Do you know the way to San Jose? Winchester House

Do you know the way to San Jose?
If you do, you could find yourself visiting  a strange and complex house.
You could be forgiven if you thought the story of the Winchester Mystery House was a film script, but it's not.

Built by Sarah the widow of William Wilt Winchester, who's family firm produced the Winchester Repeating Rifle, the weapon that is said to 'have won the west'. It certainly gave the Northern Union army an advantage over their Southern Confederate opponents.

Fabulous wealth resulted, the Winchester Repeating Company was founded and William and Sarah were married in 1862.
Sadly, Sarah and William lost their daughter Annie in 1866 when only nine days old, Sarah is sad to have been on the brink of madness.
She and William never had another child, and it took her ten years to get over the death of her baby.
William, himself died in 1881, as a result of pulmonary T.B., leaving Sara desolate at her loss, she consulted a medium, known as the Boston Medium.
This woman told Sarah she was cursed because of the weapon that her husband had designed and had resulted in so many deaths.
She told Sarah, 'to go West and build a home to appease the spirits and continue building,' it was said that the day Sarah stopped building she would die.
Sarah lefter her home in New Haven Connecticut, arrived in San Jose, California and began building what is now known as the Winchester Mystery House.

Fabulous wealthy in those days, she had inherited $20.5 million from her husbands estate, and 50%of the shares of The Winchester Repeating Rifle Company which gathered her $1,000 in interest a day. None of it taxable until 1913.

She began building her home in 1884 at the age of 45, and continued for the rest of her life.
Work carried on in the house day and night, it reached seven stories high but the earthquake in 1906 reduced it to 4 stories. It is said the house has a 'floating foundation' and every modern facility was incorporated into is building. Plans drawn up daily by Sarah, the fittings and fixtures included , Tiffany glass windows, elevators, a sewer system and gaslight operated by pushing a button.
There are staircases leading nowhere, windows looking onto walls, corridors that end in a wall.
The estate originally 162 acres is now reduced to 4.5 acres, which includes the house and some buildings around it.
Sarah lived in this house for 38 years, with the building going on around her night and day.
Already one to believe in seances, she is said to have held one every night, communicating with her husband and the angry spirits.
When Sarah died September 5th 1922, the building stopped.

The house is now said to be certified Haunted by the U.S. Government.

The ghosts said to haunt this house is Sarah herself, workmen, and a face that peers in one of the windows.

Robert L Ripley, saw the house and commented on it in his column.
The house was sold to investor's after Sarah's death, who planned to open it as a tourist attraction.

Staff and visitors have had strange experiences, but that could be the sloping floors and the disoriented floor plan of the house.
Whether one of America's wealthiest woman squandered her life building after a message from a medium that was 'misleading' to say the least, or Sarah, herself, did commune with the spirits.

You can see the house and find out about touring it on the following site
www.winchestermysteryhouse.com

http://www.prairieghosts.com/winchester.html[/b]

This is one place I would love to go and see. Its very sad when you think of all that money she spent building that house in the way she did all because one medium told her too etc. Think of all the good she could have done with that money. I think from memory TAPS went there and said they thought it was not haunted?

The layout is suppose to be very higilty piggility, and very disorientating.
I think the sense of confusion would lead to a person getting spooked!

Not only that but I think there is a few traps set as well from what I can remember that if you open certain doors you will fall down into the room below which would cause serious injury.

It used to be seven stories high, the earthquake dropped it down to four, and they built around rooms that were already built.
I can't remember if my parents have been there but I do remember, that my dad brought me back a leaflet that got lost about it.
So they have either visited it, or were going to.