

There are other stories that draw similar conclusions connecting Winchester Arms with spirits killed by the guns they manufactured, but also stories that paint Sarah as feeling immense guilty for being part of the family business. The story from that point has different variations, including one where the Boston medium told Sarah that both her infant daughter and her husband were “taken” as revenge for those deaths. She also was instructed that this house should be continuously under construction as appeasement to the ghosts of all those who were killed by the weapons the Winchester Repeating Arms company had produced. Those stories tell the tale that the Boston medium channeled her late husband and through her, told Sarah to travel west to find a suitable place to build a house.

A different version of the story ties to the Boston medium rumor. She did have relatives in the area, and it wasn’t seen as unusual for a woman of her wealth to buy a large estate. What we do know is that sometime before 1884, she returned to the United States and settled in the Santa Clara Valley but only after purchasing an unfinished eight room farmhouse on 161 acres of land from a Dr. There have been multiple theories of what she did during the long hiatus but none of them can be substantiated with any details. California historian Ralph Rambo claimed that immediately after the death of her husband, Sarah went on a world tour that lasted for nearly three years. The story at this point becomes mired in opinion, speculation, and strangeness. It was said that she went searching for answers and ended up seeking help from a spiritualist in Boston. The Widower, Sarah WinchesterĪccording to several sources, Sarah went into an even deeper depression after losing her father-in-law and then her husband. It’s at this point in Sarah Winchester’s life that the mystery begins, starting with rumors that she consulted with a spiritualist to help guide her through her grief. With both her husband and father-in-law deceased, Sarah inherited a nearly 50% stake in the Winchester Arms company and nearly $20 million dollars, making her one of the wealthiest women in America overnight. However, William’s tenure as President of Winchester Arms would be extremely short as he too passed away from tuberculosis in March of 1881, at the age of 43. His death left the company in the hands of his only son. Not much is known about the family from the point of their only child’s death until William’s father dying in December of 1880, 11 days after his 70th birthday. Her grief pushed her into a great depression and the couple had no more children to help ease her grief. Marasmus is a severe form of malnutrition which is caused by the body’s inability to metabolize proteins, regardless of consumption levels. At the time little was known about the disease, only that it was irreversible and quickly overcame the children it affected. In 1866, her life took a tragic turn, one which she would never fully recover from, when her infant daughter Annie died shortly after her birth from marasmus. Her early married years mirrored her own childhood in many ways and she and her husband were included in the highest circles of New England Society. Winchester who was also the owner of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Upon reaching her adult years, she married William Wirt Winchester, son of Connecticut Lieutenant Governor Oliver F.

She grew up in the lap of luxury, enjoying a private school education where she learned to speak four languages and became an expert pianist. Sarah Winchester was born sometime around 1840, the exact date isn’t known the daughter of a carriage maker in New Haven, Connecticut. But in reality, there is no single reason to completely define the “mystery” portion of the house name, but instead a compilation of it’s strange history one complete with stories of mediums and hauntings, endless remodeling and new construction, and the strange behaviors of Mrs. The lengthy construction period is just one of the mysterious angles of this story, as is the personal life story of the home owner, Sarah Winchester. Today it’s known as the Winchester Mystery House and is owned by Winchester Investments LLC and it’s listed as a California Historic Landmark.

Construction started in 1884 and continued without interruption until 1922, with armies of workers on-site daily, adding room after room to the home without so much as an official set of building plans. The Winchester House in San Jose, California was once the largest and most expensive private residence in the United States.
