Winchester Mystery House is a historic house in San Jose. The still unfinished mansion is full of strange hallways, hidden rooms, and supposedly various ghosts. The Guy and I took a tour there while on our San Jose Staycation a few weeks back.
The house is so beautiful, yet so very strange. A woman residing in Connecticut, had quite the untimely death of her 6 week old daughter, and husband shortly after.
Never getting over the grieving period and mourning of her loved ones, she moved out to California after given the advice from someone she trusted. Apparently she was so superstitious that she needed to keep building and building her home in California. She continued to build for 38 years straight. Contentiously. Could you imagine? Every day. Building.
When she died, all building of her home stopped. Her house belongings were sold at auction and took 8 truck loads per day for 6.5 weeks to move all the furniture out. MAN! For one person!
I’m not one to feel claustrophobic but holy smokes due to the small rooms, narrow switch back staircases, we were on a tour with a group of about 20 people in total, with kids included. A 65 minute tour of the strange house was definitely long enough for me! The Guy couldn’t get enough of it though — he loved it. I mean, I did too, but I felt so strange being in there.
I definitely got an eerie vibe from the house. I definitely wouldn’t want to go trick-or-treating there or get lost inside. I’d never be found, haha! If you really want to get spooked, do a flashlight tour, which happens every Friday 13th.
Mrs. Winchester loved her home, and built it so architecturally sound that it withstood many earthquakes. However, the mansion was 7 stories high at one point, up until the large 1906 San Francisco earthquake which took the home down to four stories.
 Fun facts about the Winchester Mystery House I learned on the tour:
- 160 rooms in the home.
- 40 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, yet one shower.
- The design of the house was so strange. Doors opening into walls. Staircases to go nowhere, or a ceiling
- Her séance room had 1 entrance yet 3 exists.
I don’t want to ruin anything for you guys in case you decide to do the tour yourself one day. So I’ll leave it at that, and finish it up with photos of the grounds. We weren’t allowed to take any photographs inside.
I would say it’s definitely worth touring the house at least once if you visit San Jose, even if you’re not totally interested. I had absolutely no idea what we were getting into on the tour. And I’m still thinking about it a month later. I’m seriously fascinated by it all.
525 South Winchester Boulevard, San Jose, CA 95128
408.247.2101
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