Winchester Mystery House

The Winchester Mystery House is a unique mansion located at 525 Winchester Boulevard in San Jose, California. Its construction began in 1884, and was financed and built by Sarah L. Winchester, the heiress of the man who invented and manufactured the Winchester rifle. Construction continued 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, until her death 38 years later in 1922. This has been estimated to have cost about 5.5 million dollars.

The house today

Prior to the 1906 earthquake, the house had been built up to seven stories tall, but now the highest point is the fourth floor. The house is predominantly wood frame construction, with a brick foundation. There are 160 rooms, including 40 bedrooms, 47 fireplaces, 10,000 window panes, 17 chimneys (with evidence of two others), two ballrooms, two basements and three elevators. Mrs. Winchesters property was 161.919 acres (650,000 m²) at its largest point but now the estate is just 6.5 acres (24,000 m²) - the minimum to contain the house and nearby outbuildings. It has gold and silver chandeliers, inlaid parquet floors and trim. There are secret passages and stairways, doors and halls that lead nowhere, and a vast array of colors and materials. Before the availability of elevators, special "easy riser" stairways were installed to allow Mrs. Winchester access to every part of the mansion, despite her severe arthritis. Roughly 20,000 gallons (76,000 litres) of paint are required to paint the house. Due to the sheer size of the house, by the time every section of the house is painted, the workers must start repainting again. Thus, in a sense, Sarah Winchester's beautiful and mysterious estate still lives on in the same sense she meant it to.

Related Topics:
1906 earthquake - Bedroom - Fireplace - Chimney - Ballroom - Basement - Elevator - Acre - Gold - Silver - Chandelier - Stairway - Gallon - Litre

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The house also has many conveniences that were rarely found at the time of its construction, including steam and forced-air heating, modern indoor toilets and plumbing, push-button gas lights and a hot shower from indoor plumbing.

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Today, several different tours of the house are available. The tours feature different aspects of the estate, such as main parts of the house or the gardens and outbuildings. A flashlight tour of the mansion is given at night on dates around Halloween and every Friday the 13th. Many tour guides have stories of their personal encounters with ghosts or other paranormal events.

Related Topics:
Halloween - Friday the 13th - Ghost - Paranormal

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