Winchester house in San Jose. sarah winchester mansion

Sarah Winchester, born Sarah Lockwood Purdy, widow of William Winchester, died in September 1922 at the age of 85. There was no money in the safe of the heiress of the weapons empire. There were only strands of hair, male and infant, and the death certificates of her husband and daughter, as well as a 13-point will, signed 13 times. And there was also the mysterious unfinished Winchester House. About the fate of this house number 525 on Winchester Boulevard in San Jose, California, the will was silent ...

Now it has become a popular tourist attraction. Inspired Stephen King to write the novel based on the movie Red Rose Mansion. And gained a steady reputation as a "haunted house".

Actually, it all started with ghosts.

Young Sarah Purdy would have laughed if she had been told that for thirty-odd years she would have tea parties with ghosts every night. The life of the girl Purdy developed wisely and successfully. She was 25 when she married, in 1862, William, the son of "the same" Oliver Winchester, whose multiply-charged products are said to have decided the outcome of the American Civil War.

The family grew rich rapidly on military orders, the newlyweds lived in love and prosperity. Petite as a doll, less than five feet tall, but nonetheless adorable, Mrs. Winchester was the life and soul of New Haven, Connecticut. But four years after the wedding, a misfortune happened in the family - shortly after birth, Annie's daughter died.

Sarah almost went mad with grief, and only ten years later, as they say, she came to her senses. The Winchesters had no other children. In 1881, William Winchester died of tuberculosis, leaving Sarah a widow with an inheritance of $20 million and a daily income of $1,000 (she got half of the firm's income). Mrs. Winchester was inconsolable. Trying to understand why fate was punishing her so cruelly, she went to Boston to see a medium.

The medium communicated with the spirit of William Winchester for a modest fee. The spirit told her to tell Sarah that the family is cursed by those who died from high-quality Winchester products. He also said that in order to save her own life, Sarah should move west towards sunset, and in the place that she would be shown, stop and start building a house. Construction must not stop; if the hammering stops, Mrs. Winchester will die.

Inspired by this prophecy, having collected her belongings, and forever saying goodbye to her former life, the widow headed west. In 1884, she reached San José, where, according to her, the spirit of her husband told her to stop. She bought a house and set about remodeling and expanding it. Sarah Winchester did this maniacally for 38 years in a row, without resorting to the services of professional architects.

The result of her labors has not come down to us in full. Now Winchester House has three floors. It has approximately 160 rooms, 13 bathrooms, 6 kitchens, 40 stairs. The rooms have 2,000 doors, 450 doorways, 10,000 windows, 47 fireplaces. An architect who tries to find logic in the arrangement of a house must be struck with neurosis. And if we consider the house a reflection of the soul of the owner, then any psychiatrist would not doubt for a second the diagnosis of Winchester's widow.

The house was built in such a way as to confuse the spirits that would come to the soul of Mrs. Winchester. Therefore, the doors, and even windows here open into the walls,

and the stairs run into the ceilings.

The corridors and passages are narrow and winding like snake loops.

Some doors of the upper floors open outward, so that an inattentive guest will fall straight into the yard, into the bushes; others are arranged in such a way that, having passed the span, the guest must fall into the kitchen sink on the floor below or break through the window arranged in the floor of the lower floor.

View of the "Door to Nowhere" from the inside and outside:

The doors of many bathrooms are transparent.

Secret doors and windows open in the walls, through which you can quietly observe what is happening in neighboring rooms.

Impressive window, arranged in the floor directly above the kitchen. Through it, the suspicious hostess could watch the cooks preparing food downstairs. By the way, cooks and all kitchen workers were strictly forbidden to look up - under pain of immediate dismissal - and suddenly the hostess of the house was standing and watching them. It is not known for certain whether spirits visited the house, but Lady Sarah undoubtedly knew how to keep people in it in the highest degree of tension.

The skeptic will note that these numerous spirit traps, simple as bear pits, betray the metaphysical ignorance of an elderly widow. The mystical symbolism of the house smacks of ingenuous frankness. All stairs, except one, are made up of 13 steps. Many rooms have 13 windows. Luxurious stained glass windows from Tiffany consist of 13 segments ... Each curtain is attached to the rods of the eaves with 13 rings. Thirteen elements can be counted everywhere in the house - in rugs, chandeliers, even in sewer drain holes. Even the petals of numerous rosettes-daisies on the wooden wall paneling have the same 13 petals. The abundance of fireplaces in the house is explained by the fact that, according to legend, spirits could enter the house through the chimneys.

Other guests were not expected here, and, apparently, Sarah was quite content with her own ideas about the other world. Precious stained-glass windows by Tiffany poured their ghostly light from numerous windows everywhere, creating a mystical atmosphere, separating the gloomy world of the house from the living life beyond its walls.

Two stained-glass windows in the ballroom, which has become a favorite haunt of ghosts, are decorated with Shakespearean lines, but why exactly they were chosen by Sarah for windows remains unknown. On the left window "Wide unclasp the tables of their thoughts" - from Troilus and Cressida, and on the right - "These same thoughts people this little world" from "Richard II".

Everything in the house was tailored to the standards of the hostess. The steps are low so that a sick old woman can easily climb them. To lean on the railing, you should bend down - Sarah was small in stature. The corridors and bays are very narrow - Sarah was thin.

It is not known whether Jorge Luis Borges knew about the existence of this house, and Mrs. Winchester certainly could not read his writings. But the house, the designs of which the hostess drew on a napkin at breakfast, seems to be the embodiment of the writer's fantasies. The Minotaur could live here. Sarah Winchester was sure that spirits lived here. Every midnight a gong sounded, and the hostess retired to a special room for a seance.

During these hours, the servants heard the sounds of the organ in the ballroom, on which the mistress, ill with arthritis, could not play. Apparently, this was played by invisible guests who arrived through the fireplace in the ballroom.

By 1906, the house had grown to more than six stories (it is difficult to accurately determine its height, due to the complex labyrinth of roofs, turrets, roof ledges and terraces).

But there was an earthquake, and the top three floors collapsed. The hostess, fearing the persecution of evil spirits, slept in a new place every night, and after the earthquake the servants, who did not know where she was this time, did not immediately find her under the rubble. Sarah interpreted what had happened as an intrusion of spirits into the front of the house. 30 unfinished rooms were locked and boarded up, construction continued. Unsuccessful fragments were destroyed, new ones were built in their place.

Until her last breath, the mistress of the house demanded to continue construction. Stocks of boards, beams, doors and stained-glass windows still occupy the empty premises of the labyrinth house, which has become a grand attraction for tourists. She died on a heavy antique bed, in a room now shown as "Sarah Winchester's last bedroom."

The massive headboard is decorated with a mirror that seems to be a window into the other world. Maybe she saw something in him at the hour of her death. Perhaps she still follows him through him for endless excursions, examining her possessions, multiplying and continuing her story, similar to an urban legend, but nevertheless, which was the very real truth.

Children quickly begin to get tired and act up in the intricate labyrinths of this gloomy house. It seems that his insane mistress, who still jealously does not want to see strangers here, and refuses to be captured in the picture, has joined the numerous ghosts of the Winchester House.

In the end, she refused at one time to President Roosevelt himself, who wanted to receive an invitation to her for a cup of tea. You will not refuse her in character and obstinacy. After all, for many years she challenged the other world, the legacy of the empire of the arms barons of the Winchesters.

The door that never opened.

This is a huge mystical house number 525 on Winchester Boulevard in San Jose, California, which is visited by crowds of tourists from all over the world.

While the hostess was alive, guests were not invited here; even President Roosevelt, who tried to ask for tea, got a turn at the gate. Now the former possessions of Sarah Winchester, nee Sarah Lockwood Purdy, are scurrying about with groups of curious people. But, by and large, the house is just as inaccessible to strangers as it was during the life of the owner. Some places, like some stories, remain impenetrable to outsiders. The home of Sarah Winchester, the widow of William Winchester, looks like an arthritic old fist. The fist is almost not unclenched.

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Maid Purdy would have laughed if it had been predicted that she would have tea parties with ghosts every night for thirty-odd years. The life of Sarah Purdy developed reasonably and successfully. She was 25 when she married, in 1862, William, the son of "the same" Oliver Winchester, whose multiply-charged products are said to have decided the outcome of the American Civil War.

The family grew rich rapidly on military orders, the newlyweds lived in love and prosperity. Small, less than five feet tall, but lovely Mrs. Winchester was the life of the party in New Haven, Connecticut. But four years after the wedding, a misfortune happened in the family - shortly after birth, Annie's daughter died.

Sarah almost went insane, and only after ten years, as they say, did she come to her senses. The Winchesters had no other children. In 1881, William Winchester died of tuberculosis, leaving Sarah a widow with an inheritance of $20 million and a daily income of $1,000 (she got half of the firm's income). Mrs. Winchester was inconsolable. Trying to understand why fate was punishing her so cruelly, she went to Boston to see a medium.

The medium communicated with the spirit of William Winchester for a modest fee. The spirit told her to tell Sarah that the family is cursed by those who died from high-quality Winchester products. He also said that in order to save her own life, Sarah should move west towards sunset, and in the place that she would be shown, stop and start building a house. Construction must not stop; if the hammering stops, Mrs. Winchester will die.

The widow packed her belongings and headed west. In 1884, she reached San José, where, according to her, the spirit of her husband told her to stop. She bought a house and set about remodeling and expanding it. Sarah Winchester did this for 38 years in a row, without resorting to the services of professional architects.

Now Winchester House has three floors. It has approximately 160 rooms, 13 bathrooms, 6 kitchens, 40 stairs. The rooms have 2,000 doors, 450 doorways, 10,000 windows, 47 fireplaces. An architect who tries to find logic in the arrangement of a house must be struck with neurosis.

The house was built in such a way as to confuse the spirits that would come to the soul of Mrs. Winchester. Therefore, the doors here open into the walls, and the stairs rest against the ceilings. The corridors are narrow and winding like snake loops. Some doors of the upper floors open outward, so that an inattentive guest will fall straight into the yard, into the bushes; others are arranged in such a way that, having passed the span, the guest must fall into the kitchen sink on the floor below or break through the window arranged in the floor of the lower floor. The doors of many bathrooms are transparent. Secret doors and windows open in the walls, through which you can quietly observe what is happening in neighboring rooms.

The skeptic will notice that these traps, as simple as bear pits, betray the metaphysical ignorance of an elderly widow. The mystical symbolism of the house smacks of simplicity. All stairs, except one, are made up of 13 steps. Many rooms have 13 windows. Luxurious stained glass windows from Tiffany consist of 13 segments. The abundance of fireplaces in the house is explained by the fact that, according to legend, spirits could enter the house through the chimneys.

Other guests were not expected here, and, apparently, Sarah was quite content with her own ideas about the other world. Everything in the house was tailored to the standards of the hostess. The steps are low so that a sick old woman can easily climb them. To lean on the railing, you should bend down - Sarah was short.

The corridors and bays are very narrow - Sarah was thin. It is not known whether Jorge Luis Borges knew about the existence of this house, and Mrs. Winchester certainly could not read his writings. But the house, the designs of which the hostess drew on a napkin at breakfast, seems to be the embodiment of the writer's fantasies. The Minotaur could live here. Sarah Winchester was sure that spirits lived here. Every midnight a gong sounded, and the hostess retired to a special room for a séance. During these hours, the servants heard the sounds of an organ on which the mistress, ill with arthritis, could not play.

By 1906 the house had grown to six stories. But there was an earthquake, and the top three floors collapsed. The hostess, fearing the persecution of evil spirits, slept in a new place every night, and after the earthquake the servants, who did not know where she was this time, did not immediately find her under the rubble. Sarah interpreted what had happened as an intrusion of spirits into the front of the house. 30 unfinished rooms were locked and boarded up, construction continued. Unsuccessful fragments were destroyed, new ones were built in their place.

Sarah Winchester died in September 1922 at the age of 85. The construction cost her treasury: there was no money in the safe. There were only strands of hair, male and infant, and the death certificates of her husband and daughter, as well as a 13-point will, signed 13 times. The will was silent about the fate of the house.

This story is too grotesque, too melodramatic. It's hard to take her seriously. However, she is perfectly truthful and, as such, chaste. Sarah Winchester may seem like an insane, eccentric rich woman who has mediocrely squandered a multimillion-dollar inheritance, and her house - an expensive cumbersome nonsense. His space seems tattered; the children are tired and crying. Winchester House is simply ugly. But just this rare ugliness, and also that nausea with which the consciousness responds to a certain critical, it should be assumed, the thirteenth turn of the staircase, indicates that this house belongs to the field of art.

Sarah Lockwood Purdy was born in New Haven, Connecticut to trucking company owner Leonard Purdy and Sarah Burns. The year of Sarah's birth has not been established, so it is believed that she was born in the year that way in 1840.
Her father's business provided a decent income, enough for the girl to grow up in comfort and receive an education in the best private schools. At 20, Sarah was a pretty, pretty young lady, less than 1.5 m tall, fragile and very intelligent. She spoke 4 languages, played the piano superbly, could support any secular conversation and was distinguished by her delicate taste and love for the arts.

In 1862, Sarah married William Wirth Winchester. William was the son of the lieutenant governor of Connecticut, a well-known manufacturer of Winchester rifles. This product, as everyone knows, decided the outcome of the Civil War. It brought stable and huge income even after the end of hostilities (the most successful business was and is the arms business. The most successful orders are the military). This made it possible to assert that all members of the Winchester family, both living and not yet born, would never experience poverty, but would live and die rich.

You can call it a marriage of convenience, because William was the heir to a millionth fortune, but I would not dare to call him a successful deal. I hope it will become clear why.
Be that as it may, the marriage bond turned out to be very pleasant. The couple sincerely loved each other and felt absolutely happy, this was noted by all observers. The young Winchesters shone in New England high society, enjoying their love without care. It is sad that this state lasted only 4 years... Further - no angels fluttering with pink wings, catching up with a breeze smelling of vanilla.

The beginning of history, full of oddities and mysteries, called the House of Winchesters, I believe to be considered 1866. This year, Sarah and William's young daughter, Annie, died. The cause of her death has never been established, and her short-lived terminal illness has never been explained. The terrible death of the baby shocked Sarah, she fell into a depression, from which the best doctors could not bring her out. Only 10 years later she began to recover, but she could not fully recover until her death.

The second blow for Sarah was the understanding that she would not have more children and that she could not feel the joy of motherhood. It remained only to be comforted by love for her husband and enjoy reciprocity. However, this was not destined to last long: William fell ill with tuberculosis and died quite young in 1881, taking with him the last consolation of the soul of the unfortunate Sarah.

The young widow inherited $20 million with a daily income of $1,000. This did not become a consolation for Sarah, shocked by the blows of fate, she lost her taste for life, moved away from relatives and friends. For long sleepless nights she was tormented by the question why she got such a terrible fate and who is to blame for her misfortunes.
Often people in a similar state of mind look for answers to their questions from fortune-tellers and other substitutes for a psychologist. Seances were popular at the time, and Sarah decided to ask the spirits for advice. At that time, everyone was fond of spiritualism, there were a lot of mediums, among them were especially popular, practicing in expensive salons. Trips to them were not considered reprehensible, everyone went to seances: from an illiterate worker to the governor.

Sarah went to Boston, to the famous medium Adam Kuhn, and he, for an adequate fee, held a séance for Sarah, which became decisive in her fate. He went into the astral plane and from there summoned his partners, the souls of the dead.

The spirits that came to the session put everything on the shelves. They explained that the untimely deaths of people loved by Sarah were caused by the many curses of those who died from the guns manufactured by the Winchester family. Especially strong curses were imposed by the Indians killed from these guns - a people who own ancient magical knowledge. These curses are so strong that the deaths of little Annie and William were predetermined, and Sarah herself must die next. However (here the spirits, apparently, were afraid that Sarah would be hit right in the spiritualist salon and their medium would have to conduct the next seances already in prison) there is a way out. According to the spirits, Sarah could have avoided death and even gained immortality if she had met only three very unusual conditions:
1. She should have left her home and moved west toward sunset until she saw the secret signs showing her the location of her new home. There, in this place, she should settle down.
2. In order to a) appease the good spirits (those who came to this session with good advice and their fellow tribesmen) and b) confuse the evil ones who want to destroy the unfortunate Sarah, she should build a house. Responding to the first and second conditions at the same time.
3. The construction of the house must be constant and uninterrupted, because as soon as the knocking of hammers and the sounds of construction cease in the house, Sarah will die. If the condition is met, Sarah may well count on eternal life.

We must pay tribute to the medium, he acted quite reasonably in relation to Sarah.
He gave the answer to the question that tormented her. One that she was ready to believe and believed.
He excluded the unfortunate widow's repeated visits, sending her away from Boston.
He occupied her head with a new idea that would not let her go back to the world of sorrow and soul-searching: construction is a hectic business that does not allow to relax for a long time. Simply put, he replaced one obsession with another, less destructive one.
After all, he saved Sarah's life!

Sarah, without hesitation for a long time, packed her things and set off on her way, into the sunset, as the spirits advised her. Actually, she still remained a prudent woman, so she decided that if she didn’t meet any secret signs along the way, drive to California, where her niece lived in Menlo Park, visit her and figure out how to live further.
However, to see his niece did not happen. On the way to her, Sarah looked for the perfect place for her future home, Santa Clara Valley. In 1884, she purchased an unfinished farm three miles west of San Jose and 162 acres of land adjacent to it. Then, over the next 38 years, she expanded the property into the huge complex that is known today as the Winchester House.
With unwavering determination, Mrs. Winchester set about building her immortality. She immediately hired a construction team who worked in several shifts around the clock. Very soon, Sarah was already living in an eight-room mansion. By the end of the 19th century, this mansion was already an unthinkable 8-story architectural structure, which to this day raises many questions, the admiration of some and the disgust of others, and frightening with its absurdities.

The construction of the house was carried out by 22 carpenters 24 hours a day, without breaks for weekends and holidays. Mrs. Winchester, frightening the locals with her strange lifestyle and incomprehensible passion for design, inspired respect and brought stability to their lives.
This photo was accidentally taken by one of the workers. It is believed that if Mrs. Winchester found her, she would certainly break. However, it seems to me that she is posing here. Is not it so?

When choosing a product, Sarah never spent trifles, she often paid in gold, which aroused such respect from merchants that goods were brought directly to her carriage for verification before purchase.

She generously paid for the work of workers who brought at least three dollars from each shift, and her plans to live forever provided work not only for local residents, but also for their children. In the end, the grandchildren of its builders also took part in the construction of the Winchester House.

It should be noted that the good spirits who showed Sarah the way to salvation were right: while the house was being built (and it was always done), Sarah was alive in all respects. All day long she was busy designing, building and landscaping more and more new premises of her house.

There has never been any master plan for the construction. Sarah never used the services of professional architects, drawing plans for future rooms and corridors on her own, sometimes right on table napkins. Sometimes the plans were quite spontaneous, and sometimes they changed radically. Sarah's house painter recalled how he spent three days painting the walls of one of the rooms red. The work was hardly finished when Mrs. Winchester ordered the room to be painted white. Sometimes newly installed doors were dismantled, and expensive parquet was opened and a new one was laid in its place.

For many years, Mrs. Winchester's assistant (exclusively in this business!), John Hansen, was the head of the building work on the house. He was a diligent man who knew a lot about construction. Sometimes, Mrs. Winchester's projects were notoriously failed (literally). Hansen never challenged the ideas of the hostess, and the structure fell apart during construction. Every morning, meeting with Hansen, Mrs. Winchester announced to him her new plans for construction, alteration and reconstruction of what was already built. Some rooms have been reconstructed several times. Many designs were illogical and strange, but all the tasks of the hostess were carried out meekly and clearly. On the other hand, there have never been any deadlines for the delivery of objects, no restrictions on estimates. What foreman can boast of such heavenly working conditions?



The house grew at an incredible rate. Sarah bought more and more plots of land, farms, orchards and fields.

For 38 years of construction, it has never been interrupted. The exact number of rooms in the House is still unknown. It is assumed that about 500-600 rooms were built, but, due to the reconstruction of some and the destruction of others, there are much fewer of them left. There are approximately 160 of them. The house has 16 bathrooms, 6 kitchens, 40 stairs, 2000 doors, 450 doorways, 47 fireplaces, 17 chimneys and 10,000 (10,000) windows.
Much of it all is not intended for traditional use.

You ask why such a hulk to a small, lonely old woman? And who told you that she needed a house? The spirits needed him! I talked about this at the beginning. She needed the continuity of construction, because she did not want to die. And good spirits (including the spirit of William and baby Annie who are dead in peace) should have been comfortable and happy in this house. A huge variety of fireplaces - for them. According to legend, spirits enter the house through chimneys.
There are only three mirrors in a huge house. It's also because of the spirits. Who is pleased to remember that you are not alive, every time you pass by a mirror and not see your reflection in it? The servants working in the Winchester House were forbidden to use mirrors. They were allowed to bring them with them in their bags and keep them there or in their pockets, taking them out only temporarily if necessary. But then hide it back.
Here, in fact, are two of the three mirrors of the Winchester House. They are in one of the bedrooms of Mrs. Winchester, according to the memoirs of the servant, beloved. Sarah slept in different bedrooms, never staying more than one night in each.

This is the wing where the maids lived.

Bed linen for bedrooms was brought from China, Ireland and the Philippines

Not only the evil spirits that hunted for her life, but also the servants could not guess in which of the bedrooms Mrs. Winchester would like to rest. A special maid call system was purchased for them. Regardless of which room of the house the hostess was in, the call buttons were always available to her, and the servants could see on a special map exactly where the hostess was at the time of the call (the lights on the diagram of the house lit up).

The house has a Grand Ballroom built almost without a single nail. Its cost is estimated at $9000. By comparison, a good, solid single-family home could then be built for $1,000.

On the walls above are quotes from Shakespeare, in which people are trying to find secret signs. Sarah Winchester has always loved music and played brilliantly. There is a piano in one of her bedrooms, and a brass organ in the Ballroom. Sarah played music often, almost every evening. In extreme old age, arthritis struck the joints of Sarah's fingers and she had to give up playing music. But the servants claim that when Sarah was no longer able to move her fingers, they heard the sounds of the organ at night, during the mistress's séances.

Every night at a certain time, Sarah retired to the séance room. You can get into it only through a secret passage from the Ballroom. In addition to the table with the accessories necessary for the seances and the chair next to it, on the wall of the room there are 13 hooks for 13 clothes of different colors, necessary for communicating with the souls of the dead.
The only way out of the room is through the closet. An inquisitive eye will notice a strange threshold near the closet that does not fit into the overall interior design. In fact, the top plate of the nut is a door to a loophole. The loophole is so narrow that hardly anyone could squeeze through it. Through it you can see the kitchen, located on the floor below. Why Mrs. Winchester needed to examine the kitchen late at night, when everyone in the house was asleep, remained a mystery.
The window on the left is also strange.

No matter how Sarah Winchester tried to shield herself and her home from the misfortunes brought by evil spirits, all measures were powerless before the famous San Francisco earthquake of 1906. It happened late at night when everyone in the house was asleep. Some sections of the building were partially destroyed or damaged. Sarah was trapped in her bedroom and couldn't get out on her own. It took the servants several hours to find the bedroom in which the hostess slept that night and help Sarah get out of there. The Grand Ballroom and several other rooms were destroyed. The tower buildings that make up the top three floors also collapsed. Recovering from her shock, Mrs. Winchester ordered the restoration of the Grand Ballroom and the rooms damaged by the earthquake. Mrs. Winchester did not restore the upper floors, considering the destruction of the three upper floors as a sign indicating to her the correct height of her house. The work was completed, and the Grand Ballroom and 30 other restored rooms were boarded up, and never again visited by anyone.
The Winchesters' house has been rising 5 floors since then to this day. Fifth and sixth - tower

The main thing and the first thing the guides working in the Winchester House ask tourists to keep up with the group and not try to wander around the house on their own.

Not only is it easy to get lost there, there are many traps and unexpected dangers to health and, sometimes, life. Why are only "doors to nowhere"! You never know where you will go when you enter the next door: another room
or lean against the wall...



... either slam into the kitchen sink on the floor below, or not fall out into the bushes at all

And in general. It’s good if there is a person nearby who knows exactly which door to enter!

2 thousand doors. Do you want to count?

The doors of some bathrooms and toilet rooms are transparent for some reason.

Stairs in the house are also a problem. Of the 40 stairs in the house, only a few are simple and straightforward. Well-known are those that lead to ... the ceiling.

By the way, the pipes stretched under the ceiling along the "stairs to nowhere" do not continue on the other side of the wall. Their purpose is not clear.

The only explanation for this is that the stairs are designed to confuse evil spirits, knock them off their pontolyku and prevent them from hunting for Sarah's life.

The same stairs, which are quite logical and functional, are so narrow that obese people, fattened by hamburgers, are not recommended to squeeze their bodies between the railings. The railings themselves are unusually low, and people of average and tall stature have to bend in order to go up the stairs, holding on to the railing. These features of the stairs of the Winchester House are quite understandable and explainable, if we recall that Mrs. Winchester was a small stature (less than one and a half meters and a very thin physique. The stairs were built only for her small body, since the rest of the owners of the house were incorporeal.

It is also clear why there are 42 steps on the stairs, with the rise of just one floor. The steps are gentle and only 2 inches high. Elderly Mrs. Sarah, whose legs barely obeyed, is more comfortable to overcome just such a design of stairs.

The meaning of the stairs that goes down 4 steps, then to climb 7, is not clear. Why is this?

There is a staircase, called the vertical staircase by the employees. It is so steep that only a clever young man can climb it.
But by the way, by the end of her life, Sarah was delivered to the main floor of the house by an elevator, which became indispensable after Mrs. Winchester's legs completely failed and she was forced to use a wheelchair.

Actually, you can never confidently say that, having climbed the stairs, you will not fall behind the glass.

Or maybe you won't get anywhere at all!

The windows in the house are also not simple. Each of them is personally designed by the hostess, commissioned and executed not just anywhere, but in the workshops of Tiffany.



10 thousand windows! It would be interesting to meet those who counted them! How many windows are in your apartment building?


One of Sarah Winchester's favorite patterns, invented by herself, is the web.

If you look through such a window at the world, it looks different.
However, no one can be sure that, looking out of the window, he will see what he expects.






Stained glass windows in the Winchester House are a special theme. According to Sarah's sketches, they were made in Austria and installed by Tiffany's craftsmen. Drawings of stained-glass windows are mysterious and unusual. You can argue for a long time about what Mrs. Winchester wanted to tell them, but the artistic value of stained-glass windows is not disputed.



Inlaid with real gems

In addition to the fact that Mrs. Winchester had undeniable talents for playing music and designing buildings, she was a good artist.

Sarah's favorite flower is daisies. There are a lot of images of daisies.


The intricate play of light, the variety of sizes, shapes and color combinations creates an atmosphere of mystical mystery, but does not frighten, but bewitches.

It is completely incomprehensible how many stained-glass windows there are, whether one passes into another or they are stacked, which one opens as a window, and which one serves as a secret door.
There were many secret passages, holes for eavesdropping and peeping all over the house, and none of the servants could tell exactly where they were located.

Many of the workers at the house told that they were often frightened by the sudden appearance of the mistress. She moved silently through the house, appearing from the camouflaged doors known only to her. Sometimes the servants, literally, crashed into the hostess, passing along the corridor and suddenly bumping into Mrs. Winchester, who suddenly appeared, literally from the wall. No one knew for sure and still does not know all the doors, dormer windows and peepholes installed throughout the house. No one really knows the whole house - only its creator could do it.

Cabinets? Doors? Where do the windows look? Are these actually windows?

Due to the fact that Sarah often used secret passages and secret doors, there were rumors among the servants that Madame had the ability to pass through walls and see through them.

Of course, there are many stories of people who served and are currently serving in the Winchester House about encounters with ghosts and about various manifestations of the presence of otherworldly creatures in the house.
And today, every employee of the Winchester House Museum certainly has his own story, from which goosebumps run down the back (narrators).

What can we say about sightseers who keep their cameras ready, not at all to capture the unique artistic and historical values ​​​​at home!

There are plenty of photos like the ones below! And no one is interested in figuring out where they photoshopped and where they didn’t - the main thing is to be creepy.


A female figurine in the lower right corner of the glass part of the door

Someone felt a cold breeze, someone touched, someone breathed, someone caught a slight movement in the air out of the corner of my eye... I liked the story of a young man who, after working as a guide in the House for several years, quit and, before leaving decided to say goodbye to the House. He entered the empty room and thanked Mrs. Sarah Winchester aloud for the amazing house, which became the first place of work for the young man. In response, he felt a gentle kiss on his cheek. Such romantic young men lead tours of this house.

However, the dangers to the nervous system associated with working in such a mysterious and mystical place with such an extravagant hostess were more than offset by such a generous salary and bonus gold that getting a place in the Winchester House was considered a great success.
The work could not be called easy, neither the ghosts that wandered around the house, nor the restless hostess, who knew everything and everyone, did not let her relax. It was necessary to be always on the alert and work impeccably, thereby showing respect for the owners - living and inanimate.

Mrs. Winchester was very picky about the choice of personnel and it was worth a lot to earn her trust. It is told how one day Mrs. chose a gardener. Three gardeners came to interview her. She suggested that they dig up one bed each and plant cabbage seedlings there. But... roots up. One gardener, wanting to show his ingenuity, planted his cabbage, as expected, with roots in the garden. The second, with the same intention, declared that it was wrong to plant uproots, this would not bring any positive results, but only destroy the seedlings, and refused to plant cabbage uproots, and the third planted cabbage as Mrs. Winchester suggested, but, having finished the work, he warned Mrs., that the work will not bring the desired results, since the cabbage planted in this way will not grow, but will disappear. He got the job because a) he showed that he perfectly understands who is the boss in the house and respects this status of Mrs. Winchester, b) is interested in the end result and sincerely cares about the cause.

In the park and squares of Mrs. Winchester, 8-10 gardeners worked at the same time. Her park, laid out in the Victorian style, was filled with trees and plants from almost every country in the world. There were northern pines and southern persimmons, and the rarest
trees and common chestnuts from England. The list of plants brought here from all over the world is so long that it would be inhumane to copy it here.

Neighborhood children were allowed to play on the lawns of the garden, their mothers and nannies strolled along its picturesque paths, Mrs. Winchester did not seek to fence off her park from strangers. Often the children frolicking in the park received ice cream from Mrs., they were sometimes allowed to strum on Mrs. Sarah's piano.

On occasion, the San Jose administration held charitable events in the park generously sponsored by Ms. Winchester. In general, Sarah was a well-known philanthropist. She regularly donated large sums for the improvement of the town, helping the poor and sick, orphanages, founded an orphanage, which she also patronized the Winchester Tuberculosis Hospital, which, by the way, still functions as part of a local clinic.

The owner of the beautiful park herself shied away from crowded places and preferred solitude in the gazebo of one of the courtyards, not far from the flower beds with a collection of medicinal plants collected all over the world.

Actually, the park provided for walking with children was the extreme manifestation of Sarah's hospitality. She never invited anyone into the house. Contemporaries were able to remember only two episodes associated with the reception of guests in the Winchester house.
Once Sarah's nephew decided to visit his aunt, he came from Kansas for this and was caught with a silver tray in his hands. On this his visit to his aunt was over.
On another occasion it was not just anyone who asked for an audience with Mrs. Winchester, but President Roosevelt. He was driving to Kansas and, on the way, decided to take a look at the amazing Winchester house with his own eyes. He sent a messenger with a letter of notification and a request for an audience. He was denied this.

On the territory of the house there is a water tower, a pumping station, a complex heating system and other engineering structures.


Laundry

As soon as the construction of the next room was completed and no further reconstructions were expected in it, Sarah proceeded to design.

She did not skimp on the best wallpaper fabrics, which were brought from Persia and India.
She bought the fabric she liked in batches so that no one else in the area would have a similar pattern. Rolls of upholstery fabrics are still stored in the storerooms of the house.

The most exquisite furniture made of rare woods, made by the best craftsmen in the world, was ordered by Mrs. Winchester and adorned the interiors of the house. So many cozy corners have turned out that even those who have never been to the Winchester House, but just saw photos of its interiors, feel the desire to sit down and relax.







The Hall of Fires is also interesting, built in such a way as to collect as much heat as possible. This probably eased the course of Mrs. Winchester's illness, which in the last years of her life was tormented by severe arthritis. Many windows on one wall let in the maximum amount of sunlight that heated the room, and three others adjoined fireplace rooms, hotly heated. The streams of hot air from these chimneys were discharged into special sockets in the Hall of Fires. I hope Mrs. Sarah had a good time there.

By the way, many see magic signs even in the address of the house. The house is located in San Jose on Winchester Boulevard. House number 525.

Sarah Winchester died on the night of September 4-5, 1922 at the age of 82. Her death was not painful. After communicating, as usual, with the spirits at a nightly seance, she went to bed in her favorite bedroom and did not wake up again. "Cardiac arrest" - the doctors stated. Nobody saw her alive again. And inanimate - as much as you like! Mrs Winchester was buried in the cemetery Evergreen in New Haven, Connecticut next to her beloved husband.
The builders of her house. learning about the death of the hostess, holding back tears, they scratched the boards so that they broke off their nails in the blood.
The bedroom where Sarah Winchester spent her last night

After the death of Mrs. Winchester, 6 hectares of land remained, on which her unfinished house is located, full storerooms of gold and silver interior items, jewelry and a will, consisting of 13 points, according to which part of the rooms went into her property. sister, part - niece, a solid amount of money to his beloved assistant and faithful workers, the Winchester clinic and the orphanage.
When Mrs. Winchester's safe was opened, to everyone's surprise, no money was found in it. There were only two locks of hair - children's and men's, some personal belongings of the late husband and daughter, and a will. It is possible that the mysterious house still keeps treasures in its unexplored caches. One of the treasures has long been known, but to this day has not been opened. This is a large wine cellar, which stores many bottles of expensive cognacs and liqueurs, which were preferred by an eccentric hostess. one day Mrs. Winchester found a dirty hand mark left on the wall of the stairs. leading to the wine cellar. Some of the workers must have sneaked in there for obvious reasons. Mrs. Winchester ordered that the cellar door be boarded up, and no man would ever set foot in it again. Now the cost of the contents of this cellar can be a very impressive amount.
Strangely, none of Sarah Winchester's many relatives have shown or show any interest in the House of Winchester. No one has ever tried to find the treasures hidden there, and yet, by law, they belong to them!

After the announcement of the will, Sarah's sister hastily began to export her share of the property. Loading of valuables took a week, 6 trucks of furniture, valuables and interior items were taken out, which were soon sold at auction. The niece also auctioned off her part of the inheritance. These things are now wanted by the museum, but most of them will never return to the Winchester House.

The main part of the house belongs to the board of trustees and is not funded by anyone.

Many who have been on excursions to the Winchester House leave there in a depressed mood. For some, the heartbeat becomes more frequent, migraines play out, and nervousness increases. Children cannot stay inside the house for a long time - they start crying, asking to go outside. The servants of the house-museum do not complain about their health, and explain the deterioration in the condition of some of its visitors with suspiciousness and rich imagination. It is also believed that in a house, the premises of which are built chaotically, the transitions between them are narrow and confusing, a person feels discomfort and a mild form of claustrophobia. This corresponds to the design of the building - after all, the house was not originally intended for visits by living people and was planned so that they would feel uncomfortable in it and feel an acute desire to leave its walls. Thus, the house performs its functions, protecting the peace of its ghosts.

The Winchester house is called a model of bad taste, a stupid whim of a crazy rich woman, an example of lack of culture. But the flow of those wishing to see him does not decrease from this.
With income from cafes and excursions and a souvenir shop, dilapidated premises are being repaired and there is no end to the repair work - while some premises are being restored, others are dilapidated, and so on endlessly


The knocking of hammers does not stop even after the death of Sarah Winchester. The words of a medium from Boston came true 100%, because the spirits promised Mrs. Winchester eternal life until the construction of the house stops. The death of Mrs. Sarah was just a transition to a different state and a meeting with her beloved husband and daughter, but her spirit remained to live in her strange house.

Pulled from here.

One of the most mysterious and mystical houses on earth is the famous Winchester house in California in the USA. This is the most famous attraction of the small city of San Jose, which is visited by a huge number of tourists from all over the world. The history of the house is closely connected with the fate of its mistress Sarah Winchester, nee Sarah Lockwood Purdy.

Sarah Lockwood Purdy was born in Connecticut around 1840 to a respectable family. The girl received a good education, was smart, beautiful and talented - she played the piano, knew four languages, was erudite and loved art. In 1862, Sarah married the son of Vice President William Winchester. The husband's father was the same manufacturer of the famous Winchester rifles that decided the outcome of the bloody Civil War in the United States. The sale of weapons brought a stable income, which made it possible to live without problems for several more generations of this family.

The marriage was extremely successful, the couple were happy, rich and young. They enjoyed their love, circulated in the highest circles of society, lived a full life ... This lasted about four years, until the little daughter of the Winchester family, Annie, died in 1866. It is believed that a fatal illness was the culprit, but the exact cause of death has not been established. Sarah was so shocked by the death of her daughter that she fell into a deep depression, from which she could not get out for the rest of her life. Moreover, after a while she found out that she could no longer have children. Only love for her husband remained, but in 1881, William, still quite young, died of tuberculosis, and Sarah completely lost her mind.

The widow was left with an inheritance of twenty million dollars and a steady income, but she had already lost her taste for life. The woman no longer communicated with relatives and friends, slept badly and began to look for the cause of her misfortunes. As often happens, people in this state turn to otherworldly forces. Sarah decided to attend a séance, which was popular at the time, and ask the spirits for advice. One of the most famous mediums in Boston held a seance for her, which predetermined her future fate. The medium claimed that the spirits named the cause of Sarah's misfortunes - these were strong Indian curses imposed on the family due to murders with Winchester guns. After the death of the girl and William Winchester, Sarah herself was supposed to die, but there is one way to avoid this. To do this, it was necessary to go in search of a new house to the West - the signs should suggest the right place on which to start building a house, and build it constantly, continuously. If the sounds of construction cease in the house, Sarah will certainly die.

The medium was a cunning person, he knew how to act in such a situation. He gave the woman an answer that she immediately believed. He sent her away so that she would not return to him. He threw her a new idea that should have occupied her thoughts. Perhaps he really saved Sarah's life, because after this session she was tormented not by depressive thoughts, but by less destructive ones - about building a house.

Sarah immediately set off, intending to get to California, where her niece lived. But already on the way, she found a great place for a house - an unfinished farm near the city of San Jose. She bought this house and the land around it and started building as the spirits advised. Thus was built a huge, strange and mysterious house, known as the house of the Winchesters.

Mrs. Winchester hired a construction team and set the condition to work around the clock, in several shifts. Twenty-four hours a day, twenty-two carpenters were constantly building a house. Soon the farm turned into a mansion of eight rooms, but Sarah was not going to stop. New rooms appeared, wings were added, new floors were erected. By the end of the nineteenth century, it was an eight-story ridiculous house that frightened the neighbors with its appearance. Mrs. Winchester was called strange, but she inspired respect among the inhabitants of the city.

The woman generously paid the builders, she did not skimp on new household goods, for which she was also respected. She provided jobs for many local residents and even their children. Surprisingly, in some cases, even the grandchildren of the first workers took part in the construction after several decades. Sarah was supported by the idea of ​​building a house, and she really did not die - she was completely occupied with repairing, building, landscaping new rooms. Of course, she did not have a building plan, since Sarah Winchester did not turn to architects. When it was time to build a new room or corridor, she herself drew their plan, sometimes even on napkins that fell under her arm. Most of these ideas were spontaneous, sometimes they changed dramatically. For example, one painter said that Mrs. Winchester first demanded that one room be painted red, and when the work was completed, she ordered everything to be repainted white. She changed the floors in the rooms, constantly rearranging something.

Sarah had no idea about architecture, so many of her ideas were completely failed. In this case, she was assisted by construction supervisor John Hansen, who was well versed in construction. He did not argue with his mistress, he simply tried to make everything as good as possible. In the morning Mrs. Winchester told him about the plans for the day, about what needed to be rebuilt and redone. Her orders were completely illogical and strange, but they were carried out. In addition, she did not set restrictions, did not give clear deadlines - the conditions for work were ideal.

To expand the house, Sarah bought new plots of land. For thirty-eight years the construction went on continuously, day and night. Today it is not known exactly how many rooms were built in the house during this period, it is estimated that approximately 500-600 - many were subsequently destroyed. Now the house has 160 rooms, 16 bathrooms, 40 staircases, 2,000 doors, 6 kitchens, 10,000 windows and 47 fireplaces. Of course, Sarah Winchester herself did not need all this - but the spirits do. For example, it was believed that spirits enter the house through chimneys. Also, the woman did not buy mirrors, because, according to many, spirits do not like to pass by them, because they are not reflected - and who will like another reminder that you are inanimate. Therefore, the woman even forbade the use of mirrors, and she herself kept small mirrors in her pockets and took them out only when necessary. It is also known that Sarah slept in different rooms every day so that evil spirits could not find her. However, the servants also had a hard time - when the hostess called them with a call, they looked at the scheme of the house. The lamp in the room from which the call was made lit up, and all that remained was to walk through the labyrinths of corridors to it.

A Ballroom was built in the Winchester house, which cost about nine thousand dollars to build. In those days, it was a lot of money - one thousand dollars could build a good house for a family. Sarah, who had always loved music, installed a brass organ in this hall and often played it. Later, when Mrs. Winchester grew old and had arthritis in her fingers, she could no longer play it. But the servants claimed that during the seances of the hostess they heard the sounds of the organ. Sarah was fond of seances until her death, for this a special hall was equipped, which could be accessed through a secret passage from the Ballroom. In this room were the necessary devices for spiritualism, armchairs, and thirteen hooks with clothes of different colors hung on the wall. The door to the room was hidden in a closet.

In 1906, there was a strong earthquake that destroyed part of the house and damaged its exterior. The room in which Sarah slept that night was blocked - the woman was able to get out of it only after a few hours with the help of servants. Sarah was shocked, but quickly came to her senses and ordered the Ballroom and other rooms to be rebuilt. She decided not to touch the upper floors - everything above the third floor was destroyed, and the woman considered this a sign that the height of the house should be less. Today, the Winchesters' house has five floors (in the towers, and three in the main house).

Today, the Winchesters' home is a popular tourist attraction. It is forbidden to move around the house on your own, and guides always warn that no one lags behind the group. It is very easy to get lost in the mansion, in addition, there are traps and unexpected obstacles in it: for example, doors that have no floor or a wall behind them. There are stairs that lead to the floor, or very narrow stairs that fat people cannot pass. There are a lot of interesting features in the house, most of them are connected with stairs. Some stairs are too gentle - for example, 42 steps to climb one floor. Others, on the contrary, are very steep - only strong and dexterous people can climb it. There is a strange staircase that first goes down a few steps and then goes up. When Sarah Winchester grew old and could not climb stairs, an elevator was installed in the house.

The windows of the house are also interesting, of which, as already mentioned, there are about ten thousand. These are not simple windows - all were commissioned from the famous Tiffany workshop, and designed by the hostess herself. Sarah Winchester was especially fond of the spiderweb window bars, which she designed herself. Many windows lead not at all to the street, but to completely unexpected places: to other rooms, to walls. Especially beautiful are the stained-glass windows that were made in Austria - their drawings are incomprehensible and strange, but they have a high artistic value. The most expensive stained-glass window was supposed to fill the room with all the colors of the rainbow, but it was installed on the north side of the house. Some stained glass windows are inlaid with precious stones.

The house has many secret passages and disguised doors. Servants were often frightened when the mistress silently emerged from unexpected places and it was rumored that she could pass through walls. Until now, no one knows exactly all the features of the house: dormer windows, strange doors, peepholes, secret corridors.

The park near the house in the Victorian style is also interesting. Sarah Winchester ordered plants and trees from all over the world: persimmons, pines, chestnuts from England and even rare species grew here. About ten gardeners worked in the park. The hostess allowed the neighboring children to walk in the park and did not enclose it. The city administration sometimes held various events dedicated to charity in it. Sarah Winchester sponsored them herself. She was a well-known philanthropist: she donated money for home improvement, construction of orphanages, hospitals.

Sarah Winchester died in her sleep at the age of 82 from cardiac arrest. She was buried next to her husband, but afterward, many claimed to have seen her ghost in the house.

We know almost nothing about a girl named Sarah Lockwood Purdy, except that she was born in 1840 and at 22 she married William Winchester - the son of "the same" Oliver Winchester, inventor of the "gun that will conquer the West", owner American arms company Winchester Repeating Arms Company and a very rich man.

We do not know how Sarah grew up, whether she had a good relationship with her family or her husband. Only two photographs of Sarah have survived. In one picture, a young, chubby and rosy-cheeked girl with dark eyebrows and a hairstyle that was fashionable at that time. She leaves a strange impression. The look seems detached, the lips are compressed, and the tight stand-up collar creates an almost monastic image.

In the year of Sarah's marriage to William, William's father founded the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, a company that quickly and surely led him and the Winchester family to untold wealth.

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Probably, the couple tried to have children for a long time, but for some reason they did not succeed, the first daughter of Sarah and William was born only four years later. The baby did not live even two months - she died from protein deficiency. The couple had no more children. Oliver Winchester died in 1880, and a year later, after 19 years of marriage, Sarah's husband William also died of tuberculosis.

Sarah became the heir to a huge fortune. But, left alone, without children and a husband with whom she lived most of her life, Sarah was confused.

"Until the hammers fall silent, you will be alive"

Everything related to the later life of Sarah Winchester is surrounded by secrets. According to the legends, Sarah sincerely believed that her family was cursed. This idea was thrown to her (or, perhaps, only confirmed by Mrs. Winchester's conjectures) by the then famous Boston medium Adam Koons. He convinced her that the blame for everything was the souls of those who were shot with a gun developed by her father-in-law. If they overtake her, the woman will suffer the same fate as her family.

"What can I do to avoid this?" the widow probably asked, to which she received the answer that she needed to please the ghosts. Or hide from them. Or make them admire. In general, many versions have survived to this day: according to one, the ghosts had to be confused, while others recommended resorting to an afterlife sense of beauty.

History has not preserved how much money the Boston medium asked for such valuable advice, but Sarah listened to him. Although more prosaic versions say that the widow was simply looking for a new hobby due to prolonged depression. In addition, she and her husband have already invested in construction. One of the caretakers of the house, Janan Boehme, who has been working in the mysterious mansion for almost forty years, suggested that Sarah just wanted to do something familiar, something that once gave pleasure to both her and her husband.

In 1884, she went to California with her sister and niece and bought a small farmhouse on 6,500 acres. For its improvement, she had to spend $ 20 million of her inheritance. However, as we have already said, Sarah was very rich and could afford any whim. She received income from her husband's company, which then amounted to a thousand dollars a day. In our time, it’s all the same as if she received $23,000.

Sarah refused the services of an architect and took on the job herself, hiring carpenters who would work day and night - so that "the hammers would not stop." So they worked for 38 years, creating an amazing seven-story mansion. However, they say that this is an exaggeration, no one worked on the construction site day and night to please the generous employer.

True or not, a huge monstrous house has grown on the site of the old farmhouse with 161 rooms (including 40 bedrooms and 2 ballrooms), 47 fireplaces, two storage rooms and three elevators.

If Sarah really wanted to confuse the spirits that hunted her, she probably succeeded. Many of the doors in the house did not lead anywhere - you had only to open them, and you ran into a blank wall. Stairs led up to the ceiling, small rooms built into larger rooms like a nesting doll. Some balconies face inward rather than outward. Chimneys are interrupted before reaching the ceiling. The door leading to one room is of normal size, and the other is tiny, as if made for Alice, who drank from a bottle.

The house is full of allusions and symbols. Someone believes that there are so many "architectural mistakes" in the house due to the fact that Sarah did not understand how to build houses, and therefore made many mistakes in the drawings. But looking at some of the details, it's hard to believe it.

It seems that she was inspired by "Alice in Wonderland", not otherwise. For example, in one of the ballrooms, the parquet board changes color, depending on the lighting: if the sun falls in a special way, the dark pieces of the parquet become light, and the light pieces become dark.

One of the windows flips the picture upside down, so it seems like you are looking at an upside down world.