(The Winchester Mystery House)

The Winchester House in San Jose, California is known for many things from its architectural oddities to the spirits that possess it. It is also known as the house that was built by spirits. Some say the house is like a maze. Tour guides even warn the people not to stray from the group or you could wind up lost for hours. Today the house has been estimated at 5.5 million dollars. According to popular belief, Winchester thought the house was haunted by the ghosts of the people who fell victim to Winchester rifles, and that only continuous construction would keep these spirits happy.

It is said that the strange construction of the house was meant to confuse the spirits that entered it. Doors that lead to nowhere. Stair cases that lead down then back up again. Miles of hallways. From the research I’ve done it seems Sara Winchester started this house due to a medium telling her she had to leave her home in New Haven and travel West, where she must "build a home for yourself and for the spirits who have fallen from this terrible weapon, too. You must never stop building the house. If you continue building, you will live forever. But if you stop, then you will die."

Sara Winchester than left her home and traveled to California. In 1884 she purchased an unfinished farmhouse and began building her mansion. Carpenters were hired to work on the house day and night until it became a seven story mansion. Soon thereafter Mr. Winchester and Mrs. Winchester’s baby had die very suddenly sending Mrs. Winchester into a coma so serious that physicians despaired of her life.

Once Sara Winchester finally recovered her friend encouraged her to see another medium.  During the séance, according to those familiar with her story, said she received a message from her dead husband in which he said: 'Sarah dear, if our house had not been finished, I would still be with you. I urge you now to build a home, but never let it be finished, for then you will live.’

In fear that the same spirits who killed her family would kill her to she began construction on the house once again. Many people claimed that she was insane due to the way she chose to have the house built, full of twists, turns, and dead ends, (as mentioned earlier) so that the spirits would get lost and never be able to find her.

One version of the story states Sara believed her only chance at a normal life was to build a house, and keep building it. If the house was never finished, no ghost could settle into it. The house contains many features that were utilized to trap or confuse spirits. There are doors that are small or lead nowhere and windows that look into other parts of the house. The mansion may be huge but there are only two mirrors in the whole place. This is because Sarah believed that the ghosts were afraid of their own reflection.

Upon inheriting mass amounts of money from her husband’s death it allowed her to continue construction on the house.

Apparently there are lots of occurrences of the number 13 in the house as well such as-  Many windows have 13 panes and there are 13 bathrooms, with 13 windows in the 13th Bathroom. There are also 13 wall panels in the room prior to the 13th Bathroom, and 13 steps leading to that bathroom. The Carriage Entrance Hall floor is divided into 13 cement sections. There are even 13 hooks in the Séance Room, which supposedly held the different colored robes Mrs. Winchester wore while communing with the spirits. It is also noted that Mrs. Winchester’s will had 13 parts and was signed by her 13 times!

Even more thirteens: 13 rails by the floor-level skylight in the South Conservatory, 13 steps on many of the stairways, 13 squares on each side of the Otis electric elevator, 13 glass cupolas on the Greenhouse, 13 holes in the sink drain covers, 13 ceiling panels in some of the rooms, and 13 gas jets on the Ballroom chandelier. (Mrs. Winchester had the thirteenth one added)

Here are more things you may find interesting about this house-

160 rooms including 40 bedrooms

2 ballrooms

47 fireplaces

10,000 window panes

17 chimneys

Two basements 

Three elevators

There is much more to this story that I do not know but with enough of your own research you are sure to find out many interesting things.

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I hope you found this story as interesting as I did. I hope to one day visit this strange house of mysteries so I can see the things for myself.

If anyone has a story of their own they would like added this book please PM me and I will add it along with a dedication to you. I am also taking request of places you would like to see in here. Just comment telling me what you would like to read next!

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Works cited:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Mystery_House#The_house_today

http://winchestermysteryhouse.com/learn.cfm