Winchester died of heart failure in her sleep on September 5, 1922. Regardless of whom or what she was contacting, she may have opened a portal to the spirit world - one that remains open today. And Winchester was known to be superstitious. Spiritualism was in fashion then, used to cope with the immense grief caused by disease and war. Was she communing with angry ghosts, allowing them to guide her? Or was she contacting her long-dead husband and daughter? The medium piece has never been proven, but we know Winchester held seances in the mansion late at night, often emerging with new plans the following morning. “Continuously build upon a house to keep the spirits at bay.” The woman told her the Winchester family had blood on their hands, and that she would suffer the same fate as her husband and daughter if she didn’t make amends. They say she visited a medium before leaving Connecticut. The San Fransisco Chronicle claimed “the sound of the hammer is never hushed” because Winchester believed the end of construction would bring about her death - but most people believed the heiress was trying to appease the vengeful victims of Winchester rifles. So the public gossiped and the newspapers published stories. No one uttered a word about what happened in that house, even after her death.

It didn’t help that Sarah was a private person, opting to stay at home rather than rub elbows with the California elite. The only other person who lived in the house was her niece. Who was this mysterious, wealthy widow? Why was she spending all of her time building a massive mansion in the middle of an economic depression? She had no children. The larger the house became, the more people talked. Changes were made on a whim, and sometimes entire wings were constructed only to be torn down again.Ĭonstruction went on constantly between 18. Over the next 36 years, Sarah transformed her California cottage into a massive, seven-story Queen Anne Revival. The land included a modest, eight-room house. He died of tuberculosis in 1881, leaving Sarah a 50% stake in the growing company.Īfter donating a large sum of money to a hospital in New Haven, the grieving widow took the rest of her money to San Jose, California, where she purchased 40 acres of land. Able to fire 15 shots in a row, the Model 73 was a killing machine, earning it the nickname “the gun that won the west.”īut William’s success was cut short. William found his business to be a welcome distraction.īetween 18, the company sold over 700,000 Winchester rifles. Anne’s little body wasn’t processing nutrients, and she died six weeks later, having slowly starved to death. In June of that year, Sarah gave birth to their first child: A little girl named Anne.

Sarah winchester mystery house san jose