![]() It is worth several million dollars just for the land value alone. The Winchester Mystery House itself now sits in the middle of what is now known as Silicon Valley, where property is already some of the most expensive in the world. ![]() But after her husbands death, and her inheritance of the Winchester rifle fortune her financial resources where almost unlimited. Many of the windows are what are known as art glass, and each of them alone would cost several thousand dollars in today’s money. It originally cost $9000 dollars to build at a time when $9000 could have bought you a small house. ![]() This is particularly apparent in the grand ballroom. If you shine your flashlight around, you can see that no expense was spared in the houses construction. She also told us that none other then Harry Houdini had visited the house in 1924. The guide pointed over to the cupboard in the séance room where inside there were thirteen coat hooks. Staff and visitors have also heard footsteps in empty rooms, lights have been turned on and off by themselves and several people have reported smelling chicken soup in the kitchen, although nothing has been cooked there for years. There have been many reported ghost sighting’s over the years including that of a man wearing workman’s overalls, as well as the figure of Sarah Winchester herself. This is where she attempted to contact the spirits she believed haunted her house. Apparently Sarah Winchester also signed her will thirteen times.Įventually we came to what is known as the seance room. As we walked through the various rooms in the second floor of the house, the guide pointed out thirteen steps on the stairway, thirteen squares either side of the elevator, thirteen ceiling panels in one of the bedrooms, and even thirteen holes in the sink drainage cover. The tour guide has an extensive knowledge of the mansion and its history, and one of the particular things of interest she pointed out was Sarah Winchesters obsession with the number 13. Even in the dark, as you file up the twisting staircases you will notice how perfectly restored everything is, although new building ceased in 1922 when Sarah Winchester died aged 82. Up until this event the then owner, Sarah Winchester actually slept in a different room every night to confuse the spirits that she believed where after her. It was in fact much larger until the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 caused the top three stories to collapse. There are one hundred and sixty rooms, forty seven fire places, thirteen bathrooms and four hundred and fifty doors. One thing you will find is that as soon as you set off, there is another tour coming up behind you, and several in front, so you’re not going to get to much time look a round. It was a small group of about twelve people, lead by a guide. The Winchester Mystery House is well known throughout the world partly because of the unusual story behind its construction, and partly because of its ghosts. There is a huge range of merchandise related to the house available, from postcards to videos, fridge magnets to souvenir plates. But it is all well organized, so you wont miss your time slot. The place was extremely busy with literally hundreds of people either in the restaurant or gift shop or waiting to go on the tour. I arrived at what is a massive Victorian mansion at about 9 pm ready for the 9.30 pm tour. Although they have several tours on each night, they do normally sell out. ![]() You are however issued with a souvenir flashlight so you can see your way around. This is another of those events you should book well in advance. The difference being that it is done at night, and in complete darkness. The Winchester M ystery House tour I was going on was the flashlight tour which they only have during Halloween week and on a Friday the 13 th. The only way to avoid the curse was to continue work on the Winchester Mansion to appease the spirits, and as long as she continued building, then she would live forever. The medium told her they had died as a result of a curse brought upon them by the many victims of “the Winchester rifle”. ![]() In 1881 Sarah Winchester had consulted a medium, after the premature deaths of both her husband and her daughter. Sarah Winchester began work on the house in 1884 and it continued around the clock for 38 years until her death in 1922. She was heir to the fortune made by her dead husband who was the manufacturer of the Winchester rifle and is thought to be one of the many ghosts that haunt the mansion. When finished the Winchester Mystery House had over 160 rooms, many of them with doors opening into brick walls, staircases to nowhere and miles of twisting hallways that served no purpose other then to double back on themselves. ![]()
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