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San Jose, California: Winchester Mystery House

RoadsideAmerica.com Team Field Report

Address:
525 S. Winchester Blvd, San Jose, CA
Directions:
I-280 to San Jose. Take Winchester Blvd exit. At stoplight, turn left. At next stoplight (Winchester Blvd), turn left. Drive two stoplights. The Winchester Mystery House will be on the left.
Hours:
Open daily at 9 AM (Call to verify) Local health policies may affect hours and access.
Phone:
408-247-2101
Admission:
$20 to $50, depending on the tour.
RA Rates:
Major Fun
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Winchester Mystery House

Winchester Mystery House

The legend is that eccentric millionaire Sarah Winchester kept adding to her mansion to confuse the vengeful ghosts of Winchester rifle victims. Her house has 160 rooms and 10,000 windows.

Roadsideamerica.com Report... [10/29/2017]
San Jose, California - Sarah Winchester: No Sane, No Shame
Winchester Mystery House:

A book written by a California history professor claims to set the record straight on Sarah Winchester, the reclusive millionaire whose Winchester Mystery House continues to baffle the rest of us.

[02/09/2011] Complete Story...

Visitor Tips and News About Winchester Mystery House

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RIP Sarah Lockwood Winchester, September 5, 1922.

R.I.P. Sarah Lockwood Winchester, September 5, 1922

Sarah Lockwood Winchester was so afraid of ghosts that she had her 160-room California mansion turned into a grim kind of funhouse, with stairs that led nowhere and doors that opened into walls. Her thinking seemed to be that if she could make her house confusing enough, the dead would be unable to find her. Sarah found herself dead 100 years ago, on September 5, 1922, and only five months later her house was opened as a tourist attraction. It continues to befuddle the public, and according to its staff, Sarah's efforts were in vain: the house is crawling with ghosts.

[RoadsideAmerica.com Team, 09/05/2022]

Door to Nowhere.

Winchester Mystery House

Google "Winchester Mystery House discount" for a 3$ off coupon. Be sure to get the behind-the-scenes tour to get into the basement and see the elevator workings. More historical/strange than haunted/creepy.

[Rae, 05/29/2010]
Winchester Mystery House

The difference between crazy and eccentric is money. Sarah Winchester had it and spent it by continuously designing and building on what has become (according to some) the most haunted house in America. Hype aside, she was actually a pretty talented architect and the house is a gem of the Victorian period. Prior to the 1906 earthquake, the house was 7-stories tall. A section of the house is as the workmen left it, when Sarah closed off that section after the quake, and redirected their efforts elsewhere.

The billboards lead you to believe that the house has some horror in its past. The occult, yes; Sarah held seances nightly in the blue room. Nothing horrific happened there. To clear up earlier statements, the house is a privately owned attraction and was never state property. If you want to see the big house built by an eccentric newpaper man now owned by the state, Hearst Castle is for you.

[Lynn Macey, 01/19/2005]

Nearby Offbeat Places

Doggie Diner HeadDoggie Diner Head, San Jose, CA - 1 mi.
Delta Queen Car WashDelta Queen Car Wash, Campbell, CA - 2 mi.
Babe the Muffler ManBabe the Muffler Man, San Jose, CA - 3 mi.
In the region:
Muffler Man Cowboy - Big Don, Hayward, CA - 25 mi.

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