Continuing our haunted houses blog tour, we bring you The Winchester Mystery House located in San Jose, California. This tragic story starts with 4 foot 10 inch Sara Pardee and her marriage to William Wirt Winchester. William’s father, Oliver amassed a large fortune through the introduction of the first repeating rifle. The first tragedy struck with the death of Sarah’s only child, Annie, shortly after birth. Sara became a recluse after this, and only a short time later her husband, William, passed away from Tuberculosis. With William’s passing, Sarah inherited over $20 million dollars (about $260 Million today).
The money didn’t quell the loss of Sarah’s husband and child, and she sought the counsel of a medium. The medium told her that there was a curse on the family due to the deaths of those at the hands of the Winchester weapons, and that the curse had taken her child and husband. The medium continued on, telling her that she needed to start a new life and build a home for herself and the spirits that had been killed by the weapon. The medium issued a solemn ultimatum- Continue building and live, stop building and you will die.
With that, Sarah moved west and purchased a house under construction in the Santa Clara Valley. Construction started immediately and continued 24 hours per day. With the continual building, the house grew to include 160 rooms, including 40 bedrooms and two ballrooms. The house also has 47 fireplaces, 10,000 window panes, 17 chimneys, two basements, and three elevators. Sarah was the sole architect, and had the house constructed without plans or blueprints. After an earthquake in 1906 that destroyed the observation tower, and caused other damage, Sarah sealed off part of the house. She thought that the spirits were angry with her because the front part of the house was almost finished.
The building only stopped when Sarah, 82, died in 1922. The Winchester Mystery House can be toured today, still in the same state when Sarah died.
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Check out the Winchester Mystery House at HouseFront.com
Winchester Mystery House (Official Site)
Winchester Mystery House (Wikipedia)
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