Why did Sarah Winchester build a strange, convoluted house, which is nothing short of a Hogwarts, Queen Anne Style, Victorian mansion (but with a twist), in San Jose, California? The stories vary. Sarah was the widow of William Wirt Winchester, he of the famous Winchester gun empire.
Supposedly, after her husband's death, Sarah visited a medium who said that Sarah was living under a curse and so she must begin building a house, she must never stop, or she would die. Sarah also seems to have believed, that she was being haunted by the spirits of those who died, by Winchester guns and so the house is full of her efforts to confound and confuse the numberless spirits, gliding about the 160 rooms, secret passages and stairs and doors that go nowhere.
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| Sarah Winchester in 1920 |
Crazy Construction
Sarah began building and the frenzied, unplanned and often downright crazy construction process went on for 38 years, until her death. The house became odd, often illogical, kind of deranged and yet utterly fantastic. Originally, the home began as a simple six-room farmhouse. The dwelling, however, ballooned, evolved and constantly changed shape, as the relentless building process went on, year after year.
Sarah had a seance room and every night she would make her way to that room to confer with the spirits about the building process. Sometimes, however, highly expensive rooms would be built and then torn down a month later. Eventually, the building reached seven stories; later the upper levels collapsed during an earthquake.
Some other haunting aspects of the house are the strange emphasis placed on the number 13 and the spider web motifs, which perhaps held an esoteric significance to Sarah. Sarah also had only two mirrors in this gargantuan house, as she believed that ghosts were afraid of mirrors.
Books To Read
Moura, by Virginia Coffman - an atmospheric gothic novel set in a decaying castle in France, featuring a brooding, master, who is both handsome and dangerous.
