Has anyone toured the Sarah Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California? Known as the Mansion designed by Spirits.

My family and I had a chance to visit there about 3 yrs ago. Fascinating and beautiful place but I have to say ol Sarah was a little twisted in her thoughts. The tour does not take you through the entire house although you do get to go through about 110 of the 160 rooms. The narrative on the history is interesting in itself. Over 20 of the rooms have been fully restored with Victorian era furniture (stunning). The craftmanship and architectural elements are amazing. There are many eerie and bizarre aspects to the home. She had a thing for number 13 so several things were built with 13 in mind like 13 bathrooms, 13 windows in a room and 13 drain holes in a porcelain sink.

Paranormal investigators that have been to the home have seen or felt the spirits that are there including the infamous Sylvia Browne.

Whether or not you believe in ghosts and spirits a tour of this house is worth taking. There really is no place like it. Who has doors that go to nowhere or open to an 8 foot drop into the kitchen, stairs that end at the ceiling or rooms inside of rooms inside of rooms? Strange but true.

Cat:

I saw a program on A&E about this house it was amazing! The program indicated that Sarah had to continue to build onto the house and "waste" the family fortune because the fortune was "bloodied money" -- so many deaths caused by Winchester guns. The constant building was to keep the spirits from finding her - giving them a place to roam through so to speak.

They didn't go through the whole house but did show a number of "dead end" halls, doors that opened to reveal a wall, etc.

I'd love go and to see the place!

HB

Hi HB

Sarah use to sit in the Blue room to contact the spirits that guided her with what she needed to do next with the building. The builders went 24-7 never stopping. The room had only one way in and no way out even though there was more than one door - only Sarah and one servant had the key to get in and out and noone was allowed in there. We took tons of pictures and some video but I have never really looked closely at them to see if we by chance caught a little extra in the pics/footage. I will have to go through them again and have a closer look.
It took us a long time to save for our trip as part of the plan was to be sure we were able to drive from L.A. to San Fran so we could go to check this out. Glad we did for it was well worth it, we thought.

Cat

HB, I saw the same program on the house, I agree...amazing! I can only imagine how much more amazing it is up close and in person. Cat, that's so cool that you were able to take a tour through. I'm excited to hear whether you've found anything in those pictures! Definitely let us know if you do! =)

Hi Cat, I had been to the house many years ago. I saw a program on it as a kid and when I went to visit my brother in Fremont I dragged him and his fiance to see it. Awesome. Did not know it had a reputation for being haunted at the time. All I know was I was frustrated that for every room we saw, there were many that you did not see. The craftsmanship of the woodwork and the stainglass was incredible. Sara was very paranoid, you forgot the windows in the servants bathroom doors. At that time they sill could not find the location of the original farm house buried beneath all that construction. And when you think that there was even more of that house that was destroyed in the 1908 earthquake it boggles the mind. I will go back again next time I get to the west coast.

Hi, I'm new here, first post!

Anyway, I would just like to comment that one thing I've heard that I find really interesting about the whole Sarah Winchester thing is that she was told by the spirits to keep building without stopping or they would kill her. Well, her workers continually complained about being overworked, and one day it just got to Sarah and so she decided that it would be okay that, for one day only, she would give her workers a day off. The day that they took off was the day that Sarah Winchester died. Very strange!!!

Anyway, I would love to visit that house. I've seen many shows about it on TV and have read some things about it on the internet but I would love to visit it in person someday.

What I find interesting is that Sarahs' husband didn't even invent the rifle that he produced, he just bought the patent. Nobody has ever claimed that the Burnside or Henry families suffered under a curse( the rifles' inventor and perfector respectively). I think maybe Sarah was a victim here; both of her own paranoia and of an unscrupulous Boston Medium. After all, if you think the spirits are coming to get you they probably will. Oh well, that's just my take on it.

Uhm...isn't there a horror movie with that same theme? A lady who just keeps adding new things to the house, never finishing it etc. I think it's a Stephen King thing...really scary movie.

/w

Hmmm, very odd. I do remember seeing a show that featured this story. I would definetly have enjoyed a tour of it. Even if she was a bit off. Nowadays, she most likely would have been on all kinds of medication & the house would probably be normal.

The Stephen King movie your talking about is called Rose Red. It was a very similar story.

Hi Gyrfalcon, Sara was a victim of sorts. Of unscrupuless mediums as well as grief over the death of her child and husband. CJMG, I believe the construction stopped because of her death, not the other way round. She paid very good wages to her staff and work people. She had to, how else was she going to get people to serve her in a house you could get lost in? Not to mention deal with her excentricites..

You are correct Jeannie the building did stop after her death. We picked up a souveneir book on the way out. It's great, it tells her complete story and has lots of pictures. She believed as long as she kept building, based on what the spirits told her when she used the Quija board, the bad spirits would not find her. Her carriage is still in the house at the end of a really long hallway (eerie I tell ya) she had a room built (todays garage) so the carriage could come inside that way she could come and go with noone ever getting a glimpse of her. Grand rooms that were designed for wonderful dinner parties, that she never had. No visitors allowed. A strange but fascinating story to say the least. Oh and I have no noubt that some souls still remain in that house, you can feel their presence in certain rooms. Ok now I want to go back there.

Hmmm, I don't remember where I heard that information I posted earlier but if you say that it's false information I'll believe you over that. Thanks for setting me straight with that one.

Cjmg, it is not difficult to get the story as twisted as the building. She did keep contruction going 24/7 to appease the spirits. I hope you have the opportunity to go visit the house. It is awesome.

I do remember the guide telling us that their initiation was to find their way through the house at night within a certain amount of time. I was like where do I sign up?"