The Winchester Mystery House™
Beautiful but Bizarre!
Winchester Mystery House™ is an extravagant maze of Victorian craftsmanship – marvelous, baffling, and eerily eccentric, to say the least. Tour guides must warn people not to stray from the group or they could be lost for hours! Countless questions come to mind as you wander through the mansion – such as, what was Mrs. Winchester thinking when she had a staircase built that descends seven steps and then rises eleven?
Some of the architectural oddities may have practical explanations. For example, the Switchback Staircase, which has seven flights with forty four steps, rises only about nine feet, since each step is just two inches high. Mrs. Winchester arthritis was quite severe in her later years, and the stairway may have been designed to accommodate her disability. The miles of twisting hallways are made even more intriguing by secret passageways in the walls. Mrs. Winchester traveled through her house in a roundabout fashion, supposedly to confuse any mischievous ghosts that might be following her.
This wild and fanciful description of Mrs. Winchester’s nightly prowl to the Séance Room appeared in The American Weekly in 1928, six years after her death:
“When Mrs. Winchester set out for her Séance Room, it might well have discouraged the ghost of the Indian or even of a bloodhound, to follow her. After traversing an interminable labyrinth of rooms and hallways, suddenly she would push a button, a panel would fly back and she would step quickly from one apartment into another, and unless the pursuing ghost was watchful and quick, he would lose her. Then she opened a window in that apartment and climbed out, not into the open air, but onto the top of a flight of steps that took her down one story only to meet another flight that brought her right back up to the same level again, all inside the house. This was supposed to be very discomforting to evil spirits who are said to be naturally suspicious of traps.”
The House Built By The Spirits.
Winchester’s Building Methods
According to legend, Mrs. Winchester enacted a nightly séance to help with her building plans and for protection from “bad” spirits. While she sometimes drew up simple sketches of the building ideas, there were never any blueprints….or building inspectors! In the morning, she would meet with John Hansen, her dutiful foreman, and go over new changes and additions.During the early years of construction, this resulted in some awkward and impractical concepts such as columns being installed upside down – though some suggest this was done deliberately to confuse the evil spirits.
But this is how the Winchester Mystery House™ became known as “the house built by the spirits.” John Hansen stayed with Mrs. Winchester for many years, redoing scores of rooms, remodeling them one week and tearing them apart the next.
It is doubtful whether John Hansen ever questioned his boss. Mrs. Winchester may have been trying to confuse evil spirits, or simply making mistakes, but there were no budget ceilings or deadlines to meet. This resulted in many features being dismantled, built around, or sealed over. Some rooms were remodeled many times. It is estimated that 500 rooms to 600 rooms were built, but because so many were redone, only 160 remain. This naturally resulted in some peculiar effects, such as stairs that lead to the ceiling, doors that go nowhere and that open onto walls, and chimneys that stop just short of the roof!
Furnishings
Once a room was completed, and most importantly, not targeted for further alterations, it was adorned with some of the best furnishings money could buy. Mrs. Winchester appreciated beauty, and she was a woman with exquisite taste. Freight cars loaded with gold and silver plated chandeliers, imported Tiffany art glass windows then valued up to $1,500 each, German silver and bronze inlaid doors at twice that amount, Swiss molded bathtubs, rare precious woods like mahogany and rosewood, and countless other items were docked onto a side track at San Jose. Everything was then transported to the house where much of the material was never even installed. At the time of Mrs. Winchester’s death in 1922, there were rooms full of ornate treasures still waiting to find a niche in the massive home.Parquet Floors
Among the most remarkable features of the house are the parquet floors. One craftsman worked for thirty-three years doing nothing but building, installing, and tearing up the floors! They are made of mahogany, rosewood, teak, maple, oak and white ash, arranged in impressive mosaics. Mrs. Winchester’s favorite bedroom, the one in which she died, has a notably special floor. It is laid so that the sunlight streaming through the windows appears to change the dark strips to light, and then back again, when viewed from the opposite ends of the room.Art Glass
Though Mrs. Winchester could be very frugal in her approach to building, at times she was extravagant as a person could be. The mansion’s dazzling art glass windows are a good example of her exquisite taste. Many were made to order in Austria and imported by Tiffany’s of New York. They are spectacularly designed, utilizing both concave and convex glass “frames” inset with glittering “jewels.” Mrs. Winchester herself designed the special daisy and spiderweb patterns that are embedded in many of the window. The daisy was her favorite flower, and some believe the spiderweb pattern had a special occult meaning for her.Cabinets
The finest cabinetmakers toiled for years, using richly polished woods, to create built-in chests with deep drawers and tremendous bins and lockers. Inside were stored the rarest satins and silks; hand-embroidered linens from China, Ireland, and the Philippines; and bolt upon bolt of elegantly woven cloth from Persia and India. Legend has it that Mrs. Winchester bought whole bolts of material so that nobody else in the valley would have the same pattern.Hall of Fires
Because of the mansion’s immense size, it contained forty-seven fireplaces and seventeen chimneys. One rambling section in particular, the Hall of Fires, was designed to produce as much heat as possible – perhaps to ease Mrs. Winchester’s extreme arthritis. In addition to many windows that let the sunlight stream through, the three adjoining rooms have four fireplaces and three hot air registers from the coal furnace in the basement.The Grand Ballroom
Mrs. Winchester’s elegant Grand Ballroom is built almost entirely without nails. It cost over $9,000 to complete at a time when an entire house could be built for less than $1,000! The silver chandelier is from Germany, and the walls and parquet floor are made of six hardwoods – mahogany, teak, maple, rosewood, oak, and white ash.The most curious element of the Grand Ballroom are the two leaded stained glass windows, each inscribed with a quote from Shakespeare. The first, “Wide unclasp the table of their thoughts,” is from Troilus and Cressida (IV:5:60). The lines are spoken by Ulysses, and refer to Cressida’s sometimes flirting nature. The second, “These same thoughts people this little world,” is from Richard II (V:5:9). The imprisoned Richard means that his thoughts people the small world of his confinement. Nobody knows for certain what these lines meant to Mrs. Winchester. While they apparently held some special meaning for Mrs. Winchester, their significance remains a mystery today.
Ironically, the ballroom was probably never used to hold a ball. According to one story, Mrs. Winchester once heard that a celebrated orchestra was performing in San Francisco. She invited the musicians to play at her home, but scheduling conflicts prevented the visit. In any case, Mrs. Winchester sealed off the ballroom after the earthquake of 1906.
The 1906 Earthquake
If Mrs. Winchester took precautions to enlist the aid of friendly spirits, they were nevertheless unable to protect her from the Great San Francisco Bay Area Earthquake of 1906. The quake registered 8.3 on the Richter scale and stretched all the way from Oregon to Los Angeles. It severely damaged Mrs. Winchester’s home, toppling the seven-story Observation Tower and some cupolas. She herself was badly shaken, trapped in her favorite Daisy Bedroom near the front of the mansion. It took servants several hours to locate her and then pry open the bedroom door and rescue her.Its is said that Mrs. Winchester felt the earthquake was a warning from the spirits that she had spent too much money on the front section of the house, which was nearing completion. After having the structural damage repaired, she immediately ordered the front thirty rooms – including the Daisy Bedroom, Grand Ballroom, and the beautiful front doors – sealed up.
The heavy, ornate front doors, which had been installed just prior to the earthquake, had only been used by three people – Mrs. Winchester and the two carpenters who installed them.
Exterior Architecture
The outside of the mansion received nearly as much care and attention as the inside. The cast external facade is bursting with Queen Anne Victorian architecture feature like turrets, towers, curved walls, cupolas, cornices, and balconies, all outlined with finely detailed trimwork.When viewed from different angles, the towers, some topped by ornamental spires called finials, give the house a castlelike appearance.
A House Built For Spirits?
We may never know for sure if Mrs. Winchester built her house to accommodate the spirits, but over the years the story has come down that she believed her life was unavoidably affected by departed souls. Presumably she wanted to be friendly with the “good” spirits and avoid the “bad” spirits – and the way to be friendly with the “good” spirit, it seemed, was to build them a nice place to visit.According to this theory, Mrs. Winchester accommodated the friendly spirits by giving them special attention. For example, it is said that there were only three mirrors in the entire house at the time of Mrs. Winchester’s death. Legend has it that spirits hate mirrors, since the sight of their reflection causes them to vanish.
This is why Mrs. Winchester’s servants and secretary reportedly used only hand mirrors or went without.
The mansion also contained a profusion of light sources, from gas jets and countless candles, to electric light bulbs. Supposedly spirits feel conspicuous and humiliated by shadows, since they cannot cast their own.
Was Mrs. Winchester making a special effort to please her spirits companions?
In any case, for nearly thirty-eight years, the round-the-clock sawing, sanding, and hammering at the Winchester Mystery House™ never ceased – not even on weekends or holidays. It was never a rush job. Mrs. Winchester had all the time in the world – at least, all the time needed to maintain a steady pace. With her financial freedom, she was content to honor whatever whims came from her imagination and from the spirits she believed were guiding her
The Lore
Fact or Fiction?
Speculation is bound to pursue a wealthy, eccentric recluse like Mrs. Winchester. Many wild rumors circulated about her during her residence in San Jose – her house was even known locally as “The Spirit House” – and some say the rumors may have actually added to Mrs. Winchester’s isolation. But when she died peacefully in her sleep at the age of eighty-two, the curiosity of local people was unleashed.
Mrs. Winchester The Spy
Bizarre explanations of how Mrs. Winchester had lived flourished. Many long-time employees became very superstitious over the years and even believed that Mrs. Winchester could walk through solid walls and unopened doors. She did, in fact, have elaborate spying features built into the house to keep an eye on her servants. There are also stories of how she sometimes appeared noiselessly behind them to watch them work.
An Amazing Memory
Mrs. Winchester was renowned for her memory. She knew the location of every item on her estate and kept track of it all, even down to the last screw. After her death, a workman told of the time he was asked to repair a gate, which he did using six colored screws from one of the storerooms. Later, when Mrs. Winchester discovered the screws were missing and asked if he knew where they were, she reportedly said, “Those screws were gold plated! I was saving them for something special. Let’s using something cheaper.”
The Lady’s Demands
Mrs. Winchester occasionally tested the loyalty of her help. Once she told a painter to paint the walls and ceiling of an entire room with red enamel; three days later, she had him repaint the same room white. Another time, she was trying to decide which of 3 applicants to hire as a new gardener. She asked each to plant a row of cabbages upside down. The first did so with-out saying anything, and the second refused her request. The third one agreed to do so but suggested to Mrs. Winchester that cabbages were normally planted with the roots in the ground. The third gardener got the job. He was not afraid to speak up, but recognized that Mrs. Winchester was the Boss!
In 1924, Harry Houdini toured the house on a midnight visit in his attempt to communicate with the spirits.
A Nephew Comes To Call
Mrs. Winchester could be curt and dismissive, even to her own relatives – but she usually had her reasons. Once a nephew from the east coast made the long train trip, supposedly to pay his respects to “Auntie Sarah.” However, she guessed exactly what he was after. Upon his arrival, he was met by a maid carrying a silver tray with a check on it. The young man never set foot in the house.
The Visit Of A President
No amount of effort has resolved conflicting versions of current events, such as this one involving President Theodore Roosevelt. One story goes that the President, who was an ardent fan of Winchester firearms, was on his way to the nearby town of Campbell. Knowing that he would pass by Mrs. Winchester’s house, he sent a message to her saying that he would stop to pay his respects.
Some say the President personally knocked on the front door. No one answered, and one of the gardeners, failing to recognize him, told him to go around back “just like everyone else.” The President reportedly felt insulted and left. Another account says that the San Jose Chamber of Commerce tried to arrange this visit for President Roosevelt, but Mrs. Winchester turned them down with a sharp no!
Mrs. Winchester’s Organ
Mrs. Winchester was an accomplished musician. She regularly practiced the pump organ, and she undoubtedly fueled many rumors about the spirits in the great house by playing late at night. Later in life, Mrs. Winchester suffered from severe arthritis, and she felt the disease mainly in her hands. It is believed that by playing the organ she was able to keep her fingers from deteriorating.
The Safe
After Mrs. Winchester’s death, her safe was opened with much anticipation. However, no fortune was found within – only reminders of her deceased husband and daughter. The safe contained fishing lines, newspaper clippings, socks, underwear, and a lock of baby’s hair in a tiny purple velvet box. The New Haven newspaper clipping along with it was from the obituaries and read, “WINCHESTER. In this city, July 24, 1866. Annie Pardee, infant daughter of William Wirt Winchester and Sarah L. Winchester.”
The Wine Cellar
There may be a real treasure hidden away in the Winchester mansion. At one time Mrs. Winchester enjoyed the finest vintage wines and liqueurs. But one evening when she went to the wine cellar to locate a special bottle, she came across a clack handprint on the wall. It was most likely a dirt smudge left by a workman, yet she took it as a omen and ordered the cellar boarded up. To this day the wine cellar has not been rediscovered, which means that there might still be spirits in the Winchester Mystery House™ – if only the intoxicating kind!
Mrs. Winchester And The Spirits
It has been said that Mrs. Winchester slept in a different bedroom every night, supposedly in order to confuse evil spirits. Some say that she also held special dinner parties for her spirit friends. Legend has it that she would serve her phantom guests in gold plates, offering them dishes like caviar, truffles, and pheasant stuffed with pate. On the other hand, this theory might have come from rumors about the mansion’s well-fed servants!
Houdini
Though Houdini is the most remembered for his magic shows and his feats as an escape artist, he also devoted much of his time to exposing fraudulent practices by mediums. In 1924, on one of his many lecture and magic tours, he stopped in for a private midnight tour and séance at the Winchester House. Unfortunately, the results of his late-night excursion have been lost to time, but his visit was written about in the Portland Oregon Daily Journal, in November 1924.
A Caretaker’s Story
Over the years many people have occupied the massive home, wither the caretakers or as students of psychic phenomena. Brent Miller and his wife were caretakers of the mansion from 1973 to 1981.
He reported several odd incidents, like hearing someone breathe in an empty room, and hearing footsteps in the bedroom where Mrs. Winchester died. One night, he was awakened by the sound of a screw being unscrewed, then hitting the floor and bouncing onto a carpet runner. He jumped out of bed and explored the house, but found nothing.
In another incident, a friend of Miller’s came over one New Year’s Eve and took pictures of the house with a brand new camera. When the film was developed, there was a picture of moving lights and a ghostly figure of a man in coveralls. Only one negative produced this image, and the rest of the film was normal.
Paranormal Investigators
In the Winchester Mystery House™, some people have temporarily lost their eyesight, felt icy chills in spots where there were no drafts, and seen locked doorknobs turn. Researchers of the paranormal have spent the night in the house, employing their special skills to investigate these claims and dispel any wild rumors.
The Nirvana Foundation
Five researchers from the Nirvana Foundation, a psychic research institute in California, spent the night in the mansion, setting up electric equipment to record any psychic occurrences. Definite organ sounds were picked up by the tape recorder, and while walking through the house, the entire group saw moving lights.
Two members of the group, psychic investigators Sylvia Brown and Antoinette May, claimed to see great balls of red light in Mrs. Winchester’s bedroom. Brown also described two spirits, a man and woman, watching the group across the room. The clothing they wore was appropriate to the time of Mrs. Winchester, and it was thought that they might be the spirits of departed servants.
A Modern-Day Séance
On Halloween in 1975, Jeanne Borgen, one of California’s foremost psychic investigators, conducted a midnight séance in the bedroom where Mrs. Winchester died. The results were reported by Alvin T. Guthertz in the magazine Psychic World:
“Suddenly it appeared as if Mrs. Borgen’s face had somehow aged – her hair appeared grey and deep lines creased her forehead. She felt staggering pain and was unable to walk. It was as if she were having a heart attack and, as she started to fall, she shouted, “Help me. Someone get me out of here!”
Jeanne Borgen awoke a short time later. Her breathing was then normal; the pain, or what had seemed like pain, was gone….”She was an overpowering woman, a powerful woman. I felt a tremendous buildup of energy.”
The Number 13
Which many believe was intended to ward off the Haunted Souls
Whether or not one believes in Mrs. Winchester’s superstitions about spirits, it’s harder to dismiss occurrences of the number 13 throughout the house. Many windows have 13 panes and there are 13 bathrooms, with 13 windows in the 13th Bathroom. There are also 13 wall panels in the room prior to the 13th Bathroom, and 13 steps leading to that bathroom. The Carriage Entrance Hall floor is divided into 13 cement sections. There are even 13 hooks in the Séance Room, which supposedly held the different colored robes Mrs. Winchester wore while communing with the spirits.
It’s interesting to note that Mrs. Winchester’s will had 13 parts and was signed by her 13 times!
Here are even more thirteens: 13 rails by the floor-level skylight in the South Conservatory, 13 steps on many of the stairways, 13 squares on each side of the Otis electric elevator, 13 glass cupolas on the Greenhouse, 13 holes in the sink drain covers, 13 ceiling panels in some of the rooms, and 13 gas jets on the Ballroom chandelier. (Mrs. Winchester had the thirteenth one added!)
Restoration and Upkeep
A Work in Progress...
Just like the original construction, restoration and maintenance work at the Winchester Mystery House™ never stops. The actual amount of material required is staggering. For example, its over 20,000 gallons of paint to cover the exterior – and by the time the workers have finished, they have to start all over again!
Continuous work is being done on the massive structure, with carpenters, painters, and gardeners toiling away just as they did during Mrs. Winchester’s day. The sons and grandsons of Mrs. Winchester’s original employees have been some of these workmen! Since 1973, millions of dollars have been invested to ensure that this unique landmark will be preserved as the premiere showcase of Santa Clara Valley’s gracious past.
The restoration work is very demanding. Each curved shingle has to be hand cut before being nailed down onto a turret. All of the doors and windows have to be specially shaped and angled. “There’s not a square corner in the house,” says one of the craftsmen who has been working on the restoration of the house for over fourteen years.
A single room can take months to be perfectly redone. Often the hardware, Victorian fixtures, moldings and other materials have to be specially ordered or manufactured on the spot to match the originals.
Fortunately, Mrs. Winchester had a substantial supply of replacement materials on hand, such as windows with magnifying glass, priceless Tiffany doors, and rolls of beautiful Lincrusta wall coverings imported from England.
Almost everything will be restored, although you can find spots where the cracked plaster hasn’t been fixed after the 1906 earthquake. This has been left on purpose, like a frozen moment in time, to show people how the house actually looked when Mrs. Winchester lived there.
An ongoing search continues for fine examples of period furnishings, similar to what Mrs. Winchester herself would have used. Her original furnishings were auctioned off after her death and have never been recovered.
The job overseeing the restoration is a painstaking one. The historical accuracy of every project is researched and approved by the Restoration Board of Directors. Winchester Mystery House™ receives no funds from any government agency; the continuous restoration and maintenance programs are funded entirely from tour, café, and gift shop revenues. Since 1973, millions of dollars have been invested to ensure that this unique landmark will be preserved as the premier showcase of the Santa Clara Valley’s gracious past.
The Gardens and Grounds
of Victorian Elegance...
A mansion is not a mansion without its stately grounds, and Mrs. Winchester was just as attentive to the exterior of her estate as she was to the sprawling house. An avid gardener, she imported plants, flowers, trees, shrubs, and herbs from over 110 countries around the world. Some of the original plantings still flourish today – among them, 100-year-old rose bushes, ferns, and feather and fan date palms.
Mrs. Winchester employed eight to ten gardeners. Her head gardener was “Tommy” Nishiwara, who was responsible for seeing that the beautiful gardens, plus the tall hedge around the house, were well maintained. It is said the hedges were once so tall that only the top floor of the house was visible from the road! Mrs. Winchester loved to spend time in her gardens, and she had gazebos built where she could sit and enjoy her trees and flowers. After her death in 1922, the grounds were opened to the public as Winchester Park, where Santa Clara Valley residents came to have parties and picnics.
Over the years, time took its toll on the gardens, but they were brought to life again when the restoration of the estate began in 1973. Nearly 12,000 box wood hedges were planted along the pathways that wind through the gardens. In addition, all the lawns were replanted, and some 1,500 major plants, shrubs, and trees were replaced. Today the home and its gardens are once again the showplace of the Santa Clara Valley, a reminder of the area’s gracious past.
Today, visitors can wander on the original garden paths designed by Mrs. Winchester for viewing the extensive plantings, fountains and outlying buildings.
The Victorian Gardens
In some ways, the design of the gardens is typically Victorian, with geometric designs and neatly trimmed shrubs. The emphasis is placed on the front yard, with many exotic plants and bright flowers such as roses and bulbs.
Though Mrs. Winchester had her own ideas, she often referred to a book of horticulture published in 1841 by A.J. Downing, which was still popular at the turn of the century.
Like most Victorian gardens, Mrs. Winchester’s grounds included plants with medicinal uses. For example, persimmons were supposedly a cure for intestinal disorders. The fruit of the sourberry bush was said to purify the blood, and peonies were thought to cure headaches. Even rose plants could be made into an eye lotion for medicinal purposes.
Trees
The trees on the property are from all over the world – European black locust, English yew and English walnut, Peruvian pepper, Spanish and Norfolk pines, and more. The unique collection includes a towering monkey puzzle tree, as well as persimmons, grapefruits, oranges, catalpas, lemons, bayleafs, and pink flower crepe myrtle. Some of these, like the English yew by the corner of the garage, and the large elm tree near the back of the house, are original plantings.
Flowers
Flowers abound throughout the grounds, including Mrs. Winchester’s favorite, the daisy. There are also abundant beds of star jasmine and pink Indian hawthorne.
During Mrs. Winchester’s lifetime, the Greenhouse was used to cultivate and nurture flowers which, when ready, were brought into the mansion for display. Later, they would be returned to the Greenhouse and tended to again. In this way, the lushness of the living space was constantly replenished.
Fountains and Statuary
Four fountains add a soothing touch to the cultivated grounds in the front of the house. They include the Egret Fountain, the Cupid Fountain, the Cherub Fountain, and the Serpent Fountain.
One of the best known statues here is that of Chief Little Fawn, a Native American who died defending his homeland. It is said that Mrs. Winchester erected this statue to placate the spirits of the hundreds of thousands of Indians who were killed by the Winchester repeating rifles. The chief, with his bow and arrow, is gazing towards a statuary deer in the midstride across the lawn.
Other statues represent figures from Greek mythology. One of these, located by the Serpent Fountain, is the Greek goddess of agriculture, Demeter.
Orchards
Mrs. Winchester transformed her 161-acre estate into a working farm. The orchards produced bountiful crops of plums, apricots, and walnuts. She kept about ten field hands busy all year long and hired an additional ten to fifteen men at harvest time.
After being picked and boxed in the field, the fruit was dried in Mrs. Winchester’s special dehydrator, which had a large coal furnace and could dry half a ton of fruit in thirty hours. Most of this fruit was sold at market to supplement Mrs. Winchester’s income. Her orchards were listed in the early San Jose City directories for fruit growers.
Practical Amenities
Mrs. Winchester’s estate was a little town within itself. She had everything she needed: plumber’s shops, her own water and electrical supplies, and complete sewer and drainage systems.
Until the 1930's, the thirty-five-foot water tower on the grounds supported a 10,000 gallon storage tank – the main water supply for the estate. The elaborate water drainage system is still in use today. Miles of drainpipe run through the house into several collection basins. Then the water is carried to several cisterns around the house.
In the past, gas pumps fueled an electric generator which produced electricity for lighting, several pumps, and the Otis electric elevator. In the days before electricity, Mrs. Winchester even had her own gas manufacturing plant. It produced carbide gas by adding a small amount of water to a drum containing calcium carbide. The resulting gas was pressed through the gas lines to the house by a large piston and cylinder. The gas lights in the house were then lit by electromechanical strikers that created a spark to light each lamp.
Mrs. Winchester’s Cars
With the advent of the automobile, Mrs. Winchester spent an extravagant $8,400 for a 1909 French Renault with a battery-operated starter – quite a luxury back then. When mechanical problems became an annoyance, she called in Fred Larson, a mechanic from San Francisco. After he fixed the car, she offered him a high salary to work just for her, but he declined. Mrs. Winchester persisted by finally asking him to name his price. To his surprise, she instantly accepted his seemingly outrageous request.
Fred Larson remained with Mrs. Winchester until she died. His duties included the maintenance of two more vehicles Mrs. Winchester acquired, a 1917 Pierce Arrow limousine, black and grey with lavender pin stripes, and a Buick truck for inspecting the estate.
The estate’s garage is now used as a storeroom for leftover building materials – trimwork, moldings, windows, turned posts and spirals, and more. Adjacent to the garage is the carwash, which had two ingenious adaptations for the time. Not only was the water heated, but the hose was attached to a 360 degree rotating pipe in the ceiling, in order to spray all parts of the car.
Mysteries on the Grounds
The grounds have their share of unexplained mysteries. Even the name Mrs. Winchester gave her estate, Llanada Villa, is a mystery. The words are Spanish for “house on flat land,” but no one knows what special meaning they had for Mrs. Winchester.
The number 13 occurs often on the grounds as well as in the house; for example, there are 13 cupolas in the greenhouse and 13 fan palms lining the front driveway.
The design on the estate’s wrought iron gates was thought to have a spiritualistic meaning for Mrs. Winchester – but we can only guess what that might have been. And then, in the inner courtyard, there is a crescent-shaped hedge that points toward Mrs. Winchesters bedroom – the one where she died. Coincidence? Maybe….but again, we’ll never know for sure.
The Museums
Winchester Historic Firearms & Antique Products
The Winchester Historic Firearms Museums has one of the largest collections of Winchester rifles on the west coast.
Oliver Fisher Winchester was an entrepreneur who made a fortune in the shirt manufacturing business during the 1830’s and 1840’s. He took over a bankrupt arms manufacturing company in New Haven, Connecticut in 1857, which eventually became the Winchester Repeating Arms Company.
The Gun That Won The West!
The Repeating Rifle
B. Tyler Henry, the plant manager, developed the famous Henry Repeating Rifle in 1860. In 1866, improvements were made to the Henry Rifle. The redesigned model then became the first Winchester Repeating Rifle. The year 1873 brought more improvements – including a steel mechanism and heavier center fire cartridges – and the model released that year is popularly known as “The Gun That Won The West.”
All these historic rifles, and many other firearms from around the world, are on display in the Winchester Firearms Museum. The museum’s collection includes firearms that are hundreds of years old, as well as the famous Limited Edition Winchester commemorative rifles – among them the Centennial ’66, the Theodore Roosevelt, and the renowned John Wayne.
After World War I, the demand for military arms in America was substantially reduced. As a result, during the 1920’s the Winchester Arms Company shifted production to a new and growing market – household and sporting goods. Under the slogan, “More Than Just The Gun,” the Winchester Products Company developed a product line that touched virtually every aspect of American life. At one time there were 6,300 Winchester franchise stores throughout the country. Ordering the products through the Winchester mail-order catalog was also extremely popular.
Some of Winchester’s best known products include roller skates with double-row ball bearings, advertised as “The Skate with a Backbone – Lightweight, Most Mileage, Utmost Strength.” Winchester safety razors were said to be “As Good As The Gun.” Winchester fishing tackle was famous, and the company produced a full of line of tools like hammers, planes, saws, wrenches, and more. There were “focusing flashlights,” batteries, ice boxes, locks, scissors, cutlery, tongs, meat grinders, paint and varnish, pots and pans – even footballs and bicycles!
The Winchester Antique Products Museum, located in the gazebo adjacent to the Winchester Gift Shoppe, has many of these items on display, along with Winchester Product Company advertisers posters, which show how Winchester products were marketed to the American public.
Winchester Mystery House™ Tours
Guided Tours Daily
Grand Estate Tour
Also included in the Grand Estate Tour are the Historic Firearms Museum, which houses the largest collections of Winchester Rifles on the West Coast, and the Antique Products Museum. The Antique Products Museum displays a wide variety of everyday products manufactured by the Winchester Firearms Company in the early 1900’s.
Tour Length: 2 Hours, 30 Minutes
Mansion Tour
Tour through 110 of the 160 rooms and look for the bizarre phenomena that gave the mansion its name; a window built into the floor, staircases leading to nowhere, a chimney that rises four floors, doors that open onto blank walls, and upside down posts! No one has been able to explain the mysteries that exist within the Winchester Mansion, or why Sarah Winchester kept the carpenters' hammers pounding 24 hours a day for 38 years. It is believed that after the untimely deaths of her baby daughter and husband, son of the Winchester Rifle manufacturer, Mrs. Winchester was convinced by a medium that continuous building would appease the evil spirits of those killed by the famous "Gun that Won the West" and help her attain eternal life. Certainly her $20,000,000 inheritance was sufficient to support her obsession until her death at 82!
We also have great Group Tours! Click here for more information
Tour Length: 1 Hour, 5 Minutes
Behind The Scenes Tour
The guided Behind-the-Scenes Tour adds another dimension to the mystery which surrounds Sarah Winchester’s estate while simultaneously offering both a glimpse at an earlier lifestyle and showing the elegance of a lost but gracious era. The Behind-the-Scenes tour shows what made the estate self sustaining, and in reality, a town of its own. Prior to “Silicon Valley,” the San Jose area was known as the “Valley of the Hearts Delight” because of all the fruit orchards and farms. The Winchester estate had over 160 acres of farm and orchard land where prunes, apricots, and walnuts were grown, dried, and then sold at markets under Mrs. Winchester’s own label. This unique tour takes guests into areas which had been unexplored for over 75 years. Tour stops include the Stables, Fruit Drying Shed, Plumber's workshop, Garage, Greenhouse, the unfinished Ballroom, and Basement. The highlight of the Behind-the-Scenes Tour is a journey down into the basement of this 160-room mansion. The basement houses the coal burning furnace where visitors will see the original furnace and directions from the Herendeen Company of Geneva, New York.
Tour Length: 55 Minutes
Garden Tour
A visit to the Winchester Mystery House™ is not complete until you have strolled through the beautiful Victorian gardens that surround it. Great care has been taken to restore the grounds to that time when Sarah Winchester had a full-time staff of eight gardeners, and imported trees, shrubs, and flowers from all parts of the world. Nearly 14,000 miniature boxwood hedges, large flowering Carolina cherry laurels, plants, and flowers have been replanted to provide beautiful color year-round. Numerous handcrafted European lead statues and elaborate fountains have been restored. You will see the original mythological statues including Mother Nature, Cupid, a cherub, hippocampus, American Indian, deer, egret, frogs and swans. Mrs. Winchester's fascination with the supernatural is evident in the gardens, where you can count 13 California Fan Palms lining the front driveway! The self-guided Garden Tour includes a guide map and narrative tapes at the 10 major points of interest. Guests also see the green house, garage, car wash, pump and tank houses. Wheelchair guests are invited to tour the Gardens and Historic Firearms Museum as our guests and at no charge (unfortunately the Mansion Tour is NOT accessible to wheel chairs or infant strollers.)
2011 Rates*
Tour Type | Adults (13-64) | Seniors (65+) | Children (6-12) |
Grand Estate Tour | $35.00 | $32.00 | $30.00 |
| Includes Mansion & Behind-the-Scenes Tours. | Children 5 and under are not allowed due to safety concerns | ||
Mansion Tour | $30.00 | $27.00 | $20.00 |
| Children under 5 are free with a paying adult | |||
Behind-the-Scenes Tour | $27.00 | $26.00 | $24.00 |
| Children 5 and under are not allowed due to safety concerns. | |||
Annual Pass | $60.00 | $60.00 | $60.00 |
2011 Schedule*
| Open | Last Estate Tour* SUN-THU | Last Estate Tour* FRI/SAT | Last Mansion Tour* SUN-THU | Last Mansion Tour* FRI/SAT | |
| 1/1 - 3/31 | 8am | 3pm | 3pm | 5pm | 5pm |
| 4/1 - 6/30 | 8am | 5pm | 5pm | 7pm | 7pm |
| 7/1 - 9/29 | 8am | 5pm | 5pm | 7pm | 7pm |
| 9/30 - 12/31 | 8am | 3pm | 3pm | 5pm | 5pm |
