William Wirt Winchester was a wealthy gun factory owner (Winchester Repeating Arms Company) who lived in the Victorian era. He had a wife named Sarah Winchester and a baby girl named Annie. A picture perfect little family...so far... Not long after, baby Annie died and fifteen years later, in 1881, Mr. Winchester followed suit.
Sarah was left heartbroken and lonely but she was also left much of everything else. After her husband's death, she inherited around $20 million and 50% ownership of the company which means that she received around $ 1,000 a day (non-taxable until 1913). By today's standard, she received around $21,000 a day. She was a very wealthy widow.
She turned to her friend, who was a popular medium, for solace. She told Sarah that the Winchester family might be cursed by the angry spirits killed by the Winchester rifles. She also told her to move out from her home at New Haven and to move to the West and to build a house for her and the spirits. Allegedly, she said, "Continue building, you will live. Stop building, you will die".
Thanks to her enormous fortune, Sarah was able to build a sprawling mansion in San Jose, California. That mansion defies every architectural principles. There are doors that lead to nowhere, staircases that lead to ceilings,etc. Sarah was also obsessed with number 13. There are thirteen candle holders in the chandeliers, thirteen Tiffany windows, etc.
I shared her fascination with the supernatural but I think that Sarah Winchester was a heartbroken, turned crazy woman more than anything else. And her friend the medium was a nut job. Why would the spirits curse her family and seek vengeance from her? That doesn't make much sense to me.
Take the tour of the Winchester Mystery House....if you dare....