Author: Gabrielle Mullen
Halloween is fast approaching, how will you be
spending your night of horror? If you
are into ghost, fun houses, and haunted mansions then The Winchester MysteryHouse is the place you want to be. The Winchester Mystery House is a haunted
mansion located in San Jose, California.
Equipped within the mansion is: 160 rooms, 47 fireplaces, 40 staircases,
13 bathrooms, two basements and ballrooms, three elevators, 40 bedrooms, 10,000
windows and 2,000 doors which brings the estate out to have 4.5 acres. Nobody knows the real reason Sarah Winchester
build such an extravagant house but the story behind it is quite interesting.
 |
| Winchester Mystery
House- San Jose, California |
Sarah Winchester is the wife of William
Winchester, the manufacturer of Winchester rifles, a popular rifle used in the
early 1870’s. The rifle was known as
“The Gun that Won the West” because of the important role it had assisting the
Western settlers. As stated on the
Winchester Mystery House website, life for the couple was happy until the loss
of their infant daughter six weeks after she was born in 1866. Sarah suffered from deep depression because
of the loss and 15 years later the depression got worse because of the death of
her husband. After the loss of both her
infant daughter and her husband Sarah was in a state that she could not easily
return from (“Early Life”). In result of
the depression and the loss of her family, Sarah consulted in the Boston
Medium. Mrs. Winchester was convinced
that her family and fortune was being haunted by the ghost of those fallen by
the Winchester rifle. After informing
the Boston Medium of this belief, the medium gave Sarah advice on how to sooth
the spirits she felt was haunting her.
He instructed her to move away from her home in Connecticut and
construct a house that she would never stop building on. “As long as construction of the house never
ceased, Mrs. Winchester could rest assured that her life was not in
danger. Building such a house was even
supposed to bring her eternal life.” (Winchester Mystery…) With this information Sarah packed up all her
belongings and went to visit a niece who lived in California. There, she came across a piece of land she
thought would be perfect for the building of her new house and she purchased
it. This purchase started the journey of
what now is known as, The Winchester Mystery House.
 |
| Mrs. Winchester |
Aside from the construction of the actual
house, which was torn down and reconstructed multiple times throughout the
years, the garden is another attraction that draws people into the mysterious
house. Many of the garden’s attractions
were imported from Mrs. Winchester for the garden, and were tended to by many
gardeners back when the house was being built.
Though Mrs. Winchester had her own ideas, she often referred to a book
of horticulture published in 1841 by A.J. Downing, which was still popular at
the turn of the century (“The Victorian Gardens”). The plants were supposedly used to stop
headaches, purify the blood, and even cure intestinal disorders. Alongside the medical plants were acres of
orchards that produced plums, apricots, and walnuts. Though Mrs. Winchester did not need a source
of income, the crops were taken to the market and sold. The Winchester Mystery House website
commented that after the death of Mr. Winchester, Sarah came upon a couple
million dollars and more than 700 shares of stock in her husband’s
company. She also received 2,000 more
shares of stock after the death of Mr. Winchester’s mother, which meant she
owned a little under fifty percent of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company
(“The House that Mrs. Winchester Built”).
Thus explaining why she did not need a source of income but still sold
the crops in the town market.
 |
| Winchester Mystery House Gardens |
A big controversy surrounding the house and
its inhabitants, deals with the number 13.
The number 13 is known to be an unlucky number in a variety of different
cultures. The Thirteenth Number: then,
there/here and now by Tok Thompson states, both folklore and in popular
culture, the number resonates with connotations (Thompson 145). Many buildings avoid the number in addresses,
room numbers, and even floor numbers but the most common controversy deals with
Friday the 13th, a common day known to popular culture. Friday the 13th is described as an
unlucky day categorized by the lunar calendar and by unfortunate occurrences
dealing with the number 13 and Friday.
The number 13 was a very commonly used number
in The Winchester Mystery House. Nobody
knows why this is but Mrs. Winchester used the number in window panes, rooms,
wall panels, step numbers, room sections, and she even had 13 hooks in a room
where she talked to spirits. It was said
that the 13 hooks each held a robe that Mrs. Winchester would use to
communicate with the spirits. Why Mrs.
Winchester chose the number 13 for such things in her house is a mystery but it
was thought to please the spirits.
The Winchester Mystery House is a place of
mystery that will never be fully understood.
There are so many gapes and holes in the story of the house and the
history of the family that the pieces will never unravel the real truth of the
house. Do you want to appeal to your
fear within? Are the haunted houses
around your way not as scary as you want them to be? Visit the Winchester Mystery House and your
real fears will be revealed.
Works Cited:
Crisalli, Joseph.
“Building of the Week: The Winchester “Mystery” House, San Jose, California.”
Photograph. Stalking the Belle Epoque. 20 Oct. 2012, 19 Oct. 2012
Edmonds, Molly.
“Why does the Winchester Mystery House have stairs leading nowhere?” How Stuff Works. How Stuff Works, Inc.,
1998-2012. Web. 16 Oct. 2012
Lamb, David.
“Monument to Eccentricity.” Washington
Post, Times Herald. Washington Post, 19 Nov. 1967. Web. 11 Oct. 2012.
Thompson, Tok.
“The Thirteenth Number: then, there/here and now.” N.P. (2002): 145-160.
PDF.
WinchesterMysteryHouse.com. Winchester
Mystery House, LLC, 2009. Web. 10 Oct. 2012
“Winchester Mystery
House- San Jose, California.” Photograph.
Alamedainfo.com, Web. 19 Oct. 2012.
Winchester
Mystery House. “Woman of Mystery.” Photograph. Winchester Mystery House, LLC, 2012. Web. 19 Oct. 2012.
“Winchester’s Widow Dying.” New York Times. New York Times,
11 June 1911. Web. 11 Oct. 2012
Winchester Mystery House Websitehttp://winchestermysteryhouse.com/The official Winchester Mystery House Website
with photos of the house and gardens, videos of ghost activities, information
on the house and family background, and access to tickets for house tours.
