Building a home is a dream for many, especially for the wealthy, who strive for perfection in their designs and incorporate numerous features that make them proud among their peers. However, this vision contrasts sharply with the case of American heiress Sarah Winchester, who spent 40 years overseeing the construction of her mansion, famously known as the Winchester Mystery House. This house was designed with unique specifications for a peculiar purpose: to appease the ghosts she believed were haunting her or to mislead them about her location. It is not surprising to find stairs that lead to nowhere, doors that open into walls, or small, circular rooms, all due to the house being constructed without any architectural vision or blueprints. It is said that the designs were dictated by spirits.

The Winchester Mystery House sits on a sprawling estate in San Jose, California. It was conceived by Sarah Winchester, born in 1840 to a wealthy family, who was multilingual and educated in prestigious schools. Her marriage to businessman William Winchester was successful, and they had one daughter, Annie, who tragically died when Sarah was in her twenties. Her husband passed away more than a decade later, leaving her with a vast fortune estimated at around $20 million (equivalent to over $500 million in 2019) and 50% of his arms manufacturing company shares, providing her with a steady income of $1,000 per day (equivalent to $26,000 in 2019). After inheriting this immense wealth, Sarah sought advice from a medium she believed could summon her late husband’s spirit to inquire about how to use her fortune or what to do with her life. Although specific details of the session remain unclear, it is said that her husband’s spirit advised her to leave her Connecticut home and move west to California. Regarding her wealth, she was told to use it to build a house for the spirits of those who had fallen victim to Winchester rifles, fearing they would haunt her for the rest of her life.

Sarah Winchester followed this advice and, in 1884, purchased what later became known as the Winchester Mystery House. At the time of purchase, it was an incomplete small farm, but it quickly transformed as she hired carpenters to work around the clock to expand the small house into a seven-story mansion. Due to the lack of an architect, the house was built haphazardly, adding rooms to exterior walls, resulting in windows overlooking other rooms and stairs of varying sizes, giving each a distorted appearance. Many of the modifications appeared pointless: stairs rose to multiple levels only to end abruptly, doors opened onto solid walls, hallways twisted into corners, and passages ended in dead-ends. During its construction, Sarah insisted that the house be built entirely from redwood, but disliking its appearance, she ordered it painted. By the time the Winchester Mystery House was completed, over 20,000 gallons of paint had been used to cover the wood.

By the turn of the century, Sarah Winchester’s house had become a bizarre seven-story mansion with 161 rooms, 47 fireplaces, 10,000 panes of glass, two basements, and three elevators, featuring a mysterious interior reminiscent of a funhouse found in amusement parks. The Winchester Mystery House also contained golden and silver chandeliers hanging from ceilings, and dozens of stained glass windows adorned the walls, with one specifically intended to create a rainbow effect on the floor when light passed through it. Unfortunately, the window ended up on an interior wall, so the desired magical effect was never achieved. The plumbing and electrical work was more luxurious than its fixtures, with the house boasting indoor plumbing, including hot running water, and gas lights operated by a button available throughout the home. The heating system functioned smoothly throughout the house, but in 1904, a San Jose earthquake caused severe damage. However, thanks to its floating foundation, the house was saved from collapsing. Eventually, the top three floors were removed, leaving the house with only four floors as it stands today.

Throughout the construction of the Winchester Mystery House, its owner never confirmed that she was building a haunted house. Nevertheless, stories and rumors spread throughout the city. Contractors who worked on the house reported that Sarah Winchester held daily seances with local mediums in an attempt to contact “benevolent spirits” and consulted these spirits on how best to appease the souls she believed were the reason for the house’s construction. It is said that these spirits advised Sarah to make numerous illogical alterations to the house. After the construction was completed, Winchester continued her efforts to appease the spirits of her husband’s rifle victims or escape from them. Of the 13 bathrooms in the house, only one was operational, in an attempt to confuse any ghosts that might wish to haunt her. Additionally, she slept in a different room each night and used secret passageways to move from room to room to avoid being followed by spirits. This led city residents to gossip about her behavior. After Sarah Winchester’s death in September 1922, she left all her belongings to her niece, Marion, who had worked as her personal secretary later in life. The Winchester Mystery House was not mentioned in her will, adding to its mystery. Although appraisers deemed it worthless due to its odd design, earthquake damage, and prolonged construction, Marion sold everything inside, including the house itself, at auction. It took six weeks to clear the house of all furnishings, and once empty, the new owner purchased it for $135,000 and opened it to the public for tours.

Despite the Winchester Mystery House being completely cleared of its contents and re-furnished, it continued to hold many surprises. Stories circulated during Sarah Winchester’s life about a storage room in her house filled with over $25,000 (more than $300,000 today) in unexhibited treasures, including a unique spider-themed stained glass window. In 2016, a secret attic was discovered, and although there was no evidence that it was the same secret storage room with the treasure, it contained a Victorian-era pump, a sofa, a sewing machine, and various paintings. The rooms that had never been opened to the public, including parts of the house that remained incomplete at her death, were revealed a year later. Despite the many years that have passed, Sarah Winchester’s house still retains some secrets, prompting many Hollywood filmmakers to try to exploit its story for horror films.

Many mysteries about the Winchester Mystery House remain. Since Sarah Winchester’s death, little has been uncovered about her life and the reasons behind her obsession with building it. She did not give interviews, leave behind any journals, or have family members willing to discuss her. Occasionally, visitors to the house report feeling the presence of spirits that lived there for a long time, although investigations by paranormal experts have found nothing. Some say that Sarah may not have been building the house only for restless spirits but also for her own soul after her death.