Her husband, William Winchester, was treasurer of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. We were greeted by the tour guide who started the tour with a short history of the Winchester family focusing on Sarah Winchester, the resident and architect of the mansion. I cannot imagine how intimidating it must have looked in the past. Originally, before the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, it was seven storeys high. Today, it stands stands four storeys high. As soon as you open the door to the courtyard you are greeted by the mansion. We were told to wait in the outdoors courtyard until the tour began. As soon as we arrived we went to the ticket desk and were luckily able to reserve two places on the first tour of the day. The only way to see the mansion is on a tour. It is not presented as a place for cheap thrills, but, as a mansion with a foreboding history and with secrets around every corner. After scrolling through the official webpage, I became more and more curious. One of the first hits was the Winchester Mystery House – ‘ an extravagant maze of Victorian craftsmanship – marvelous, baffling, eerily eccentric, and undeniably, haunted’ (Homepage – Winchester Mystery House). A visit will reveal a fascinating history of the Winchester family and a slice of 18th and 19th century American intrigue.īefore we started our long drive from San Francisco to Las Vegas, I went straight to Google to see what we could do along the way. The mansion is registered on the National Register of Historic Places and contains two small museums inside the grounds. Also, it has motivated me to write a blog entry on my visit to the Winchester Mystery House back in 2014. I will say that it did contain some good jump scares so I was pretty pleased. Guests will be treated to a menu of sweet and savory items, bottomless mimosa and live music, and they can take the 65-minute mansion tour afterward.Last night I decided to see the newly released film ‘Winchester’ starring the ever so fabulous feminist icon, Helen Mirren. On Sunday, July 2, Winchester Mystery House will host a Centennial Brunch at the greenhouse and greenhouse patio. Sinclair, who’s appeared on “America’s Got Talent” and “Penn & Teller Fool Us,” will stage “Aiden Sinclair’s Possessions,” an interactive evening focused on the things that haunt us. Master magician and acclaimed apparitionist Aiden Sinclair will be on hand for four shows June 30-July 1. The number 13 was important to Sarah Winchester and appears throughout the house in window designs, chandeliers and more. Winchester Mystery House will remain open that day for 13 hours of tours, from 11 a.m. Vintage photo opportunities harkening back to 1923 will be available throughout the property. Guests will also get a first look at the Centennial Exhibit that explores the Winchester Mystery House’s effect on pop culture and features original marketing materials, photos and never-before-seen artifacts curated by the estate’s historian. A special live performance by Symphony San Jose will take place in the front garden, featuring a string quartet performing music from the Roaring ’20s. To celebrate 100 years as a tourist attraction, the Winchester Mystery House has a lineup of events starting Friday, June 30, with a proclamation ceremony to recognize the date as Winchester Mystery House Day in San Jose.Ī time capsule featuring a collection of Winchester Mystery House mementos and memorabilia will be filled and then entombed within the house.
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