Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, California

Set in the heart of the Silicon Valley is Sarah Winchester's Mystery House. Sarah was married to William Wirt Winchester and when he died in 1881, she inherited more that $20 million. She also received 50% ownership of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. She had more money than she knew what to do with! After her husband died, she visited a medium who claimed to be channeling her husband and he advised her to leave the East Coast and head out West to start a new life. He also told her to build this grand mansion continuously to confuse the spirits of the victims that had died due to the Winchester rifles.

In 1884, Sarah purchased a small unfinished home in Santa Clara Valley and started to add on to it. Workers worked day and night on the house adding all kinds of oddities. They say that each morning she would present the workers with her "blueprints" and have them build. Some of the odd things she has in the house are stairs that lead to nowhere, doors that open to walls, and windows that opened into other rooms.

Originally the house had been 7 stories tall. When the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 struck, the house was destroyed in some parts and today it is only 4 stories tall. The home has nearly 160 rooms and 40 of them are bedrooms. It also has two ballrooms (one finished and the other not), 47 fireplaces, 17 chimneys, two basements (which are not common in California) and three elevators. Mrs. Winchester was obsessed with the number "13" are there is evidence of this throughout the house such as glass window designs, coat hooks, and sink drains all somehow having their own touch of 13. When you tour the house, one of the very first things you see is her "storage room" filled with many building supplies such as stained glass windows, extra wallpapers, and other necessary objects to help build this grand home. It is estimated at the time that the items in this room were worth about $25,000 in her time but today are inestimable.

Sarah Winchester died in 1922. It was said that as soon as her death was announced, all of the workers stopped immediately. You can see evidence of that statement by nails that have not been nailed all the way in in some areas of the house. Having no heirs of her own, her niece inherited everything. She took the items she wanted and sold everything else at an auction. Not to spook people, the niece changed the name on the auction so people wouldn't be uneasy about purchasing Sarah Winchester's belongings.

Today the house is open daily for tours. The house is much to grand to completely tour everything, so you are given a tour of only certain parts. There's also a part of the tour where you can visit her horse stable and work sheds on the property. On Friday the 13th, they do special nighttime tours of the mansion where it is completely dark except for the flashlights you are given.

I went here years ago with one of my very best friends, Cassandra. We were looking for an adventure and had more fun than we expected at the Mystery House. Cassandra has been such an amazing friend to me over these past 8 years and has always been so supportive of me and my dreams. I had mentioned before that I was interested in starting up a blog about my crazy travels and she has been the most encouraging factor when it came to starting this up. So, Cassandra, I dedicate my 20th blog to you and the adventure that started it all! Thank you so much for being my friend over the years. My life would be incomplete without you and your family in it!