Tuesday, July 29, 2008

The Winchester Mansion--Ghosts In the Walls or Ghosts In the Brain?


Sup.

This is another story that combines supernatural (kind of) and real world elements. I'm sure many of you know of the Winchester Mystery House. Some of you have probably even took one of the guided tours. But for those who don't know this story, you have to check it out.

It's basically about Sarah Winchester, wife of William Wirt Winchester (of the Winchester Rifle empire) and her dance with madness and an architectural marvel. After her husband died, she became the heiress to the Winchester fortune. She was told by a spiritual medium she must build a house and continuously add on to it due to a family curse and for the spirits of people who had died from Winchester Rifles.

And boy, did she.

She built stairways that led to no where. Closets that opened to bare walls. Doors that opened to a large drop off.

And she continued building, adding on more oddities until she died at the age of 83.



For the detailed story, check here.

I will be in California soon on a follow-up for a previous Xoom investigation and, if time permits, I'll try to see it.

Out.

3 comments:

Sean Fitzgibbon said...

I spent a little time at the Winchester a few years back and I have to tell you it is a strange experience. The medium Sarah Winchester visited in Connecticut told her that she would be haunted by the ghosts of the indians that were killed by the Winchester rifle. The only way to allude the ghosts was to add on room after room. She would sleep in different rooms every night. I believe that the ghosts were a product of her imagination. She was a very reclusive woman and she did not accept many visitors. One time she even turned down the president of the US as a visitor. There are not many known photos of this woman. She is responsible for the first intercom system. Her house was so massive they needed intercoms to figure out where she was. It is easy to believe that after visiting such an unusual place that it could be haunted. I think that just the fact you can visist this unusual place today is far more interesting than any ghosts that may roam the halls. I highly recommend every one to visit this sprawling mansion with halls that lead to dead ends and irregular size stairs that lead to the ceiling.

J D said...

True. It's a weird experience. Me, my brother, and our dad went on a trip to San Fran, and stopped at the mansion on the way home. The stairs leading to the ceiling, the room of mirrors, yeah, it's all funky. But what happened in the parking lot just after we left was really strange. We saw what'd happened later, in our hotel room in San Luis Obispo. Anyways, our tour guide, a small, Mexican girl (can't remember her name, but my brother had a thing for her) got off her shift and went to her car at the far end of the lot. Before she could find her keys in her purse, her ex-boyfriend came up behind her and knocked her out with the butt of a Winchester rifle. No joke. I know what you're thinking. It wasn't one of those Pat Garrett, long nosed rifles. It was a Wildcat .22 or something. Anyways, he knocks her out, drags her to her car and tosses her in the trunk. To make a long story short, and a short story better, he drives all the way towards Fresno. There's a car chase because someone saw him knock the girl out. Twenty cops like the O.J. thing chasing him on the 5. Only he's not in a white Bronco. He's cruising in his girlfriend's Hyundai at like 40 mph. So,he never makes Fresno, okay. Somewhere between the cows and the truckers on the Grapevine, the Winchester goes off and gutshots him. He swerves off the road and flips, turtle shelling the car. Cops get him, arrest him. The girl's banged up but all right, and limps out from the trunk. But the funny thing is, the guy, before he dies, tells the cops he never even loaded the gun. He'd never even bought bullets for it. So what the hell shot him? His ex-girlfriend said it was a miracle, someone watching out for him. But I think something else was at play.
Thought you should know. The mansion ain't the only thing that's crazy in Cali.

Mr. Xoom said...

Thanks, guys! J landers, I'm so posting what you wrote here...