. You can’t miss his point and he didn’t have to directly come out and say it. He definitely thinks The Stanley Hotel is The Overlook.

In "The Stephen King Story" (1991) George Beahm goes even further by embellishing his fictional story about The Stanley but again he falls short of coming right out and saying it. And, probably fearing legal action or loss of access, he wisely includes what the boss himself says about the subject. Stephen King is and will always be where the buck stops on this subject and he emphatically states in the beginning of the paperback version of the novel that, "Some of the most beautiful resort hotels in the world are located in Colorado, but the hotel in these pages is based on none of them. The Overlook and the people associated with it exist wholly within the author's imagination.” Whatever the reason may be, he wrote this in direct response to the rumor that The Stanley is the fictions Overlook; which it is not. He even mentions the state by name so there will be no confusion about it. But there still is confusion; fans try to get by this statement by saying The Stanley is the “inspiration” for the Overlook but Stephen King’s statement is very clear and precise.

Aficionado’s can ignore his statement if they like but “the hotel in these pages is based on none of them” is exact and goes right to the point of the subject. A dozen other real hotels may have also inspired the Overlook across the world; one may have inspired a hallway, one a fire hose, one a hedge maze, one a basement or one an elevator. We just don’t know until Stephen King tells us, and he hasn’t yet. Any hotel, like The Stanley, that is rumored to be The Overlook is just that; a rumor.

I wish I could say that I slept in the real Overlook Hotel but until Stephen King says different these rumors are all unfounded. But here are some pictures anyway for my pick of the hotel that most resembles The Overlook; The Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, New York. It’s got everything, long winding road, hedge maze, creepy basement and elevators, grandfather clock, long corridors, and even old fashioned fire hoses that look like snakes. It truly has the feel of The Overlook.





















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Where are the Hedge Animals from the novel?

Click here to see the Hedge Animals from the novel.

Who beat up Danny?

In the movie, Jack has the same ability as Danny and therefore both are able to telepathically “Shine” images into the minds of other people. This is exactly what Danny does to Dick Hallorann in his bedroom in Florida when he needs his help. When Danny is beat up Jack is having a nightmare and his power to “Shine” combined with his increasing madness is what makes him able to lash out at Danny without being physically present. It couldn’t have been the old woman in 237 because, as Dick Hallorann tells Danny over ice cream, she’s only a vision of the past and not real. Having this special ability enables them to “Shine” these images into each others minds.

Click here and read more about Jack’s ability to “Shine”.

Why are there so many references to Native Americans and what do they mean?

I feel these references, which are seen in just about every shot of the movie, are only meant to throw off anyone trying to figure out the meaning of this movie. The only important Indians here are the well-hidden Mayan’s and their prediction of the end of the world, 12/24/2011. The rest is a con unless someone can prove different.

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Are the ghosts in the movie real?

No! Not a one and that’s the beauty of Stanley Kubrick’s unbelievable deception. What the audience thinks are “ghosts” are visions from the Overlook’s guests who all have this very special supernatural ability to “Shine” that enables them to see these visions. I’ve often thought that in the movie version of this story The Overlook may have been a place that attracted people with this special power to “Shine”. It appears to be quite obvious, and it also seems that people who “Shine” have invisible friends by their sides.
I believe the ghosts that everyone believes haunt The Overlook are actually the Doppelgangers of the current residents, and there’s no solid evidence that I can find to the contrary. Everything they see are visions, whether they be of the past, future, or of their deepest fears. No one is there except the Torrance family. It’s brilliant how Stanley Kubrick gave each cast member powers that make it appear to the audience that The Overlook is haunted, when it actually isn’t.


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Who lets Jack out of the storeroom?

In the movie Jack has the ability to “Shine” and therefore he's able to supernaturally move objects. Charles Grady is a real person, who worked in The Overlook in 1970, but the other one Delbert Grady is a product of Jack’s mind and as he speaks to him in the storeroom he’s really talking to himself. But it’s his power to “Shine”, that’s so well hidden in the movie, which enables him to unlock the storeroom door and get out by himself.

Click here and read more about Jack’s ability to “Shine”।

In the novel a ghost does let out Jack out of the storeroom. But this is another obvious reversal Stanley Kubrick made from the novel as he turned it inside out.

What book does Jack have opened on his desk?

This is not explained in the movie. In Stephen King’s novel it’s a scrapbook kept in the basement of The Overlook where Jack does most of his work. It’s what he plans to use as a source for a novel he plans to write on The Overlook.

Click here! Stanley Kubrick adds another obvious reversal to Stephen King’s novel here as Jack is only working on one book; in the novel he is working on two projects 1) a play and 2) planning a novel on the history of The Overlook.

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Who are the women in room 237?

This is not explained in the movie. In Stephen King’s novel, the woman's name is Mrs. Massey and she committed suicide in the bathtub of room 217. Cast members who “Shine” can see visions of what happened there in the past and are able to see her in that bathroom. Stanley Kubrick doubled much from the novel and we now see 2 woman in the bathroom of a different room, 237.

Click here and go back to my blog with almost 400 interesting pictures from the movie, and read more.

Who is Tony?

In Stephen King’s novel Tony is Danny's subconscious mind protecting him just like any other person's subconscious mind would do. Danny's difference, from most of us on this site, is in his ability to "Shine".

In the novel Tony is also Danny’s imaginary friend and he can talk to him face to face, but Stanley Kubrick reverses this in the movie and we don’t see him because he’s invisable. We just hear him talking through Danny in a strange voice. Another thing Stanley Kubrick changed in the movie is that other people can “Shine” and they also have invisible imaginary friends. Now how on earth could he show us an invisible entity on a movie screen? Just click here and find out.

How have the cast members power to “Shine” been changed from the novel?

Anything we know about this special ability come from two sources, Dick Hallorann’s mouth or observations of the two characters in the story who we are 100% positive have this ability, Danny and Dick Hallorann. In Stephen King’s novel people who “Shine” have the supernatural ability to do 2 basic things 1) they can see into the past and the future and 2) they can speak to each other telepathically over any distance. To understand “Shining” in Stanley Kubrick’s movie it’s essential to look at how he altered Stephen King’s source novel. Anyone who attempts to explain this special power without mentioning these alterations is committing a grave error on the reader, and quite possibly doesn’t know anything about what they’re talking about. The changes he made are easily found by reading it and they’re not an object of speculation and conjecture. They are what they are and can’t be changed.

You can look at how he altered the source novel here and give special attention to what’s reversed and what’s doubled.

For me one of the best and creepiest parts of the novel was when The Overlook animates certain objects for its guests and special attention should be paid to the 3 items that move by supernatural means. It’s absurd to think that Stanley Kubrick would leave out such a great plot point from the novel, and if you look closely; he doesn’t, he just reverses it like so much else from Stephen King’s novel.
The three items that moved by themselves in the novel are the Hedge Animals, the fire hose, and the elevators. They all move because they’re possessed, but what Stanley Kubrick did to these three items in the movie cannot be ignored. There’s an obvious reversal and no one can dispute that these three items, glaringly if not hauntingly, remain motionless throughout the entire movie href="http://jonnys53.blogspot.com/2008/01/where-are-hedge-animals-from-novel.html">(The Hedge Animals are there if you know where to look).

In the novel all three were possessed by the hotel and it’s clear that what The Overlook moves in the novel doesn’t move in the movie. Not only has Stanley Kubrick reversed colors and plot points from the novel he has also change the location of every major scene. Except that they are in the same hotel (or are they?) not one major thing happens in the movie’s Overlook in the same place it did in the novel’s Overlook (room 237 and 217 are different in each, Jack works in the basement in the novel, there’s no Gold Room in the novel and Jack meets Grady and Lloyd in the Colorado Lounge, in the end of the novel Wendy and Jack fight in the hallway, the final chase takes place inside The Overlook in the novel, etc., etc., etc.). The reason I bring all this up is because after looking at all he altered from the novel it would be inane to think that he wouldn’t alter this very special power mentioned in the title of the story, “Shining”, in the same fashion.

Much from the novel has also mysteriously been doubled (2 women are in the bathroom of room 237 the novel has only one. 2 elevators, the novel has only one. 2 typewriters, the novel has only one). Stanley Kubrick also doubles the amount of this special power to “Shine” that cast members in the movie possess. In addition to 1) seeing into the past and the future and 2) speaking to each other telepathically over any distance, they also have the ability 3) to change the color of items and possessions, and 4) to supernaturally move objects, making them disappear than reappear between shots. They are the ones who have the power in the movie, not The Overlook and this is yet another reversal from the novel. How do I know this? The objects that move and change color not only happen inside The Overlook but also in Danny’s condo and Dick Hallorann’s apartment in Florida. These movements are obvious and I have extensively documented what moves supernaturally in “The Shining” in my blog. Click here and go back to look at almost 400 interesting pictures from the movie, and read more.

What do the Numbers Mean?

Why does Stanley Kubrick have so many of the same numbers (12, 21, 24, and 42) showing up throughout The Shining on Danny’s sweaters, room numbers, movie titles, dates, times, etc. etc.?

He wants the audience to notice them and they’re key to explaining the date in the last shot of the movie. They are quite obvious; Room 237 adds up to 12, the 21 pictures on the wall in the final shots, the numbers of the date 7/4/1921 added together equal 24, and Danny wearing the number 42 on his sweatshirt in their bathroom.





What's the significance of the four shots filmed entirely in the reflection of a mirror, and why does Stanley Kubrick have Danny wear an Apollo sweater with the number 11 on it?

Mirrors or so important in Stanley Kubrick’s “Shining”. If you read the novel it’s obvious he’s holding Stephen King’s novel up to a mirror and in the movie we are seeing that reflection.
The time codes of the four unique shots where a cast member is filmed entirely in the reflection of a mirror are part of a code that Stanley Kubrick wants us to notice throughout the movie. Just as we would never know Redrum is murder if we didn’t see it in the reflection of a mirror, we would never know of the number 11’s significance (a mirror image of itself) if we didn’t look at the time codes of the four mirror shots. Mirrors are the key clue that leads to the explanation of what the puzzling date at the end of the movie, “July 4th 1921”, actually means.

Danny’s reflection as he talks to Tony in the bathroom mirror (the duration is :24 seconds exactly and the time code is :11 minutes).

Jack’s reflection in the bedroom mirror as Wendy gives him breakfast (the duration is 1:21 minutes exactly and the time code is :35 minutes, :24+:11).

Jack’s reflection in the bedroom mirror as Danny comes in for his truck (the duration is :24 seconds exactly and the time code is :53 minutes, :42+:11).

Wendy’s reflection as she sees Redrum reflected in the bedroom mirror (the duration is :04 seconds exactly and the time code is 2 hours and :01 minute, 1:10+:11).

Why does Stanley Kubrick have an enigmatic date on the screen in the final shot instead of what you see there in thousands of classic movies, The End?

The date on the screen, 7/4/1921, is meaningless unless you add up its component numbers. It’s put at the very end of the movie as a clue to another date he has in mind, an ancient Mayan Indian prediction of the end of the world just a few years from now. Stanly Kubrick wanted us to wonder about this fictitious date while giving us numerical clues throughout the movie to the real date he believes to be a prediction of the Apocalypse. The end of this movie is a metaphor for The End of everything and he even gives us the date positioned in the most perfect spot; the end.


To get the month, take the mirror image of 21 (the number of pictures on the wall in the last shots).



To get the day, add up 7/4/1921.



To get the year, count the 20 people in the second to last close-up picture of the movie.



... and add that to the number 11 on Danny’s Apollo sweater (or 2, 1’s (twins) from the last two digits of the year 1921).



The hidden date is 12/24/2011.


By now you’ve probably already made up your mind about how wrong I am about the Mayan Indians. After all they’re never mentioned in the movie so how could this be right. The Mayan Indians never being mentioned in the movie doesn’t mean anything. They’re there, just look at how subtly he included them. For almost 30 years viewers have looked at this shot and not seen what it actually is.






There’s a perfect depiction of an ancient Mayan pyramid (top, sides and stairs) in Jack’s dream of the hedge maze and it’s proof positive that I’m correct about the Mayan date 12/24/2011. The many American Indian references throughout the movie are obvious and hold no mystery at all. The real mystery here is the date in the last shot of the movie. The inclusion of a hidden depiction of an ancient Mayan pyramid in Jack’s dream of the hedge maze (in conjunction with the mysterious numbers) has no explanation other than that it has something to do with Mayan Indians and not American Indians as is a popular belief held by some.

If this isn't enough maybe seeing the actual numbers of the date 12/24/2011 hidden in the picture will be. They’re all there and quite obvious if you know where to look.

12 is represented by adding up the three 4’s formed by the center shadows.



24 is represented by multiplying the number 12 from the center shadows by the 2 Mayan Temples that are shown in the picture.



20 is represented by adding the four 5’s on the left and right of the number 12 in the center ( the bottom 2 are inverted).




Adding the Roman Numerals X and I also hidden in the picture represents the number 11.



12/24/2011, it’s unbelievable how much was hidden in plain sight in this one picture.





12/24/2011


Click here and go back to my blog with almost 400 interesting pictures from the movie, and read more.

Why did Stanley Kubrick change so much from the novel?

He can therefore he does. He must have had total control over the story line in making the movie. I feel the movie is much better but if Stephen King was disappointed with the changes I can see why, as there are so many. What he changed and how he did it is the most important clue to understanding the mystery of the film. After reading the book I've discovered something in the movie that's very well hidden, something that Stephen King has never said anything about even though he must have noticed it right away; Stanley Kubrick didn’t just randomly alter things from the novel (as many viewers think), he's reversed them. It’s like looking in a mirror where images are the reverse of what’s real. It's been noted how important mirrors are and parts of the movie are not just changed from the novel but are inverted mirror images (opposites) of what happens in the novel. I realized this with the colors of the two main vehicles in the story. In the novel they're brought to The Overlook in a red VW and saved on a yellow snowmobile. In the movie they're brought to The Overlook in a yellow VW and saved in a red Sno-cat. These color changes were meant to be noticed and this inversion can't be ignored, he's even done it with the plot. Stanley Kubrick has taken Stephen King’s novel and held it up to a mirror and what we're seeing in the movie is that reflection. A reflection where, in typical Kubrick fashion, just enough obvious changes are puzzlingly noticeable (The Hedge Maze and colors) and just enough is left alone (names and places), not being so obvious as to give it all away; Exactly like the numbers he wants us to notice.


If you would like to see some of what was altered in the movie click here and see.

What do Delbert Grady and Tony have in common?

Something very odd moves around in "The Shining" when it shouldn’t. It was one of the first things I ever noticed and I just knew it was the most common of continuity errors seen hundreds of times in other movies. Than I read Stephen King's novel and everything changed.
Tony is Danny's imaginary friend and can be seen by him in the novel. I believe in this movie Stanley Kubrick is showing us an inverted image of Stephen King's novel (click here), and now in the movie Tony's invisible; but he is still there if you know where to look. In the movie Tony is not only a voice inside Danny, but he's an actual invisible entity. In fact anyone else who "Shines" in this movie also has an invisible entity around them. This may be a little hard to comprehend but the proof of what I'm saying is in the pictures. Every time one of these invisible entities makes an appearance in the movie they do the exact same thing. I'll show you the pictures first and see if you can find where they are in each one.













Did you notice a chair moving between shots in each scene? This isn't a mistake. No cast member went near them and they shouldn’t have moved. It’s deliberate and it happens at least five times in the movie. The invisible entities are present and are sitting in a chair making themselves comfortable while hanging around their host. In the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary the definition of the word Doppelganger is; a ghostly counterpart of a living person, and I believe there's proof here in these pictures that each major character in “The Shining” has a Doppelganger associated with them. Even though the modern Internet definition indicates an evil presence Stanley Kubrick is working from the older definition here, as only Jack’s Doppelganger is evil.

There should be no confusion as to whether The Overlook itself is causing this because it happens three times in the hotel and twice outside of it. Therefore the moving chairs are happening as a result of “Shining” and not any other popular phenomena, like ghosts.


As I’ve already stated it’s pretty obvious that all these people have the same ability. I’ve shown this many times in pictures throughout my blog (click here).
Now just look at the 6 chairs to the right of Mr. Ullman that move between shots in this scene. 6 people who arguably have the “Shine” are present and not one of them went near any of these 6 chairs. Their invisible Doppelgangers are sitting right there with them.




I'm sure that these invisible entities are the power in the movie behind what's causing everything to move around, disappear, and change colors and the person who "Shines" or their invisible entity is present in the scene when they do. The actual characters have no idea what's going on. It's their subconscious that is doing it and Danny is the only one who may have the slightest clue.
It's obvious that Dick Hallorann and Wendy have imaginary friends; but what about Jack, his are a little different because we can actually see them (Stanly Kubrick is letting us see the results of Jack’s imagination on the screen). We know that Charles Grady was an actual person who worked in The Overlook, murdered his family then killed himself. The other one, Delbert Grady, never actually exists and is Jack's subconscious version of Danny's imaginary friend Tony. That's why he's able to let him out of the storeroom without Jack's conscious mind (or the audience's) knowing it. Grady and Tony probably communicate without Jack or Danny ever knowing it. I'm sure this is how Danny was beat up during Jack's nightmare. There never was and old woman in room 237 while they were The Overlook, just a vision of one who was there in the past. It's true that Jack is talking to himself when he speaks to Grady with the mirror in front of him. Don't forget about Lloyd the bartender he's part of Jack's subconscious also as he speaks to himself again with a mirror in front of him. As the movie progresses the madder Jack gets the more stuff happens, it's his subconscious that's doing everything. It's amazing how much mystery there is in this movie and all the answers are right there in front of us if you know where to look.

Someone else also had an invisible friend sitting next to him when he did his dirty work.



First of all the ax is the same one that Jack uses later in the movie, but don’t let that confuse you the important thing is the overturned chair. The chairs we see throughout The Overlook are not the same style as this one but I knew that if I looked through the movie I would find this particular chair somewhere in there. We see it a total of four times but the thing that's really important is that every time we see it it's upside down. It's right outside of Wendy and Jacks apartment.







Charles Grady was also able to “Shine” and his invisible entity was sitting in that very chair before he killed his family and himself. The reason the chair is now overturned is because he killed himself and there's nothing sitting there any more.





Click here and go back to my blog with almost 500 interesting pictures from the movie, and read more.