The Winchester Mystery House: Day 5

Although Sarah Winchester was reclusive she was never alone in the house. She had 18 servants, 18 gardeners, and the construction team working on the grounds 24/7. Sarah Met with the foreman to discuss the always evolving building plans. Every night she would visit the seance room to speak with the spirits who gave their input on the plans for the houses unusual design. The home currently holds an estimate of 950 doors, 10,000 windows, 40 stairways, 52 skylights, 47 fireplace, 6 kitchens, a trio of elevators and what once was groundbreaking elements like wool insulation. cab ride gaslights, electricity, indoor shower, and sewage drainage system.

The Winchester Mystery House became a landmark on August 7, 1972. Following Sarah’s death, the Winchester house was converted into a tourist attraction. The new owners kept trying to get a room count but kept coming up with different numbers, but they estimate about 160 rooms. The mansion is still owned by the family or families who purchased it from the Winchester estate in 1922, for $150,000, their identity just like the house remains a mystery.

Tourist can explore 110 of the 160 rooms the house has to offer, thanks to the lovely Sarah Winchester. The house even hosts special tours Halloween and Friday the 13th.

Show Dates:

September: 14, 15, 21, 22, 28, 29

October: 5, 6, 7, 11. 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31

Price:

$49 General Admission

$42 Seniors (65+), Students, Military (with ID)

$39 Skeleton Key Club

$19 Children (6-12)

Special Events:

Sarah’s Spirited Supper-

It’s Friday, Oct. 19, 2018, guests will be treated to a Halloween themed four-course meal. There are only 20 seats available for this event but it also includes the Candlelight tour.

Pumpkin Mae’s Afternoon Tea-

Pumpkin Mae invites you and your ghoul friends to attend her first ever afternoon tea October 7, 2018, from 2-4pm. Guests who attend this event will be treated with Tea sandwiches, brie, granny smith, and fig jam on a mini croissant, pumpkin spiced scones, pumpkin cheesecake bites, and caramel apple galettes, with an assortment of fall, inspired tea. It also includes a daytime tour of the mansion an full access to the estate and mystic midway.

Halloween Trick or Treat trail-

Halloween trick or treat trail on October 27-28, 2018, from 1-5pm each child will receive a treat bag and trick or treat around the Winchester estate. costumes are encouraged for the whole family and there will be special photo spots around the grounds.

Will you be visiting this beautiful house and try and uncover all the mysteries it holds?

-Dezi

October 5, 2018 0

The Winchester Mystery House: Day 4

Many say the labyrinth layout of the house was meant to confuse the ghost, allowing Sarah some peace. This meant Sarah had issued bizarre demands such as trap doors, secret passages, skylights in the floors, spider web windows, stairs leading to no where and other odd requests like doors opening to walls or doors on the second story leading to a drop to the yard below and so much more. Sarah had an obsession with the number 13. The house had 13 lanes windows, 13 paneled ceilings, 13 step stairways, 13 bathrooms and the 13th bathroom contained 13 windows of its own, while her will was signed 13 times.

One theory of claims Sarah was creating a house with a puzzle of encryptions that were inspired by the work of philosopher Francis Bacon. They say that there are clues to the houses meaning hidden in the ballroom. The theory suggests that Sarah was a member of a mystical society like the Rosicrucian or Freemasons or even both. Other speculations say she was trying to repeat the experience she had with her husband William when they built their home in New Haven. While others say she was just crazy because she lived by herself.

-Dezi

October 4, 2018 2

The Winchester Mystery House: Day 3

Sarah Winchester was trapped in the Daisy bedroom during the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906. When the earthquake struck, Sarah thought the vengeful spirits had caused the earthquake causing her to be trapped to the point of her staff had to dig her out because the entrance was blocked off by rubble. So when she was free she boarded it up and no on has ever set foot in that room until 2017.

Since it has been open some of the guides have claimed to hear heavy sighs and saw dark figures in the hallway. Another worker reported camera malfunctions while photographing the space, while looking over the photos saw some weird white rippling mass.

-Dezi

October 4, 2018 0

The Winchester Mystery House: Day 2

Sarah, the wife of William Wirt Winchester, whose family created the Winchester Rifle known as the ‘The gun that won the west.’ After her husband had passed away March 7, 1881, from tuberculosis, she sought out closure from a spiritualist who could speak with the dead but instead of getting closure, got a warning about vengeful spirits that were killed by the Winchester Rifle.

Through the medium, William told Sarah that she must build a home for herself and the spirits who have fallen from the rifle. The medium advised Sarah to leave her home in New Haven, Connecticut and move west where she must build a house for herself and the spirits. With a warning that construction on the house could never stop “if you continue to build, you will live. Stop and you will die.” Sarah found a house located at 525 South Winchester Boulevard in San Jose, Ca where she employed a crew of carpenters who split the shifts so that construction could go on day and night, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, for 38 years.

-Dezi

October 2, 2018 0

The Winchester Mystery House: Day 1

The Winchester Mystery House is an architecture mystery and a historic landmark in San Jose Ca. Sarah Lockwood Pardee Winchester, the widow of William Wirt Winchester repeating arms fortune. The Winchesters had a tragedy as their infant daughter passed away from a childhood illness. Years later Sarah’s husband passed away from Tuberculosis. Shortly after Williams death, Sarah moved from New Haven Ct. to San Jose Ca where she bought an eight-bedroom farmhouse and began the worlds largest renovation only to stop with Sarah’s death Sept. 5, 1922.

Sarah built the mansion so the spirits of people who passed from the Winchester rifle would get lost and not find her. It currently has 24,000 square ft, 10,000 windows, 2,00 doors, 160 rooms, 52 skylights, 47 stairways and fireplaces, 17 chimneys, 13 bathrooms, and 6 kitchens. The Winchester Mystery House has had its door open to the public since June 30, 1923.

-Dezi

October 1, 2018 0

1000 Lombard Street!

Pat Montandon known for being a socialite. In 1967 she wrote a book called “How to be a Party Girl” then began hosting a TV show “Pats Prized Movie” where she became close friends with Mary Louise Ward aka Mary Lou. Montandon had a zodiac themed party where the hired Tarot Card reader got angry cursing the house. The house had cold spells and appearing and disappearing bloodstains on the ceiling.Two weeks after the party, Pat arrived home and noticed her home had been ransacked, things were missing while others destroyed. The mysterious part of it was their was no evidence of a break in. There are four deaths associated with the house, three of them consisted of two of Montandan’s guests committed suicide, while her best friend passed away from a fire that broke out in the master bedroom. The mysterious part they were all unmarried females.

Some say that once Pat Montandan moved out, the ghostly encounters had stopped. So, was it an actual curse on the house or Pat herself? Or was it all a coincidence? What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below.

-Dezi

August 24, 2018 0

Trinity + St. Peters Episcopal Church

Trinity + St Peter’s Episcopal Church although holy is favorite by ghosts. It was founded in 1849, designed by A. Page Brown. This is the oldest Episcopal church on the West Coast and it survived the 1906 Earthquake and fire without damage. The congregation of Trinity Episode Church and St. Peters Church merged into one in 2014 making it Trinity + St. Peter’s Episcopal Church.

Church goers claim to have seen a gray figure make it’s way from the mens bathroom, disappear through a wall that’s on the other side of the hall, but the gray figure isn’t the only one to roam the church but some will notice a shadow of a person dancing on the walls. Now, if you are really lucky you will come across a spirit who wheres a white suit but wit this one is known for his death stare!

If you decide too visit the church make sure to just stand inside a while because you will most likely experience a 3 directional draft. You can find the church at 1620 Gough Street, San Francisco Ca. Will you attend church to catch a glimpse of the ghosts that haunt it?

-Dezi

July 20, 2018 0

The San Francisco Columbarium

The Columbarium is San Francisco’s one of a kind historical landmark originally built in 1897 by British architect Bernard J. Cahill. Unfortunately, in 1902-1910 cemetery burials and cremations were banned and people were forced to move their families remains elsewhere leaving the Columbarium abandoned. In 1980 The Neptune Society bought the building asking Emmitt Watson to continue his work on the building. He has been painting, gardening and parking while leading services, internments and tours at the Columbarium for about half his life.

The San Francisco Columbarium is home to many of San Francisco’s well known and influential citizens. Eddy, Steiner, Haight, Page and Shattuck, famous citizens who were memorialized throughout the city with streets bearing their names. You can also find other well known and famous names such as: The Folger family, the creators of Folger’s Coffee, Chet Helms father of the city’s 1967’s ‘Summer of Love;’ Jerry Fuel, the writer and puppeteer for The Muppets, Jose Santana the renowned musician and father of Carlos Santana, along with many other famous names.

The Columbarium was one of the few structures to survive in the 1906 earthquake and fires which killed 3,00 San Francisco. if you wanted to visit the San Francisco Columbarium and Funeral home is located at 1 Lorain Ct. San Francisco Ca.

-Dezi

July 6, 2018 0

The Queen Anne Hotel!

The Queen Anne Hotel formerly known as Miss Lakes School for Young Ladies was built in the 1890’s by a mining millionaire James Graham Fair. The school operated for about six years with Mary Lake as the principal, and unfortunately closed in 1896 two years after Fair’s death. In the 1980’s the building became The Queen Anne Hotel a very posh bed and breakfast where you can find one of San Francisco’s friendliest ghost, Mary Lake.

It’s rumored that the headmistress was upset when the school closed from lack of resources and funding. Guests say she never truly left her position which means you have a chance to see her walking around the hotel or if you hit a cold spot you know you are in the midst of a ghost. Some say if you truly want a paranormal experience, you should say in Miss Lake’s room, room 410. This is where guests have reported seeing Miss Lake unpacking their clothes, picking up items that have falling and even tucking guests into bed who aren’t properly under the covers. You can find The Queen Anne Hotel at 1590 Sutter Street. Would you stay here?

-Dezi

June 29, 2018 0