The Truth About the Winchester Mystery House
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The legend goes that Sarah Winchester was so haunted by the ghosts of people killed by Winchester guns that she built her massive house to confuse them and evade death. But it turns out that's not quite the truth... so what is? Who, really, was Sarah Winchester? And why did she build the Winchester Mystery House? Come learn with me!
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Sources:
Captive of the Labyrinth: Sarah L. Winchester, Heiress to the Rifle Fortune by Mary Jo Ignoffo
Sarah Winchester: Beyond the Mystery by Bennett Jacobstein
Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places by Colin Dickey
The Gunning of America: Business and the Making of American Gun Culture By Pamela Haag
The Winchester: The Gun that Built an American Dynasty By Laura Trevelyan
Free Spirits: Spiritualism, Republicanism, and Radicalism in the Civil War Era by MARK A. LAUSE
What Looks Like Mad Disorder: The Sarah Winchester House by Joni Tevis
Bad language: a maze of myths: The Winchester Mystery House by Karen Stollznow
The Time of Desire: The Winchester House by Lene M. Johannessen
Haunting Women’s Public Memory: Ethos, Space, and Gender in the Winchester Mystery House by Amy J. Lueck
Morbid curiosity, popular media, and thanatourism by Emily D Edwards
Images and video courtesy of the San Jose Historical Society, The Winchester Mystery House, Prelinger Archives and The Travel Channel
Thank you to Christie @ tinydooms for permission to use her tiktok video
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What is the music at the credits? That's the jam!
God created man.But, Samuel Colt made men equal. or so the saying goes. I feel a certain kinship with her, because she really didn't give a shit.
I just watched the Buzzfeed Unsolved take on the mansion. I much prefer your version.
Look at the Winchester pictures & than at kaz!!!
Clearly there is a relation & therefore this is nothing but attempt to clear their family name of all this witchcraft & ghosts nonsense , which has cursed their family for so many years..
Look at the photos of them side by side . . They could be twins 👯♀️
What is kaz not telling us? ! ?
As a Victorian home museum tour guide, I absolutely understand the difficult knife's edge you have to walk between giving facts and history and catering to visitors' desire for ghost stories. The museum where I volunteer (Heritage Square in Pasadena, CA) has been leaning into the spookier side of things over the last few years to help raise visibility. My focus on my tours has always been the history of the owners, and if I do talk about hauntings, I always frame them as rumors or legends. But as you said, it's what brings people to the museum and, more importantly, brings in the money needed to restore and maintain these homes. So thank you for pointing that out.
I worked at a haunted hotel in the south for a while. we were flat out told to neither confirm or deny anything supernatural, even tho its a well known hotel and has been documented on at least 1 of the ghost hunting shows. it always bothered me.
I personally find just saying "these are the legends" is not enough of the truth. Compare this video to a typical one on the Winchester mystery house. You need to go into how such legends likely came about, what the sociological context around them is, what some alternative explanations are. You don't really get that in a tour. But I totally agree that sites need the ticket sales from the more salacious tours to stay open. That's why I'm a fan of sites that segregate their ghost stuff. You can trust that a regular tour was designed with a honest desire to communicate history, and then the dusk money making ghost tours can have their spins.
@@AbsolXGuardian Absolutely! Our museum has separate ghost tours in the evening. I actually developed a special ghost tour that has people participate in a Victorian-style ghost hunt where we tell them the stories associated with the homes, and then also go into the science of how certain ghost hunting techniques can trick you into seeing and hearing things. As for the regular tours, the focus is definitely on the history. But I personally throw in a little bit of the paranormal rumors late in the tour just to satisfy the people who are interested. Also, I was on a ghost hunting TV special about the museum a couple years ago, so visitors kind of expect it of me. 😂
It just goes to show you how the need for a place like this to survive can widely influence what people know about a specific location, and eventually the image the public has in their collective minds.
I’m more interested in the history. 🥰 I mean, ghost stories are cool and all, but many historical places and buildings have much more fascinating stories than just “it’s rumored to be haunted.” I’m sorry you feel like you need to focus more on the ghost stories during your tours. 😞
I think my favorite part of this story is that when Sarah died, after having to put up with all of the ridiculous rumors of her being haunted by the spirits of those killed by rifles, she donated the rest of her gun fortune to a hospital. A place meant to save lives.
Medical malpractice has killed far more people than any gun in the last century.
That’s amazing!
Oh my heart, this woman was honestly amazing and lovely.
this is actually really wholesome… like, it’s just nice how she decided to deal with grief by (in some way?) making art out of architecture and ended up with a really cool elaborate house
Yeah it's too bad that the big earthquake damaged some of it. It was so much taller before. Basically an American palace.
@@sleepysartorialist Yea, but all the wird construction that happened as a result of the earthquake, the doors that open to walls, stairways that go up to the ceiling, and so forth, are what make it famous.
Idk I'd hate to be one of the people that kept working on a never ending project.
We love a creative queen
@@milascave2 not really it was already considered a strange place already hence all the rumors before the earthquake. Much of the rumors as to why she did this started almost as soon as she started construction. The earthquake and her stopping construction is just something that didn't help the rumor mill. She wasn't a super open person either which again didn't help in making people see this as a simple grieving exercise by someone with a lot of time and money on their hands but a weird thing a crazy woman would do because ✨the past was the worst✨
As a former tour guide, seeing this in my recommended was a bit of a shock. I worked there for two years and only left due to covid, and I miss it more than anything. I can't watch this video yet but I look forward to people spreading the truth about Winchester instead of the stories we're forced to say.
We miss you Cora! It's always great to see you when you visit the estate.
just went last week here! Our guide was awesome, she very rarely brought up anything paranormal and if she did she always led with “rumored” and made sure to mention mental health and grief! Not sure if they’ve changed their overall perspective of the tours or if we just had a great guide. It was absolutely amazing, the piece that stuck with me the most was the safe that only contained a snippet of Annie’s hair and her death certificate as well as Williams.
Could you recreate the layout of the house from memory?
@@zipalooie Sometimes when I can't sleep I like to retrace the tour route mentally, or imagine myself in a specific room and what route I would take to leave, so...yes :)
@Cora Gray There's no way that house would pass inspection today.
My favorite part of the Winchester house when I visited was how Mrs Winchester was a very small woman and so a lot of the doors and appliances in the house were also short because like, why wouldn't you design your own house to have things you can reach easily. Anyway it was funny as a tiny woman myself watching all the big guys in our tour group have to duck to go through doorways!
Same! She was a little bit shorter than me and I'm around 5'2
I had the same reaction when I went. I'm the same height as she was so I was the only person on the tour who didn't have to duck in any if the doors.
yeah, as a short woman it just makes sense, I hate being unable to access my cabinets without standing on something.
I have been in plenty of homes designed to work for tall people - as I am not quite 5'1" it seems to me to be only fair to have the opposite happen once in a while!
I visited one friends home where the shower head was so high up that if I stood directly under it the water didn't touch me - it just came down in a circle around me!
@@modelbuildingsecrets Same. I didn't have to duck. Every height was perfect.
I am descended from the Henry that ran the Henry repeating arms company. It's funny how different the story of the interaction between Henry and Winchester I was always told is from what you state in the video. My family says that Winchester was a lowly shirt merchant that stole from us, took our rifle desighn and ruined our company. I was always aware that this view point is quite bias but it's interesting how the bias has dripped down through the years.
Ok dude that’s super interesting! Well now I’m curious, does your family have any stories about Sarah or the house? I’m gonna be hooked on this topic for the next week or so, might as well get as many sources as possible
Oh my.
@@djoctobeat5204 ah yes, Inter-famillial historical drama!
Yes, please tell us more!!
Damn, well that's definitely a different view point. I'd want to know more about that story.
With stories like this one, ghosts are the least interesting part. The grief, mental illness, wealth, and the violent history involved are what I find most interesting. Paranormal elements are often tied up with these events, because the idea that life is unfair and chaotic is too much for a lot of people.
I do like the idea of baiting people with a ghost story, and then hitting them with the real thing. Too bad the house's historian can't [officially] do that
Honestly I think the ghost stories are kinda boring her actual story is much more interesting
I think both are cool and interesting :)
I actually agree. Her real life and her as an actual person is more interesting. She definitely wasn't a boring person. The things she went through and being able to live to an old age after everyone dying around her makes me like her more.
You know, it's a real shame that the guides of the Winchester Mystery House have to play up the legend for paranormal investigators. For Buzzfeed Unsolved specifically, I imagine that Shane would LOVE hearing about the history and the truth of the house! Man clearly loves history, and he specifically isn't there to prove that ghosts are real. I think that he would actually adore being told the history that the tour guides have to downplay for the tourists and people who want to hear ghost stories. If they revisit the Winchester Mystery House for Ghost Files, I genuinely hope that this time they'll get the actual history!
oh, shane would love to hear the real history
Especially because their new content is much more focused on education and history rather than ghost hunting
Something tells me he already knows the truth especially since he's always skeptical of ghosts anyway
@@KingBasieSims4 You know, FUNNY YOU REPLY TO THIS POST TODAY!
unfortunately they did not, which is a real miss
As a tour guide that works there now, i am so grateful that you made this video! Hopefully a lot of people watch it and they understand the truth of our beloved Mrs. Winchester. I love the house and I love the history of it. We all love Mrs. Winchester at the house and we try to tell her story as best as we can. I will definitely recommend your video on my tours!
Thank you Daniela! I'm hoping I can visit the house again someday soon, it's such fun :]
@@KazRowe Hopefully you'll get Daniela as a tour guide. If you're looking for some stories of personal ghost encounters, ask for Larry in the gift shop (that's me). I've worked there 5 years and have had more than my fair share of paranormal experiences there.
I visited recently too...hey that picture in your background...of that stone in the village...where is that...I had a dream about it...
@@VIVI1337 oh it’s a little village in Mexico. it’s in guanajuato mexico
@@danielasolorio1768 I visited the winchester mansion, it called to me...weird right?
as a kid i had a couple of my birthday parties at the winchester mystery house, i was fascinated with all the odd design choices. they market it to be this paranormal experience so for a lot of people it tends to be a disappointment because its not quite a haunted house, but it is still a super interesting historical artifact that i think people should see!
That sounds like an amazing birthday party!
Birthday parties at the Winchester house sounds absolutely delightful to my still emo-goth heart but I'm sure if I had been a kid there I would have given myself a panic attack by accidentally getting lost on my way to the bathroom or something. 😄😅🥲
Did you get a Winchester rifle for a gift?
@@not.applicable. i actually did get lost on my way to the bathroom once and peed myself when i was 5 LOL luckily not my birthday
@@TY-pf6vb got a Playstation 2 babyyyy
there was an old house in terrible shape my dad bought with the hopes of fixing up and living in (he bit off more than he could chew so he sold it) it was so beautiful. there was a cool "secret" staircase, probably for the staff, and some other little hiding spots that we weren't exactly sure the purpose of. when you said how victorian homes were maze like i thought of that house. it was renovated and they kept the main staircase, but they made the rest of it all modern and cheap and im sad about that
I wish I had the money to keep beautiful buildings from being renovated into modern styles.
@@Aster_Risk that was his goal, but he ran into the same issue. also he didn't really plan very well. at least the outside of the house looks the same. the paint is ugly but that can be fixed
I hope someone else will come along in the future who can restore it the way your dad wanted to! I hate the trend of painting over & “modernising” old houses, they always turn out so ugly
I’ve been there twice, both occasions related to death. My dog died in 2018 and the cremation center was around there. I’d got to say my goodbyes and got closure. That whole day it was cloudy and raining. Afterwards we got ice cream to celebrate my dog’s life. My sis mentioned the Winchester house and we decided to go there. In short I love the architecture & pairs great with stormy weather. Our tour guide looked & sounded like Ben Linus from “Lost.” No ghosts. After the tour at around 6pm, all of a sudden it was sunny and warm like rain had never happened.
Second was in Dec 2019. My friend died and the funeral was in Santa Cruz. I stayed there for two nights. On the third day I drove back to my home city which passed San Jose. Without realizing it I was near the Winchester house. Decided to go there again to calm me down like how it did when my dog died. The house was decorated with Christmas trees and lights. It was eerie and beautiful. Again no ghosts but after the tour I overheard a parent call his child’s named which happened to be the same as my deceased friend.
Thanks for sharing 💛
Interesting. Could be subconscious confirmation bias? Something about the spooky theme of the place, I can see might be weirdly comforting, in a way, a distraction perhaps. I've experienced "connections", or what might be meaningful coincidences like that.
As a former senior guide at WMH , I cannot thank you enough for this video. It’s what every guide there wishes they could say.
It’s frustrating that you can’t!
When I went there was a ghost in the stables. The tour guide mentioned that she'd seen and spoken to them, and it was very grounded. No spooky happenings, just people who worked for Sarah whose spirits stayed after they died.
I work there currently & let me tell you, them stables spooky 😅 not my fave spot to work around
"Ghosts" in old houses are 9/10 really just carbon monoxide accumulating due to poor ventilation. The other 10% they are due to human superstition and imagination.
Yeah I'm glad I wasn't the only one who was like "everyone is talking about Sarah but what about her opinions? She's educated, a widow, a pen is mightier than a sword, so give me her writings"
After years of women being slandered by rumors, why would Sarah's story be any different?
Thank you for this story..now i completely understand the actual truth of the house..and i understand the grief of her heart..i lost my baby at 8 weeks,and also my grandfather that raised me ,mother,father,2 uncles,3 cousins in the span of 7 years every year straight from 2012..you are never ok after that no matter how hard you try to be you cant heal from the trauma completely..and she couldnt fake it for social parties and i can feel she knew that
Oh god to lose your child let alone your whole family. My heart really goes out to you dude
It’s amazing you’re still standing. Nobody should have to be that strong. I hope things are going okay for you now
💖💖💖
I'm waiting for someone to talk about the Winchester Mystery House-related musical I saw with my mom that I'm not 100% actually exists. Maybe it's my sign I need to build a labyrinth theater so the musical ghosts have a place to perform
Hi, I did attend a performance of the musical, The Haunting of Winchester, at the San Jose Repertory Theater when it premiered in fall 2005. It wasn’t a dream or something imagined! It did happen, I remember it well. The concept of the musical was far fetched. I guess if Shrek and Sponge Bob can have a musical then so can Sarah Winchester 🙂💀.
@@Ana_Phylactic365 oh my god it does exist! Do you remember if it was any good? I was so young but I remember being pleasantly surprised.
@@kazza6078 Hi @kaz za, it was a very odd musical about the reason why Sarah was “haunted”. The musical did involve various ghosts including an Indigenous American, a cowboy, a civil war soldier, and a few others. There were too many characters and the storyline was purely fictional and speculative. It wasn’t good ☹️.
I wanted it to be better than it was. I was so excited to see this but I left the performance feeling “meh”. Guess that’s why it didn’t have a very long run and could be why you don’t remember it entirely. It wasn’t very memorable. But, it did exist!!!! We are probably among a very small percentage of people who have seen it, that has to give us a little social cred 😄. Glad we could connect over having such a random thing in common 😁.
@@Ana_Phylactic365 I do remember that, and a weird implied romance between Sarah and one of the ghosts. Thanks for jogging my memory! We were the chosen people to witness this and I guess I WON'T build a labyrinth theater after all :)
This is so amazing to see, that you guys both saw this! I don't suppose any music survives from this show? I would love to hear it. I'll check around.
Sarah Winchester is a whole dang Mood™️. I, too, like to keep to myself and would like to build a big, rambling Victorian mansion. History did her SO dirty and I'm sad that a lot about her life is only being brought to light now. What an absolute icon 💕
History shows us how so many great women were treated So dirty.
This makes so much more sense than the rumors that are going around. I hope she is resting peacefully.
Not gonna lie, I was a little disappointed to hear this at first but honestly Sarah sounds so dang relatable. It's a story of an independent woman overcoming her grief and living her best life, and that's pretty great. Thanks so much for sharing this, I'm looking forward to telling others about it too!!!
I wasn't. It made me like her even more. Her actual story is way more interesting.
My cousin had her suckling reflex further back in her throat and had to have special nipples on her bottle to properly suckle. It was my mothers theory that Sarah Winchester's daughter suffered from the same affliction and the thought of watching my baby starve and being helpless to prevent it is horrifying.
She filed a plethora of patents, including a sink with a built in washboard, removeable flooring in the greenhouse rooms to allow for drainage. I toured it several times before the new gift shop and visitors center was built.
It's a stunning home, the hype about spirits, guns, and guilt, is to sell tickets, regardless, you should go because the architecture is amazing.
I am a Tour Guide, there were No patents filed under her name.
@@brendaellis4936
This article would beg to differ.
dh.scu.edu/exhibits/files/original/55/1981/20200209_164406.jpg
It's true, I was the house.
The call is coming from inside the house.
@@danielwagner2034 Indeed.
Man that is so funny/original. You should totally be comedian.
@@aaronmiller4785 thanks aaron, you shouldnt.
Lol
I lived in a historic neighborhood and the amount of doors you see randomly on the side of a building that used to have a balcony/ other wing is really common. Keeping up old houses is expensive buuut nailing a door shut and smacking new siding on is less expensive.
Same! We had a door upstairs right next to my bedroom that used to have a balcony, but it had been damaged and removed, so you'd just fall to the grass below if you weren't paying attention. I found it creepy as a kid, especially when we came home after a weekend away and that entire wall was covered in ladybugs.
Shortly after my husband and I bought a semi-updated Victorian, we found a window in the outside of the house that is right where a toilet is situated. With a blank wall behind. Currently debating on whether to open it up and put in a new window with frosted glass, or close off the window with plywood and the leftover siding the last owners left us with.
My mom used to take English classes in a house that was over a hundred years old. On the second floor was a door that was bolted shut with a sign that said do not open. I thought it was a little weird(and creepy) until they explained that it opens outside and didn't want anyone to accidentally plummet to the ground. Guess now I know why it was like that😂
@@Maichen13what did you guys end up doing?
I want an old house like that, for that very reason. I don't want a full updated home. I want one I can remodel. I want to learn the secrets of the home myself. Besides, I don't like how most contractors "update" or flip a home.
@@Sammythat_B we had a new window with privacy glass installed, ordered it along with a bunch of other windows to replace ones that were either broken or out of square. Not cheap, but the extra daylight is welcome.
wondering if sarah winchester (of legend) ever considered that ghosts can walk through walls when making her house a labyrinth
They can pass through walls but most of them dont because they know its rude.
But there are ideas in various cultures about ghosts not being able to pass through knots and so forth. Ghosts have limitations, too.
i mean... right? lol
You probably already watched the video by now, but the labyrinthine design of the house has nothing to do with ghosts
@@DogKacique i think that's why they emphasized "of legend" (as opposed to "of reality"). ;)
Something interesting in terms of Victorian mansions being spooky, is how they were used as inspiration for the original Addams Family home in the original comic strip. As well as the home in Psycho.
I've heard that, being the daughter of a carpenter and growing surrounded by men in the business, she felt particular compassion for men who built houses and their families, often having to deal with a capricious market and stretches of want. I seem to recall someone pointing out that the most labor-intensive building went on during hard financial times, and that this was her way of being charitable to proud men who wanted to work, not beg.
Ngl, learning about the real history of the Winchester house made me want to actually visit it so much more than any ghost stories ever could. We love history in this household!
It's honestly quite sad that they made a spectacle out of this poor, old and grieving woman's last home to the point it could've been a P.T. Barnum attraction... i hope she rests in peace.
She was not poor.
@@BognaZonePoor as in, deserving of pity or sympathy.
I grew up and still live about 5 minutes down from the Winchester House; most locals just view it as a cool house with a cool story that was built with blood. Its a fun place to take a young kid or a non-local on a date but no really anything spooky. Beautiful to look at though!
the way sarah had her hosue constructed reminds me of how i flip flop between projects. i feel like most creative people are like that
this is so interesting, i took a tour of the winchester house last year and they focused pretty heavily on the haunted stuff. knowing now that the doors and staircases to nowhere are a result of the earthquake makes so much more sense. i loved the victorian furniture and architecture and would love to visit again knowing the real history now. thanks for making this video!
As a lifelong sufferer of Rheumatoid Arthritis, I am so sad Sarah Winchester had to suffer that pain after such a challenging life. She deserved comfort, and I hope she got some loving care from her carers in the last years of her life.
as a winchester this video immediately caught my attention
I clicked on this because I’m a sucker for this house and its lore. My hope was to learn one tidbit that I hadn’t heard before. Instead, I got something heart-achingly beautiful…Not to mention actually way more interesting than the “legend” in my opinion. Thank you so much for sharing her story!
Thank you for this video. I loved the stories about her hauntings, but love her true story even more. To face that much loss and still nurse her passion is a true show of her strength.
My husband and I just bought a house that's from this same time period and I think about the floor plan thing from this video all of the time. Like, there are so many things about our house that legitimately feel like they wouldn't make sense without the context of trying to keep warm like that, and it makes the Winchester house make a lot more sense-- if my very Normal People House that's just a folk Victorian is still mazelike enough to get lost in because of all the weird doors and rooms smashed up against each other, I can't imagine the product of being someone with a vision and tons of money to spend, haha.
Yeah it's the same with Victorian mansions in SF. The rooms are small and maze-like. It was like the Winchester house rooms but completed of course. I did research awhile back because I noticed this in Victorian style homes and wondered why. I found it odd that they were smushed and tiny. It reminds me if Alice in Wonderland how these rooms and halls were built. The wallpaper too is often times different in every room. It's beautiful but odd at the same time. If someone hasn't really visited or been in a Victorian style home they may find the Winchester rooms odd, but at the time for mansions it really wasn't. The doors leading to no where on the houses also isn't uncommon cause a lot of the parts of the house are damaged or destroyed balconies or rooms cause of the houses age or elements. The doors and stairs are kept cause it's cheaper.
After your last episode where you mentioned Ghostland I had a feeling this video was on the horizon and you did not disappoint! I was fascinated with the story of the ghosts of Winchester when I was a kid. Now Im fascinated by how the narrative has been warped through the years and in the end replaced the truth almost anywhere you look. Ive been several times (ironically I had never been before I read the chapter in Ghostland so I went in very skeptical), its interesting that they still claim to show you the seance room (which well, is false) and false rumors of the 13 bell tolls, but the majority of the tour is historical, talking about how the stairs are weird because of the way she walked it was easier for her, or the portion of the house abandoned after the earth quake. The guides were all very kind and earnest too. Its a fascinating story.
I’m currently in the planning process for a collection of creative nonfiction essays based on historical and mythological women that I find fascinating/connect with. Sarah Winchester is now on the list of essay topics! I’d also love to visit the house itself to incorporate some elements of travel writing like I’m planning to do with Anne Boleyn and Hever Castle!
Wow, that sounds like a really interesting/cool project! I would love to read them if you publish them somehow in the future!
This is admittedly nitpicky but Sarah wasn't technically the heiress to the Winchester fortune. She was William's wife and spouses aren't considered heirs. I know like Wikipedia and other sites call her an heiress but they're also incorrect 🤷🏻♀️
Im not american so I havent really experienced the Mystery House, but the way you describe it reminds me a lot of Edward James' surreal castle here in Mexico. A wealthy man with time and money to spare who spent his last years building a beautiful, surreal, and odd residence in the middle of the mexican wilderness.
I saw a show about WMH as a kid, and was totally fascinated. But since I lived in Wisconsin, visiting there, was not going to happen.
I spent decades dreaming about visiting someday.
In 2019, I finally got to go.
As a real estate appraiser, I saw a brilliantly built house. I totally agree with Kaz's summation @19:09. Sarah Winchester was a brilliant and unconventional woman, who had the time and money to express her creativity and grief through a lavish and efficient home.
It saddens me as well that so many people only know the legend, and not the awesome lady that Mrs. Winchester was
I have always dreamed of visiting this house but that's no easy feat when you're all the way on the opposite coast. I never knew what I'd always been told about Sarah and the house wasn't the truth but I enjoy knowing it now and am upset that so many thought she was strange when all she wanted was to be left alone. I love Victorian homes and find them extremely fascinating so to have the opportunity to visit such a unique and beautiful house would be a huge treat
I recently learned that they've created a visual tour now which you can take online. As I'm German, I think I might use that chance to see something of the house, too.
Just visited in March, the place is amazing. I enjoyed the frankness of the tour guides and their eagerness to talk about Sarah and all the good things she did for the people of San Jose. She was an amazing woman.
Spiritualism was at its peak during this time so it wasn't that unusual for people to consult mediums or have seances. I highly recommend visiting The House during the Xmas holiday season. It's decorated to the nines & the gloomy winter climate adds a more gothic vibe to the architecture.
Sarah would’ve absolutely killed it on the Sims
I wish more YT channels like this existed. A well rearched essay still wildly entertaining to me. Spoken well in A beautiful home by the host with wonderful fashion, passion for history and intellect. Also not just great histoical stories but LGBT one's and ones I'd never think of. In what's been A difficult year, finding your channel has been my fav YT discovery of the year.
I've always found the real history of houses like this to be far more interesting than whatever legends have sprung up around them! While I've never been to the Mystery House, the city I live in has a few Victorian-era home that have been preserved and maintained in a historical park, and it's always so much fun to go through and learn about the families that used to occupy them. Of course, at halloween, ghost tours will be held in those houses, but I always think about the real people and the impacts that they had on the area at the time.
Not my sighting, but my mothers. She said she was about 10 years old (so mid 1970s) and was on a school trip when she left the group briefly to peek inside a side room. She said there was a woman there who looked at her like she was intruding on a private conversation or something and she quickly apologized to the woman and closed the door. At the end of the tour she told the person at the front that she liked the costumes they used for the people in the rooms, and that she was sorry she made the one lady in the striped skirt angry. The people working there assured her there was no one dressing up and hanging out in the rooms, and she probably saw one of the ghosts of the house.
I am a descendant of the winchesters. So I greatly appreciate this coverage! I have never heard this version before thank you!! I enjoyed it!!!
"That rich old woman wants to live in peace, and pays immigrant workers twice as much as anyone else would? Must be a witch!"
I am so glad I watched this. I went to the Winchester House several years ago and thought it was this haunting, lonely place with a woman desperately imprisoned, wandering endlessly chased by her own demons. But it's much nicer to think of it as a woman's creative project that she enjoyed building and thought of as home. Thanks for the insight!
"I care about historical misinformation" Me too! I love this video cause it's brought light to Sarah Winchester as a person. She sounded like a lovely lady and boy she had some rough emotional hardships. Tbh I always saw the house as something a kid would design, a neat place to hide and live and run around, not necessarily spooky.
Thank you for presenting the actual history of the Winchester house and it's architect, Sarah Winchester. As for seances, Houdini attended some after the loss of his beloved father - until he realized that the grieving were being swindled and became a spiritualist's nightmare by publicly debunking them.
I went in high-school, we even did the old timey basement tour.
Honestly a beautiful house. I was an easily spooked ghost show fan back then, but I didn't even think of that being a possibility. Hard to be ill at ease in such a delightful place. The low-rise stairs also have that effect a little I think
I've lived in the Bay Area for 40 years this is the first time I have ever wanted to visit her home. Thank you.
When I visited the Winchester House in 2019, i had just listened to the Stuff You Missed in History Class podcast episode on it, which was my first introduction to the house. It was really interesting to visit with the historical context, and I had a tour guide that liked that part more than the paranormal rumors too.
I remember hearing about this house from the Skeleton Creek books in middle school and being fascinated. The earthquake leading to the weird design makes so much sense!
When I visited, I didn't see any ghosts, of course, but I will tell you that if you plan to visit between March and November, bring a personal fan and a ton of water. It will be HOT. Even touring the basement didn't really help with the heat. It's an amazing house though! Every door hinge is its own work of art and every sunbeam through the colored glass is a treasure. I only live a couple of hours away, I should go visit more lol
I always figured the answer to this house and the answer to many other strange tragic mysteries is just mental illness
For me, this story and the house is what haunting is - generational tragedy and mental illness, the energy and atmosphere create a haunted object/space - hauntings are most often the embedding of memories upon something in such a way it lingers and at times, seeks - I'm not that heavily into paranormal as presented in the ghost Hunt scene and etc, but believe a lot in the power of objects and spaces, haunted by the memories
Thanks for the video! I also just finished "Captive of the Labyrinth" as I am working on an art project about the house. I will be bringing it to San Jose at the end of this month. I am looking forward to using it as an opportunity to share some of this more accurate information!
I'm related to the Winchesters on my mother's side of the family and my grandmother and great-grandmother vehemently hated Sarah and made sure to emphasize the fact that she was *married* into, not born into, the family, because she spent the entire fortune on the house.
EDIT: just wanted to add, I myself have never been to the house, despite growing up in CA, and it's one of the many places I want to visit one day
Yo that’s kinda cool! I don’t know what to say except that :)
You should visit it. You won't be disappointed. It's extremely beautiful despite the family not liking her.
Completely off topic, but I love how you decorated the background. It is very elegant with the old timey frames and clock and fits the subject perfectly :) Also, very interesting video as per usual, thank you!
Hi Ms. Rowe, I enjoy your channel very much! I spent a lot of time at the Winchester House as a child. I am from San Jose, my family took the tour too many times to count. I guess the story never got old.
I was in San Jose recently, in January, visiting from North Carolina where I currently live and had to visit the Winchester House. My husband and kids came along. Lets just say my sons were not as impressed as I was at their age. They considered the tour more of a punishment.
I still love the Winchester Mansion and have witnessed the changes, good and bad, that have taken place to the house and its surroundings. I do have a compelling photo of a possible anomaly. My husband, who is a huge skeptic and is always eager to call “bullshit”, can’t come up wih a logical explanation. Is the house haunted?? I guess that is for everyone to decide for themselves.
P.S. I believe Sarah was lonely and enjoyed having constant activity going on around her. She experienced such huge losses and didn’t want to be alone to wallow in her destitution. Her house allowed her to be creative, expressive, and it provided the opportunity to be surrounded by things that possessed great beauty and brought her joy on some level. Although, I don’t think anything could ever replace the sorrow that was permanently in her heart ♥️.
Apologies for this long, drawn out comment.
I wish you all the best, you are phenomenal!!
Is there a post of the photo anywhere online? Sounds cool!
It also gave her the space to have many other people (and whole families!) live there with her ❤
i went to the winchester house like maybe two years ago and i loved it sm 🤭🤭
i wasnt one of those people who answered “yes”, but i did see some ghost activity. or, not really me.
i went to the mansion with my parents, my cousin, and some family friends. at the end of our tour, there was a bedroom with a pinkish bed blocked off. my cousin and my friend claim that there was an indent on the bed, making it look like someone was sitting on it, yet the bed was empty, with only a food tray on it. im not sure if it was just some random thing they did, a coincidence, or an actual ghost
I just started but I’m so so glad you’re doing this! I hate the myth surrounding her, it’s so insulting to her brilliance and frankly it’s misogynistic af
Wow I’ve always liked Stephen King’s Diary of Ellen Rimbauer, but a few of the things I learned here kinda put me off it. Like I’ve always loved the relationship between Ellen and Sukeena, but now it seems clear to me the real-life root of that plot point would have been racist, sexist suspicion/rumors based on Sarah hiring non-white help and treating them well.
Same.
I felt/experienced nothing at Winchester House. However, at the Whaley House in San Diego when I was 18, my mom was having an extended chat with the docent (they were both from Worcester, Mass) and my neck and head started to gradually hurt more and more as they chatted. Headaches then and now are very rare for me, but just assumed I'd had a hard day touristing, but the pain left shortly after we left. Later, I found out the house was considered very haunted (which I did not know, I just love old houses) and neck/head pain from thought to be from a spirit hung on the grounds was a common thing people feel there. I'm not still even sure I believe in ghosts, I prefer to think buildings might hold echos of trauma, but it is an interesting coincidence.
I appreciate this thoughtful look at Sarah Winchester’s creativity as opposed to the lore. I grew up down the street from her home, and I passed it all the time. Greetings from San José!
I've been binge watching your videos for a week now, but this, and Evelyn Nesbit have easily been my favorites so far. I've been intrigued by The Winchester House since I first heard of it, and hope someday to see it. It only took me thirty years to make it from Georgia to Colorado, so there's still a chance even if it's slow going. Most important though, this exponentially adds to the magic and allure of the place more than the myths ever could. Thank you for this. Seeing The Winchester House is literally the only thing on my bucket list.
poor Sarah honestly I can't imagine the pain and grief of losing so many close to her...the house gave her joy in some ways I'm glad for that.
Very good done Kaz! I never thought the house and Sarah were deep in the ocult business. Big hello from Stockholm 💙💛
And somehow we never got an episode on Supernatural about it.
Thank you so much for this video, and your diligent research. This was desperately needed. As a kid who grew up reading books on "true" hauntings, an old horror movie aficionado and a big fan of the Disney parks' Haunted Mansion, I of course grew up with the legend of the Winchester House. Yet not that many years ago, I came across a site that claimed Winchester's real aim was supposedly to demonstrate her belief in Rosicrucianism. I didn't find the argument all that persuasive, but it did make clear that the tales of seances and Sarah's belief that she must evade menacing ghosts simply had no documentation to support them. I've wondered ever since what the real story was. Thank you not only for shedding light but for rescuing a real person from a fake persona. It's nice to see someone in the online community focusing on restoring a reputation rather than destroying one.
Can’t believe this is the first time I’m hearing the real story behind the Winchester house. I’ve always been fascinated my it, but never heard anything besides the legends.
Excellent video! I have been to the Winchester Mystery house many times and never found it at all spooky, so this explains a lot. It is a great example of Victorian architecture quirks and all. - I live in San Francisco and I have yet to be in a Victorian building without quirks.- I have seen ghosts there… at the Halloween Haunted house, they were paid actors probably from the local high school or maybe San Jose State, but they did a good job of being ghosts. My favorite tour is of the attic and basement because you really get to see the “bones” of the house.
Honestly, about her apparent lack of guilt... Where was there room in her heart for it? She suffered a truly immense amount of loss in her lifetime; it's shocking she was able to do anything remotely positive after all of that.
I'm sure she felt an amount of guilt. After all she suffered loss. She probably did think at one point or many times about the lives that were lost. People after all would tell her that she was a bad person including the media as well at the time. She was labeled weird too. I'm sure she did feel it. I think she wasn't a very vocal person is why no one knew for sure.
Thank you for doing such a deep dive into Mrs. Winchester. I long to go see the house in person, especially for all the woodwork. She really was such a visionary, and even if not all of her plans succeeded (even before the terrible earthquake and flood), she really was willing to see where her creative side led her. I imagine that, as time went on, her design choices got better and better!
There was one story at the Winchester house that cracked me up. She bought one of the most expensive windows of all time, just to put a wall behind it. Which honestly? Thank you to Sara Winchester, cause reading that story had some of the most hilarious twists and turns I've ever read. I also know she deeply cared about everyone who worked there and her family, just from listening to stories.
amazing video, thank you for this! i'd only ever heard the ghost version of her story and all she wanted was peace and quiet
Calls to mind a chapter by Jeannie Banks Thomas in the book 'Haunting Experiences: Ghosts in Contemporary Folklore' (which is available digitally for free). Thomas analyzes 'the Extreme Guy' and 'the Deviant Femme' as ghostly archetypes. The chapter doesn't really correct much of the popular story of Sarah Winchester, but is terribly interesting nonetheless.
"While the Extreme Guy is typically violent, the Deviant Femme does not have to engage in violence to be deviant...When the lone, eccentric woman becomes the subject of a supernatural legend, in some cases the story behind her strange behaviors does not get told. The oral tradition merely recounts her strange actions."
(she also discusses a third archetype 'the Genderless Presence', so I guess those are the three genders now. Personally, I'm a Deviant Femme.)
Thank you so much for letting me know this exists.
@@victoriadiesattheend.8478 It's such a good read!
I’ve watched A LOT of videos about this and this was the first time I’ve ever been taught any of the truth about the mansion! Thank you for making this video ❤️
I really appreciate you making this video! I've always been intrigued by the house and wanted to know more about Sarah and the house's history, but it just felt like everything I ran across was more interested in spinning a yarn than in giving an actual historical account. I'm someone who you could call "sensitive" [to... idk... the nonphysical? shrug] and the Winchester House just does not feel haunted. That's not to say there's nothing there or that people who have seen weird stuff are lying or mistaken- I just mean that, compared to other places that are ~definitely~ f_ing haunted, it feels pretty normal. Anyway. I share your distaste for historical disinformation and am glad I finally got to hear a more grounded and factual account. It was really interesting! Thanks, Kaz! ^_^
This is very interesting, and I think the magic is still alive even after knowing this, because the house is the magic itself.
Sarah Winchester was a Victorian-era Pinterest mom confirmed
I remember my elderly neighbors went here when I was a kid and I was SO jealous. They let me borrow the VHS from the gift shop.
I think the real appeal of the house for me is how surreal it seems. Makes me think of that optical illusion picture that’s pretty famous and was even the inspiration and featured in the movie Labyrinth where people are walking up stairs on ceilings etc. It’s great for inspiration and visual interest
Quite possibly one of the better telling's of Mrs. Winchester's life and story. in the 90's I worked at a tour guide at the house and I made sure that I focused on the facts (as we knew them at the time) of her life and her family. I think the most interesting that people forget, or didn't know, about her was that for the time period she had a brilliant mind and if she had the proper training could have been an amazing architect and designer. She was very forward thinking especially in how she designed portions of the house and the modern convivences she incorporated. It's a great house created by a unique woman who had a tragic and fascinating life.
The real story of her is so much more interesting. I think it’s amazing she just didn’t give a crap about what people thought of her and just did what she wanted.
I love learning about history, so I found this very interesting and informative.
Maybe the house is haunted because ghosts really appreciate some quality craftsmanship and architecture just like Mrs. Winchester. Not so bad company then
Absolutely awesome documentary. Its the best I've seen on this house. THANK YOU!
never heard of this place, on the other side of the planet, but appreciate the work done to elevate truths and place falsehoods in context. overall the story is one of humans and how we engage with a complicated and often unpleasant existence. that, to me, is what history is really about.
My house, rented from my grandmother is confusing. She created a house, in conjunction with the contractors, that was made of very small rooms. But I love it, for it's weirdness, and I never want to let it go.
a lot of the reported ghosts have been claimed to be of builders, not any victims of the repeating rifle -- regardless, it's interesting to hear about sarah's actual motivations c:
Really appreciate this presentation, I’ve had incomplete information, even misinformation for as long as I’ve known about the house, without the entirety of historical fact, context or nuance (Victorian society, class, behaviors of the time). Seems ironic, making the house a spooky spectacle still helps to keep it and a select fraction of Sarah’s sensationalized persona alive.
Wow. After all these facts that movie that came out some years ago feels even more disrespectful.
I always figured that she was quirky and that got twisted way out proportion and the legend invented. It's a beautiful home and my dream home.
loved this video, the real circumstances and history that caused the rumors are so interesting! hearing about the house on ghost shows always felt like large chunks of information were being withheld. also lmao at that ghost adventures b roll
This was a fascinating thing to learn about! The house really IS lovely when you look at it from a place of pure archetectural passion. Unfortunately I can see with the bizarre post-earthquake archetecture and the claims from the (wildly incorrect) media how people would just blur out her real life... Which is really sad...