But others say she was just a grieving woman with a vivid and creative imagination. Whatever the reason behind her lifelong endeavor, the house that Sarah built is a popular tourist attraction that frequently makes recommended destination lists.
- Postcard showing the pre-earthquake Winchester House
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The Winchester legacy
Sarah Lockwood Winchester was the wife of William Wirt Winchester. Her husband’s family invented the Winchester rifle, named “the gun that won the west.” The two of them lived in New Haven until 1881 when William died of tuberculosis.
Rumor has it that Sarah then sought the advice of a medium who channeled her husband’s spirit. William told his wife that the tragedies of his own death and that of their six-week-old daughter were due to angry spirits that were after the family.
These were the ghosts of people who had died from a wound inflicted by a Winchester rifle. William told his wife she had to leave immediately and, since the ghosts would follow her, she had to build a house that would confound them.
In 1884, Sarah purchased 525 South Winchester Boulevard in San Jose, California, and started to create a Queen Anne-style Victorian mansion. Building work would continue almost constantly for the next 38 years.
A unique piece of architecture
Upon the death of her husband, Sarah had not only received a lump sum payment of $20.5 million ($550 million in 2020’s money), but also a 50% share in the Winchester Repeating Arms Company that earned her around $1,000 per day (equivalent to a daily salary of $27,000 in 2020).
Sarah poured all this money into building a unique house that ended up including 160 rooms, 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, and 47 stairways and fireplaces. At one point, it reached seven stories high. Unfortunately, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake reduced it down to just four levels.
According to the official Winchester Mystery House Twitter account, Sarah installed 57 skylights and designed the house to ensure that certain areas of the ground floor had natural light.
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