Look at the Winchester pictures & than at kaz!!! Clearly there is a relation & therefore this is nothing but attempt to clear their family name of all this witchcraft & ghosts nonsense , which has cursed their family for so many years.. Look at the photos of them side by side . . They could be twins 👯♀️
this is actually really wholesome… like, it’s just nice how she decided to deal with grief by (in some way?) making art out of architecture and ended up with a really cool elaborate house
@@sleepysartorialist Yea, but all the wird construction that happened as a result of the earthquake, the doors that open to walls, stairways that go up to the ceiling, and so forth, are what make it famous.
@@milascave2 not really it was already considered a strange place already hence all the rumors before the earthquake. Much of the rumors as to why she did this started almost as soon as she started construction. The earthquake and her stopping construction is just something that didn't help the rumor mill. She wasn't a super open person either which again didn't help in making people see this as a simple grieving exercise by someone with a lot of time and money on their hands but a weird thing a crazy woman would do because ✨the past was the worst✨
I think my favorite part of this story is that when Sarah died, after having to put up with all of the ridiculous rumors of her being haunted by the spirits of those killed by rifles, she donated the rest of her gun fortune to a hospital. A place meant to save lives.
As a Victorian home museum tour guide, I absolutely understand the difficult knife's edge you have to walk between giving facts and history and catering to visitors' desire for ghost stories. The museum where I volunteer (Heritage Square in Pasadena, CA) has been leaning into the spookier side of things over the last few years to help raise visibility. My focus on my tours has always been the history of the owners, and if I do talk about hauntings, I always frame them as rumors or legends. But as you said, it's what brings people to the museum and, more importantly, brings in the money needed to restore and maintain these homes. So thank you for pointing that out.
I worked at a haunted hotel in the south for a while. we were flat out told to neither confirm or deny anything supernatural, even tho its a well known hotel and has been documented on at least 1 of the ghost hunting shows. it always bothered me.
I personally find just saying "these are the legends" is not enough of the truth. Compare this video to a typical one on the Winchester mystery house. You need to go into how such legends likely came about, what the sociological context around them is, what some alternative explanations are. You don't really get that in a tour. But I totally agree that sites need the ticket sales from the more salacious tours to stay open. That's why I'm a fan of sites that segregate their ghost stuff. You can trust that a regular tour was designed with a honest desire to communicate history, and then the dusk money making ghost tours can have their spins.
@@AbsolXGuardian Absolutely! Our museum has separate ghost tours in the evening. I actually developed a special ghost tour that has people participate in a Victorian-style ghost hunt where we tell them the stories associated with the homes, and then also go into the science of how certain ghost hunting techniques can trick you into seeing and hearing things. As for the regular tours, the focus is definitely on the history. But I personally throw in a little bit of the paranormal rumors late in the tour just to satisfy the people who are interested. Also, I was on a ghost hunting TV special about the museum a couple years ago, so visitors kind of expect it of me. 😂
It just goes to show you how the need for a place like this to survive can widely influence what people know about a specific location, and eventually the image the public has in their collective minds.
I’m more interested in the history. 🥰 I mean, ghost stories are cool and all, but many historical places and buildings have much more fascinating stories than just “it’s rumored to be haunted.” I’m sorry you feel like you need to focus more on the ghost stories during your tours. 😞
As a former tour guide, seeing this in my recommended was a bit of a shock. I worked there for two years and only left due to covid, and I miss it more than anything. I can't watch this video yet but I look forward to people spreading the truth about Winchester instead of the stories we're forced to say.
just went last week here! Our guide was awesome, she very rarely brought up anything paranormal and if she did she always led with “rumored” and made sure to mention mental health and grief! Not sure if they’ve changed their overall perspective of the tours or if we just had a great guide. It was absolutely amazing, the piece that stuck with me the most was the safe that only contained a snippet of Annie’s hair and her death certificate as well as Williams.
@@zipalooie Sometimes when I can't sleep I like to retrace the tour route mentally, or imagine myself in a specific room and what route I would take to leave, so...yes :)
My favorite part of the Winchester house when I visited was how Mrs Winchester was a very small woman and so a lot of the doors and appliances in the house were also short because like, why wouldn't you design your own house to have things you can reach easily. Anyway it was funny as a tiny woman myself watching all the big guys in our tour group have to duck to go through doorways!
I have been in plenty of homes designed to work for tall people - as I am not quite 5'1" it seems to me to be only fair to have the opposite happen once in a while! I visited one friends home where the shower head was so high up that if I stood directly under it the water didn't touch me - it just came down in a circle around me!
With stories like this one, ghosts are the least interesting part. The grief, mental illness, wealth, and the violent history involved are what I find most interesting. Paranormal elements are often tied up with these events, because the idea that life is unfair and chaotic is too much for a lot of people.
I do like the idea of baiting people with a ghost story, and then hitting them with the real thing. Too bad the house's historian can't [officially] do that
I actually agree. Her real life and her as an actual person is more interesting. She definitely wasn't a boring person. The things she went through and being able to live to an old age after everyone dying around her makes me like her more.
as a kid i had a couple of my birthday parties at the winchester mystery house, i was fascinated with all the odd design choices. they market it to be this paranormal experience so for a lot of people it tends to be a disappointment because its not quite a haunted house, but it is still a super interesting historical artifact that i think people should see!
Birthday parties at the Winchester house sounds absolutely delightful to my still emo-goth heart but I'm sure if I had been a kid there I would have given myself a panic attack by accidentally getting lost on my way to the bathroom or something. 😄😅🥲
I’ve been there twice, both occasions related to death. My dog died in 2018 and the cremation center was around there. I’d got to say my goodbyes and got closure. That whole day it was cloudy and raining. Afterwards we got ice cream to celebrate my dog’s life. My sis mentioned the Winchester house and we decided to go there. In short I love the architecture & pairs great with stormy weather. Our tour guide looked & sounded like Ben Linus from “Lost.” No ghosts. After the tour at around 6pm, all of a sudden it was sunny and warm like rain had never happened. Second was in Dec 2019. My friend died and the funeral was in Santa Cruz. I stayed there for two nights. On the third day I drove back to my home city which passed San Jose. Without realizing it I was near the Winchester house. Decided to go there again to calm me down like how it did when my dog died. The house was decorated with Christmas trees and lights. It was eerie and beautiful. Again no ghosts but after the tour I overheard a parent call his child’s named which happened to be the same as my deceased friend.
Interesting. Could be subconscious confirmation bias? Something about the spooky theme of the place, I can see might be weirdly comforting, in a way, a distraction perhaps. I've experienced "connections", or what might be meaningful coincidences like that.
As a tour guide that works there now, i am so grateful that you made this video! Hopefully a lot of people watch it and they understand the truth of our beloved Mrs. Winchester. I love the house and I love the history of it. We all love Mrs. Winchester at the house and we try to tell her story as best as we can. I will definitely recommend your video on my tours!
@@KazRowe Hopefully you'll get Daniela as a tour guide. If you're looking for some stories of personal ghost encounters, ask for Larry in the gift shop (that's me). I've worked there 5 years and have had more than my fair share of paranormal experiences there.
You know, it's a real shame that the guides of the Winchester Mystery House have to play up the legend for paranormal investigators. For Buzzfeed Unsolved specifically, I imagine that Shane would LOVE hearing about the history and the truth of the house! Man clearly loves history, and he specifically isn't there to prove that ghosts are real. I think that he would actually adore being told the history that the tour guides have to downplay for the tourists and people who want to hear ghost stories. If they revisit the Winchester Mystery House for Ghost Files, I genuinely hope that this time they'll get the actual history!
there was an old house in terrible shape my dad bought with the hopes of fixing up and living in (he bit off more than he could chew so he sold it) it was so beautiful. there was a cool "secret" staircase, probably for the staff, and some other little hiding spots that we weren't exactly sure the purpose of. when you said how victorian homes were maze like i thought of that house. it was renovated and they kept the main staircase, but they made the rest of it all modern and cheap and im sad about that
@@Aster_Risk that was his goal, but he ran into the same issue. also he didn't really plan very well. at least the outside of the house looks the same. the paint is ugly but that can be fixed
I hope someone else will come along in the future who can restore it the way your dad wanted to! I hate the trend of painting over & “modernising” old houses, they always turn out so ugly
I am descended from the Henry that ran the Henry repeating arms company. It's funny how different the story of the interaction between Henry and Winchester I was always told is from what you state in the video. My family says that Winchester was a lowly shirt merchant that stole from us, took our rifle desighn and ruined our company. I was always aware that this view point is quite bias but it's interesting how the bias has dripped down through the years.
Ok dude that’s super interesting! Well now I’m curious, does your family have any stories about Sarah or the house? I’m gonna be hooked on this topic for the next week or so, might as well get as many sources as possible
I lived in a historic neighborhood and the amount of doors you see randomly on the side of a building that used to have a balcony/ other wing is really common. Keeping up old houses is expensive buuut nailing a door shut and smacking new siding on is less expensive.
Same! We had a door upstairs right next to my bedroom that used to have a balcony, but it had been damaged and removed, so you'd just fall to the grass below if you weren't paying attention. I found it creepy as a kid, especially when we came home after a weekend away and that entire wall was covered in ladybugs.
Shortly after my husband and I bought a semi-updated Victorian, we found a window in the outside of the house that is right where a toilet is situated. With a blank wall behind. Currently debating on whether to open it up and put in a new window with frosted glass, or close off the window with plywood and the leftover siding the last owners left us with.
My mom used to take English classes in a house that was over a hundred years old. On the second floor was a door that was bolted shut with a sign that said do not open. I thought it was a little weird(and creepy) until they explained that it opens outside and didn't want anyone to accidentally plummet to the ground. Guess now I know why it was like that😂
@@Maichen13what did you guys end up doing? I want an old house like that, for that very reason. I don't want a full updated home. I want one I can remodel. I want to learn the secrets of the home myself. Besides, I don't like how most contractors "update" or flip a home.
@@Sammythat_B we had a new window with privacy glass installed, ordered it along with a bunch of other windows to replace ones that were either broken or out of square. Not cheap, but the extra daylight is welcome.
Thank you for this story..now i completely understand the actual truth of the house..and i understand the grief of her heart..i lost my baby at 8 weeks,and also my grandfather that raised me ,mother,father,2 uncles,3 cousins in the span of 7 years every year straight from 2012..you are never ok after that no matter how hard you try to be you cant heal from the trauma completely..and she couldnt fake it for social parties and i can feel she knew that
I've heard that, being the daughter of a carpenter and growing surrounded by men in the business, she felt particular compassion for men who built houses and their families, often having to deal with a capricious market and stretches of want. I seem to recall someone pointing out that the most labor-intensive building went on during hard financial times, and that this was her way of being charitable to proud men who wanted to work, not beg.
Not gonna lie, I was a little disappointed to hear this at first but honestly Sarah sounds so dang relatable. It's a story of an independent woman overcoming her grief and living her best life, and that's pretty great. Thanks so much for sharing this, I'm looking forward to telling others about it too!!!
Ngl, learning about the real history of the Winchester house made me want to actually visit it so much more than any ghost stories ever could. We love history in this household!
When I went there was a ghost in the stables. The tour guide mentioned that she'd seen and spoken to them, and it was very grounded. No spooky happenings, just people who worked for Sarah whose spirits stayed after they died.
"Ghosts" in old houses are 9/10 really just carbon monoxide accumulating due to poor ventilation. The other 10% they are due to human superstition and imagination.
Sarah Winchester is a whole dang Mood™️. I, too, like to keep to myself and would like to build a big, rambling Victorian mansion. History did her SO dirty and I'm sad that a lot about her life is only being brought to light now. What an absolute icon 💕
this is so interesting, i took a tour of the winchester house last year and they focused pretty heavily on the haunted stuff. knowing now that the doors and staircases to nowhere are a result of the earthquake makes so much more sense. i loved the victorian furniture and architecture and would love to visit again knowing the real history now. thanks for making this video!
I grew up and still live about 5 minutes down from the Winchester House; most locals just view it as a cool house with a cool story that was built with blood. Its a fun place to take a young kid or a non-local on a date but no really anything spooky. Beautiful to look at though!
Yeah I'm glad I wasn't the only one who was like "everyone is talking about Sarah but what about her opinions? She's educated, a widow, a pen is mightier than a sword, so give me her writings" After years of women being slandered by rumors, why would Sarah's story be any different?
I'm waiting for someone to talk about the Winchester Mystery House-related musical I saw with my mom that I'm not 100% actually exists. Maybe it's my sign I need to build a labyrinth theater so the musical ghosts have a place to perform
Hi, I did attend a performance of the musical, The Haunting of Winchester, at the San Jose Repertory Theater when it premiered in fall 2005. It wasn’t a dream or something imagined! It did happen, I remember it well. The concept of the musical was far fetched. I guess if Shrek and Sponge Bob can have a musical then so can Sarah Winchester 🙂💀.
@@kazza6078 Hi @kaz za, it was a very odd musical about the reason why Sarah was “haunted”. The musical did involve various ghosts including an Indigenous American, a cowboy, a civil war soldier, and a few others. There were too many characters and the storyline was purely fictional and speculative. It wasn’t good ☹️. I wanted it to be better than it was. I was so excited to see this but I left the performance feeling “meh”. Guess that’s why it didn’t have a very long run and could be why you don’t remember it entirely. It wasn’t very memorable. But, it did exist!!!! We are probably among a very small percentage of people who have seen it, that has to give us a little social cred 😄. Glad we could connect over having such a random thing in common 😁.
@@Ana_Phylactic365 I do remember that, and a weird implied romance between Sarah and one of the ghosts. Thanks for jogging my memory! We were the chosen people to witness this and I guess I WON'T build a labyrinth theater after all :)
My cousin had her suckling reflex further back in her throat and had to have special nipples on her bottle to properly suckle. It was my mothers theory that Sarah Winchester's daughter suffered from the same affliction and the thought of watching my baby starve and being helpless to prevent it is horrifying. She filed a plethora of patents, including a sink with a built in washboard, removeable flooring in the greenhouse rooms to allow for drainage. I toured it several times before the new gift shop and visitors center was built. It's a stunning home, the hype about spirits, guns, and guilt, is to sell tickets, regardless, you should go because the architecture is amazing.
My husband and I just bought a house that's from this same time period and I think about the floor plan thing from this video all of the time. Like, there are so many things about our house that legitimately feel like they wouldn't make sense without the context of trying to keep warm like that, and it makes the Winchester house make a lot more sense-- if my very Normal People House that's just a folk Victorian is still mazelike enough to get lost in because of all the weird doors and rooms smashed up against each other, I can't imagine the product of being someone with a vision and tons of money to spend, haha.
Yeah it's the same with Victorian mansions in SF. The rooms are small and maze-like. It was like the Winchester house rooms but completed of course. I did research awhile back because I noticed this in Victorian style homes and wondered why. I found it odd that they were smushed and tiny. It reminds me if Alice in Wonderland how these rooms and halls were built. The wallpaper too is often times different in every room. It's beautiful but odd at the same time. If someone hasn't really visited or been in a Victorian style home they may find the Winchester rooms odd, but at the time for mansions it really wasn't. The doors leading to no where on the houses also isn't uncommon cause a lot of the parts of the house are damaged or destroyed balconies or rooms cause of the houses age or elements. The doors and stairs are kept cause it's cheaper.
Something interesting in terms of Victorian mansions being spooky, is how they were used as inspiration for the original Addams Family home in the original comic strip. As well as the home in Psycho.
I appreciate this thoughtful look at Sarah Winchester’s creativity as opposed to the lore. I grew up down the street from her home, and I passed it all the time. Greetings from San José!
I went in high-school, we even did the old timey basement tour. Honestly a beautiful house. I was an easily spooked ghost show fan back then, but I didn't even think of that being a possibility. Hard to be ill at ease in such a delightful place. The low-rise stairs also have that effect a little I think
Thank you for this video. I loved the stories about her hauntings, but love her true story even more. To face that much loss and still nurse her passion is a true show of her strength.
I have always dreamed of visiting this house but that's no easy feat when you're all the way on the opposite coast. I never knew what I'd always been told about Sarah and the house wasn't the truth but I enjoy knowing it now and am upset that so many thought she was strange when all she wanted was to be left alone. I love Victorian homes and find them extremely fascinating so to have the opportunity to visit such a unique and beautiful house would be a huge treat
I recently learned that they've created a visual tour now which you can take online. As I'm German, I think I might use that chance to see something of the house, too.
I clicked on this because I’m a sucker for this house and its lore. My hope was to learn one tidbit that I hadn’t heard before. Instead, I got something heart-achingly beautiful…Not to mention actually way more interesting than the “legend” in my opinion. Thank you so much for sharing her story!
Can’t believe this is the first time I’m hearing the real story behind the Winchester house. I’ve always been fascinated my it, but never heard anything besides the legends.
I've always found the real history of houses like this to be far more interesting than whatever legends have sprung up around them! While I've never been to the Mystery House, the city I live in has a few Victorian-era home that have been preserved and maintained in a historical park, and it's always so much fun to go through and learn about the families that used to occupy them. Of course, at halloween, ghost tours will be held in those houses, but I always think about the real people and the impacts that they had on the area at the time.
"I care about historical misinformation" Me too! I love this video cause it's brought light to Sarah Winchester as a person. She sounded like a lovely lady and boy she had some rough emotional hardships. Tbh I always saw the house as something a kid would design, a neat place to hide and live and run around, not necessarily spooky.
When I visited the Winchester House in 2019, i had just listened to the Stuff You Missed in History Class podcast episode on it, which was my first introduction to the house. It was really interesting to visit with the historical context, and I had a tour guide that liked that part more than the paranormal rumors too.
I'm related to the Winchesters on my mother's side of the family and my grandmother and great-grandmother vehemently hated Sarah and made sure to emphasize the fact that she was *married* into, not born into, the family, because she spent the entire fortune on the house. EDIT: just wanted to add, I myself have never been to the house, despite growing up in CA, and it's one of the many places I want to visit one day
There was one story at the Winchester house that cracked me up. She bought one of the most expensive windows of all time, just to put a wall behind it. Which honestly? Thank you to Sara Winchester, cause reading that story had some of the most hilarious twists and turns I've ever read. I also know she deeply cared about everyone who worked there and her family, just from listening to stories.
After your last episode where you mentioned Ghostland I had a feeling this video was on the horizon and you did not disappoint! I was fascinated with the story of the ghosts of Winchester when I was a kid. Now Im fascinated by how the narrative has been warped through the years and in the end replaced the truth almost anywhere you look. Ive been several times (ironically I had never been before I read the chapter in Ghostland so I went in very skeptical), its interesting that they still claim to show you the seance room (which well, is false) and false rumors of the 13 bell tolls, but the majority of the tour is historical, talking about how the stairs are weird because of the way she walked it was easier for her, or the portion of the house abandoned after the earth quake. The guides were all very kind and earnest too. Its a fascinating story.
It's amazing how "mundane" (in a good way) ghost stories become when creators don't ommit key details of "mysterious" cases I'm glad that you made an honest review of her case
Excellent video. I really appreciate the work , truth and empathy you put into Sarah’s story. I have been there and still learned so much from this. Sarah’s traumas are an overlooked part of her story but especially the effects of the San Francisco earthquake was an eye opener for me . Well done .
The real story of her is so much more interesting. I think it’s amazing she just didn’t give a crap about what people thought of her and just did what she wanted.
Thank you for doing such a deep dive into Mrs. Winchester. I long to go see the house in person, especially for all the woodwork. She really was such a visionary, and even if not all of her plans succeeded (even before the terrible earthquake and flood), she really was willing to see where her creative side led her. I imagine that, as time went on, her design choices got better and better!
I wish more YT channels like this existed. A well rearched essay still wildly entertaining to me. Spoken well in A beautiful home by the host with wonderful fashion, passion for history and intellect. Also not just great histoical stories but LGBT one's and ones I'd never think of. In what's been A difficult year, finding your channel has been my fav YT discovery of the year.
never heard of this place, on the other side of the planet, but appreciate the work done to elevate truths and place falsehoods in context. overall the story is one of humans and how we engage with a complicated and often unpleasant existence. that, to me, is what history is really about.
I visited the Winchester House a few years ago, and it was an absolute delight. As someone who became obsessed with the story of the house when I was a child, I too went through the same sort of journey with the story of the house. I first became enamored of the spooky stories. I even wrote up a fiction piece about the house that was published! Then, I learned the truth behind the folktales. After learning more about the historical truth of the place, I moved on to become deeply interested in the history of Sarah Pardew Winchester, the community surrounding it, and culture of the time. And when I went to the house just a few years ago, the guides were always keen on using the words "folklore" and "stories", careful to distinguish hard facts from legend. The house is a fantastic visit and an enlightening part of American history. You can learn so much from a visit. Highly recommended if you have a chance to go!
Im not american so I havent really experienced the Mystery House, but the way you describe it reminds me a lot of Edward James' surreal castle here in Mexico. A wealthy man with time and money to spare who spent his last years building a beautiful, surreal, and odd residence in the middle of the mexican wilderness.
Not my sighting, but my mothers. She said she was about 10 years old (so mid 1970s) and was on a school trip when she left the group briefly to peek inside a side room. She said there was a woman there who looked at her like she was intruding on a private conversation or something and she quickly apologized to the woman and closed the door. At the end of the tour she told the person at the front that she liked the costumes they used for the people in the rooms, and that she was sorry she made the one lady in the striped skirt angry. The people working there assured her there was no one dressing up and hanging out in the rooms, and she probably saw one of the ghosts of the house.
I'm a big history buff, and I swear not in a weird way a big fan of the history of arms and armor etc. And I think it's really important to look at the larger histories and realities surrounding these topics, and this video is just such an interesting little window into a time in history that is so romanticized despite its relatively good documentation and how recent these things really were. Great video as usual.
loved this video, the real circumstances and history that caused the rumors are so interesting! hearing about the house on ghost shows always felt like large chunks of information were being withheld. also lmao at that ghost adventures b roll
The Winchester mystery house seems like it would be perfect for an episode of Scooby Doo. The historical side of this, particularly that of the rifle's tragic role in westward expansion, is very interesting.
I just started but I’m so so glad you’re doing this! I hate the myth surrounding her, it’s so insulting to her brilliance and frankly it’s misogynistic af
Wow I’ve always liked Stephen King’s Diary of Ellen Rimbauer, but a few of the things I learned here kinda put me off it. Like I’ve always loved the relationship between Ellen and Sukeena, but now it seems clear to me the real-life root of that plot point would have been racist, sexist suspicion/rumors based on Sarah hiring non-white help and treating them well.
I think the real appeal of the house for me is how surreal it seems. Makes me think of that optical illusion picture that’s pretty famous and was even the inspiration and featured in the movie Labyrinth where people are walking up stairs on ceilings etc. It’s great for inspiration and visual interest
I saw a show about WMH as a kid, and was totally fascinated. But since I lived in Wisconsin, visiting there, was not going to happen. I spent decades dreaming about visiting someday. In 2019, I finally got to go. As a real estate appraiser, I saw a brilliantly built house. I totally agree with Kaz's summation @19:09. Sarah Winchester was a brilliant and unconventional woman, who had the time and money to express her creativity and grief through a lavish and efficient home. It saddens me as well that so many people only know the legend, and not the awesome lady that Mrs. Winchester was
I’m currently in the planning process for a collection of creative nonfiction essays based on historical and mythological women that I find fascinating/connect with. Sarah Winchester is now on the list of essay topics! I’d also love to visit the house itself to incorporate some elements of travel writing like I’m planning to do with Anne Boleyn and Hever Castle!
I lived in San Jose California for most of my life. I’ve been inside this house many times. The story we were told by the tour guides said she was told if she stopped building on the house, she would die. When the 1906 earthquake hit several of the stories of the house came down on her and because she couldn’t build on the house that’s why she died. This house was amazing. We would go up these tiny stairs and open the door only to see a wall.
Just visited in March, the place is amazing. I enjoyed the frankness of the tour guides and their eagerness to talk about Sarah and all the good things she did for the people of San Jose. She was an amazing woman.
I am absolutely thrilled to find your channel. This was my first video. Going to look at the rest. I am an avid ghost hunter and historisn so was thrilled to find actual history not just the legend. Great job
It's honestly quite sad that they made a spectacle out of this poor, old and grieving woman's last home to the point it could've been a P.T. Barnum attraction... i hope she rests in peace.
I think about the phrase "fact is stranger than fiction" and this case I want to turn it around and say "the truth is more interesting than fiction". Sarah Winchester sounds like a woman who turned to house renovating as a hobby when she a) experienced a string of loss and grief no normal person should ever experience and b) came into such an obscene amount of wealth that no normal person would know what to do with. She could afford building and renovating a house as a hobby and as a way to keep her mind occupied in her old age, so that's what she did. And that makes so much more sense to me than a ghost story. It makes the house more real and more understandable. There was a real, empathic rationale to why it is the way it is and it's far more fascinating that the legend that gets perpetuated by the ~spooky ghost stories~ that are spread these days. Sarah was a very interesting person, and I'm glad she found something to occupy her time at a point in life where I imagine she felt very alone. It'a shame that it was so destroyed to the point that she didn't want to keep working on it anymore and gave up on it entirely. This mansion was probably so much more beautiful when it was complete.
I visited the Winchester Mystery House when I was in elementary school as part of a birthday party long before it had been "put to rights." (Am I dating myself or what?) It was very shabby then and there was graffiti (sadly) in many places. Much later, my father, daughter, and I visited it and were so glad to see how nicely it had been restored. Our guide did not tell us about the reasons for the stairways that led nowhere or other such eccentric details. Thank you, Kaz, for the fill-in about the extensive S.F. earthquake damage! After our second tour, we were amazed at Mrs. Winchester's intelligence. We discussed that if she was a spiritualist, so were manifold Americans at the time due to the massive losses of the Civil War. You also brought out that even if Sarah Winchester had no personal family losses due to the Civil War, she certainly had suffered enough losses of her family that could have justified any wishing to seek them out on "the other side" -- if she had.
I really appreciate you making this video! I've always been intrigued by the house and wanted to know more about Sarah and the house's history, but it just felt like everything I ran across was more interested in spinning a yarn than in giving an actual historical account. I'm someone who you could call "sensitive" [to... idk... the nonphysical? shrug] and the Winchester House just does not feel haunted. That's not to say there's nothing there or that people who have seen weird stuff are lying or mistaken- I just mean that, compared to other places that are ~definitely~ f_ing haunted, it feels pretty normal. Anyway. I share your distaste for historical disinformation and am glad I finally got to hear a more grounded and factual account. It was really interesting! Thanks, Kaz! ^_^
For me, this story and the house is what haunting is - generational tragedy and mental illness, the energy and atmosphere create a haunted object/space - hauntings are most often the embedding of memories upon something in such a way it lingers and at times, seeks - I'm not that heavily into paranormal as presented in the ghost Hunt scene and etc, but believe a lot in the power of objects and spaces, haunted by the memories
I really, really appreciate how you educated us on the actual history of the house and also talked about the legend. I've always been fascinated by the house bc of the legend but now I'm fascinated by the house itself and what it actually represents. you make an excellent point that she should've been remembered for the positive things such as how she paid double wages and provided a safe place for her staff and time off, certainly preferable to being known as the lady that kept building a house with nonsensical features to appease the ghosts haunting her 👻I absolutely love the coverage on this and now I have a newfound appreciation based on the truth. thank you! 💕
Thank you for this information. I had been told that Sarah continued to build as she was told she would live for as long as she continued construction on the house! I love knowing the truth.
As someone who lives in a house finished around 1894, I can verify that they aren't cheap to keep up (did you know that mortar only lasts about 100 years? I found out when my fieldstone foundation started leaking). I've long been familiar with the Winchester House and its super cool design but didn't really know the facts (or the legend to be honest). Thanks for this great video!
I visited the winchester house a few years ago. I had to roll my eyes a bit at some of aspects of the tour since our guide went a little heavy on the 'OooOo spooky ghost' angle for my taste, but my biggest takeaway was that Victorian architecture is really good to look at and that if I'm ever fortunate enough to own a house I want to make as many weird and confusing architectural changes as I can afford. Sarah may not have wanted a door to nowhere, but I sure as heck do.
A couple slight correction about a few things about the arms history: 1: The major concern for most generals during the civil war wasn’t brutality, but the difficulty of supplying such large quantities of ammunition, especially since they felt soldiers would shoot faster than they could supply to ammunition; 2: The army didn’t use the Winchester or any repeater in large quantities, mostly using the single shot trapdoor rifle, which was made by converting the older muzzleloaders into breechloaders, but they were used by native scouts who chose to side with the army, usually as a way to settle old vendettas, and were bought up and handed out to settlers by the government, something I’m glad you talked about, since I don’t think it gets enough attention; the main reason the slower trapdoor rifles were still use was the aforementioned concerns about ammunition, as well as cost and the fact it fired a larger, heavier round, enabling longer range fire and use against buffalo, as part of the policy to wipe them out to deny natives food, since the Winchesters couldn’t handle the powerful 45-70 round them in use. Aside from those two things, this was an amazing video and I’m really glad it was made; it’s important we talk about the nasty parts of history and the strange complicated legacies of people in the past
this was very interesting. thank you. as a medium and history nerd who briefly worked as a docent for my local historical society and park, the question of ghost stories and tours is fascinating. We were discouraged to say that the houses were haunted and to inform any questions that were brought up about it being haunted. However, as an actual medium (I have done many cold reading sessions for strangers with accuracy)... it is frustrating when I can actually * sense * that there are spirits! I even have a hobby of going to historical or old looking places and just asking the spirits, if any are there, to show me anything they want me to know about the place . That being said, the interesting thing about Founder's Park where I docented...I never really felt any activity in the main house that was said to be haunted. It was the small, 1856 German cabin that is still home to Dona Sepulveda Carillo where there is activity. She appeared to me once when I was visiting at night . She did her best to scare me and when she realized I was just there to chat if any spirit wanted to talk, she ...eventually...warmed up to me and I always make sure to say "hi" if I visit.
I was unsure about watching this video due to a little trauma I had with this story, along with many other horror and mystery tinged as well, back in 2016. Lil' old me, despite being easily frightened and disturbed, developed an obsession with a RUclips chanel that dealt with spooky and disturbing stories. I binged those videos and then had insomnia for a couple weeks before school started. The Winchester house strucked me because it was one of the few I could read about after the insomnia quietly went down. Well into 9th grade I was fascinated by the story, but also with the period and other things such as female hysteria. But then it hit that I was still heavily disturbed by it. So I then avoided anything Winchester related for years. Until I read the title of this video. I'm super glad that I watched it. It was like a hug and a "Everything is going to be okay" for lil me. You helped me overcome this small trauma I had for several years, thank you so much ❤️
As a lifelong sufferer of Rheumatoid Arthritis, I am so sad Sarah Winchester had to suffer that pain after such a challenging life. She deserved comfort, and I hope she got some loving care from her carers in the last years of her life.
I appreciate this so much! I was always fascinated by Sarah and now that I know the truth I'm so angry for her and want to know her more. What an amazing woman! This truth needs to be spread more.
Honestly, about her apparent lack of guilt... Where was there room in her heart for it? She suffered a truly immense amount of loss in her lifetime; it's shocking she was able to do anything remotely positive after all of that.
I'm sure she felt an amount of guilt. After all she suffered loss. She probably did think at one point or many times about the lives that were lost. People after all would tell her that she was a bad person including the media as well at the time. She was labeled weird too. I'm sure she did feel it. I think she wasn't a very vocal person is why no one knew for sure.
Kaz, thank you so much for this. I grew up fascinated by the house and her story, and the story I learned there did not ring true for me. I actually mentioned this on one of the tours I went on over the years. The tour guide just said that nobody really knows the truth. Your video has only added to my appreciation for Sarah Winchester and her home. ❤
Hi Ms. Rowe, I enjoy your channel very much! I spent a lot of time at the Winchester House as a child. I am from San Jose, my family took the tour too many times to count. I guess the story never got old. I was in San Jose recently, in January, visiting from North Carolina where I currently live and had to visit the Winchester House. My husband and kids came along. Lets just say my sons were not as impressed as I was at their age. They considered the tour more of a punishment. I still love the Winchester Mansion and have witnessed the changes, good and bad, that have taken place to the house and its surroundings. I do have a compelling photo of a possible anomaly. My husband, who is a huge skeptic and is always eager to call “bullshit”, can’t come up wih a logical explanation. Is the house haunted?? I guess that is for everyone to decide for themselves. P.S. I believe Sarah was lonely and enjoyed having constant activity going on around her. She experienced such huge losses and didn’t want to be alone to wallow in her destitution. Her house allowed her to be creative, expressive, and it provided the opportunity to be surrounded by things that possessed great beauty and brought her joy on some level. Although, I don’t think anything could ever replace the sorrow that was permanently in her heart ♥️. Apologies for this long, drawn out comment. I wish you all the best, you are phenomenal!!
This was such a good dive. I remember visiting the Winchester mystery house as a kid and having some unasked questions post-tour. Thanks for sharing more about the family background, natural disasters, and the historical context that contributed to the “mystery” of it all! 👏
Thank you for this video! It was so informative and rich in the histories and facts. Love love it. I went to the house a few years back. Never experienced any sort of paranormal things and none of the photos I took featured anything unexplainable. The house is incredibly beautiful, and we spent the extra money to take a tour of recently opened up locations in the house. The home was eerie, but I never felt anything, and I suppose that is because the mysterious and supernatural myths surrounding it were never true. I really wish more people knew the truth. But then I doubt people would really care to visit anymore, and it'd likely fall into disrepair.
I think this video makes the Winchester House seem even more magical because in reality the whole thing is basically just a crazy rumor or a meme that got completely out of control and become American folklore
I was born and raised in San Jose and have been to the house many times including participating night decorating of the house for the holidays (used to be done by Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts). The home is beautiful and to me the myths are all created to sell the house. Sarah Winchester is a fascinating person who paid her workers well and often observed their work and invented things to make their jobs easier. Like the laundry sink with the built in washboard and soap ledge or the fact she had an elevator installed to take potted plants up to her indoor green house on the second floor all done because she saw her staff working too hard or struggling with heavy items on stairs. She also had an apricot/dried apricot empire where she nearly doubled her fortune, she was in no way getting rid of money. If you ever visit again you will see the house is on Winchester Road. That road is extremely long and goes across most of Santa Clara county, that was the original property line of her estate.
When I visited, I didn't see any ghosts, of course, but I will tell you that if you plan to visit between March and November, bring a personal fan and a ton of water. It will be HOT. Even touring the basement didn't really help with the heat. It's an amazing house though! Every door hinge is its own work of art and every sunbeam through the colored glass is a treasure. I only live a couple of hours away, I should go visit more lol
I used to work at Winchester as a tour guide, and i say this is Brilliantly made video and very well researched, almost as good as the actual house historians that work inside. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 I loved cleaning the house on downtime, especially in the winter when the sun was shaded by mounds of clouds. I'd bring my iPod, go into the grand ballroom with those special mopping slippers and just dance my soul away. I even enjoyed cleaning the damaged areas and would spook myself upon my reflection on the plexi closing off the damaged areas. It was a fun experience. Hated the management but those years were a blast to work and rub shoulders with the historians, owners and board members.
a lot of the reported ghosts have been claimed to be of builders, not any victims of the repeating rifle -- regardless, it's interesting to hear about sarah's actual motivations c:
WHAT!!! basically all of this is news to me! i've been familiar with the story through popular culture and apparently didn't know hardly a single thing about it. i'm about to go shake down your entire bibliography because this is fascinating. thank you!!
Grab Atlas VPN for just $1.99/mo before the deal expires: atlasv.pn/KazRowe
What is the music at the credits? That's the jam!
God created man.But, Samuel Colt made men equal. or so the saying goes. I feel a certain kinship with her, because she really didn't give a shit.
I just watched the Buzzfeed Unsolved take on the mansion. I much prefer your version.
Look at the Winchester pictures & than at kaz!!!
Clearly there is a relation & therefore this is nothing but attempt to clear their family name of all this witchcraft & ghosts nonsense , which has cursed their family for so many years..
Look at the photos of them side by side . . They could be twins 👯♀️
What is kaz not telling us? ! ?
this is actually really wholesome… like, it’s just nice how she decided to deal with grief by (in some way?) making art out of architecture and ended up with a really cool elaborate house
Yeah it's too bad that the big earthquake damaged some of it. It was so much taller before. Basically an American palace.
@@sleepysartorialist Yea, but all the wird construction that happened as a result of the earthquake, the doors that open to walls, stairways that go up to the ceiling, and so forth, are what make it famous.
Idk I'd hate to be one of the people that kept working on a never ending project.
We love a creative queen
@@milascave2 not really it was already considered a strange place already hence all the rumors before the earthquake. Much of the rumors as to why she did this started almost as soon as she started construction. The earthquake and her stopping construction is just something that didn't help the rumor mill. She wasn't a super open person either which again didn't help in making people see this as a simple grieving exercise by someone with a lot of time and money on their hands but a weird thing a crazy woman would do because ✨the past was the worst✨
I think my favorite part of this story is that when Sarah died, after having to put up with all of the ridiculous rumors of her being haunted by the spirits of those killed by rifles, she donated the rest of her gun fortune to a hospital. A place meant to save lives.
Medical malpractice has killed far more people than any gun in the last century.
That’s amazing!
Oh my heart, this woman was honestly amazing and lovely.
As a Victorian home museum tour guide, I absolutely understand the difficult knife's edge you have to walk between giving facts and history and catering to visitors' desire for ghost stories. The museum where I volunteer (Heritage Square in Pasadena, CA) has been leaning into the spookier side of things over the last few years to help raise visibility. My focus on my tours has always been the history of the owners, and if I do talk about hauntings, I always frame them as rumors or legends. But as you said, it's what brings people to the museum and, more importantly, brings in the money needed to restore and maintain these homes. So thank you for pointing that out.
I worked at a haunted hotel in the south for a while. we were flat out told to neither confirm or deny anything supernatural, even tho its a well known hotel and has been documented on at least 1 of the ghost hunting shows. it always bothered me.
I personally find just saying "these are the legends" is not enough of the truth. Compare this video to a typical one on the Winchester mystery house. You need to go into how such legends likely came about, what the sociological context around them is, what some alternative explanations are. You don't really get that in a tour. But I totally agree that sites need the ticket sales from the more salacious tours to stay open. That's why I'm a fan of sites that segregate their ghost stuff. You can trust that a regular tour was designed with a honest desire to communicate history, and then the dusk money making ghost tours can have their spins.
@@AbsolXGuardian Absolutely! Our museum has separate ghost tours in the evening. I actually developed a special ghost tour that has people participate in a Victorian-style ghost hunt where we tell them the stories associated with the homes, and then also go into the science of how certain ghost hunting techniques can trick you into seeing and hearing things. As for the regular tours, the focus is definitely on the history. But I personally throw in a little bit of the paranormal rumors late in the tour just to satisfy the people who are interested. Also, I was on a ghost hunting TV special about the museum a couple years ago, so visitors kind of expect it of me. 😂
It just goes to show you how the need for a place like this to survive can widely influence what people know about a specific location, and eventually the image the public has in their collective minds.
I’m more interested in the history. 🥰 I mean, ghost stories are cool and all, but many historical places and buildings have much more fascinating stories than just “it’s rumored to be haunted.” I’m sorry you feel like you need to focus more on the ghost stories during your tours. 😞
As a former tour guide, seeing this in my recommended was a bit of a shock. I worked there for two years and only left due to covid, and I miss it more than anything. I can't watch this video yet but I look forward to people spreading the truth about Winchester instead of the stories we're forced to say.
We miss you Cora! It's always great to see you when you visit the estate.
just went last week here! Our guide was awesome, she very rarely brought up anything paranormal and if she did she always led with “rumored” and made sure to mention mental health and grief! Not sure if they’ve changed their overall perspective of the tours or if we just had a great guide. It was absolutely amazing, the piece that stuck with me the most was the safe that only contained a snippet of Annie’s hair and her death certificate as well as Williams.
Could you recreate the layout of the house from memory?
@@zipalooie Sometimes when I can't sleep I like to retrace the tour route mentally, or imagine myself in a specific room and what route I would take to leave, so...yes :)
@Cora Gray There's no way that house would pass inspection today.
My favorite part of the Winchester house when I visited was how Mrs Winchester was a very small woman and so a lot of the doors and appliances in the house were also short because like, why wouldn't you design your own house to have things you can reach easily. Anyway it was funny as a tiny woman myself watching all the big guys in our tour group have to duck to go through doorways!
Same! She was a little bit shorter than me and I'm around 5'2
I had the same reaction when I went. I'm the same height as she was so I was the only person on the tour who didn't have to duck in any if the doors.
yeah, as a short woman it just makes sense, I hate being unable to access my cabinets without standing on something.
I have been in plenty of homes designed to work for tall people - as I am not quite 5'1" it seems to me to be only fair to have the opposite happen once in a while!
I visited one friends home where the shower head was so high up that if I stood directly under it the water didn't touch me - it just came down in a circle around me!
@@modelbuildingsecrets Same. I didn't have to duck. Every height was perfect.
With stories like this one, ghosts are the least interesting part. The grief, mental illness, wealth, and the violent history involved are what I find most interesting. Paranormal elements are often tied up with these events, because the idea that life is unfair and chaotic is too much for a lot of people.
I do like the idea of baiting people with a ghost story, and then hitting them with the real thing. Too bad the house's historian can't [officially] do that
Honestly I think the ghost stories are kinda boring her actual story is much more interesting
I think both are cool and interesting :)
I actually agree. Her real life and her as an actual person is more interesting. She definitely wasn't a boring person. The things she went through and being able to live to an old age after everyone dying around her makes me like her more.
As a former senior guide at WMH , I cannot thank you enough for this video. It’s what every guide there wishes they could say.
It’s frustrating that you can’t!
as a kid i had a couple of my birthday parties at the winchester mystery house, i was fascinated with all the odd design choices. they market it to be this paranormal experience so for a lot of people it tends to be a disappointment because its not quite a haunted house, but it is still a super interesting historical artifact that i think people should see!
That sounds like an amazing birthday party!
Birthday parties at the Winchester house sounds absolutely delightful to my still emo-goth heart but I'm sure if I had been a kid there I would have given myself a panic attack by accidentally getting lost on my way to the bathroom or something. 😄😅🥲
Did you get a Winchester rifle for a gift?
@@not.applicable. i actually did get lost on my way to the bathroom once and peed myself when i was 5 LOL luckily not my birthday
@@TY-pf6vb got a Playstation 2 babyyyy
I’ve been there twice, both occasions related to death. My dog died in 2018 and the cremation center was around there. I’d got to say my goodbyes and got closure. That whole day it was cloudy and raining. Afterwards we got ice cream to celebrate my dog’s life. My sis mentioned the Winchester house and we decided to go there. In short I love the architecture & pairs great with stormy weather. Our tour guide looked & sounded like Ben Linus from “Lost.” No ghosts. After the tour at around 6pm, all of a sudden it was sunny and warm like rain had never happened.
Second was in Dec 2019. My friend died and the funeral was in Santa Cruz. I stayed there for two nights. On the third day I drove back to my home city which passed San Jose. Without realizing it I was near the Winchester house. Decided to go there again to calm me down like how it did when my dog died. The house was decorated with Christmas trees and lights. It was eerie and beautiful. Again no ghosts but after the tour I overheard a parent call his child’s named which happened to be the same as my deceased friend.
Thanks for sharing 💛
Interesting. Could be subconscious confirmation bias? Something about the spooky theme of the place, I can see might be weirdly comforting, in a way, a distraction perhaps. I've experienced "connections", or what might be meaningful coincidences like that.
As a tour guide that works there now, i am so grateful that you made this video! Hopefully a lot of people watch it and they understand the truth of our beloved Mrs. Winchester. I love the house and I love the history of it. We all love Mrs. Winchester at the house and we try to tell her story as best as we can. I will definitely recommend your video on my tours!
Thank you Daniela! I'm hoping I can visit the house again someday soon, it's such fun :]
@@KazRowe Hopefully you'll get Daniela as a tour guide. If you're looking for some stories of personal ghost encounters, ask for Larry in the gift shop (that's me). I've worked there 5 years and have had more than my fair share of paranormal experiences there.
I visited recently too...hey that picture in your background...of that stone in the village...where is that...I had a dream about it...
@@VIVI1337 oh it’s a little village in Mexico. it’s in guanajuato mexico
@@danielasolorio1768 I visited the winchester mansion, it called to me...weird right?
You know, it's a real shame that the guides of the Winchester Mystery House have to play up the legend for paranormal investigators. For Buzzfeed Unsolved specifically, I imagine that Shane would LOVE hearing about the history and the truth of the house! Man clearly loves history, and he specifically isn't there to prove that ghosts are real. I think that he would actually adore being told the history that the tour guides have to downplay for the tourists and people who want to hear ghost stories. If they revisit the Winchester Mystery House for Ghost Files, I genuinely hope that this time they'll get the actual history!
oh, shane would love to hear the real history
Especially because their new content is much more focused on education and history rather than ghost hunting
Something tells me he already knows the truth especially since he's always skeptical of ghosts anyway
@@KingBasieSims4 You know, FUNNY YOU REPLY TO THIS POST TODAY!
unfortunately they did not, which is a real miss
there was an old house in terrible shape my dad bought with the hopes of fixing up and living in (he bit off more than he could chew so he sold it) it was so beautiful. there was a cool "secret" staircase, probably for the staff, and some other little hiding spots that we weren't exactly sure the purpose of. when you said how victorian homes were maze like i thought of that house. it was renovated and they kept the main staircase, but they made the rest of it all modern and cheap and im sad about that
I wish I had the money to keep beautiful buildings from being renovated into modern styles.
@@Aster_Risk that was his goal, but he ran into the same issue. also he didn't really plan very well. at least the outside of the house looks the same. the paint is ugly but that can be fixed
I hope someone else will come along in the future who can restore it the way your dad wanted to! I hate the trend of painting over & “modernising” old houses, they always turn out so ugly
Can't stand when Victorian homes, exposed woodwork gets painted over and or gutted and "modernized " 🤮
I am descended from the Henry that ran the Henry repeating arms company. It's funny how different the story of the interaction between Henry and Winchester I was always told is from what you state in the video. My family says that Winchester was a lowly shirt merchant that stole from us, took our rifle desighn and ruined our company. I was always aware that this view point is quite bias but it's interesting how the bias has dripped down through the years.
Ok dude that’s super interesting! Well now I’m curious, does your family have any stories about Sarah or the house? I’m gonna be hooked on this topic for the next week or so, might as well get as many sources as possible
Oh my.
@@djoctobeat5204 ah yes, Inter-famillial historical drama!
Yes, please tell us more!!
Damn, well that's definitely a different view point. I'd want to know more about that story.
I lived in a historic neighborhood and the amount of doors you see randomly on the side of a building that used to have a balcony/ other wing is really common. Keeping up old houses is expensive buuut nailing a door shut and smacking new siding on is less expensive.
Same! We had a door upstairs right next to my bedroom that used to have a balcony, but it had been damaged and removed, so you'd just fall to the grass below if you weren't paying attention. I found it creepy as a kid, especially when we came home after a weekend away and that entire wall was covered in ladybugs.
Shortly after my husband and I bought a semi-updated Victorian, we found a window in the outside of the house that is right where a toilet is situated. With a blank wall behind. Currently debating on whether to open it up and put in a new window with frosted glass, or close off the window with plywood and the leftover siding the last owners left us with.
My mom used to take English classes in a house that was over a hundred years old. On the second floor was a door that was bolted shut with a sign that said do not open. I thought it was a little weird(and creepy) until they explained that it opens outside and didn't want anyone to accidentally plummet to the ground. Guess now I know why it was like that😂
@@Maichen13what did you guys end up doing?
I want an old house like that, for that very reason. I don't want a full updated home. I want one I can remodel. I want to learn the secrets of the home myself. Besides, I don't like how most contractors "update" or flip a home.
@@Sammythat_B we had a new window with privacy glass installed, ordered it along with a bunch of other windows to replace ones that were either broken or out of square. Not cheap, but the extra daylight is welcome.
Thank you for this story..now i completely understand the actual truth of the house..and i understand the grief of her heart..i lost my baby at 8 weeks,and also my grandfather that raised me ,mother,father,2 uncles,3 cousins in the span of 7 years every year straight from 2012..you are never ok after that no matter how hard you try to be you cant heal from the trauma completely..and she couldnt fake it for social parties and i can feel she knew that
Oh god to lose your child let alone your whole family. My heart really goes out to you dude
It’s amazing you’re still standing. Nobody should have to be that strong. I hope things are going okay for you now
💖💖💖
I've heard that, being the daughter of a carpenter and growing surrounded by men in the business, she felt particular compassion for men who built houses and their families, often having to deal with a capricious market and stretches of want. I seem to recall someone pointing out that the most labor-intensive building went on during hard financial times, and that this was her way of being charitable to proud men who wanted to work, not beg.
Not gonna lie, I was a little disappointed to hear this at first but honestly Sarah sounds so dang relatable. It's a story of an independent woman overcoming her grief and living her best life, and that's pretty great. Thanks so much for sharing this, I'm looking forward to telling others about it too!!!
I wasn't. It made me like her even more. Her actual story is way more interesting.
Ngl, learning about the real history of the Winchester house made me want to actually visit it so much more than any ghost stories ever could. We love history in this household!
wondering if sarah winchester (of legend) ever considered that ghosts can walk through walls when making her house a labyrinth
They can pass through walls but most of them dont because they know its rude.
But there are ideas in various cultures about ghosts not being able to pass through knots and so forth. Ghosts have limitations, too.
i mean... right? lol
You probably already watched the video by now, but the labyrinthine design of the house has nothing to do with ghosts
@@KaoKacique i think that's why they emphasized "of legend" (as opposed to "of reality"). ;)
When I went there was a ghost in the stables. The tour guide mentioned that she'd seen and spoken to them, and it was very grounded. No spooky happenings, just people who worked for Sarah whose spirits stayed after they died.
I work there currently & let me tell you, them stables spooky 😅 not my fave spot to work around
"Ghosts" in old houses are 9/10 really just carbon monoxide accumulating due to poor ventilation. The other 10% they are due to human superstition and imagination.
the way sarah had her hosue constructed reminds me of how i flip flop between projects. i feel like most creative people are like that
Sarah Winchester is a whole dang Mood™️. I, too, like to keep to myself and would like to build a big, rambling Victorian mansion. History did her SO dirty and I'm sad that a lot about her life is only being brought to light now. What an absolute icon 💕
History shows us how so many great women were treated So dirty.
poor Sarah honestly I can't imagine the pain and grief of losing so many close to her...the house gave her joy in some ways I'm glad for that.
this is so interesting, i took a tour of the winchester house last year and they focused pretty heavily on the haunted stuff. knowing now that the doors and staircases to nowhere are a result of the earthquake makes so much more sense. i loved the victorian furniture and architecture and would love to visit again knowing the real history now. thanks for making this video!
I grew up and still live about 5 minutes down from the Winchester House; most locals just view it as a cool house with a cool story that was built with blood. Its a fun place to take a young kid or a non-local on a date but no really anything spooky. Beautiful to look at though!
I dated a girl who lived down the street on Cypress Ave.
This makes so much more sense than the rumors that are going around. I hope she is resting peacefully.
Yeah I'm glad I wasn't the only one who was like "everyone is talking about Sarah but what about her opinions? She's educated, a widow, a pen is mightier than a sword, so give me her writings"
After years of women being slandered by rumors, why would Sarah's story be any different?
I'm waiting for someone to talk about the Winchester Mystery House-related musical I saw with my mom that I'm not 100% actually exists. Maybe it's my sign I need to build a labyrinth theater so the musical ghosts have a place to perform
Hi, I did attend a performance of the musical, The Haunting of Winchester, at the San Jose Repertory Theater when it premiered in fall 2005. It wasn’t a dream or something imagined! It did happen, I remember it well. The concept of the musical was far fetched. I guess if Shrek and Sponge Bob can have a musical then so can Sarah Winchester 🙂💀.
@@Ana_Phylactic365 oh my god it does exist! Do you remember if it was any good? I was so young but I remember being pleasantly surprised.
@@kazza6078 Hi @kaz za, it was a very odd musical about the reason why Sarah was “haunted”. The musical did involve various ghosts including an Indigenous American, a cowboy, a civil war soldier, and a few others. There were too many characters and the storyline was purely fictional and speculative. It wasn’t good ☹️.
I wanted it to be better than it was. I was so excited to see this but I left the performance feeling “meh”. Guess that’s why it didn’t have a very long run and could be why you don’t remember it entirely. It wasn’t very memorable. But, it did exist!!!! We are probably among a very small percentage of people who have seen it, that has to give us a little social cred 😄. Glad we could connect over having such a random thing in common 😁.
@@Ana_Phylactic365 I do remember that, and a weird implied romance between Sarah and one of the ghosts. Thanks for jogging my memory! We were the chosen people to witness this and I guess I WON'T build a labyrinth theater after all :)
This is so amazing to see, that you guys both saw this! I don't suppose any music survives from this show? I would love to hear it. I'll check around.
My cousin had her suckling reflex further back in her throat and had to have special nipples on her bottle to properly suckle. It was my mothers theory that Sarah Winchester's daughter suffered from the same affliction and the thought of watching my baby starve and being helpless to prevent it is horrifying.
She filed a plethora of patents, including a sink with a built in washboard, removeable flooring in the greenhouse rooms to allow for drainage. I toured it several times before the new gift shop and visitors center was built.
It's a stunning home, the hype about spirits, guns, and guilt, is to sell tickets, regardless, you should go because the architecture is amazing.
I am a Tour Guide, there were No patents filed under her name.
@@brendaellis4936
This article would beg to differ.
dh.scu.edu/exhibits/files/original/55/1981/20200209_164406.jpg
My husband and I just bought a house that's from this same time period and I think about the floor plan thing from this video all of the time. Like, there are so many things about our house that legitimately feel like they wouldn't make sense without the context of trying to keep warm like that, and it makes the Winchester house make a lot more sense-- if my very Normal People House that's just a folk Victorian is still mazelike enough to get lost in because of all the weird doors and rooms smashed up against each other, I can't imagine the product of being someone with a vision and tons of money to spend, haha.
Yeah it's the same with Victorian mansions in SF. The rooms are small and maze-like. It was like the Winchester house rooms but completed of course. I did research awhile back because I noticed this in Victorian style homes and wondered why. I found it odd that they were smushed and tiny. It reminds me if Alice in Wonderland how these rooms and halls were built. The wallpaper too is often times different in every room. It's beautiful but odd at the same time. If someone hasn't really visited or been in a Victorian style home they may find the Winchester rooms odd, but at the time for mansions it really wasn't. The doors leading to no where on the houses also isn't uncommon cause a lot of the parts of the house are damaged or destroyed balconies or rooms cause of the houses age or elements. The doors and stairs are kept cause it's cheaper.
Something interesting in terms of Victorian mansions being spooky, is how they were used as inspiration for the original Addams Family home in the original comic strip. As well as the home in Psycho.
I appreciate this thoughtful look at Sarah Winchester’s creativity as opposed to the lore. I grew up down the street from her home, and I passed it all the time. Greetings from San José!
I went in high-school, we even did the old timey basement tour.
Honestly a beautiful house. I was an easily spooked ghost show fan back then, but I didn't even think of that being a possibility. Hard to be ill at ease in such a delightful place. The low-rise stairs also have that effect a little I think
Thank you for this video. I loved the stories about her hauntings, but love her true story even more. To face that much loss and still nurse her passion is a true show of her strength.
I have always dreamed of visiting this house but that's no easy feat when you're all the way on the opposite coast. I never knew what I'd always been told about Sarah and the house wasn't the truth but I enjoy knowing it now and am upset that so many thought she was strange when all she wanted was to be left alone. I love Victorian homes and find them extremely fascinating so to have the opportunity to visit such a unique and beautiful house would be a huge treat
I recently learned that they've created a visual tour now which you can take online. As I'm German, I think I might use that chance to see something of the house, too.
It's true, I was the house.
The call is coming from inside the house.
@@danielwagner2034 Indeed.
Man that is so funny/original. You should totally be comedian.
@@aaronmiller4785 thanks aaron, you shouldnt.
Lol
I clicked on this because I’m a sucker for this house and its lore. My hope was to learn one tidbit that I hadn’t heard before. Instead, I got something heart-achingly beautiful…Not to mention actually way more interesting than the “legend” in my opinion. Thank you so much for sharing her story!
Can’t believe this is the first time I’m hearing the real story behind the Winchester house. I’ve always been fascinated my it, but never heard anything besides the legends.
I've always found the real history of houses like this to be far more interesting than whatever legends have sprung up around them! While I've never been to the Mystery House, the city I live in has a few Victorian-era home that have been preserved and maintained in a historical park, and it's always so much fun to go through and learn about the families that used to occupy them. Of course, at halloween, ghost tours will be held in those houses, but I always think about the real people and the impacts that they had on the area at the time.
Sarah would’ve absolutely killed it on the Sims
"I care about historical misinformation" Me too! I love this video cause it's brought light to Sarah Winchester as a person. She sounded like a lovely lady and boy she had some rough emotional hardships. Tbh I always saw the house as something a kid would design, a neat place to hide and live and run around, not necessarily spooky.
When I visited the Winchester House in 2019, i had just listened to the Stuff You Missed in History Class podcast episode on it, which was my first introduction to the house. It was really interesting to visit with the historical context, and I had a tour guide that liked that part more than the paranormal rumors too.
I'm related to the Winchesters on my mother's side of the family and my grandmother and great-grandmother vehemently hated Sarah and made sure to emphasize the fact that she was *married* into, not born into, the family, because she spent the entire fortune on the house.
EDIT: just wanted to add, I myself have never been to the house, despite growing up in CA, and it's one of the many places I want to visit one day
Yo that’s kinda cool! I don’t know what to say except that :)
You should visit it. You won't be disappointed. It's extremely beautiful despite the family not liking her.
There was one story at the Winchester house that cracked me up. She bought one of the most expensive windows of all time, just to put a wall behind it. Which honestly? Thank you to Sara Winchester, cause reading that story had some of the most hilarious twists and turns I've ever read. I also know she deeply cared about everyone who worked there and her family, just from listening to stories.
After your last episode where you mentioned Ghostland I had a feeling this video was on the horizon and you did not disappoint! I was fascinated with the story of the ghosts of Winchester when I was a kid. Now Im fascinated by how the narrative has been warped through the years and in the end replaced the truth almost anywhere you look. Ive been several times (ironically I had never been before I read the chapter in Ghostland so I went in very skeptical), its interesting that they still claim to show you the seance room (which well, is false) and false rumors of the 13 bell tolls, but the majority of the tour is historical, talking about how the stairs are weird because of the way she walked it was easier for her, or the portion of the house abandoned after the earth quake. The guides were all very kind and earnest too. Its a fascinating story.
It's amazing how "mundane" (in a good way) ghost stories become when creators don't ommit key details of "mysterious" cases
I'm glad that you made an honest review of her case
Excellent video. I really appreciate the work , truth and empathy you put into Sarah’s story. I have been there and still learned so much from this. Sarah’s traumas are an overlooked part of her story but especially the effects of the San Francisco earthquake was an eye opener for me . Well done .
The real story of her is so much more interesting. I think it’s amazing she just didn’t give a crap about what people thought of her and just did what she wanted.
Thank you for doing such a deep dive into Mrs. Winchester. I long to go see the house in person, especially for all the woodwork. She really was such a visionary, and even if not all of her plans succeeded (even before the terrible earthquake and flood), she really was willing to see where her creative side led her. I imagine that, as time went on, her design choices got better and better!
I wish more YT channels like this existed. A well rearched essay still wildly entertaining to me. Spoken well in A beautiful home by the host with wonderful fashion, passion for history and intellect. Also not just great histoical stories but LGBT one's and ones I'd never think of. In what's been A difficult year, finding your channel has been my fav YT discovery of the year.
never heard of this place, on the other side of the planet, but appreciate the work done to elevate truths and place falsehoods in context. overall the story is one of humans and how we engage with a complicated and often unpleasant existence. that, to me, is what history is really about.
I visited the Winchester House a few years ago, and it was an absolute delight. As someone who became obsessed with the story of the house when I was a child, I too went through the same sort of journey with the story of the house. I first became enamored of the spooky stories. I even wrote up a fiction piece about the house that was published! Then, I learned the truth behind the folktales. After learning more about the historical truth of the place, I moved on to become deeply interested in the history of Sarah Pardew Winchester, the community surrounding it, and culture of the time. And when I went to the house just a few years ago, the guides were always keen on using the words "folklore" and "stories", careful to distinguish hard facts from legend.
The house is a fantastic visit and an enlightening part of American history. You can learn so much from a visit. Highly recommended if you have a chance to go!
Im not american so I havent really experienced the Mystery House, but the way you describe it reminds me a lot of Edward James' surreal castle here in Mexico. A wealthy man with time and money to spare who spent his last years building a beautiful, surreal, and odd residence in the middle of the mexican wilderness.
Not my sighting, but my mothers. She said she was about 10 years old (so mid 1970s) and was on a school trip when she left the group briefly to peek inside a side room. She said there was a woman there who looked at her like she was intruding on a private conversation or something and she quickly apologized to the woman and closed the door. At the end of the tour she told the person at the front that she liked the costumes they used for the people in the rooms, and that she was sorry she made the one lady in the striped skirt angry. The people working there assured her there was no one dressing up and hanging out in the rooms, and she probably saw one of the ghosts of the house.
I'm a big history buff, and I swear not in a weird way a big fan of the history of arms and armor etc. And I think it's really important to look at the larger histories and realities surrounding these topics, and this video is just such an interesting little window into a time in history that is so romanticized despite its relatively good documentation and how recent these things really were. Great video as usual.
loved this video, the real circumstances and history that caused the rumors are so interesting! hearing about the house on ghost shows always felt like large chunks of information were being withheld. also lmao at that ghost adventures b roll
The Winchester mystery house seems like it would be perfect for an episode of Scooby Doo. The historical side of this, particularly that of the rifle's tragic role in westward expansion, is very interesting.
I just started but I’m so so glad you’re doing this! I hate the myth surrounding her, it’s so insulting to her brilliance and frankly it’s misogynistic af
Wow I’ve always liked Stephen King’s Diary of Ellen Rimbauer, but a few of the things I learned here kinda put me off it. Like I’ve always loved the relationship between Ellen and Sukeena, but now it seems clear to me the real-life root of that plot point would have been racist, sexist suspicion/rumors based on Sarah hiring non-white help and treating them well.
Same.
I think the real appeal of the house for me is how surreal it seems. Makes me think of that optical illusion picture that’s pretty famous and was even the inspiration and featured in the movie Labyrinth where people are walking up stairs on ceilings etc. It’s great for inspiration and visual interest
I saw a show about WMH as a kid, and was totally fascinated. But since I lived in Wisconsin, visiting there, was not going to happen.
I spent decades dreaming about visiting someday.
In 2019, I finally got to go.
As a real estate appraiser, I saw a brilliantly built house. I totally agree with Kaz's summation @19:09. Sarah Winchester was a brilliant and unconventional woman, who had the time and money to express her creativity and grief through a lavish and efficient home.
It saddens me as well that so many people only know the legend, and not the awesome lady that Mrs. Winchester was
I’m currently in the planning process for a collection of creative nonfiction essays based on historical and mythological women that I find fascinating/connect with. Sarah Winchester is now on the list of essay topics! I’d also love to visit the house itself to incorporate some elements of travel writing like I’m planning to do with Anne Boleyn and Hever Castle!
Wow, that sounds like a really interesting/cool project! I would love to read them if you publish them somehow in the future!
Your intelligence and prowess is palpable! Thank you so much for your content!! I enjoy it very much
Just have to say -wow! This was such a beautiful example of correcting the historical “record” by providing context! Brava!
I lived in San Jose California for most of my life. I’ve been inside this house many times. The story we were told by the tour guides said she was told if she stopped building on the house, she would die. When the 1906 earthquake hit several of the stories of the house came down on her and because she couldn’t build on the house that’s why she died. This house was amazing. We would go up these tiny stairs and open the door only to see a wall.
I’ve lived here most of my life and work in Santana row next to the house, and I’ve never been. I should probably do that before I die, lol.
In cases like this, I find the real stories more interesting than the legends you hear again and again. Thank you for this video! ❤️
Just visited in March, the place is amazing. I enjoyed the frankness of the tour guides and their eagerness to talk about Sarah and all the good things she did for the people of San Jose. She was an amazing woman.
as a winchester this video immediately caught my attention
I am absolutely thrilled to find your channel. This was my first video. Going to look at the rest. I am an avid ghost hunter and historisn so was thrilled to find actual history not just the legend. Great job
It's honestly quite sad that they made a spectacle out of this poor, old and grieving woman's last home to the point it could've been a P.T. Barnum attraction... i hope she rests in peace.
She was not poor.
@@BognaZonePoor as in, deserving of pity or sympathy.
I think about the phrase "fact is stranger than fiction" and this case I want to turn it around and say "the truth is more interesting than fiction". Sarah Winchester sounds like a woman who turned to house renovating as a hobby when she a) experienced a string of loss and grief no normal person should ever experience and b) came into such an obscene amount of wealth that no normal person would know what to do with. She could afford building and renovating a house as a hobby and as a way to keep her mind occupied in her old age, so that's what she did. And that makes so much more sense to me than a ghost story. It makes the house more real and more understandable. There was a real, empathic rationale to why it is the way it is and it's far more fascinating that the legend that gets perpetuated by the ~spooky ghost stories~ that are spread these days. Sarah was a very interesting person, and I'm glad she found something to occupy her time at a point in life where I imagine she felt very alone. It'a shame that it was so destroyed to the point that she didn't want to keep working on it anymore and gave up on it entirely. This mansion was probably so much more beautiful when it was complete.
I'd never heard the actuality behind the mythos. I appreciate you bringing her story to light!
I visited the Winchester Mystery House when I was in elementary school as part of a birthday party long before it had been "put to rights." (Am I dating myself or what?) It was very shabby then and there was graffiti (sadly) in many places. Much later, my father, daughter, and I visited it and were so glad to see how nicely it had been restored. Our guide did not tell us about the reasons for the stairways that led nowhere or other such eccentric details. Thank you, Kaz, for the fill-in about the extensive S.F. earthquake damage! After our second tour, we were amazed at Mrs. Winchester's intelligence. We discussed that if she was a spiritualist, so were manifold Americans at the time due to the massive losses of the Civil War. You also brought out that even if Sarah Winchester had no personal family losses due to the Civil War, she certainly had suffered enough losses of her family that could have justified any wishing to seek them out on "the other side" -- if she had.
I really appreciate you making this video! I've always been intrigued by the house and wanted to know more about Sarah and the house's history, but it just felt like everything I ran across was more interested in spinning a yarn than in giving an actual historical account. I'm someone who you could call "sensitive" [to... idk... the nonphysical? shrug] and the Winchester House just does not feel haunted. That's not to say there's nothing there or that people who have seen weird stuff are lying or mistaken- I just mean that, compared to other places that are ~definitely~ f_ing haunted, it feels pretty normal. Anyway. I share your distaste for historical disinformation and am glad I finally got to hear a more grounded and factual account. It was really interesting! Thanks, Kaz! ^_^
For me, this story and the house is what haunting is - generational tragedy and mental illness, the energy and atmosphere create a haunted object/space - hauntings are most often the embedding of memories upon something in such a way it lingers and at times, seeks - I'm not that heavily into paranormal as presented in the ghost Hunt scene and etc, but believe a lot in the power of objects and spaces, haunted by the memories
I really, really appreciate how you educated us on the actual history of the house and also talked about the legend. I've always been fascinated by the house bc of the legend but now I'm fascinated by the house itself and what it actually represents. you make an excellent point that she should've been remembered for the positive things such as how she paid double wages and provided a safe place for her staff and time off, certainly preferable to being known as the lady that kept building a house with nonsensical features to appease the ghosts haunting her 👻I absolutely love the coverage on this and now I have a newfound appreciation based on the truth. thank you! 💕
Thank you for this information. I had been told that Sarah continued to build as she was told she would live for as long as she continued construction on the house! I love knowing the truth.
As someone who lives in a house finished around 1894, I can verify that they aren't cheap to keep up (did you know that mortar only lasts about 100 years? I found out when my fieldstone foundation started leaking). I've long been familiar with the Winchester House and its super cool design but didn't really know the facts (or the legend to be honest). Thanks for this great video!
I visited the winchester house a few years ago. I had to roll my eyes a bit at some of aspects of the tour since our guide went a little heavy on the 'OooOo spooky ghost' angle for my taste, but my biggest takeaway was that Victorian architecture is really good to look at and that if I'm ever fortunate enough to own a house I want to make as many weird and confusing architectural changes as I can afford. Sarah may not have wanted a door to nowhere, but I sure as heck do.
A couple slight correction about a few things about the arms history:
1: The major concern for most generals during the civil war wasn’t brutality, but the difficulty of supplying such large quantities of ammunition, especially since they felt soldiers would shoot faster than they could supply to ammunition;
2: The army didn’t use the Winchester or any repeater in large quantities, mostly using the single shot trapdoor rifle, which was made by converting the older muzzleloaders into breechloaders, but they were used by native scouts who chose to side with the army, usually as a way to settle old vendettas, and were bought up and handed out to settlers by the government, something I’m glad you talked about, since I don’t think it gets enough attention; the main reason the slower trapdoor rifles were still use was the aforementioned concerns about ammunition, as well as cost and the fact it fired a larger, heavier round, enabling longer range fire and use against buffalo, as part of the policy to wipe them out to deny natives food, since the Winchesters couldn’t handle the powerful 45-70 round them in use. Aside from those two things, this was an amazing video and I’m really glad it was made; it’s important we talk about the nasty parts of history and the strange complicated legacies of people in the past
this was very interesting. thank you. as a medium and history nerd who briefly worked as a docent for my local historical society and park, the question of ghost stories and tours is fascinating. We were discouraged to say that the houses were haunted and to inform any questions that were brought up about it being haunted. However, as an actual medium (I have done many cold reading sessions for strangers with accuracy)... it is frustrating when I can actually * sense * that there are spirits! I even have a hobby of going to historical or old looking places and just asking the spirits, if any are there, to show me anything they want me to know about the place .
That being said, the interesting thing about Founder's Park where I docented...I never really felt any activity in the main house that was said to be haunted. It was the small, 1856 German cabin that is still home to Dona Sepulveda Carillo where there is activity. She appeared to me once when I was visiting at night . She did her best to scare me and when she realized I was just there to chat if any spirit wanted to talk, she ...eventually...warmed up to me and I always make sure to say "hi" if I visit.
I’ve always heard that Sarah believed the day she stopped building would be the day she died
I was unsure about watching this video due to a little trauma I had with this story, along with many other horror and mystery tinged as well, back in 2016. Lil' old me, despite being easily frightened and disturbed, developed an obsession with a RUclips chanel that dealt with spooky and disturbing stories. I binged those videos and then had insomnia for a couple weeks before school started. The Winchester house strucked me because it was one of the few I could read about after the insomnia quietly went down. Well into 9th grade I was fascinated by the story, but also with the period and other things such as female hysteria. But then it hit that I was still heavily disturbed by it. So I then avoided anything Winchester related for years. Until I read the title of this video.
I'm super glad that I watched it. It was like a hug and a "Everything is going to be okay" for lil me. You helped me overcome this small trauma I had for several years, thank you so much ❤️
As a lifelong sufferer of Rheumatoid Arthritis, I am so sad Sarah Winchester had to suffer that pain after such a challenging life. She deserved comfort, and I hope she got some loving care from her carers in the last years of her life.
I appreciate this so much! I was always fascinated by Sarah and now that I know the truth I'm so angry for her and want to know her more. What an amazing woman! This truth needs to be spread more.
Honestly, about her apparent lack of guilt... Where was there room in her heart for it? She suffered a truly immense amount of loss in her lifetime; it's shocking she was able to do anything remotely positive after all of that.
I'm sure she felt an amount of guilt. After all she suffered loss. She probably did think at one point or many times about the lives that were lost. People after all would tell her that she was a bad person including the media as well at the time. She was labeled weird too. I'm sure she did feel it. I think she wasn't a very vocal person is why no one knew for sure.
Kaz, thank you so much for this. I grew up fascinated by the house and her story, and the story I learned there did not ring true for me. I actually mentioned this on one of the tours I went on over the years. The tour guide just said that nobody really knows the truth. Your video has only added to my appreciation for Sarah Winchester and her home. ❤
Wow. I think, whenever someone asks me "what historical figure do you wish you could talk to?", Sarah Winchester might become my go-to answer.
Thank you for uncovering a story even MORE interesting than the popular fictional tale we've all heard.
Hi Ms. Rowe, I enjoy your channel very much! I spent a lot of time at the Winchester House as a child. I am from San Jose, my family took the tour too many times to count. I guess the story never got old.
I was in San Jose recently, in January, visiting from North Carolina where I currently live and had to visit the Winchester House. My husband and kids came along. Lets just say my sons were not as impressed as I was at their age. They considered the tour more of a punishment.
I still love the Winchester Mansion and have witnessed the changes, good and bad, that have taken place to the house and its surroundings. I do have a compelling photo of a possible anomaly. My husband, who is a huge skeptic and is always eager to call “bullshit”, can’t come up wih a logical explanation. Is the house haunted?? I guess that is for everyone to decide for themselves.
P.S. I believe Sarah was lonely and enjoyed having constant activity going on around her. She experienced such huge losses and didn’t want to be alone to wallow in her destitution. Her house allowed her to be creative, expressive, and it provided the opportunity to be surrounded by things that possessed great beauty and brought her joy on some level. Although, I don’t think anything could ever replace the sorrow that was permanently in her heart ♥️.
Apologies for this long, drawn out comment.
I wish you all the best, you are phenomenal!!
Is there a post of the photo anywhere online? Sounds cool!
It also gave her the space to have many other people (and whole families!) live there with her ❤
This was such a good dive. I remember visiting the Winchester mystery house as a kid and having some unasked questions post-tour. Thanks for sharing more about the family background, natural disasters, and the historical context that contributed to the “mystery” of it all! 👏
Thank you for this video! It was so informative and rich in the histories and facts. Love love it.
I went to the house a few years back. Never experienced any sort of paranormal things and none of the photos I took featured anything unexplainable. The house is incredibly beautiful, and we spent the extra money to take a tour of recently opened up locations in the house. The home was eerie, but I never felt anything, and I suppose that is because the mysterious and supernatural myths surrounding it were never true. I really wish more people knew the truth. But then I doubt people would really care to visit anymore, and it'd likely fall into disrepair.
I think this video makes the Winchester House seem even more magical because in reality the whole thing is basically just a crazy rumor or a meme that got completely out of control and become American folklore
I'm glad I got here early, I love your videos!
I was born and raised in San Jose and have been to the house many times including participating night decorating of the house for the holidays (used to be done by Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts). The home is beautiful and to me the myths are all created to sell the house. Sarah Winchester is a fascinating person who paid her workers well and often observed their work and invented things to make their jobs easier. Like the laundry sink with the built in washboard and soap ledge or the fact she had an elevator installed to take potted plants up to her indoor green house on the second floor all done because she saw her staff working too hard or struggling with heavy items on stairs. She also had an apricot/dried apricot empire where she nearly doubled her fortune, she was in no way getting rid of money. If you ever visit again you will see the house is on Winchester Road. That road is extremely long and goes across most of Santa Clara county, that was the original property line of her estate.
When I visited, I didn't see any ghosts, of course, but I will tell you that if you plan to visit between March and November, bring a personal fan and a ton of water. It will be HOT. Even touring the basement didn't really help with the heat. It's an amazing house though! Every door hinge is its own work of art and every sunbeam through the colored glass is a treasure. I only live a couple of hours away, I should go visit more lol
I used to work at Winchester as a tour guide, and i say this is Brilliantly made video and very well researched, almost as good as the actual house historians that work inside. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 I loved cleaning the house on downtime, especially in the winter when the sun was shaded by mounds of clouds. I'd bring my iPod, go into the grand ballroom with those special mopping slippers and just dance my soul away. I even enjoyed cleaning the damaged areas and would spook myself upon my reflection on the plexi closing off the damaged areas. It was a fun experience. Hated the management but those years were a blast to work and rub shoulders with the historians, owners and board members.
a lot of the reported ghosts have been claimed to be of builders, not any victims of the repeating rifle -- regardless, it's interesting to hear about sarah's actual motivations c:
WHAT!!! basically all of this is news to me! i've been familiar with the story through popular culture and apparently didn't know hardly a single thing about it. i'm about to go shake down your entire bibliography because this is fascinating. thank you!!
YESSSS there arent nearly enough vids on this story