Winchester Mystery House

Photo: License: Public Domain

The Winchester Mystery House is a mansion in San Jose, which was once the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester.

The Queen Anne Style Victorian mansion is renowned for its size, its architectural curiosities, and its lack of any master building plan.

Ever since the construction commenced in 1884, the property and mansion were claimed by many, including Winchester herself, to be haunted by the ghosts of those killed with Winchester rifles. Under Winchester's day-to-day guidance, its "from-the-ground-up" construction proceeded around the clock, by some accounts, without interruption, until her death on September 5, 1922, at which time work immediately ceased.