Alluring Lore

The Winchester House

Date: 2/6/2024

In 1886, a woman named Sarah Winchester had inherited 20

million dollars after her husband’s death. After inheriting

this money, she moved from her home in New Haven,

Connecticut to San Jose, California and had bought a small

farmhouse with eight rooms. She started a 36 year long

renovation project that had cost 5.5 million dollars. The

renovations only stopped when her death came in 1922. There

are over 160 rooms, including 40 bedrooms, an astounding 10,000

windows, 2,000 doors, two basements, and not to mention

secret passages. But not all doors can be walked through.

They lead to surprising—and almost deadly—places. One has

an eight-foot fall to a kitchen sink. Another door leading

you have to look out for is a 15-foot drop to the garden.

There was a reason for all this renovation, though. She

had been making all these rooms for the spirits of those

who were killed with a Winchester Rifle (Her father-in-

law had owned and founded the company that invented

these weapons). After Sarah’s husband had died, she was

haunted by spirits of those who died of the Winchester Rifle,

so she had consulted a medium which gave her the advice to

move to the west and buy a home and build continuously.

There are two different stories on why Sarah had rooms

constantly added to the estate. One of them is that once

the construction was completed, she would die. The other

stated that she built the house to confuse the spirits and

some say that she slept in different rooms every night and

took secret paths throughout the house.

All in all, if you’re planning on touring this mysterious

house, be cautious and make sure not to get lost. Or you may

not find your way back.

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