The Daisy Bedroom

Although most people don't know it by name, the Daisy Bedroom holds a close second to the Séance Room as the most famous room in the mansion.

Mrs. Winchester found herself trapped here after the 1906 earthquake, and if you believe the stories, thought that the angry spirits had finally caught up with her. Many versions of the story also include the detail that the servants couldn't find her because she slept in a different room each night, though I find this extremely unlikely. While there are approximately 40 bedrooms in the mansion, most of them are small servant rooms. Many of the larger quarters were never completed, leaving only a handful of possible sleeping quarters for Mrs. Winchester.

However, I do think the earthquake had a profound effect on Mrs. Winchester. Although she continued to build, she never rebuilt or repaired any of the damaged portions of the mansion, leaving large sections of the house unfinished and abandoned. Even the new construction she undertook seems more reserved, amounting to little more than repetitive remodeling.

What accounts for the change? My personal view is that earthquake did frighten her. She was apparently trapped for several hours while her employees cleared rubble in order to reach and rescue her. These lonely, panicked hours might have affected her even if she wasn't lost or in fear of the spirits. Of course, she wasn't the only one affected by the quake, both San Jose and San Francisco were heavily damaged. It's possible that the larger implications of the earthquake led her to shift priorities away from her mansion.