The Winchester Mystery House is a well-known and popular tourist attraction, but there are some secrets that most people don’t know about this historic site. You should never discount one of the most haunted places in the U.S., and there’s an awful lot of history behind this interesting property, so we’ve compiled a list of 7 things you probably don’t know about Winchester star.
1. The Last Supper
Californian Sarah Winchester had a strange dining room that is said to be haunted, but there’s a strange detail. It’s said that Winchester dined with the ghosts of people killed by her family’s rifles in the Old West, but when they were building the house, it was discovered that there was an exact replica of Jesus Christ’s last supper behind one of the walls. The detail is that the pieces on the table never actually moved when people sat at it.
People who have seen this dining room say that if you’re eating with them and ask if you can leave, you’ll be in a rush to make it out of the room. It’s said that if you’re sitting there eating and suddenly feel very uncomfortable, it’s because a spirit has moved to make their presence felt.
2. The Mansion
Winchester Mansion is one of the well-known and historic houses in America, but it was a massive undertaking when she was trying to put it up. The house was made of over 800,000 bricks and that’s not including the fence around the property. The cost for building this elaborate house came to about $4 million dollars; if you think about where her money came from, that’s quite a lot.
However, most people don’t know that Sarah Winchester spent 2/3 of her life in dire poverty after her husband died in 1881. She left New Haven Connecticut without a single penny to her name, and she went west where she eventually met with William Wirt Winchester to discuss a business venture.
3. The Business Venture
William Wirt Winchester was the son of Oliver Fisher Winchester, the founder of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in New Haven, Connecticut. Sarah’s husband died in 1881, and shortly after that she met with William Wirt Winchester where they discussed a business venture.
It was said that Sarah wanted him to pay a sum of $20 million dollars because many members of his family died due to his company’s bullets, but he ended up paying her far less than that in order to keep things quiet. The discussion was put off for quite some time, and Wirt Winchester did not pay her the full amount.
4. The Misunderstanding
After that misunderstanding, Sarah’s brother went to confront her about what happened and after asking for $2 million dollars in an inheritance, she was said to have become furious at him and told him that he would never get anything from her ever again. This sent her off into a deep depression and she ended up sinking deeper into debt because the ghosts of her dead family members kept hounding her around the clock.
5. Moving In
People don’t know why Sarah Winchester finally moved to San Jose, California and started building this strange house, but it was very costly. The building of the house took over 30 years, and people who worked on it said that nobody else was allowed inside except Sarah and her foreman, who died shortly after construction ended in 1922.
For all those years while she was building it, people who visited her would ask why she was doing it, but she wouldn’t give an answer. The house has 440 rooms, but all of the rooms have been divided into different rooms by using different materials, such as marble, slate, and steel.
6. The Revenant
It’s strange that people don’t know about this fact, but her husband was a physician back in the 1800s who made many profitable deals with people who suffered from tuberculosis. Epidemics of this disease had swept the country at the time and after Dr. Winchester died in 1881, Sarah took over his affairs so that she could continue to cure people of this deadly disease. Doctors have said that there are several ghosts associated with her home because they are meant to be servants who treated patients from 1888 until her death in 1922.
7. The Haunting
It’s said that paranormal activity has been detected in the house, but most people are unaware of all of the strange things that happened to her while she was building it. People who have seen this haunted house say that they have seen many servants walking around the house in their period dress, but they don’t know how they were able to get inside.
The workers and guests who stay in this historic place say that there is a certain smell assailing them, and some even witnessed people who weren’t there on other occasions. It’s said that these guests don’t want to stay longer than just one night because they’re afraid of being caught by the ghosts who are waiting for them inside.
