The Winchester Mystery House Haunting

With its wacky design and the history behind it, the Winchester Mystery House is one of the most infamous haunted houses in America. Although, it doesn’t have as much fright as other haunted houses the story behind it is just as intriguing. This mansion was built in 1884 by Sarah Pardee Winchester. This property is currently standing with 160 rooms including, 40 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, 2 basements, and more. The more bizarre part is that all these rooms were built for the ghost thought to haunt the house, not the owner. With all this space for nobody to live in, you would wonder why was this done. The story will amaze you.

The history of the haunted home

Sarah Winchester, born in 1839, would later marry her husband, William Winchester. While they were married William was the owner of the gun company, Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Considering wars were going on at this time the company was very successful at the time and William maintained this until his death in 1881. Continuing after his death Sarah was heir to half the company and William’s possessions.

At this point in time, a grieving Sarah wanted more clarity on what to do after her husband’s death and how she should move forward. Accordingly, she called upon a medium for advice. This medium was able to connect with her husband and pass on a message — he wanted Sarah to leave her current home and build a new one. Not for herself, but for all the people who have fallen from a gun produced by his company.

In an attempt to serve these wishes, Sarah sold her then house and moved from Connecticut to California. At the time what used to be a small farmhouse was purchased by Sarah in 1884 and the journey started. She hired multiple carpenters and they worked through all hours of the day and eventually were able to produce the 7-story mansion. With so many doors, turns, and dead ends many would consider it more of a maze.

In 1904, California was hit with an earthquake which fortunately didn’t destroy the house but did do damage. This resulted in the top three floors having to be removed.

Winchesters mysteries

One of the biggest puzzles of Winchesters’ mystery house was the owner herself. Sarah got mixed views from the outside with some saying she was weird and crazy or with some saying she is a woman of empathy. It is said while building this mansion Sarah kept in touch with her medium. She did this in order to get suggestions on what the ghost preferred and to make sure they stayed happy. It was reported Sarah never slept in the same room or used the same route through the house. This was in order to hide from the ghost.

Speaking of routes, another mystery is how you navigate the mansion. With dead ends, staircases, and doors to nowhere, the house scares many because of its complexity. Also with all the space, it is unclear how many ghosts there actually are in the house. It also leads some people to wonder if the house is haunted at all.

What about now?

Currently, there are tours through the house, and visitors are allowed. The house was ready for the tour five months after Sarah would die in 1922. There have been rooms rumored to still have some of Sarah’s belongings in them after it took 6 weeks to originally empty out her house after she died. A year later incomplete rooms were then opened to the public and this fueled more rumors that there were still undiscovered secrets. Although this is a haunted house there are few stories of actual hauntings in the house. Overall, the story is very entertaining and interesting. Makes you wonder what else lies behind the mansion’s 2,000 doors.

By Cynthia Thomas

Sources:

Vanity Fair: Winchester: The True Ghost Story Behind Helen Mirren’s Haunted House Thriller

ATI: The Terrifying True Story Of The Winchester Mystery House And The Troubled Heiress Who Built It

Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Ray_explores’ Flickr Page – Creative Commons License

Inset Image Courtesy of Amy the Nurse‘s Flickr Page – Commons Creative License