Sinister, eerie, and menacing, there’s only one place that comes to mind: the notorious Winchester Mystery House of San Jose. With a reputation for being one of California’s most unusual haunted houses, this ghostly residence is an architectural masterpiece and historic landmark worth seeing—that is if you have the guts. Touring the grounds of the Winchester Mystery House is like playing live Roulette; the stakes are pretty high. But this wasn’t always a haunted house. In fact, it once had promises of being the forever home of the Winchester family. However, not every story has a happily ever after.
The Origins of the Winchester Mystery House
It all began when firearms magnate William Wirt Winchester died in 1881. The tycoon was the son of Winchester Repeating Arms founder Oliver Winchester. Upon passing away, Winchester gave a considerable inheritance to his wife, Sarah. She relocated from her New Haven, Connecticut, family home to a modest, eight-room farmhouse in San Jose, California. What happened next was unfathomable. In the next 38 years, Sarah constructed more than 150 rooms in the house with 10,000 windows, multiple trap doors, spy holes, and stairwells that led nowhere. Why, you ask? This is what urban legends say.
Sarah Winchester was anxious about her $20 million wealth, which, when adjusted for inflation, amounts to more than a half-billion dollars. Rumor has it she was haunted by the spirits of her husband, her one-month-old child, as well as individuals murdered by her husband’s weapons. As a consequence, she constructed a mansion that would not only contain their souls, but also confuse and perplex them. Sarah felt that if she didn’t keep making “upgrades” to the home, she would die. Thankfully, her 50% ownership of the Winchester Arms Company assured her that she could do so for as long as she wished.
The Aftermath of the Winchester Mystery House
Sarah paid laborers to expand the house 24 hours a day, s days a week for the 38 years she lived there. The crazy part? There was no plan or blueprint; they just kept on adding, rebuilding, changing. The results were truly outstanding. The Winchester Mystery House now encompasses a vast 4.5-acre landscape with a maze of chambers.
Sarah Winchester outdid herself and created a home with a multitude of unusual architectural features. These included skylights that cut through the floors above, indoor balconies, doors that open into walls, and other peculiarities. Legend has it that the closest Sarah ever came to developing a house plan was by drawing on the backs of napkins that she would pass over to workers, only to erase or reshape them within a week. They say that Sarah ever slept in the same room twice. This went on until 1922 when Sarah took her last breath.
The Architecture of the Winchester Mystery House
Despite most of Sarah’s requests being highly unusual, some of her designs were truly magnificent. She built a conservatory with an interior irrigation system so that plants could be watered at several levels. A steam-driven forced-air heating system, indoor plumbing, and warm water in a personal shower were also included in the conservatory. The interior of the home, which is embellished with gold and silver accents and glittering chandeliers, is equally breathtaking.
Do you dare to set foot into the Winchester Mystery House? See the haunted mansion for yourself on an hour-long tour. Don’t think you can handle it? Go on a 40-minute virtual tour to discover more about the history of the mansion. We recommend being alert—freezing shivers, self-turning doorknobs, and strange sobbing noises are not uncommon.
