I am going to start a new thread of blogs under the tag of 'Alluring Locations'. Here you will discover places that inspire me, catch my eye or i find completely bizarre and beautiful along with their history (if you're a history lover like me). To start this thread of blogs off i'll start with a bang;
The Winchester Mystery House
The Winchester Mystery House was built by Sarah Winchester who had married into the Winchester family by wedding William Wurt Winchester. The Winchesters are known for their Winchester rifles that were 'The gun that won the west". They had one child together but unfortunately in 1866 passed away to marasmus and in 1881 her husband, William, lost his like from tuberculosis.
After this incident Mrs Winchester sought help from a spiritualist who told her the spirits of all those killed by the Winchester rifle were haunting her and her family. She has said this is what lead to her child and husbands death and told she may be next. She was advised to move west, built a great house which will never stop construction. This house would give a home to the spirits, assure her life would no longer be in danger and that would bring her eternal life.
In 1884 she purchased an unfinished farm house and for 38 years she continued construction to build the large mansion.
Carpenters worked in shifts around the clock and by the start of the 1900's the house had spread from an 8 room house to a 7 story mansion.
Mrs Winchester never revealed her face, had a large hedge built and always covered her face. It is said she fired two servants because they had accidentally got a glimpse of her face.
People would hear a bell ring at midnight and at 2 am, it is said these are the times the spirits would leave and enter the house. Mrs Winchester would never sleep in the same room two nights in a row, this was to confuse evil spirits that may be waiting for her. She would also communicate with the spirits in the Blue Room, which is situated in the centre of the house. It is said she received guidance from the good spirits on construction plans to help ward the evil spirits.
When Mrs Winchester had passed in 1922 the house had from to 160 rooms, 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, 47 stairways, 47 fireplaces, 13 bathrooms and 6 kitchens.
It is estimated that 500-600 rooms were actually built but due to them constantly being closed off, torn down and rebuilt only 160 remain. This then resulted in stairways leading to the ceiling, doors that go to nowhere or open to a wall and chimneys thats stop just before the roof. It is said that by Mrs Winchester getting guidance from the spirits to do this she was opening doors to the other side... but once again, no one knows...
The number 13 pops up everywhere in the house. Many windows had 13 panels, there are 13 bathrooms with 13 windows in the 13th bathroom, 13 wall panels in the room prior to the 13th bathroom and 13 steps leading to the 13th bathroom. The carriage entrance hall floor is divided into 13 sections, there are 13 hooks in the seance room, 13 rails by the floor level skylight, 13 holes on the sink drain covers, 13 glass jets on the ballroom chandelier which she had the 13th added herself...
The house construction cost 5.5 million dollars from 1884 - 1922. But if you were left with over 20 million dollars and all the time in the world, what would you do?
