Life of sarah winchester
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THE ONE ABOUT SARAH WINCHESTER
CW: Genocide, colonialism, the Civil War, the American Indian Wars, guns, child loss, and a brief mention of slavery.
Rambling old houses have long been a subject of interest for me. I based the haunted house in PARTING THE VEIL on several historical mansions, including the Biltmore Estate, Mount Stuart on Scotland’s Isle of Bute, and most specifically, the Earl Wheeler Mansion in Sharon, PA—which is now a parking lot. But with its hidden rooms and secret doors, the Winchester Mystery House had an undeniable influence on the interior of my own Havenwood Manor.
Sarah Winchester and her labyrinthine mansion in San Jose, California have inspired many hemsökt house stories. But what’s the real story behind this never-ending house and the woman who owned it?
I recently read Ghostland by Colin Dickey, which is an exploration of American history through the lens of our regional ghost stories and folk legends. With a forensic eye toward uncovering th
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Sarah Winchester
(1839-1922)
Who Was Sarah Winchester?
Sarah Winchester married into New Haven's Winchester family, known for its "gun that won the West." After her husband died, Winchester embarked on the construction of a massive 160-room mansion in San Jose, California, reportedly guided by spirits, until her death in 1922. The Winchester Mystery House today stands as a popular tourist attraction, thanks to its ornate, confounding interior and anecdotes of supernatural activity.
Early Life
Sarah Lockwood Pardee was born in 1839 (some sources say 1840) in New Haven, Connecticut, to Sarah Burns and Leonard Pardee. Her father managed the City Bathing House until finding success as a finish carpenter, providing financial security for the family. He also ran a progressive household, holding court with prominent abolitionists and freethinkers of the day.
Influenced by this environment, Sarah developed into an excellent all-around student, learning four languages and
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The True Story of the Winchester Mystery House, the Creepiest Mansion in the U.S.
The full story of the Winchester Mystery House is featured in season 3, episode 1 of House Beautiful's haunted house podcast, Dark House. You can listen to the full episode on Spotify.
What started out in the mid-1800s as a modest eight-room farmhouse in California's Santa Clara Valley has become one of the most recognizable and notoriously mysterious mansions and haunted house attractions in America: the Winchester Mystery House, as it's known today. The sprawling—and incongruous—Queen Ann Revival home was rifle heiress Sarah Pardee Winchester's constantly-in-progress (and forever unfinished) hobby home that she dubbed Llanada Villa in honor of the region's Spanish roots and her love of the Basque countryside.
Sarah Winchester as a young woman.
As the widow of William Winchester, whose family's eponymous company, The Winchester Repeating Arms Company, Sarah came into a $20 mi