A Day at the Winchester Mystery House

A Day at the Winchester Mystery House

If there is one thing that I love, it's a good mystery. So what better way to close a three day journey that started off in my hometown of Folsom, went through San Francisco and ended up in San Jose, than with a trip to one of the most mysterious homes on the planet. The Winchester Mystery House.

My sister in law, Colleen Douglas, and I didn't originally intend to visit San Jose when we were planning our adventure. We had planned to go to San Francisco only but we hadn't been driving more than twenty minutes when the topic of the Winchester mansion came up. I have always wanted to see it but somehow have just never found my way down to San Jose. Before I knew it Colleen had booked a room at a hotel near the mansion that included tickets for the attraction.

If you haven't read my account of the first two parts of our San Francisco adventure please feel free to click the following link if you would like to follow along.

A Walk Through Madame Tussauds San Francisco

The first two days of our journey were awesome. We became gluttons of amazing seafood, wandered the dark halls of the San Francisco Dungeons, meandered through Madame Tussauds, scared ourselves silly with some zombies and did some shopping in China town....although I still hadn't found myself a mascot. Why is it always so hard to find something small? As we drove out of San Francisco I let my mind wander to where we were going. I remember the first time that I heard about the Winchester house and how it intrigued my twelve year old mind.

For those of you who don't know my history let me give you a quick peek at my past. I was raised by my grandparents, two of the most amazing compassionate people who ever walked the earth. I lost my grandfather fourteen years ago and my Grams barely three years past. My grandmother and I especially shared a strong bond, and if there was something that she liked well then I liked it too. Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman? Yup. The New Adventures of Superman? You betcha. Well one of the television channels she liked was A&E and they did a special on Sarah Winchester when I was still in my preteen years. Her story was so spooky, lonely and sad that my twelve year old heart went out to her. I understand how it feels to be bitterly hurt and alone, and still feel the need to hide yourself away even as it leads you away from people. Vicious cycle really.

Sarah Lockwood Winchester is a bit of a mystery herself unto herself. There are few documents in existence that can tell us much about who she was, or what she was thinking. Even documentation of her actual birth is sketchy, leaving us a ten year gap that she may have been born. One thing that can be noted about her is that she was a prodigy, speaking multiple languages by the time she was twelve and being an accomplished musician.

She was a beautiful woman in her heyday and was known as the Belle of New Haven. Eventually she married William Wirt Winchester and they had a little girl named Annie. Unfortunately the child suffered from a rare genetic disease called Marasmus which leaves the body unable to metabolize proteins. For forty agonizing days she watched her little girl starve before finally succumbing to death. She couldn't bear the risk of having to suffer such pain again and they never had another child. When she lost her husband to tuberculosis in 1880 she allowed herself to be consumed by depression.

The folklore around her story insists that this is the time she met with a famous Boston medium who told her that she must travel to California and begin construction on a house. On the day that construction concluded she would die. That being said she moved to California, bought an eight room farm house and began construction based on instructions that were given to her nightly by the ghosts she summoned during midnight séances. A very spooky story told to each of the guest by the tour guides and backed up by many television shows, books and pamphlets. I mean what other reason would she have to build a staircase to nowhere or a skylight in the middle of her floor? I was curious so I began my own research.

There is a different, and far less salacious, theory that I read that I
think makes a lot of sense. Sarah was born  and raised in New Haven Connecticut, home of Yale University. She went to a prestigious school where she was taught history, math and the sciences in a time where many woman still were not guaranteed to be taught to read. She was taught by teachers who were famous Rosicrucian theorists, with a curriculum rich in  symbology. When her husband died, she even went on a grand tour of Europe which included places like Scotland's Rosslyn Chapel, which has its very own staircase to nowhere. So if not directed by spirits why would she move to California? Well it might have been due to the high number of her Pardee relatives that lived in the area, one who would rise to become the Governor of California.

So why then would she build her mansion unending for thirty eight years, coupled with dozens of items build around symbology and numbers? I suppose the truth is that we may never know. Whether it's because she spoke to spirits or was a genius who was obsessed with numbers, symbols and the works of Francis Bacon, the house has captured the imaginations of all who have come there.

On our way to this fantastical house, Colleen and I checked into the hotel that had run the promotion. We were staying at the San Jose Airport Gardens, which was supposed to be a three star hotel. Now you may remember that I have said before that what constitutes a three star rating seems to vary by place to place. You should also remember that being critical is not really in my nature...which I suppose is kind of funny considering that I am a reviewer. That being said this place was a pit. A very large pit, but a filthy, poorly maintained, misnamed pit all the same. My first statement must address the fact that the hotel is misnamed. Although you may have a few scraggly roses and a large fence of oleander bushes, if you advertise that you have acres of gardens then please have them. A oleander bush is not a garden.

The second thing is that they didn't have any of the tickets that were advertised to come with the room. They had apparently been locked into a safe that no one had the code to...okey dokey. A bit disgruntled we made our way to our assigned building to discover one of the most frightful elevators I have ever been in. It was carpeted on every available surface and groaned and strained to get to the second floor. Not awesome. Once inside of our room I discovered that the room was blatantly filthy, with the sheets on my bed being stained and covered in cigarette holes. I called down asked for more sheets and the one bright spot in the hotel answered the phone. The manager Carlos, was a very nice man and he ended up comping our room due to the horrible state that we found it as well as the lack of tickets.

My one last warning for this sub par hotel is to stay out of the hot tub. We wandered our way over there hoping to relax a little after the long drive to find it green, slimy and full of debris. Shudder.

Sarah might have made her way to the Santa Clara Valley, which used to be known as the Valley of the Hearts Delight, to find peace but since it's transition into San Jose I can honestly say that peace is not a word I would use for this area. It's noisy and roiling with people and energy. Colleen and I stopped at a Walmart to grab a few things and I quickly found myself on the verge of a panic attack when trying to make my way through the miasma of people who were too busy trying to get to where they were going to find time for manners. Not my scene.

Finally we made our way to the mansion itself and found that in the midst of all the chaos there is still a small piece of tranquility. The grounds and gardens have been restored to their former majesty and even standing in the shadow of urban monstrosities I felt myself giving in to the atmosphere and relaxing. After all the hype I came to this place expecting to feel a deeply spooky atmosphere....but what I discovered is that it's intensely peaceful here. I felt as if I had been invited to a friends home and there was no unease in walking the grounds at all. Although I there were times that felt extremely sad, especially where it was obvious that someone once took a great deal of joy in some such article or room. The stained glass windows for one. I could have stood in one place for the entire day and just soaked them in.

As we made out way into the building we found ourselves in one of the biggest and most varied gift shops I have ever been in. There was the usual assortment of made in China plastic junk but they also had a beautiful assortment of stained glass, and other handmade items that I had to stop and drool over. Add to that an abundance of spooky themed relics and I was happy to wander around blindly for about an hour or so. The only thing in the shop that did not suit my taste was the Almond Roca Wine they had in the corner. Ick.

They also have a charming Product Museum which includes a variety of items that were once made by the Winchester company. Truthfully I didn't know that the company made much more than guns or ammunition so it was a bit of a surprise to see a familiar old fashioned lawn mower among the displays. One of the ones that had a circle of whirling blades that would roll as you pushed it to reap the blades of grass. I saw that same implement hanging from my grandfathers garage wall most of my childhood, although we didn't have a blade of grass on the two acres of red clay I grew up on. They also had something in that museum that made my food loving heart dance with joy. A gigantic Winchester Mansion shaped gingerbread house. That takes some serious baking skills to make something like this. Joy!

From there we went to purchase our tickets and decided that we wanted to take not only the house tour but the garden tour as well. We did learn from the very helpful young man at the desk that we would not be able to take pictures on the inside of the house....cough cough. You may have notice a few at the front potion of this blog. I have no idea where those came from. Nice young man though. He even hammed it up for my camera. I love it when people do that.

The tour began with us stepping into a gigantic entry hall where Sarah would drive her carriage straight in so she didn't have to be subject to inclement weather. That alone would have made her unique in her time. Her designs included innovations from everything from the types of materials used in her home to ideas that helped save water in the drought stricken California Valley. That's a problem that reigns here to this day and I have to admit that some of her ideas could really be helpful during this years horrendous drought. She was a brilliant woman if a bit peculiar. She also built her home out of redwood, which is the only wood on the planet that is completely bug resistant. You'll find no termites crawling through these ornate halls.

From there we moved up her Easy Risers....which she designed to have steps only a few inches tall when her arthritis began to make movement a nightmare. I really, really loved these stairs. If ever I am forced to live in a second story house again I might just have to borrow this idea for when my own arthritis attempts to hijack my life. We moved into the twenty five thousand dollar store room....an amount calculated on the day of her death so you can imagine what it's worth now. The materials here are those that she had waiting to be used on the day she left this realm, and here they have remained. This includes some of the most amazing one of a kind Tiffany glass windows I can imagine. That strikes me as part of the sadness of the house. All these beautiful things that will never be put to use.

From there we wandered through rooms that had many exits but only one opening, past the famous staircase to nowhere, viewed a music room that was built without a single nail and down the grand staircase. This is the type of home that I can understand people wanting to spend the rest of their lives in. Not the opulence, although it's beautiful and awe inspiring, but the feeling that there the house wants you there. There is something about this twisted labyrinth of a house that pulls at you. Even in it's mostly empty state you can still feel the call of home running through it's bones. A grand mansion that was only lived in for thirty eight years.

We made our way out in the garden for the tour and walked through the restored landscapes that make up part of the unlikely tranquility of the grounds. Most of the gardens and plants were destroyed by time and neglect after Sarah passed away. The only plants remaining that were in existence at the time of her passing are the palms that line the drive. Even they have a time limit because the climate in San Jose is not optimal for their health and they too will eventually wither away. The beautiful statues and fountains however are original and still standing in lonely splendor.

Yup, I wax poetic in places like this. No judgement.

As we came to the end of the gardens and very near the time we needed to get back on the highway so we could beat the traffic back to Folsom, I took a last look behind us and tried to see the estate the way the way it would have looked without all the modern building and back when it would have been surrounded by acres of orchards. I can see why she loved it here. Colleen and I have agreed that should the end of the world happen we will be driving here and taking up residence.

Returning to the gift shop we began to peruse for the last of the gifts on our gigantic gift list. For my
sake alone I have fourteen nieces and nephews to spoil. Plus, as you know, I've been on the look out for my new mascot. Well we scored a new Ouija board, a steampunkish "pocket" watch necklace, a set of voodoo doll cookie cutters,  a shell case shot glass for my brother in law and....stars and stones what is that over there???? I FOUND IT! A mascot! Whoo! Given that my favorite character whom I have reviewed so far has been The Great Horror Campouts Thirst, a bat like character with a taste for pea coats in July, what I found is perfect. It's a small stuffed bat with huge orange sparkly glass eyes. My daughters Natalie and Emily have named him Squeaky and he is all the rage at my house.

When I'm not traveling he lives on my desk organizer, staring at me and reminding me that while I am a developing consultant as a day job, that my real love is finding myself lost in these Adventures. So we wrapped up our three day journey and made our way back home, a few pounds heavier from the excellent food we gorged on, a few dollars the poorer for all the swag we carted off for our people, and happier for the chance to do it. The next time you find yourself out this way, take a cue from the spirits (or the Rosicrucian tomes) and come explore the labyrinthian walls of the Winchester Mystery House. I'm certainly glad we did.

On to the next Adventure!