The Stairs to the Ceiling and the $25K

Your guide will lead the group around the corner and down a dimly lit hallway. At this point, the crowd is going to be rambunctious, and a little caught up in the excitement of the starting tour. A lot of them may even pass right by the next stop on the tour, The Stairs to the Ceiling .

These stairs do genuinely lead right up to a blank ceiling, which is admittedly a very strange sight. If you're at the back of the group you'll have a chance to snap a picture or two. Also, the guide is going to be pretty occupied in the next room, so if you must cross the velvet rope to have your picture made on the stairs, you'll be able to without much fear. Hurry though, or the guide will start in on the next room without you.

These stairs do lend some credence to the idea that Mrs. Winchester built the house to confuse the spirits, but the more likely explanation (to me) is that they initially led to the second floor of the estate's barn, but when the growing house engulfed the barn, the stairs interrupted a new second floor hallway and were covered over. Confusing the spirits was just a bonus.

Once you've had a good look at the Stairs, hurry to the next stop, the $25,000 Storage Room. The $25,000 Storage Room The $25,000 Storage Room, "The 25K" for short, (tour guides don't have time to say whole words) houses a display of unused decorative items. Stained glass windows and doors dominate the display, but there are some other interesting items like decorative hinges and tiles that are the hallmarks of Eastlake design.

If you decided to stick close to the tour guide when leaving the Carriage Entrance, then you'll be among the first into the room. If that's the case, then I recommend standing in the back of the room (away from the display case) and watching your fellow mansion guests. There's a fifty-percent chance that one of them will bang his head into the glass walls of the display case, then look around embarrassed. Pointing and laughing is discouraged, but not strictly forbidden.

Most of the tour script for this room focuses on the cost of the building supplies, and on a stained-glass window that Mrs. Winchester supposedly designed. The window (pictured below) has a spider web pattern laced with thirteen blue and amber stones, a number purported to have spiritual significance to Mrs. Winchester. This is the first time the tour script mentions the number thirteen, but you'll hear a lot more about it as you go through the house.

I'm not aware of any specifically Spiritualist beliefs about the number thirteen, but the number has always had mystical associations. Mrs. Winchester may have been obsessed with it, but I've found most of the instances mentioned in the tour script to be less than convincing. As far as I know, the window was never installed. The tour guide will wrap up this room by announcing the next stop on the tour, but more important than the next room is the path you'll take to get there. I recommend getting to the front of the line for a trip up the Goofy Staircase.