Winchester House

[bluefedish]

Sarah Winchester started building this house in 1884 & never stopped. She was living in New Haven, Connecticut, when her husband & only child died within months of each other. In an attempt to contact her lost loved ones, she went to a medium. The medium contacted her husband, who asked Sarah to build a house for all of the spirits of people killed by the rifle that bears the Winchester name. She traveled west & came upon an 8 room farmhouse being built in the Santa Clara Valley in California. Immediately she knew it was the right place & bought the entire 40-acre farm. Work continued on the house around the clock for the next 38yrs. She eventually spent 6 million dollars & ended up with a house of 700 rooms, 950 doors, & 10,000 windows. She had a special room for seances, called the Blue Room, where she received building plans direct from the spirit world. Every night at midnight, 1:00am, & 2:00am, a large bell in the bell tower rang out to summon spirits. To discourage evil spirits from entering her home, she built many blind passageways & based much of the construction on the number 13. She even slept in a different bedroom each night to keep one step ahead of them. She was convinced that evil spirits had found her when the 1906 earthquake leveled the upper stories of her mansion. Only 160 rooms remined, & she boarded up the bedroom where she had slept that night. On the other hand, Sarah treated good spirits royally. She held regular banquets in her lavish dining room, where servants set out 5 course meals on 13 solid-gold plates & cutlery. The only guests were herself & 12 invisible ghosts. Real people rarely set foot in her home, & she even turned away such notables as Theodore Roosevelt & Mary Baker Eddy. One of her few guests was Harry Houdini, who never spoke of his single visit to the Winchester House. Sarah died September 1922 & bequeathed her estate to a niece with the instructions that "the ghosts continue to be welcomed & provided for". Guided tours of the house have been offered since 1923. Several famous psychics have contacted ghosts here, & staff members have seen moving balls of light & a gray-haired woman apparition floating through the halls. Visitors have heard organ music, whispering voices, & slamming noises. The management of the Winchester House maintains a file of affidavits by witnesses of unusual events.


Selected Sources:
The National Directory Haunted Places, by Dennis William Hauck
grga.50megs.com
www.dungeons-of-chaos.com

[awolfgod]

i love that story i already know it though