Winchester House

Located in San Jose, California, the Sarah Winchester Mystery House is one of the most extraordinary, interesting and creative places we have visited to date. The story starts in Connecticut where Sarah Pardee and William Wirt Winchester, whose father purchased a company that manufactured repeating rifles that later turned into the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, a rifle dynasty creating millions of dollars of wealth for the family.

In 1866 Sarah and William welcomed their baby girl, Annie into the world, who unfortunately lived a short life of less than 10 days. Annie contracted “marasmus” which was blamed for her death. Continuing with tragedy, William died after suffering from tuberculosis. Sarah Winchester, devastated over the loss of her family, was recommended by a friend to seek answers from a psychic medium in Boston, MA. The psychic medium gave Sarah this disconcerting news: the ghosts of the thousands of men put to death by Winchester arms now wanted revenge. These spirits had killed her daughter and her husband and they would soon kill her. The medium urged Sarah to move west and away from these angry spirits. Sarah moved to San Jose in 1884, supposedly by the guidance of her husband’s ghost, but also to take advantage of the climate of the west. Sarah suffered from severe, chronic arthritis.

Sarah found a house for sale that was still under construction and she purchased it as well as the 162 acres of surrounding land. For the next 36 years, Sarah contracted 22 craftsmen to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to continue building a mansion that reached 7 stories with 47 fireplaces. Stories depict that Sarah believed she made contact with the ghosts daily and they advised her to continuously construct the house to make them happy and to create the mansion in such a way that it resembled a maze to confuse and “lose” the negative, evil spirits that were “after” her.

Sarah had a unique, advanced flair for design, and was obsessed with the number 13. Windows contained 13 panes. Chandeliers were modified to hold 13 lights. All the staircases in the house but one were built with 13 stairs. She also loved original Tiffany stained glass and spider web designs which can also be seen throughout the mansion. One advancement Sarah created in her house was a very old but stable elevator to assist her if she chose not to walk up and down the tiny, 2-inch tall steps she had built for her own ease of walking around. Doors open to nowhere. Windows are on the ceiling of a room. Stairs lead up to the ceiling. Cabinets contain no shelves, but brick walls instead.

An exclusive room was built per Sarah’s request so that she could conduct séances nightly at midnight in order to receive messages from the spirits delegating to her the responsibility of building the mansion. To this day, the bell will toll at midnight, even if no one is there to ring the bell, calling the members of the group to conduct the nightly séance in the secret room.

During the major 1906 earthquake of San Francisco, some of the Winchester Mansion was devastated. Sarah was trapped in her flower bedroom when the earthquake happened, collapsing the tower by many floors which in turn, slanted the doorway and wall. Sarah was stuck in her room and petrified that the spirits caused the earthquake and for her to be stranded because they were angry with her for not building more in the back part of the house. Sarah was rescued, boarded up the front 30 rooms of the mansion and continued to live and building in the back half of the house. The boards were removed after Sarah’s death in 1922 and the entire mansion and the 4.5 acres of original land are now open for tours.

Ghosts of the Winchester Mystery House include:

•Our personal guide stated that she took a picture in Sarah’s bedroom and when that photo was developed, a distinct yet ghostly hand can be seen floating in mid-air.

•Disembodied voices are heard throughout the house.

•Footsteps can be heard when no one is around.

•Windows that are securely propped open slam shut with such force that the windows actually shatter.

•Doors open and close by themselves. Doorknobs have been seen turning when no one is on the other side of the door to turn it manually.

•Sarah has been reportedly seen numerous times by many tourists, employees and tour guides.

•The ghost of one of Sarah’s longtime house contractors has been seen still carrying out the work he was employed to do.

•People have been touched, and no one is there to touch them when they turn around.

•Unexplainable cold spots “erupt” in areas of the house and dissipate quickly.

Please see the photos below that illustrate portions of our tour at th Winchester Mystery House. Descriptions with the photos are included, as well as an album of miscellaneous photos of the mansion and grounds. If you have any questions or would like more information on any of the photos that are published on this page, please contact me and I will reply to you at my earliest convenience.

***Click on thumbnails to enlarge.***