Sarah Winchester is a famous widow who inherited her husband's huge fortune and squandered it to build a huge estate designed to protect a woman from ghosts. At the same time, she dreamed of peace, recognition, and once sought to help the poor. Sarah Winchester's house in San Jose, California, still attracts tourists from all over the world as a mystical and mysterious building. And the new owner doesn't forget to make money from it.
However, the real Sarah Winchester was just the unfortunate victim of her confidence in the curse hanging over her, and therefore tried to find peace in flight, when she should have fought back her "ghosts". However, who knows for sure? Perhaps Sarah Winchester really had something to fear.
Biography and early years
Ne Sarah Lockwood Purdy was born around 1840. No one knows the exact date, as well as the place, of the birth of this woman. Presumably, the girl was born in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. On September 30, 1862, she married the founder and head of Winchester & Co. William Wirt Winchester. On theat that moment, his father was at the helm of the trust, and therefore the newlyweds could enjoy life without worrying about their future. The profession of Sarah Winchester's parents is unknown, presumably farming. Despite some weakness in the position of a woman, albeit from high society, being married, the heroine sought not only to spend, but also to increase the fortune of her husband.
Birth of a daughter
It should be noted that the absence of children for 4 years of marriage at that time was considered, if not shameful, then rather strange. On June 15, 1866, the couple had a daughter named Annie Purdy Winchester. The girl lived until July 25, after which she died. The cause of death is unknown, it is quite possible that the child was already born rather weak. The couple never had children again and are not known to have even tried to have them. The loss of her daughter hit the heroine hard, her he alth for the first time was shaken very noticeably. It is not known for certain how Sarah Winchester managed to survive the tragedy, but in the end she closed herself in, practically did not speak for a long time. Later, when she had already gained fame as a "crazy", people around her noted how sad the eyes of this woman were.
Death of loved ones
In 1880, Oliver Winchester, the father-in-law of the heroine, died. At that time, this was an even stronger blow, since Sarah's husband was forced to take over the reins of the company. Combining grief for the loss of his father, concern for his wife and company, he was exhausted, looked tired and sick. ATMarch 1881, William died of tuberculosis, suffering greatly before his death. At that time, Sarah Winchester, whose biography was actually concentrated in New Haven, decides to move. At the same time, she had her first suspicions about the "curse" that hung over her. She believed that she was guilty of the death of her neighbors and forced to live on, paying an unknown debt to mystical forces.
Rough condition estimate
After the death of his wife, Sarah Winchester received not only his fortune, but also more than 50% in the family's weapons company. At that time, the approximate value of Sarah Winchester's assets was $ 20 million, which in 2017, for example, would have amounted to 0.5 billion "bucks". The company was bringing in $1,000 per day, which is equivalent to $25,000 in today's world. This should also include the first house of Sarah Winchester, the photo of which has not been preserved, as well as the car. In 1888, the lady purchased another 140 acres of land in California, organized a ranch there. She tried to support her family, sister and brother, and bought a farm for them.
In the 1920s, Sarah Winchester bought a boat dock from her workshop in Burlingame, California. There was also a ship called Sarah's Ark. At the same time, relatives and friends had suspicions that the girl was crazy. Gossips were more merciless to Mrs. Winchester. She was accused of being insane. It was said that Sarah was preparing for another flood, and therefore bought a boat. If before that she tried to manage the company's affairs and keep track of money, now she was solely concerned with her own protection, in order to ensure which Sarah Winchester's mansion was later built, which became a trap for her mistress.
The death and fate of the estate
The heroine died on September 5, 1922 from a heart attack, in her sleep. After the body was found, a note about the last will of the deceased was also found. In total, there were 13 sheets, which the hostess also signed thirteen times. The house itself went to Mrs. Merian L. Marriott, who took what she wanted and sold the rest. According to unconfirmed reports, it took 6 and a half weeks to move all the furniture and personal belongings from the house, with several fully loaded cars taken out daily by movers. Sarah Winchester's house was so huge that it took a long time to find absolutely everything. In her period, the lady was the richest woman in the world, and she built her mansion for almost 38 years.
Sarah Winchester's house went under the hammer for an unknown rate, after which the new owner turned it into entertainment for tourists, surrounded by rumors and hoaxes. The remains were buried at a local cemetery, but later relatives moved them to Connecticut, where Sarah found peace next to her husband and young daughter. For now, photos of Sarah Winchester's mansion serve as bait to come to California. The owners claim that this "gloomy and vile" place is capable of terrifying even the strongest and most persistent. In fact, thisjust entertainment for tourists for a considerable amount.
Heritage and history
Sarah herself appeared as the protagonist in the 2018 film Winchester. It was performed by actress Helen Mirren. Despite external differences, the image fit perfectly, and the picture itself turned out to be more tragic than frightening. Most experts believe that the story of Sarah Winchester is a classic example of hypertrophied persecution mania with obsessive and psychologically destructive ideas. And directly the woman herself became a victim of disorder, but not mystical forces. However, those who like horror will also find something of their own in the tape. Scientifically, Sarah Winchester's house is just an attraction, although research has been done there to detect paranormal manifestations of the otherworld.
Description of the mansion
The hostess put everything she had into her project. At first, the house was conceived as a seven-story building, becoming the first skyscraper in the district. But in 1906, an earthquake occurred, as a result of which the construction site had to be frozen first, and then significantly changed. Ultimately, the mansion of Sarah Winchester appeared in the form of a grotesque four-story building. Since the lady did not use the services of architects, but relied on her understanding of the essence of the house, the construction went on for a very long time and was extremely problematic. So, for example, the hostess could demand to rebuild the whole wing, simply because she did not like it for far-fetched reasons. Several times the workers triedtake up arms, but the lady regularly paid. The original mansion is considered unfinished. It was repaired several times due to subsidence, but no one knows the true plans for the construction of Sarah Winchester to this day.
Reasons for building
According to unconfirmed reports, the owner was thinking about a new house because of a medium from Boston. No one is exactly sure about the actual words spoken to the widow at that time. It is believed that Sarah came out of the clairvoyant as pale as a sheet. According to the medium, her family was haunted by the curse of every soul that was taken by the rifle designed by the Winchesters. The ghosts allegedly took away first the daughter, and then the husband of Sarah. The frightened and apathetic woman took this statement on faith, after which she invested everything without a trace in the construction of her "fortress". Her house was conceived as a trap for spirits. Souls would spend eternity trying to find the mistress of the mansion. Constant rebuilding, changing projects, room arrangements - all this cost a lot of money, and Sarah spent them without looking back. Only in her house could she sleep peacefully.
Supposedly the medium who gave the widow this idea was named Adam Kuhn. At that time, the people of his profession turned from just jesters and clowns into serious, allegedly specialists. They deceived and fooled the rich public with the help of special tricks. The devout Sarah would never have gone to see a medium, but she wanted too much to "hear" her husband. The deceiver took advantage of the woman's weakness and simply inventeda ghost story for more credibility. Who would have imagined that Sarah would take this seriously. In addition, a paranormal liaison specialist stated that "the knocking of hammers should not stop even for a minute", and therefore the construction was carried out constantly, and quite chaotically.
The legend of the "visitors"
There is an opinion that the medium said something else to Sarah. "You must repent, ask them for forgiveness, give them something as a gift" - that phrase supposedly sounded like this. For this, the hostess allocated a special "blue" room in the mansion. Every day a black-lived servant climbed the tallest tower in the building, after which he rang the bell once at exactly midnight. Then Mrs. Winchester received her visitors. Who they really were, no one knows. It is quite possible that the woman simply went crazy and began to see hallucinations, or friends in spiritism came to her. In any case, visitors were still seen. The conversations continued until 2 am, until another bell sounded, then the lady went to bed.
Sarah Winchester Oddities
The widow was an extremely extraordinary person during her lifetime. She abandoned the plans, and the builders carried out her requirements, drawn on napkins at breakfast. Serving in the house was considered perhaps the most difficult test for a servant, it was difficult to learn the entire route to the new bedroom of the hostess. The woman was literally obsessed with the number 13. Most of the stairs in the house contained exactly this numbersteps. Sarah wore 2-3 sets of clothes at a time in order to change her look and rush away at any second, even in the middle of a conversation, as she considered unpredictability to be her main defense against ghosts.
"Requests" from the other world
Sarah once demanded to create a triangular room for the sake of Sir Quentin Orwell, who died because of the eminent rifle. Often empty rooms appeared in the house, in which there was only 1 chair from the furniture. All this was part of the constant demands from the "ghosts". Mrs. Winchester was so unusual that during the construction process she could disperse the team or make them destroy everything to the root and start over. Soon, the workers began to leave the project, as they themselves became eyewitnesses of the manifestation of the otherworldly. Although it seems more likely that the widow simply ran out of money. The latest photos of Sarah Winchester show an exhausted and sick person, for whom life has become a burden.
Winchester Mansion Today
At the moment, the mystical house has become one of the most popular attractions in California. It is huge, the number of rooms is 160. At the same time, it is very easy to get lost in the house, since many stairs lead to the walls, and doors open, for example, into the same room. Some tourists note that when they stay in a mansion for a long time, their head starts to hurt, hallucinations and obsessions appear, perception and understanding of the essence of things suffer. Even now, when each room is located on the plan and painted in a light shade, the house evokes gloomy thoughts,and visitors feel like they'll never be able to find their way out.
