winchester mystery house story of husband

Winchester mystery house story of husband windows#

Sarah Winchester commissioned an army of tradesmen to begin construction on the house, and directed the entire project herself.

( Tatiana Morozova /Adobe Stock) Construction of the Winchester Mystery House It was soon thereafter that the grieving Sarah moved to California’s Santa Clara Valley and purchased an unfinished farmhouse where she threw her energy into its never-ending expansion and renovation, transforming it into the mysterious mansion we see today. In 1881, another tragedy struck-William fell ill with pulmonary tuberculosis and died, leaving Sarah with over $20 million dollars and an income from the Winchester Repeating Arms Company of about $1000 per day (equivalent to about $30,000 by today’s standard). The couple had one daughter in 1866, but at just a few weeks old, the baby tragically died of disease and Sarah fell into a deep depression. Hand-tinted ambrotype of Sarah Winchester taken in 1865 by the Taber Photographic Company of San Francisco, 1865. The company had developed the Henry Rifle, the first true repeating rifle – a popular choice among the Northern troops at the outbreak of the Civil War. In 1862, at the height of the Civil War, she was married to William Wirt Winchester, heir to the vast wealth of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Sarah Lockwood Pardee Winchester was born in 1837 in New Haven, Connecticut.

For over a century, rumors have been circulating about the reasons for Sarah’s odd architectural choices, but the story of San Jose’s most mysterious estate is a riddle that may never be solved. The peculiar residence was once home to Sarah Winchester, the widow and heir to the Winchester rifle fortune.

Winchester mystery house story of husband windows#

The Winchester Mystery House is an unusual 19th-century mansion in San Jose, California, which contains numerous oddities including doors leading nowhere, 2-inch-high steps, windows overlooking other rooms, and an obsession with the number 13.