In the mid 1800`s right before the Civil War, a woman named Sarah L. Pardee married William Winchester. William founded the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, famous for designing guns that could fire a shot every 3 seconds. These guns replaced the old style musket rifles & the military entered into a contract to purchase these guns from Winchester Repeating Arms, which were used in the Civil War. This contract made William Winchester very wealthy.

Living in New Haven, Connecticut, William & Sarah had a baby daughter, but the girl died in 1866 leaving Sarah very distraught. William died in 1881 leaving 20 million dollars & 48.9% of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company to Sarah. This 48.9% gave her a daily salary of $1000 & wasn`t taxable until 1913.
Distraught & lonely by the death of her daughter & husband, Sarah began seeing a spiritualist adviser who told her that a curse had been placed on the Winchester family because of the thousands of deaths caused by the guns that made her a rich woman. The spiritualist adviser told Sarah that the spirits of the deceased are seeking vengeance & Sarah must leave New Haven immediately & build a mansion for the spirits killed by the guns. She told Sarah "never stop building, if you build you will live. Stop & you die."

Sarah Winchester headed west & eventually settled in the Santa Clara valley of California & purchased 161.919 acres of land. She named it "Llanda Villa" & began construction of the mansion in 1884. She hired dozens of carpenters to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year & this nonstop construction continued until her death in 1922. The mansion had stairs that led to nowhere & rooms built around other rooms. Sarah did this intentionally to distract the spirits that were hunting her. It is also reported that Sarah slept in a different room every night to elude these spirits.

Prior to the San Francisco earthquake in 1906 the mansion was 7 stories high, but during the earthquake the top 3 stories collapsed leaving the 4 stories that exist today. The mansion now has 160 rooms, 40 bedrooms, 2 ballrooms, 47 fireplaces, 10.000 window panes, 17 chimneys with evidence of 2 more, 2 basements, & 3 elevators. Unlike most dwellings in the late 1800`s, this mansion had running water, modern toilets & showers with a sewer system, gas powered chandeliers that would ignite at the push of a button, & fan forced heat.

Most of the property was eventually sold after Sarah`s death in 1922 & today the mansion sits on 4 1/2 acres. The Winchester Mystery House is a famous tourist attraction today giving tours to the public daily. On Halloween of each year they even give a night time flashlight tour. For decades now the staff at the facility have reported hearing voices, door knobs turning & doors opening on their own, & extremely cold drafts in many parts of the house. The only paranormal photo that we were able to obtain is that of an orb which you will see. Orbs are very common in ghost sightings & many believe these orbs are spirits that are unable to fully form as a body or face.

Photos (except for the orb) provided courtesy of the Winchester Mystery House 525 South Winchester Blvd. San Jose, California. 

 

 

   Bedroom Sarah Died In 
 

 

 

 

 Stairway To Nowhere    

 

 

 

 

 Orbs (white round figures)