The Winchester Mansion, now known as the Winchester Mystery House, a popular California tourist attraction, has a chilling, ghostly history. The Winchester Mansion was the home of Sarah Winchester, the wife of William Winchester of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. After the loss of their first and only child, who passed soon after birth, William also passed away. This quick and shocking death left Sarah distraught and caused her to move from New Haven Conneticut to California and into the mansion. This mansion, however, is nothing like the classic ghothic victorian that you may be imagining. Sarah inherited nearly 20 million dollars, which allowed her to make any alterations to the home that she wanted. This alluring factor, mixed with grief and fear of being alone, caused Sarah to begin making strange claims.
Sarah believed that she was being haunted. It is because of this that she was told by a medium to move out west and continue building a house to keep the spirits at bay. This could include stairs that lead to nowhere to confuse the spirits, random mirrors, or doors that open to nothing. The house contains over 160 rooms and is four stories tall. So, who did Sarah believe she was being haunted by? Well, none other than every person who was killed with a Winchester Rifle.
While we don't know much else about Sarah or her reasoning behind the house, as there was no master plan for the renovations, we can acknowledge her grief and strength to continue alone as a widowed woman in the late 1800's and early 1900's. As to if she was truly being haunted by the supernatural, we will never know.
The Winchester Mansion is fascinating! One theory I've heard is that Sarah was very caring and protective of her workers, and the constant renovations and pointless directionless additions were to ensure they always had employment and a salary, especially as many of them were Chinese and would be targeted by the anti-Chinese taxes and laws of the time that tried to limit their employment in California. However, the idea that there are supernatural reasons for the mansion looking that way is also very fun and interesting.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting story! I am surprised I have never heard about it before since I live so close to New Haven. One thing that I am curious is the cause of death of the husband, it had me wondering wether or not it was natural or something els.
ReplyDeleteI remember having a supernatural/ghost stories book as a kid and there was a chapter on the Winchester Mansion. I recall being really creeped out by it at the time. The story is super intriguing and her connection with the Winchester Rifle Company makes for a haunting explanation for the building project.
ReplyDeleteThere's something horrifying in the idea of continuously building a fortress around oneself in order to ward off the supernatural. Even more so, I find it fascinating that the ghosts are specifically of those who were killed with Winchester rifles. In this sense, she is being punished for- what I understand- a 'sin' not to have been her own but rather to have been one of her husband.
ReplyDelete