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The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious --Albert Einstein

Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, California

explored by: Shady & Liz (photos by Shady)

(to learn the background story behind the Winchester House, click here)

I finally fulfilled a lifelong dream during a CA trip to San Francisco; my best friend Liz and I got to explore the twisting halls of the amazing, perplexing structure known as the Winchester Mystery House, which I have longed to visit since first hearing it's story when I was a very young child. In fact, it was one of those life-altering stories that sorta got me on this whole spooky and mysterious trip in the first place. I was awestricken at the sight of the Winchester House the second it came into view- the sheer, massive size of it was un-believable. And, the weirdness started almost immediately...

Above, l-to-r: the weird, negative-like effect that overcame my camera as I tried to shoot the bell tower, another view of the bell tower from inside the house, the Mansion grounds, Sarah Winchester's carriage, a stained glass window designed by the lady of the house (featuring a spiderweb pattern and embedded with exactly 13 gems)

As we waited for our Mansion Tour to begin, I decided to shoot a few pics of the place. I used my LCD screen to line up the shot... but the second I aimed the camera at the house, my LCD went wacky and I got the bizarre effect that you see on the top left pic. As soon as I panned the camera away from the house, the screen would clear up perfectly. Yet every time I aimed it at the house again, it started giving a static-like, almost negative effect. I called Liz over to verify what was happening, and she couldn't believe it either- she even took a pic of my camera's LCD screen for good measure, and we kept exchanging confused looks as we tried to figure out what was causing the camera's weird behavior.

Above, l-to-r: the camera goes wacky yet again- could this be the visage of... Sarah?! A window looking into the bedroom where Sarah Winchester died, a window in the floor that looks down into the kitchen sink(!), yet another bizarre camera anomaly in the shot of a skylight, the bedroom where Sarah died in her sleep

Once we entered the house for our tour of 160 of the mansion's rooms, the camera weirdness continued. We had three fully charged batteries between the two of us, yet we both started losing battery power as soon as we entered the house. I continued to snap pic after pic inside the house, but I kept getting completely blacked-out shots, or the strange, colored negative-like effect?! I have never before or since seen my camera do anything remotely like this. It almost seemed like a serious camera problem, except for the fact that as you can see, I was getting some perfectly normal, good shots in between the weird ones?

Above, l-to-r: one of the many dark and shadowy rooms inside the Mansion, yet another camera weird-out, a window in the middle of the floor, a spooky attic room, Liz snaps a pic inside the Daisy Room (where Sarah Winchester was trapped after an earthquake)

Liz was also having problems with her camera... many of her pics were blown-out (i.e: too much light) despite the shadowy interior, and her battery power was draining at an unnatural rate. Also, my camera's power kept switching off. We both felt goose-bumpy when our guide explained to us that when Sarah Winchester dwelled here, she did not allow any photographs to be taken of her. Perhaps she was hanging around during parts of our tour... letting us know that she was still the lady of this house?

Above, l-to-r: an old photograph of the Winchester House hangs in the Daisy Room, the marks of the crowbar still mar the door to the Daisy Room where workers pried it open to free Sarah after the earthquake, a silent sitting room, all the clocks in the house are set to 1:13, a glimpse into one of the many gloomy hidden passageways within the house

It took over an hour to make our way through all of the rooms, and without our guide, I feel sure that we would have gotten hopelessly lost. There are so many twists and turns, false passageways, and hidden doorways... it's unbelievable. We moved through the Blue Seance Room... the bedroom where Sarah Winchester died... and the Grand Ballroom where she used to "entertain" her ghostly guests at the stroke of midnight. We saw the bizarre stairway that lead literally into the ceiling, the bathrooms with windows in their doors, and the Daisy Room where Sarah was trapped during the earthquake that leveled the top 3 floors of the house, leaving only 4 floors standing.

Above, l-to-r: one of the many gorgeous statues that decorate the grounds, the ornate organ in the Grand Ballroom (where Sarah entertained the spirits), another view of the Ballroom, a spooky corner in yet another sitting room, a window looking into the bathroom (yes- all of the bathrooms had windows in their doors!)

Sarah's Mystery House is filled with cryptic messages and meanings. The number 13 can be found hidden throughout the house... curtain rods have 13 rings, windows and ceiling panels have 13 panes, sink drains have 13 holes, and so on. The symbol of the daisy (which in it's perfect form has 13...yep- 13 petals) can also be seen everywhere- in rugs, chandeliers, windows, and walls. There are two very mysterious messages written in the stained glass windows that Sarah herself designed for the Ballroom... the left window reads, "Wide unclasp the tables of their thoughts," while the right says, "These same thoughts people this little world." Although the words are Shakespeare's, no one knows why these particular enigmatic phrases were chosen for the windows.

Above, l-to-r: a view from what used to be the original back porch shows just how much the house has grown since it's original incarnation, the shadowy parlor, a view of the outside of the house visible from one of the windows, more amazing antique furniture inside the Winchester House, another inexplicably bizarre photo of the outside of the house- this picture was shot in clear, bright daylight!

Above, l-to-r: these pix were shot by Liz- a peek through the one of the "trapdoor" floor grating shows a glimpse of garden path below, no- that's not a portrait of me on the wall- I am peering through one of the many strange interior "windows" found throughout the house, the Mystery House itself

Time seems to stand still in the Winchester House; an air of secrecy permeates every wall and every floorboard. The confusing, mind-bending twists and turns and perplexing mysteries inside it's walls left Liz and I puzzled and intrigued when we stepped back out into the warm California sunshine with three completely dead camera batteries, a handful of bizarre photos, and a whole bunch of questions...

If you would like more information about the Winchester Mystery House, it's history, and the tours of the Mansion and it's gardens, head over to WinchesterMysteryHouse.com.

*A very very special THANKS to my bestest-girlyfriend Liz for being wonderful enough to help me realize a childhood dream by taking me to see the Winchester House- you rock, girl!!!! Thank you!*

Our visitor Bill shares his fascinating story, "What a great site! I just had to write and let you know that my mother and her siblings grew up in the Winchester House---really! My grandfather was manager of the house/property for over thirty years in the 40's through the 60's. They lived in a portion of the original house set aside for the manager and his family. My to-be father was actually a tour guide there while attending the University of Santa Clara, and there he met my mom and married soon after graduation. When I was a kid, our family would always spend holidays visiting grandma and grandpa at the Winchester House. One of my best memories was playing hide-and-seek in the 160 rooms after hours when the tours ended and the lights were off. Very scary!!! Even scarier was the night I was sleeping on a couch in the main living room and I started screaming loudly, as I had just seen Sarah's body floating around the room. I'll never forget that image of her! It is truly a mysterious, foreboding house, full of life and energy to this day. Thanks for letting me write!"

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