WINCHESTER HOUSE

William Winchester, born in June, 1837, is the founder of Winchester Repeating Arms Company. He was the son of Oliver Winchester. We have all seen those John Wayne Western movies with all the gunslingers fighting over cattle, beer, and women. Winchester rifles almost always figure prominently in such movies, and the tales told in the US and many other parts of the world revolve around the good old Winchester rifle.

Winchester began as the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company making Smith and Wesson weapons, and was later transformed into the New Haven Arms Company, with Oliver as the main shareholder, and after the war he reconfigured the Henry rifle to make the first Winchester. When Oliver passed on William inherited the business.

William married Sarah in 1862, and soon after their only child Annie died of marasmus [a metabolic disorder resulting in malnutrition and emaciation].

William died 4 months after his father in 1881.

Sarah became very concerned about the death of her husband at such an early age, and of course, over the death of their infant child. She consulted a medium [the Boston Medium] who told Sarah that she thought there was a curse on the family because of the lives lost from Winchester weapons.

Sarah commenced building what is now known as Winchester House in 1884, and paid for workmen and materials to keep building the house for 38 years. 38 years of building, night and day, seven days a week. There was no master plan. As parts were finished Sarah would decide that a new room or a new wing or a new patio had to be added.

On her death all building stopped. The estimated current cost of the building works is more than $70million. Today the house is a tourist attraction.

Inside the house there are doors that lead nowhere, stairs that lead up to a blank wall, and windows that open to another wall. Sarah’s work was done to appease and house the spirits of the dead that were shot with the Winchesters. It seems that Sarah also believed the house to be haunted by ghosts. This explains the doors leading nowhere, the stairs vanishing into walls, and the strange unplanned design of the house.

Her belief in the spirits, and the need to ward off those with malevolent intent, caused her to include many more subtle items in the house. The number 13 appears in unusual ways throughout. For example an expensive chandelier, when purchased, had 12 spokes. She had the whole thing redesigned to allow 13. And on each Friday the 13 th the huge bell in the grounds is rung 13 times at 13:00 hours [1PM].

She certainly looked after her unseen guests with the most up to date plumbing and appliances of the day right throughout the house.

I think I would like to take a tour of the house, but have some reservations after learning all these things. Either Sarah lost the plot a little, or maybe there is some truth in what she believed, and in how she managed to retain her sanity and peace of mind.