The Winchester Mystery House

I first read about the Winchester Mystery House when I was a teenager and a book about haunted houses. Years later, I had the chance to visit the house and I must tell you, just being in the house gave me the creeps.

The house is located near San Jose, California. It's huge but it's not exactly beautiful. It's a very odd shape. The story behind it is that the builder, Sarah Winchester, was heir to the Winchester rifle fortune. Her life was filled with tragedy, with her daughter dying before her first birthday and her husband dying young, too. She was a widow before she was 30.

She consulted a psychic (or maybe it was a fortune teller) who told her that the ghosts of Indians killed by Winchester rifles were the cause of her tragedies. The psychic told her to move west and build a house big enough for all of the spirits to live in and she would be okay.

Well, Sarah build on the Winchester Mansion for over 30 years. Construction went on 24 hours a day. The house is beautiful with amazing light fixtures and huge windows. The house was built without a plan, so it has stairs that go nowhere and doors that open to nothing. It winds around in places and in other places just looks like boxes tapped onto boxes.

I saw a special this week about the house on A and E. The people say she haunts a room in the center of the house. When I took the tour, back in 1990, I did ask a guide about ghosts and she said she had never felt anything or heard anything. But I think it was spooky. Has anyone else visited this house?