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| The grand façade of the Winchester Mystery House hides some quirky interior architecture. |
What do repeating rifles, daisies, spider webs, and the number 13 have in common? One eccentric lady by the name of Sarah Winchester and her ever evolving crazy house of mystery.
Sarah Winchester was the wife of William Wirt Winchester, the son of the original manufacturer of the Winchester repeating rifle. The story of the Winchester Mystery House, located in the city of San Jose in Northern California, starts with a string of deaths. Sarah Winchester lost her infant daughter, which sent her into a deep depression. Fifteen years later she prematurely lost her husband. Mrs. Winchester was devastated by the loss of her closest loved ones and visited her psychic to find out why everyone around her was dying. The story goes that the psychic told her the spirits of all those killed by her husband’s Winchester rifles, including Native Americans and Civil War soldiers, were punishing her. Fortunately the psychic had a solution. Mrs. Winchester needed to move far away, purchase a piece of unfinished property, and build on it, continuously, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Only in this way would she keep the spirits at bay and save her life as well as the lives of others close to her.