Disclosure: This post is sponsored.
Oh my goodness we loved this place! Everyone in our family are big fans of ghosts and mysteries and this house does not disappoint!
The Winchester Mystery House is a mansion in San Jose, California, which was once the home of Sarah Winchester, the widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester.
Since its construction in 1884, the property and mansion were claimed by many, including Winchester herself, to be haunted by the ghosts of those killed with Winchester rifles. The story is that Sarah never stopped work on the house, constantly adding on rooms so that the noise would keep the ghosts at bay.
It was so spooky!
Numerous visitors, tour guides and employees have experienced strange phenomenon, including capturing orbs and images in photographs and video.
The house is very intricate and beautiful. She spared no expense. This photo shows the open “door to nowhere” which is one of many oddities Sarah had built into her house in order to confuse the ghosts.
This very bedroom is where Mrs. Winchester passed away in 1922. The Liscrusta wallpaper was shipped in from Asia and was incredible intricate and beautiful.
There is a large museum on site of Winchester Rifles as well.
Walking up this staircase felt so strange!
This is called a “switchback staircase” because instead of going straight up using normal height stairs it uses many stair treads of low height and switches back and forth a few times to get you to the next floor. It’s very confusing to climb and there are a few of them in the house.
There were many sunrooms and greenhouses in the house with the most up to date available indoor plumbing you would have seen for the time. Sarah also had hot and cold taps installed in her laundry room for her servants. This was very rare and would have cost a great deal to import and install. It is said she treated her servants like family.
A closet “door to nowhere”.
The “stairway to the ceiling” which leads no where. Also meant to confuse the spirits in the house.
You need to watch out for this staircase to nowhere in the new Winchester House movie!
Sarah was very superstitious and build many items in the house using the number 13. If you look closely you’ll see 13 glass circles in this stained glass window. Many windows have 13 panes, there are 13 bathrooms, 13 steps on many of the stairways, 13 ceiling panels in many ceilings. Mrs. Winchester’s will was divided into 13 parts and she even signed it 13 times!
Curious yet? Check out the preview for the new movie coming out in 2018 about Sarah and the house:
We can’t wait to see the movie now that we’ve visited the house! Update!! We loved the movie and highly recommend it. It’s very spooky and will make you want to visit the house.
You should definitely visit the Winchester Mystery House the next time you’re in the San Francisco area, especially if you love mysteries, hidden rooms, a good story, possible ghosts and big old houses!
Disclosure: I was given tickets to tour the Winchester Mystery House in order to write this blog post, however, all opinions in this post are my own. All of the pictures in this post were provided to me by the Winchester Mystery House. Please do not copy or use them in any way.
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