Winchester Mystery House

     You will never see another house like this one, nowhere, no way. The Winchester Mystery House is equal parts grandeur and madness, with 10,000 window panes—more than the Empire State Building, many of them Tiffany glass and some that open onto blank walls. There are also 2,000 doors, some that open outward to eight-foot drops. In all, you’ll see 110 of the 160 rooms during a walking tour at the House. Wear sturdy shoes.
     Call it the House That Guilt Built. Sarah Winchester, haunted by the death of her only child in infancy and the subsequent death of her husband when she was 41, visited a psychic to ask why. He said it was the spirits of all the people killed by Winchester rifles, the source of her husband’s wealth, whose spirits had cursed her family. He recommended she build a house for herself and the spirits and to never stop making it larger.
     Odd advice, but she took it heart. For 38 years until her death in 1922, construction proceeded nonstop. Sarah served as architect and designer, which explains at lot. And because she was the Bill Gates of her time, with the Winchester money still flowing in, no expense was spared.
    On the tour through the 24,000-square-foot redwood home’s maze of rooms, you will see $3 million in never-installed Tiffany doors and windows in a storage room; two-inch risers instead of stairs to accommodate Sarah’s severe arthritis; a 7.5-mile web of fire sprinklers; 24 rooms full of Victorian-era furniture; 47 fireplaces; and six kitchens to feed the dozens of full-time builders and servants.
     First-time visitors should take the Mansion Tour ($28 adults, $25/ages 65+, $22/ages 6-12). If this is your second visit, try the Behind-the-Scenes Tour ($25, $24 and $24), which goes more in-depth on the day-to-day operation of the estate during its construction. Or take the deluxe Grand Estate Tour, which combines elements of both tours ($33, $30 and $30). Each takes about an hour.
     Afterward, enjoy a self-guided walking tour through the botanical gardens, which lead you past many statues, fountains and outbuildings, including a foreman’s house, carriage house, greenhouse and aviary. There are also two free mini-museums to visit in rooms off the gift shop: the Historic Firearms Museum with its displays of rifles and revolvers—mostly Winchesters dating to 1860—and the nostalgia-inducing Antique Products Museum.
     HelloSanJose tip: The Mystery House is the ultimate haunted house, so kids love the Guided Flashlight Tour, when the lights are turned off after dark. They’re conducted every Friday the Thirteenth and Halloween weekend nights.
 

- by Bob Cooper, San Jose Reporter for HelloMetro  (Click to leave a message)