525 s. winchester san jose mystery house

#525 s. winchester san jose mystery house tv

The story of Sarah Winchester and her incredible house is currently being produced as a film starring Academy Award®-winning actress Helen Mirren as Sarah.

#525 s. winchester san jose mystery house tv

For almost 95 years the house has fascinated viewers and readers via documentaries, TV shows, books, articles, and blogs.

The estate is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is a California Historic State Landmark, a San Jose City Landmark, and one of the leading attractions in the Bay Area. It has intrigued visitors, scholars, and media from throughout the United States, and around the globe, with its combination of the beautiful and the bizarre, its story of heartbreak, tenacity and invention and its legends of the paranormal and spirits.įrom 1886 to 1922, construction seemingly never ceased as the original eight-room farmhouse grew into the world’s most unusual and sprawling mansion, featuring:īuilt at a price tag of a then astronomical sum of $5 million Since tours began in 1923 more than 12 million people from around the world have toured the lonely hallways, dark passages, and ornate rooms of the Winchester Mystery House. Originally known as Llanada Villa, today it stands as an architectural wonder, a time capsule of a bygone era and one of America’s most celebrated haunted mansions. For nearly 100 years the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California, has stood as a testament to the ingenuity, singular vision and lore that surrounds its namesake, Sarah Pardee Winchester (heir to the Winchester Repeating Arms fortune). Get out of my head! ΔĬalendar Editor Caleb Wiseblood misses the well-intentioned ghosts of his youth, like Casper and Space Ghost.

The overalls aren't what make this unfortunate, rather the tour guide's anecdote about various sightings of the man over the years by staff members and guests. Unfortunately, the image I remember most is a framed photo of one of Sarah's workers, an elderly gardener in overalls. Photography is prohibited inside the mansion, so I take a ton of mental snapshots. Every architectural peculiarity is bubble gum to the eyes. Luckily for me, there's just way too much to admire. Some of the oddities were meant to serve as secret entrances and exits for good spirits, she says, while others were intended to confuse and mislead evil spirits. The results of the continual building and remodeling of the mansion are beautiful to behold, and I'm far more fascinated than afraid, even as I hear our guide explain a theory about why so many of the doors and staircases in the mansion go straight into brick walls or gaps seven stories high. And it never stopped, not until Sarah's death in 1922. 1 day ago &0183 &32 Winchester Mystery House will remain open that day for 13 hours of tours, from 11 a.m. According to tabloids at the time, a spiritual medium gave Sarah very specific instructions after William's death in 1881-to continuously build a home for herself and the ghosts of Winchester rifle victims to reside in.Īfter purchasing an unfinished farmhouse in 1884, construction of the mansion began without an architect or blueprints. Throughout the tour, she tells the tale of Sarah Winchester, widow of rifle manufacturer William Winchester, in bits and pieces. The tour guide leads our group, made up of 35 or so, down a hallway to a staircase, only the first of many.

The tour begins shortly and we make our way to the front of the mansion. I fill my head with snarky jabs at consumerism to keep the apparition apprehension at bay. The amount of knick-knacks available at outrageous prices calms my initial fear even more. 'I ain't afraid of no ghost!'Ī gift shop serves as the portal to the outdoor patio where the house tour begins. become my mantra as we approach the front entrance. The mentality is: If they can handle this, then so can I. How scary can this really be, right? I always get that same feeling when I see young children waiting in line for the same roller coaster as me. Even the parking lot helps a bit seeing touristy couples and families scurry out of their vehicles like they're heading into Disneyland gives me hope. This historic, 5.5 million dollar, beautiful but bizarre, 160-room Victorian mansion was once the home of Sarah L. My trepidation about visiting a supposedly haunted house subsides as I realize there's a Veggie Grill and other suppliers of serenity less than a mile away.

SILLY SOUVENIR The Home Alone face was my gut reaction to Chris and Alli pointing rifles at me.