Born September 1839, Sarah Pardee was a charming young lady musically talented and apt at foreign languages. At the peak of her growth she was four foot ten inches. She met William Wirt Winchester and they were married September 30, 1862. William’s father Oliver Winchester was a shirt manufacturer and successful businessman. In 1857, Oliver took over the assets of a firm, which made the Volcanic Repeater, a rifle that used a lever mechanism to load bullets into the breech.

He made alterations to the gun to improve it and in 1860 the Henry Rifle, which had a tubular magazine located under the barrel, was released. It was easy to reload and fired rapidly, the Henry was said to average one shot every three seconds, known as the first true repeating rifle. With the resulting fortune he re-organized the company and changed the name to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company.

Four years after their marriage, Sarah gave birth to a daughter but the child’s life was short-lived. Nine days after birth Annie died of "marasmus", a children’s disease in which the body wastes away. Sarah fell into a deep depression from which she wouldn’t escape for nearly a decade. Soon after she began living life again her husband, the current heir to the Winchester Empire, became ill with pulmonary tuberculosis. He died on March 7, 1881. Sarah inherited over $20 million dollars as a result. She also received 48.9 percent of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company and an income of about $1000 per day, which was not taxable until 1913.

Overcome with grief a friend suggested that Sarah talk to a medium to try and ease her sorrow. The medium told her that her family was cursed from the guns that took so many lives and the vengeful spirits would take her life too if she didn’t act quickly. She was instructed to go out west and build. Her husband’s spirit would tell her where to stop. As long as she kept building the spirits would be appeased and not wreck their vengeance. In 1884 she made her final home in San Jose, purchasing a small farmhouse and 162 acres and began building.

Under construction 24 hours a day, from 24 carpenters, Sarah frequently tore down the rooms she had just finished building. Her house loomed 7 stories and continued to expand. She lived in the front rooms of the house, sleeping in a different room each night, some conjecture to confuse the spirits. In 1906 a massive earthquake hit, trapping Sarah in her room and making the house lose 3 stories. Sarah belived it was a sign from the spirits that she was spending too much time in the front of the house and boarded up the rooms. From then on she slept in the same room each night. Construction went on for the remainer of her life and took $5.5 million of her fortune.

One quirk of the house is in the garden where the floors are slanted downhill and tiles can be picked up to be collected and reused after the plants have been watered. She also had elevators and a sink that slanted so the water on the counter would drain into it. Other oddities are staircases that lead nowhere, chimney that goes 4 stories to stop short of the ceiling, trap doors, closets that open to the wall, double back hallways, and doors that open to the air to list a few. All of the stair posts were installed upside down and many bathrooms had glass doors. A very expensive Tifany glass window was installed just to be covered by a wall so no light could shine in. There are cabinents less than an inch deep, and in the seance room there is a closet that has 13 coat hooks, that was rumored to hold 13 different colored cloaks for seances.

Her obsession with the number 13 shows in her home, 13 panels on the walls, 13 bathrooms, 13 drain holes in one of the bathroom sinks, rooms with 13 panels. Nearly all the windows have 13 panes, the greenhouse has 13 cupolas, many wooden floors have 13 sections, the 13th bathroom has 13 windows and all but one staircase has 13 steps. The exception is a staircase that has 42 steps, but only rises 9 feet because the steps are only 2 inches high each. It also switchbacks 7 times making it one of the more notable features of the house. Some say its because she had arthritis and making a 'low rise' staircase was easier on her joints, others say she did it to confuse the spirits. The grand staircase has 13 steps, and 13 palm trees line the driveway. She also split her will into 13 parts and signed it 13 times. Along with her obession with 13 comes an obsession with 7, and 11 one staircase has 7 steps down and 11 steps up.

It's said that at midnight every night Sarah would ring the bell in the bell tower to summon spirits for a seance to decide what to do to the house the next day. She would ring it again at 2 AM as a sign for them to depart. The rest of the day the bell lay silenced, but some say she used it to summon servants. The tower was only reachable from the roof, using a ladder to approach. From the bell hung a rope that went down its steep unclimbable walls down into underground towers.

Stephen King based his series Rose Red, a mansion that built itself, off of the winchester mansion. They thought about filming at the mansion itself but it proved to not work with the cameras.

After dying in her sleep during April 1922 construction abruptly stopped. As word of her death spread around construction workers dropped their hammers and left, leaving nails driven halfway into the wall in spots. Sarah's bank account had dwindled considerably, much to the suprise of her relatives she left behind. She left her possesions to her niece, Frances Marriot, who then in turn sold them. It took six weeks to remove all the furniture in the labrynth of a house. Now open to the public tours are run regularly with flashlight tours offered every friday the 13th and halloween.

It was rumored that Sarah had hidden a fortune in jewerly and a solid-gold dinner service to entertain the spirits on. Her relatives forced open several safes they found, but to their disappoint ment the most valuable things they found were newspaper clippings on the death's of William and Annie her late family. No solid gold dinner service has been discovered.

One of the first to see it once it opened to the public was Robert L. Ripley, who featured the house in his popular column, "Believe it or Not." The house was initially advertised as being 148 rooms, but so confusing was the floor plan that every time a room count was taken, a different total came up.

Guests and tour guides describe paranormal activity in the house such as footsteps, banging doors, mysterious voices, windows banging so hard they shatter, cold spots, strange moving lights and doorknobs that turn on their own. There are many psychic accounts regarding the mansion also.

There was $25,000 worth of materials left in a storeroom once Sarah died. A miniscule amount compaired to what she spent on the house overall. The estate has been designated a California Historical Landmark and the city has grown up around it. All but 4½ of its original 162 acres has been sold off to feed the expansion of the city. The house sold for $135,000.

• Number of rooms: 160
• Cost: $5,500,000
• Date of Construction:
• 1884 - September 5, 1922 (38 continuous years!)
• Number of stories: Prior to 1906 Earthquake - 7; presently 4
• Number of acres: Originally 161.919; presently 4
• Number of basements: 2
• Heating: Steam, forced air, fireplaces
• Number of windows: Frames 1,257; panes approx. 10,000
• Number of doors: Doorways 467, doors approx. 950 not including cabinet doors.
• Number of fireplaces: 47 (gas, wood, or coal burning)
• Number of chimneys: Presently 17 with evidence of 2 others
• Number of cars at her death: 2 (a 1917 Pierce Arrow Limousine & a 1916 4 cyl. Buick truck)
• Number of bedrooms: Approx. 40
• Number of kitchens: 5 or 6
• Number of staircases: 40, total of stair steps - 367
• Number of skylights: Approx. 52
• Number of gallons of paint required to paint entire home: Over 20,000
• Number of ballrooms: 2 (one nearly complete, and one under construction)
• Blueprints available: No, Mrs. Winchester never had a master set of blueprints, but did sketch out individual rooms on paper and even tablecloths!

[quoted from Mansions tour site]

Address:

The Winchester Mystery House
525 South Winchester Blvd
San Jose, CA 95128-2588

Phone Numbers:
Group Sales & Business Offices: 1-408-247-2000
Current Tour Information: 1-408-247-2101
Upcoming Special Events Info: 1-408-247-1313

Special Events:
Friday the 13th Flashlight Tours -- every Friday the 13th
Halloween Flashlight Tours and Trick or Treating -- every Halloween night