WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE

WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE

The  Winchester mystery house is a mega-mansion located in san jose ,California ,

That was once residence of sarah Winchester,the widow of William Winchester.

It is a designated California historical landmark.

Since its construction in 1884,the property is claimed to be haunted by the ghosts of those killed with Winchester rifles .After the death of her husband in 1881,sarah Winchester inherited more than $20.5 million (equivalent to $532 million in 2018).she also received fifty percent ownership of the Winchester repeating arms company , through which she receive an income of roughly $1000 per day (equivalent to $26000 a day in 2018) .After the death of her daughter due to  marasmus , a children’s disease in which the body wastes away, and her husband death due to pulmonary tuberculosis , she leave her house and decided to go west , where she continuously build  a home for herself and the spirits of the people who had fallen victim to Winchester rifles.

In 1884,she purchased a unfinished farmhouse in santa clara valley and began building her mansion .Carpenters were hired and worked on the house day and night until it became a seven story mansion .However, she did not use an architect and designed the mansion in a haphazard fashion, so the home contains numerous oddities such as stairs and door that go nowhere etc. Environmental psychologists have theorized that the odd layout itself contributes to the feeling of the house being haunted today.

Before the 1906 earthquake, the house had been seven stories today its only four stories. Approximately 78,000L ( 20,500 us gallons) of paint were required to paint the house. There are roughly 161 rooms, including 40 bedrooms, 2 ballroom as well as 47 fireplaces, over 10,000 panes of glasses , 17 chimenys , two basements and three elevators . However there was only one  working toilet for Winchester, but all other restrooms were decoys to confuse the spirits. This is also reason why she slept in different room each nights.

Many of the glass windows were created by Tiffany company. These glasses include “spider web” windows that featured her favorite web design and the repetition of number thirteen. A second window was designed by Tiffany himself, so that when sunlight strikes on them a rainbow effect is cast across the room.

When Winchester died all her possession were bequeathed by her niece and personal secretary. Her niece then took everything she wanted and sold the rest in a private auction. It supposedly took six truck working eight hours a day for eight weeks to remove all of the furniture in the house.

In 2016,it was announced that another room with period furniture was build in the courtyard :  an attic space that contain a pump organ, Victorian couch, dress form, sewing machine and pantings. This room was made available for viewing by the public and features a shooting range game.

In 2017,the Winchester mystery house debuted their first daytime in 20 years, the “Explore more tour”. This tour takes guests through rooms never before opened to the public, and the rooms left unfinished at the time of sarah wnchester’s death.