Sarah Winchester is a famous widow who inherited the huge fortune of her husband and squandered him on the construction of a huge estate designed to protect a woman from ghosts. However, she dreamed of peace, recognition and once sought to help the poor. The home of Sarah Winchester in San Jose, California, to this day attracts tourists from all over the world as a mystical and mysterious building. And the new owner does not forget to make money on this.
At the same time, the real Sarah Winchester was just an unfortunate victim of her confidence in the curse looming over her, and therefore she tried to find peace in flight when she had to repulse her “ghosts”. However, who knows for sure? Perhaps Sarah Winchester had really something to fear.
Extracts from the biography and the early years
Native Sarah Lockwood Pardi was born around 1840. Nobody knows the exact date, as well as the place, 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 Wirth of Winchester. At that time, his father was at the helm of the trust, and so the newlyweds could enjoy life without worrying about their future. The profession of the parents of Sarah Winchester is unknown, presumably farming. Despite some weakness in the position of a woman, even if she was from high society, being married, the heroine sought not only to spend, but also to increase her husband’s condition.
The 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. June 15, 1866 the couple had a daughter named Annie Pardi Winchester. The girl lived until July 25, after which she died. The cause of death is unknown, it is possible the child has already been born quite weak. The couple never had children again and, as you know, did not even try to have them. The loss of her daughter hit the heroine hard; her health for the first time was shaken quite noticeably. It is not known for certain how Sarah Winchester managed to survive the tragedy, but in the end she closed herself, practically did not talk for a long time. Later, when she had already gained the fame of a “madman,” the people around her noted how sad this woman’s eyes were.
The 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 the reins of the company. Combining grief over the loss of his father, caring for his spouse and company, he was exhausted, looked tired and sick. In March 1881, William died of tuberculosis, suffering greatly from death. At that time, Sarah Winchester, whose biography was actually concentrated in New Haven, decided to move. Then 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 off an unknown debt to mystical forces.
Estimated condition
After the death of her husband, Sarah Winchester received not only his fortune, but also more than 50% in the arms company of the family. At that time, a rough estimate of the assets of Sarah Winchester was $ 20 million, which in 2017, for example, would amount to 0.5 billion dollars. The company brought in income per day of 1 thousand, which in terms of equivalent was 25 thousand dollars in the modern world. Here you should add up the first house of Sarah Winchester, whose photo was not preserved, as well as a car. In 1888, Madame acquired another 140 acres of land in California, organized a ranch there. She tried to support her family, sister and brother, and acquired a farm for them.
In the 1920s, Sarah Winchester bought a boat marina from her workshop in Burlingame, California. There was a ship called the "Ark of Sarah." At the same time, relatives and friends had suspicions that the girl was crazy. Gossipers were more merciless to Mrs. Winchester. She was accused of losing her mind. They claimed that Sarah was preparing for the next flood, and therefore bought a boat. If before that she tried to conduct the business of the company and monitor the money, now she was exclusively concerned with her own protection, with the aim of ensuring which the mansion of Sarah Winchester 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 a dream. After the body was discovered, a note was also found about the last will of the deceased. In total there were 13 sheets, which the hostess also signed thirteen times. Directly the house itself went to Mrs. Merian L. Merriot, who took what she wanted and sold the rest. According to unconfirmed reports, it took 6 and a half weeks to transport all the furniture and personal belongings from the house; daily, the loaders took out several fully loaded vehicles. The house of Sarah Winchester was so huge that it was impossible to find absolutely everything at once. At her time, Madame was the richest woman in the world, and she built her mansion for almost 38 years.
The house of Sarah Winchester went under the hammer for an unknown rate, after which the new owner turned it into entertainment for tourists, surrounded by rumors and hoax. The remains were buried in a local cemetery, but later relatives moved them to Connecticut, where Sarah found peace next to her husband and young daughter. At the moment, photos of Sarah Winchester's mansion serve as bait for arriving in California. The owners claim that this "gloomy and vicious" place can terrify even the strongest and most persistent. In fact, this is just entertainment for tourists for a considerable amount.
Legacy and History
Sarah herself appeared as a protagonist in the 2018 Winchester movie. She was performed by actress Helen Mirren. Despite the external differences, the image came up 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 a hypertrophied persecution mania with obsessive and destructive ideas for the psyche. And directly the woman herself became a victim of frustration, but not of mystical powers. However, those who like horror will also find something of their own in the tape. Scientifically, the house of Sarah Winchester is just an attraction, although studies were conducted there in order to detect paranormal manifestations of the otherworldly.
Description of the mansion
The landlady invested everything she had in 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 substantially 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, construction continued 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 tried to take up arms, but the lady paid regularly. The original mansion is considered unfinished. It was repaired several times due to subsidence, but nobody knows the true plans for the construction of Sarah Winchester to this day.
Reasons for building
According to unconfirmed reports, the hostess was thinking about a new house because of a medium from Boston. No one is sure about the genuine words spoken by the widow at that time. It is believed that Sarah came out from a clairvoyant as pale as a canvas. According to the medium, her family was haunted by the curse of every soul, which was taken away by a rifle designed by the Winchesters. Ghosts, allegedly, were first taken away by her daughter, and then by Sarah's husband. A frightened and apathetic woman accepted this statement on faith, after which she invested all without a trace in the construction of her "fortress". Her house was conceived as a trap for spirits. Souls would spend forever finding the mistress of the mansion. Constant restructuring, changing projects, the layout of rooms - all this cost a lot of money, and Sarah spent it without looking back. Only in her house could she sleep peacefully.
Presumably the medium who prompted the widow to such a thought was called Adam Kun. At that time, people in his profession turned from just jesters and solders into serious, allegedly, specialists. They tricked and fooled a rich audience with special tricks. Pious Sarah would never go to a meeting with a medium, but she too much wanted to “hear” her husband. The deceiver took advantage of the woman’s weakness and simply invented a ghost story for more conviction. Who could imagine that Sarah would take it seriously. In addition, the paranormal relations specialist said that “the hammer knock should not subside for a minute,” and therefore the construction was carried out constantly, moreover, very chaotically.
The legend of "visitors"
There is an opinion that the medium told Sarah something else. “You have to repent, ask them for forgiveness, give them something as a gift” - the phrase was supposedly about the same. For this, the hostess allocated a special "blue" room in the mansion. Every day, a servant in black livery rose to the highest tower in the building, after which he rang the bell once at exactly midnight. Then Mrs. Winchester received its visitors. Nobody knows who they really were. It is possible that the woman was simply crazy and began to see hallucinations, or else her spiritualism friends came to her. In any case, visitors were still seen. Conversations continued until 2 a.m. until the next bell sounded, then the lady went to bed.
Oddities Sarah Winchester
The widow was an extremely extraordinary person in life. She abandoned the plans, and the builders complied with her requirements, drawn on napkins at breakfast. Serving in the house was considered perhaps the most difficult test for the 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 just such a number of steps. Sarah wore 2-3 sets of clothes at the same time in order to change her image and rush off at any second, even in the middle of a conversation, because she considered unpredictability as her main protection against ghosts.
"Requests" from the other world
Once Sarah demanded to create a triangular room for the sake of Sir Quentin Orwell, who died due to a famous rifle. Often empty rooms appeared in the house, in which there was only 1 chair from the furniture. All of this was part of the constant demands from the ghosts. Mrs. Winchester was so unusual that she could disperse the brigade during the construction process or make it destroy everything under the root and start over. Soon, the workers began to leave the project, since they themselves became eyewitnesses of the manifestation of the otherworldly. Although it seems more likely that the widow simply ran out of money. Recent photos of Sarah Winchester show a tormented and sick man, whose life has become a burden.
Winchester Mansion today
At the moment, the mystical house has become one of the most popular entertainment in California. It is huge, the number of rooms is 160. It is very easy to get lost in the house, as many stairs lead to the walls, and doors open, for example, into the same room. Some tourists note that with a long stay in the mansion, the head begins 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 it seems to visitors as if they could never find a way out.