Ah, San Jose, California – where the weather is mostly sunny and mild. San Jose is also the third largest city in California and is the home of Silicon Valley, which is known as the area where most tech companies have built their bases such as eBay and Adobe.
There are so many things to do in San Jose and if you happen to visit the city, you must not miss the Winchester Mystery House, which is dubbed as one of the most haunted places on earth.
The Winchester Mystery House is located at 525 South Winchester Boulevard and this mansion is famous because of its weird architectural design. It is a California historical landmark and is one of the places registered under National Register of Historic Places. The construction of the mansion lasted for 38 years. The construction was never finished because the owner of the home died in her sleep due to heart failure.
Initially, the home was occupied by Sarah Winchester, the wife of rifle magnate William Wirth Winchester. It is a four-story mansion that has 160 rooms, 40 of which are bedrooms, 2 ballrooms, 10,000 window panes, 17 chimneys, and 47 stairways, some of which do not lead anywhere. The Queen Anne Style Victorian mansion has earned the reputation of one of the scariest places in California.
William, being a rifle mogul, has sold a lot of firearms from Winchester Repeating Arms Company in the past. William died in 1881 due to tuberculosis and the mystery house was completed after he died. Sarah, the only heir of William, used the money she received from her inheritance to build the Winchester Mystery House.
Aside from William, their infant daughter also died due to an illness called marasmus, a children’s disease. Because of this, a medium from Boston told Sarah that she has been faced with a lot of unfortunate events in her life because of the spirits that haunt her family and her fortune. These spirits reportedly belonged to the people who were killed using the guns from William’s company. The medium then told Sarah, who was then living in Connecticut, that her husband told her to move to another location and she later went to California where she decided to build the Winchester Mystery House.
The house was originally an unfinished farmhouse. According to the carpenters, she did not have an architect that is why the Winchester Mystery House was built haphazardly. Although she did not have an architect, she allegedly got help from the spirits. Some claim that Sarah was always at the Séance Room at night where she talked to the spirits who told her what to do next with the Winchester Mystery Home.
The Winchester Mystery House used to have seven stories but because of an earthquake in 1906, it was reduced to four floors.
The Winchester Mystery House looks really odd that some psychologists believe that because of how it looks, it looked and felt haunted to a lot of people who saw it.
Why Are There A Lot Of Restrooms And Bedrooms At The Winchester Mystery House?
Accordingly, Sarah wanted to confuse the spirits so she decided to make a lot of bathrooms all over the Winchester Mystery House. However, only one actually works.
Aside from the many restrooms, the house also has so many bedrooms that Sarah wants to sleep in a different room every night. The reason for this is that so she can allegedly once again fool the spirits.
Sometime in 1922, Sarah died and she gave all her belongings to her niece, who has become her personal secretary when she was still alive. Her house, however, was not in the will.
The next owner of the home is a local investor who got the Winchester Mystery House at an auction for $135,000. Later, it was leased to John and Mayme Brown. Five months after Sarah’s death, the house was open to the public and tours were given to those who wanted to see the inside of the Winchester Mystery House. Today, the heirs of John and Mayme Brown own the home.
People who have visited the Winchester Mystery House in hopes of encountering the supposed spirits that Sarah were so afraid of when she was still alive say that the ghosts are most present at the third floor corridors.
Tour guides claimed that they hear footsteps there and voices that whisper their names. One tour guide said that the third floor is the spookiest part of the house because “when you are on that floor you can never really hear any of the other tours, so you feel pretty isolated.” The third floor is the least accessible part of the Winchester Mystery House.
Aside from the ghost of Sarah, the ghost of an old man who pushes a wheelbarrow is often seen. Although the ghosts are said to be frequently seen at the mansion by the tour guides, they claim that the spirits are not bad ones. For instance, the ghost of the old man at the basement always tips his had to whoever sees him.
There are a lot of tours of the Winchester Mystery House such as the Mansion tour, the Garden tour, and the Behind the Scenes tour. The last tour does not allow children under nine years of age.
During Halloween and Friday the 13th, the owners of the Winchester Mystery House make the Flashlight tour available.
While there, you must look for the staircases that lead to the ceilings and windows on the floor. Also, the famous door that leads you to a 12-foot drop out the garden. Another thing that you should watch out for is the number 13, because Sarah reportedly loved that number as well as spider web patterns.