Mysteries and Ghosts of the Winchester House

The Winchester house or most commonly known as the “Winchester Mystery House” is one of the most haunted and bizarre mansions in the United States of America. It is located at 525 South Winchester Blvd. in San Jose, California. The Victorian mansion is large and has a unique architectural design that baffled many people from the time it was constructed though recent times

Sarah Winchester, the heiress, and widow of gun mogul William Wirt Winchester built the Winchester Mansion after the devastating death of her baby daughter and her husband. According to reported stories, Sarah consulted a spiritualist medium after her shattering loss. The medium told Sarah Winchester that her family is cursed, which took the life of her husband and baby daughter. The medium also stated that if Sarah doesn’t do anything about the curse, her life would soon be over.

The curse according to the legend originated from the thousands of death from the terrible gun rifle created by the Winchester Company. The spirits of the people who died were seeking vengeance to Sarah and her family.

Guided by the spiritualist medium named Adam Coons, Sarah was instructed to travel to the west. The medium told Sarah that her husband would direct her until she found her new home in the west. Additionally, the medium told Sarah that she should continuously build a house to prevent a premature death.

Sarah Winchester believed everything that the medium told her, so she sold their house in New Haven, Connecticut and went to California, to build her new house. She believed that her deceased husband guided her while traveling and she never stopped until she reached the Santa Clara Valley. In 1884, Sarah found an under construction house with six rooms. She then negotiated with the owner of the house named Dr. Caldwell and came to an agreement. Sarah bought the house and the 162 acres of land, which it rested on.

From the day that Sarah bought the house she never stopped building it with whatever idea she had on her mind. She hired local carpenters but no architect. She designed everything on her own and the result was an odd and eccentric big mansion with many rooms. It took 38 years to build the Winchester Mystery House but it was never completed. Sarah started it around 1884 and the construction was put to a halt when she died in her room on September 5, 1922.

The house was full of oddities and mysteries. Sarah believed that the house is the only way he could control the spirits who came for vengeance. It was said that the Winchester house was designed by Sarah into a labyrinth to confuse bad spirits.

The Phantom and Oddities in the Winchester Mystery House

The Séance Room

Based on the legend of the Winchester house, Sarah designed the Séance room so she could communicate with spirits and talked to them about the building of the house. The odd part in this room was that it has only one entrance but three exits. Whatever Sarah had in mind when she created the room was never known.

Numerous sightings of the number 13

Sarah Winchester might have found number 13 enthralling or she might have another mysterious reason this number is loaded into the house. Most windows contained 13 panes of glass, the greenhouse had 13 ceilings, walls had 13 panels, some rooms had 13 windows, there were 13 bathrooms and almost all staircase had 13 steps. In numerology, number 13 brings the test, the suffering, and the death. It symbolizes the death and the birth of the spirit. In superstition, number 13 brings bad luck.

The Ghostly feeling on the Corridors of the Third floor

Many tour guides of the Winchester Mystery house avoided the corridors of the third floor. It was reported that footsteps and unknown voices were heard on the third floor but no signs of living people were found in that area.

The Handyman Apparition

Over the years that the house was opened to the public, many sightings of figures and feeling of coldness and unknown presence were reported. The frequent phantom that tourists and guides reported seeing in the house was a man with jet-black hair. He looked like a former Handyman of the house because he was always seen pushing a wheelbarrow and repairing fireplaces.

Staircases, Doors, and Windows that were created like a Maze

The house was built with eccentricities and this includes the doors, windows, and staircases. If you enter the Winchester house, you’ll find yourself lost in a labyrinth. The doors, windows, and staircases led to nowhere and these were common occurrences in the house. This is one of the main reasons why up to this day, there are no definite records of the number of rooms in the house. The recent approximate was believed to be 160 but it’s still not validated because every time the rooms are counted it resulted in varying results.

Twists, upside downs, and Unexplained Architecture

Sarah had no background in Architecture and Interior design, but she was the only person who designed and created the Winchester Mystery House. There were closets that opened to blank walls, doors that opened to steep drops to the ground below, and balconies indoors. Moreover, there were very small linen closets next to a cupboard, stair posts that were designed upside-down, and spider web windows that were seen throughout the house.

More Ghost Sightings

Guides and visitors reported more ghost stories. A tour guide named Samantha claimed one of the ghostly sightings in the Winchester House. In one occasion, while she was presenting the Daisy room to the tourists, she heard a heavily “sigh” along the hallway. When she tried to look for the source, she saw a small silhouette figure gliding along the darkened hallway. She bravely went to the hallway but never saw the figure and just heard the “sigh” again. Samantha believed that the small entity was Sarah Winchester.

Visitors and guides that went to the basement of the house kept seeing an apparition too. It was believed that the ghost was one of Sarah’s loyal employee named Clyde. The ghost of Clyde was seen beside the old coal chute in the basement.

In the “Ghost Adventures” show, a small, green hand was caught on camera at the base of the staircase, which led to the ceilings. The hand was somewhat showing signs of pointing upward or thumb a ride.

The Historic Winchester Mystery House

Winchester Investments LLC, a private company that represented the descendants of the couple (John and Mayme Brown) who leased the house, is now the new owner of the Winchester Mystery House. The house is open to locals and tourists. It is now a designated historical landmark in California and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Nevertheless, the house remains a mystery with all its oddities and ghost stories.

This year, a movie dedicated to the Winchester Mystery House will be open in cinema around February. It will be a good way to show how creepy and mysterious the house is.