Winchester Mystery House – A Labyrinth For The Dead

The Winchester mansion, commonly known as the Winchester Mystery House, is one of California’s most haunted tourist attractions. Visitors and tour guides alike have claimed to see apparitions and hear disembodied voices in different parts of the sprawling 24,000 square-foot estate.

Aside from its massive size, bizarre architecture, and complete lack of a master plan, it was built by Sarah Winchester, widow of William Wirt Winchester (of the Winchester firearms family). Her motivation was simple. She believed that her wealth and family were were haunted. After visiting a psychic medium, she set out to build a home to mollify the spirits of the dead. There was only one problem. In order to keep the ghosts at bay, Sarah Winchester was told that she could never stop building.

Becoming a Winchester

Sarah was born in New Haven Connecticut in 1839. She lived a fairly unremarkable life until she met William Winchester. William was the only son of Oliver Winchester, owner of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Yes – the creators of the Winchester rifle a.k.a. “the gun that won the west”.

Sarah and William fell in love and were married in 1862. Two years later, Sarah was pregnant with their first child and, on June 15, 1866, Annie Winchester was born. Sarah was over the moon and doted on her baby girl, but her happiness would not last. Only weeks after their bundle of joy had arrived, Annie Winchester passed away from marasmus. Sarah and William never conceived again.

The Inheritance

Oliver Winchester died in 1880, leaving his fortune to his only son. Sarah and William would want for nothing, but they would not have much time to enjoy their wealth together. By early 1881, William contracted tuberculosis. He died in March, leaving his entire fortune to his wife.

Sarah Winchester inherited $20 million in liquid assets, the equivalent to just over $519 million today. She also got 50 percent ownership of the Winchester company. If this were not enough, she also earned an income of $1000 per day (about $26,000 in 2019).

Money Isn’t Everything

Bewildered, alone, and filled with grief, Sarah visited a psychic medium. Her hope was that the medium could commune with William and offer her some comfort. What the medium told her; however, chilled her to the bone.

The spiritualist told Sarah that she had successfully contacted William and that he had a message for her. He said that the tragic loss of their daughter, Annie, was brought on by their cursed fortune. The money the family had made off of the Winchester rifle was tainted with the blood of the rifle’s victims. William warned that the spirits of these victims would come after Sarah, seeking revenge.

The medium told Sarah that there was a way to protect herself. Sarah needed to move out west and build a home for the spirits. They would live with her, but she would come to no harm as long as she never stopped building.

The Farmhouse

In 1884, Sarah Winchester bought a simple farmhouse in Santa Clara Valley and started her building project. Strangely, she never hired an architect. Instead, she hired carpenters and builders to work off of her own drawings, adding rooms as they went.

As rumor had it, Sarah would meet with the foreman each morning to discuss the daily changes to the design. Then she would spend her evenings in the Séance room where she would commune with the spirits and get their feedback on the new plans.

Though she spared no expense, the home’s design looked more like a lavish “fun-house” than a traditional Victorian. With a door that opened to a 12-foot drop, staircases that led to nowhere, cupboards that were only half an inch deep, secret passages, a skylight in the floor, and windows that overlooked other rooms, builders never knew what they would be asked to create next.

The Design

Though Sarah’s favorite material to build with was redwood, she did not particularly like the way it looked. To remedy this, she had workers apply a faux grain and stain to it, which is why nearly all of wood in the house is covered. It is estimated that 20.5 thousand gallons of paint were used paint the house.

Aside from the lavish (if not eccentric) aesthetic, the home also contained elements that were rare and ahead of their time. This included steam and forced-air heating, plumbing for indoor toilets and hot showers, push-button gas lights, and three elevators.

By 1906 the mystery house had grown to seven stories, but an earthquake that year knocked it down to only four. Thanks to the its floating foundation; however, the home survived and even stood up to the more recent Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.

The Labyrinth

With approximately 161 rooms, 40 of them were bedrooms. Sarah Winchester slept in a different room every night to confuse the spirits. In fact, the entire home was laid out like a labyrinth, made to disorient these ghosts. Another design choice she made in order to have influence on the dead was to incorporate the number 13 throughout the house. From the number of ceiling panels in each room, to the 13-step stairways, to the number of coat hooks mounted to the wall, the number 13 can be counted everywhere.

Other features of the house include 2 ballrooms, 6 kitchens, 17 chimneys, 40 stairways, 47 fireplaces, 52 skylights, and two basements. Most of the stained glass windows were designed specifically for Sarah by the Pacific American Decorative Company. She was particularly fond of a spider-web pattern, which is repeated throughout the house and was said to bring good luck. Sarah even had one window designed by Tiffany (yes – that Tiffany). Strangely, she had it mounted on an interior wall with no light exposure, negating the rainbow effect the crystal prisms were supposed to have when hit by the sunlight.

Around the Clock

Sarah Winchester worked tirelessly on plans for the house and though she technically lived alone, the Winchester mystery house was constantly buzzing with the sound of staff. In her employee, she had 18 servants, 18 gardeners, and, of course, a massive building crew. The builders were split into multiple shifts so that construction never had to stop.

And so it went, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. Room after room after room, Sarah Winchester kept this pace for 38 years.

All Good Things…

On Sept 5, 1922, Sarah Winchester passed away from heart failure in her sleep. With the final beat of her heart, so came the final hammering of so many nails that built the incredible Winchester home. With her death, construction came to an immediate and abrupt halt.

Sarah Winchester left all of her belongings, except for the mystery house, to her niece. The house was sold at a private auction for approximately $135,000 and later sold again to a couple named John and Mayme Brown who were the first to open it to the public and began giving tours in February 1923. Today, the Winchester Mystery house is now owned by Winchester Investments LLC, a privately held company.

So is the House Actually Haunted?

Many guests and employees of the Winchester mystery house have claimed to have had paranormal experiences while in the building. There were so many reports that the tours have resolved to categorize them into three different types of hauntings. There are:

Residual Hauntings

Residual hauntings can be described as a “spiritual-playback”. This is when the same moment in history appears over and over, as it it was stuck in a loop. The event could be of positive or negative significance to the person who experienced them. Sometimes the event is simply a routine task the person would have performed over and over. Within the Winchester, many reported an apparition of a man pushing a wheelbarrow full of coal in both the grand ballroom and the basement.

Intelligent Hauntings

Intelligent hauntings involve a spirit acting and reacting in real time in an attempt to communicate with the living. One example is that many visitors of the mystery house reported to have felt tugging on their clothing as they passed through certain areas of the house. One of the workers said that one time he heard footsteps in an part of the house that was off limits to guests. He followed the footsteps to inform the person that they needed to leave the restricted area, but he couldn’t seem to catch up to the sound of their shoes. The worker followed the sound all the way to the roof, but when he got there, there was no one around.

Shadow Hauntings

Shadow hauntings are the most popular type of sightings. They manifest as a shadowy figure in the shape of a person. While many would dismiss these as a trick of the imagination, others insist that they have seen apparitions at the end of long hallways, walking around corners, and looking out of windows at the Winchester house.

Reflection

Whether you believe a house can be haunted by spirits or not, the architecture of the Winchester mystery house certainly puts out a “haunted” vibe. Though she appreciated beauty, the oddities in the architecture of the house give us some insight into the mind of a disturbed woman. One who would stop at nothing to satiate the spirits she believed were out do her harm.

More Blog Posts on Haunted Buildings:

The Cecil Hotel – A Magnet For Murder, Suicide, And Tragedy – Published Jul 1, 2019

What Happened at Murder Castle? – Published May 1, 2019

References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Winchester https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/rumored-hauntings-at-the-estate/ https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/527411/14-haunting-facts-about-winchester-mystery-house https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester_Mystery_House