![]() Of course, the valuation of these materials is now in the "priceless" category. ![]() The room was named for the valuation of the items found inside at the time of her death. Much of this excess fabric can be seen in the famed $25,000 storage room along with spare stain glass panels, huge amounts of wallpaper and various building materials. In order to avoid others in the area using the same fabric for curtains etc she would purchase all of the fabric available in a particular pattern. She spent large amounts of money on stained glass panels (many from Tiffany), imported wallpaper and fixtures, and exquisite fabrics. Mrs Winchester had inherited over $20 million at the time of her husband's death along with enough shares in the Winchester company to earn an income of $1000 a day. No expense was spared with the construction and decor of the mansion. ![]() Both Ava and Lola thought that the easy riser steps were fantastic! In her old age Mrs Winchester suffered greatly from arthritis and had many of the staircases replaced with easy riser steps as she struggled to use regular height steps. Lola was pretty excited to discover that many of the windows and sinks were at her height! There's even one tiny doorway that only Mrs Winchester could fit through without stooping. Mrs Winchester was very short (4'10") so many of the fixtures were built for her height which just adds to the strange feel of the interior. The "Door to Nowhere" open on the second floor It is also said that these oddities were included to confuse spirits. There is one staircase that leads directly to the ceiling, another staircase that goes up 7 steps and then down 11, a door that leads directly outside on the second floor, false cupboards that are only an inch deep. This resulted in a lot of changes being made (over 600 rooms were built and rebuilt) and an awful lot of odd decisions made when it came to the placement of rooms, doors, windows etc. She is said to have taken to her seance room late every night and would emerge a few hours later with the next day's building plans. The rest of the house was designed by Mrs Winchester, supposedly after she consulted with spirits in nightly seances. Only one room was architect designed, the grand ballroom which was built almost entirely without the use of nails. What makes it even stranger is that Mrs Winchester designed most of the home herself without the help of an architect. So this background already gives the house a little mystery. This work would continue 24 hours a day until Mrs Winchester's death in 1922. In order to appease the spirits, or at least confuse them so they could no longer haunt her, she was advised to head west and find an unfinished home to work on - continuously. She appears to have been quite a superstitious person and after the death of her husband she is said to have consulted a medium who advised her that she was haunted by the spirits of those who had been killed by the Winchester repeating rifle. Fifteen years earlier the Winchesters had lost their only child in early infancy and these two losses impacted greatly on Mrs Winchester. Her desperation to escape the ghosts who haunted her supposedly played the vital role toward why the Winchester Mystery House evolved into a labyrinth of a home, and why odd features such as doors into open shafts, dead end stairs, and doors and windows into walls were incorporated.Sarah Winchester moved to San Jose from the east coast after the early death of her husband. Legend says that Coons told Sarah that if she ever stopped building, the spirits would claim her as one of their victims as well. Immediately, she began construction on expanding the house. When Sarah Winchester arrived in 1884 in what is now San Jose-supposedly spurred by a Boston medium named Adam Coons who told her that the premature deaths of her husband and infant daughter were due to a curse placed by all those killed by Winchester rifles over the years-she purchased an eight-room farmhouse on a 161-acre plot of land. The Winchester Mystery House began as an expansion project. ![]() Although visitors are not normally allowed to take photos inside the house itself, the fine folks at Winchester were gracious enough to allow us to photographically document our visit, which we now bring to you. This past Memorial Day weekend, Westcoaster took a trip to visit this rather enchanting abode. And just a couple weeks ago, the house unveiled its first new tour in over two decades-the Explore More Tour-to go along with its ever-popular Mansion Tour. Famous for its doors and stairs to nowhere, unfinished interiors, and even a few ghost stories, the Winchester Mystery House is a captivating building unlike any other. Today, the house remains a popular site for tourists.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |