Huge blaze engulfs iconic hotel used in 80s horror classic

The ‘Shining Hotel’ has been caught in shock blaze (Picture: AP)

Home to creepy twins, ghoulish guests, and an axe wielding Jack Nicholson, the Overlook Hotel is a key character in The Shining.

Now, the real life Oregon hotel where the 1980 Stanley Kubrick adaptation of the popular Stephen King novel was filmed has broken out into a huge blaze.

On Thursday evening, the historic Timberline Lodge went up in flames as guests slept inside, although thankfully nobody was hurt.

Four different fire departments attended the remote scene in the community of Government Camp, which sits around around 60 miles east of Portland.

At around 9.30pm the attic of the iconic building set alight, taking an estimated two hours to get under control as wind whipped away any water sprayed.

Staff had called emergency services and managed to get everyone safely outside while attempts were made to save any historical artifacts.

The hotel was featured in the 1980s classic The Shining (Picture: Clackamas Fire Department via AP)

It is really called the Timberline Lodge, with historic links in its own right (Picture: Clackamas Fire Department via AP)

John Burton, the lodge’s marketing director, told local paper The Oregonian that he was grateful for the fire crews and added that the shock blaze was ‘a first’ for the iconic hotel.

‘I think we just need to look at this as it could have been a lot worse,’ he said. ‘It was extremely windy, so it didn’t help the cause, but [I] can’t thank the first responders enough.’

The fire mainly impacted the attic and roof of the building, with Burton suggesting embers in the chimney had been the cause but this has not been confirmed.

It was used as the Overlook Hotel in the Stephen King adaptation (Picture: Warner Bros/Hawk Films/Kobal/Shutterstock)

It took two hours to control the blaze in the attic (Picture: Clackamas Fire Department via AP)

One guest, Taylor Hatmaker, recounted to the paper how they heard an alarm blaring and could see sparks flying around the chimney once outside.

She shared: ‘It’s emotional seeing something so emblematic of our state with such history on fire. It’s such a historic, special building.

‘Timberline means a lot of things to a lot of people.’

The Timberline Lodge serves as the imposing outside of the Overlook Hotel plus some internal scenes, although much was filmed at Elstree Studios.

Nobody was hurt and attempts were made to save historic assets (Picture: Clackamas Fire Department via AP)

An imaginary room 237 was used to film as hotel owners were worried using real room 217 would scare off potential guests.

However, the featured room in King’s novel is actually the most requested one of all as fans hope to walk in Nicholson and Shelley Duvall’s footsteps.

It has an even more historic claim to fame though as in 1937, the hotel was opened by then-US President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1977, the year before filming began, it was declared a National Historic Landmark and now draws nearly 2,000,000 visitors every year.

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