The Winchester Mystery House

In 1862 Sarah Lockwood Pardee married the very wealthy (I'm sure he had other nice traits) William Wirt Winchester, son of Oliver Fisher Winchester, manufacturer of the famous Winchester repeating rifle.

They enjoyed a happy life until 1866 when their infant daughter, Annie, died of the then mysterious disease Marasmus. Mrs Winchester became deeply depressed and never fully recovered. Fifteen years later, in 1881, her husband died from Tuberculosis.

She sought help from a spiritualist. The Boston Medium she consulted said that her family and fortune were being haunted by spirits of American Indians, Civil War soldiers, and others killed by Winchester rifles. The deaths of her daughter and husband were caused by these spirits and she could be next.

The medium told her to move west and appease the spirits by building a great house for them. As long as construction of the house never ceased, Mrs. Winchester could rest assured that her life was not in danger. While visiting a niece in California, she found the perfect spot for her new home in the Santa Clara Valley.

In 1884 she hired carpenters to work around-the-clock. Her financial resources were virtually unlimited. She inherited just under 50 percent of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company giving her an income of $1,000 a day at a time when there were no income taxes.

Eventually she had a seven-story mansion on 161 acres of farmland.

The Winchester Mystery House is a beautiful but bizarre example of Victorian craftsmanship.

With features like turrets, towers, curved walls, cupolas, cornices, and balconies.

The famous door to nowhere.

A room with a window in the floor.

Staircases that end at walls, columns installed upside down, miles of twisting hallways with secret passageways in the walls, all to confuse any ghosts that might be following her.

The number 13 occurs often on the grounds and in the house. 13 cupolas in the greenhouse and 13 fan palms lining the front driveway.

Sarah reportedly kept her face covered with a dark veil at all times and never slept in the same bedroom two nights in a row in order to confuse the evil spirits. At the very center of the house is the Blue Room where she would go every night to commune with the spirits and receive guidance for her construction plans. In the morning, after her nightly seance, she would meet with her foreman John Hansen and go over new changes and additions. Mr. Hansen would build and remodel rooms one week only to be told to tear them apart the next. It's estimated that 500-600 rooms were built, but because so many were redone only 160 remain.

She had extensive gardens with fountains and statues. Plants, flowers, trees, and shrubs were imported from over 110 countries around the world.

For nearly 38 years, the around-the-clock sawing, sanding, and hammering never ceased - not even on weekends or holidays. At the time of her death in 1922 the continuous construction was over 6 acres. The mansion contained 160 rooms, 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, 47 stairways, 47 fireplaces, 13 bathrooms, and 6 kitchens. Carpenters left nails half driven when they learned of her death.

                                                     Itsy