Woman of Mystery

FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH! We went to the Winchester Mystery House to take a special friday the 13th flashlight tour of this mysterious house! Johnny has never been on the tour and I haven't been since I was 9-ish so it was a lot of fun! What a peculiar and fascinating lady and house! If you don't know anything about the Winchester Mystery House, here's a little info!!

Some History:


Losing a child and a spouse seems almost unbearable! Sarah Winchester, had this happen to her but had $20,000,000 and all the time in the world to help her cope. Mrs. Sarah L. Winchester’s response to the deaths of her child and husband left a bizarre and impressive architectural reflection of her psyche. The fascinating story of the Winchester Mystery House™ has its roots in the personal tragedies suffered by Mrs. Winchester and in the legacy of the Winchester rifle, “The Gun That Won The West.”

In the late 1800’s, the Santa Clara Valley presented sweeping vistas of rural open space. It was a serene setting for Mrs. Winchester to begin her building project, which she did with steadfast determination. She immediately hired carpenters to work in shifts around the clock. By the turn of the century the eight-room house had grown into a seven-story mansion! The estate eventually grew to 161 acres of farmland, which included orchards of apricots, plum, and walnut trees to supplement Mrs. Winchester’s income.

Mrs. Winchester’s financial resources were virtually unlimited; upon her husband’s death she received several million dollars in cash and 777 shares of stock in the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Upon her mother-in-law’s death in 1897, Mrs. Winchester received 2,000 more shares, which meant she owned just under fifty percent of the company’s capital stock. This provided her with an income of $1,000 a day – back in the days before income taxes.


The combination of her wealth and her eccentric building project gave rise to many rumors in the local community. On the one hand, Mrs. Winchester was generous with her employees, paying three dollars a day when the going rate was one and a half dollars. She often paid trades-people in gold coin, and when she went to town they would bring their wares right out to her carriage for inspection. Orphanages and many other local charities benefited from anonymous contributions. She welcomed neighborhood children and let them play on the grounds, even inviting them in to eat ice cream or play the piano.

On the other hand, Mrs. Winchester’s interest in seclusion was evident from the start. One of the first tasks of the gardeners was to plant a tall cypress hedge surrounding the house.

She reportedly kept her face covered with a dark veil at all times, and there are stories of her firing servants who caught a glimpse of her face by accident.

Then there were occurrences that defied explanation. Neighbors would hear a bell ring at midnight and 2 a.m., which according to ghost lore are the times for the arrival and departure of spirits. Some said that Mrs. Winchester never slept in the same bedroom two nights in a row, in order to confuse any evil spirits that might be waiting for her. At the very center of the house is the Blue Room, where Mrs. Winchester supposedly would go every night to commune with the spirits. This room consisted of a cabinet, a table with pen and papers, a closet, and a planchette board – used for transmitting messages from the beyond. Legend has it that she would wear one of 13 special colored robes and receive guidance from various spirits for her construction plans.

Since her death, millions of people have visited her home and many report the sightings of ghosts. Was the house built solely as a monument to the dead or do the phantoms Sarah communed with in life, or perhaps Sarah herself, still lurk nightly in the maze-like corridors of the Winchester Mystery House™?
The tradition of Sarah Winchester’s bizarre legacy continues...