There are many urban legends, mysterious place in the world but, the true story of Winchester Mystery House is one of the most bizarre case in paranormal investigation.
This is the story of a mysterious house that was built for ghost. Sarah decided to build a house with very odd construction and all these thing is only to outcast ghost and spirits.
After losing several family members, including her infant daughter in 1865, her father in 1869, her mother in 1880, both her father-in-law and husband in 1881, and her sister in 1884, Sarah decided to start fresh near San Jose, California, leaving her hometown of New Haven, Connecticut.
In just a few months, she built more than a dozen rooms onto her new home to accommodate her two little sisters and their families.
Over the next 38 years, the property was said to be under constant construction, 24/7. Sarah, with no formal training, personally designed all the new additions.
Construction only stopped when she passed away in September 1922, leaving the mansion incomplete and her plans unfinished.
In the mid-1800s, there was a small eight-room farmhouse in California’s Santa Clara Valley.
Today, it’s famous as the Winchester Mystery House, a well-known and mysterious mansion that attracts people for its haunted house reputation.
Let’s explore the mysterious case and story of haunted house of Winchester and most important question
Is this house really haunted?
The True Story of the Winchester Mystery House
Sarah Winchester, who lived in San Jose, California, built the Winchester Mystery House from 1884 until she passed away in 1922.
The house is really big with around 160 rooms and has strange things like stairs that don’t go anywhere, doors that open into walls, upside-down columns, and chimneys that don’t reach the ceiling.
Sarah was very sad because her baby daughter and husband died.
She talked to a medium who said her family was cursed because her husband was part of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company.
The person told her that ghosts of people shot by Winchester rifles were haunting her.
They said the only way to make them stop was for her to keep building a house for as long as she lived.
It’s said that Sarah even talked to these ghosts about how to design her house.
Every night, she had special meetings called séances to talk with the ghosts. The next morning, she would give her architect the plans she drew based on these talks.
Who is Sarah Winchester?
Sarah Winchester, born in 1839, wasn’t always interested in building a haunted mansion. She was a popular social figure in New Haven, Connecticut, known for her beauty and lively personality despite her petite stature of 4 feet 10 inches.
In 1862, Sarah married William Wirt Winchester, the heir of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, famous for its rapid-firing rifles. They started a family in 1866, but tragedy struck when their daughter, Annie, died as an infant.
Fifteen years later, William died of tuberculosis. Grieving these losses, Sarah sought guidance from a medium.
The medium conveyed that the Winchester family was cursed, haunted by the spirits of those killed by Winchester rifles.
The ghosts wanted a house, and it was crucial that it remained unfinished. People believe in such kind of story about Winchester Mystery House and strange activity that happen there.
The medium warned Sarah never to stop building, or she would die. It’s unclear how she interpreted this advice perhaps fearing the spirits would harm her if construction ceased or viewing continuous building as a path to eternal life.
Sarah moved to California’s Santa Clara Valley, bought a six-room farmhouse on 162 acres, and began construction.
This continued for 38 years until her death. But why did she create such an unusual house, with stairs leading nowhere and doors opening into walls? The reasons behind these peculiar features remain a mystery.
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Constructing the Stairs and Doors to Nowhere
Mrs. Winchester served as her own architect, and it’s possible that ghosts influenced the house’s design.
Every night, she held séances, getting instructions from spirits on the house’s progress. The next day, she’d give hand-drawn sketches to her workers.
She seemed indifferent to what was built, as long as construction continued.
Workers might spend a month on a room of Winchester Mystery House, only to be told to destroy it the next month. Since Mrs. Winchester paid well, no one questioned her.
Inheriting $20 million and nearly half of Winchester Repeating Arms Company stock, she had a daily income of about $1,000. This money funded her unconventional building projects.
Doors and stairs seemingly leading nowhere puzzle observers. Doors might open into walls, and stairs stop at the ceiling.
The stairs, perhaps part of the original house, were covered up during expansions.
Mrs. Winchester, lacking a master plan, would build around mistakes or tear them down.
Some believe these oddities were intentional to confuse evil spirits haunting her.
The house earned the nickname “mystery house” due to its eccentric construction. Mrs. Winchester’s motives remain unclear, as she left no diary or communication.
The house is now a tourist attraction, inviting speculation about whether it’s a testament to madness or wealth and if it’s still haunted.
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Is the Winchester Mystery House Haunted?
People have wondered about Sarah Winchester’s motivations for constructing the house, sparking rumors and folklore.
According to one tale, a medium told her that ghosts of those killed by the Winchester rifle would haunt her unless she built a house for them out west.
Another version suggests she was haunted in her family mansion in New Haven and tried to outsmart the ghosts by building a confusing home in California.
Historians couldn’t confirm the medium visit, and Sarah’s friends and employees denied the story.
The truth is likely simpler: Sarah’s father was a carpenter, fostering her love for design and architecture. She educated herself on these subjects through magazines and journals.
Rumors persisted after her death, especially when the property sold for around $135,000 (equivalent to over $2 million today) and became a public attraction in 1923.
Leased by John and Mayme Brown, the house was eventually bought and has remained a historic landmark since 1974, listed in the National Registry of Historic Places.
The truth about Winchester Mystery House Haunted final conclusion
Throughout the lengthy construction of the Winchester Mystery House, Sarah Winchester never confirmed that she was building a haunted house. However, stories and rumors circulated in San Jose.
Contractors working on the house claimed Winchester held daily séances with local mediums to communicate with “good spirits.”
These spirits were supposedly consulted on how to appease the ones for whom she was allegedly building the house.
Even after construction, Winchester continued efforts to pacify the victims of Winchester rifles.
Of the 13 bathrooms in the house, only one was functional, possibly to confuse any ghosts trying to haunt a faucet.
She also slept in a different room each night, using secret passageways to move around and prevent spirits from following her.
During Sarah Winchester’s time in the house, San Jose residents gossiped about its peculiar construction and its even stranger occupant. The stories became even more exaggerated in the years after her death.