The Venetian Dining Room

 

The tour script for the Venetian Dining room explains that Mrs. Winchester ate most of her meals in the room, and then runs through a list of numbers ("the house has ten-thousand windows, 2,000 doors...") Giving the list correctly is quite a test, and adds a bit of showmanship, even if the numbers aren't exactly accurate. Of course the tour script also gently directs you through the exit and into the Gift Shop, where all manner of T-shirts and Mystery House paraphernalia can be purchased.

If you feel the need to purchase a souvenir, I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of Ralph Rambo's history of Sara Winchester. I've mentioned his work several times in the course of this commentary, and though I can't be sure of its historical accuracy, he did have some connection with Mrs. WInchester. It's a small book, but it offers some insight into what the people of San Jose thought about the house and its owner.

The highlight of this room is always the brief question and answer time at the end of each tour. In honor of that, I'd like to close this commentary with a list of frequently asked questions (and their answers, of course).

At what point was it named the Winchester Mystery House?

The house opened to the public in February of 1923, just five months after Mrs. Winchester's death, and it's possible the owners began referring to it as "The Winchester Mystery House" immediately. Harry Houdini toured the mansion in 1924, and the newspaper account of his visit (on display in the rifle museum at the estate) uses the Mystery House name.

If the house opened right after Sarah's death, was her remaining family approving of using the house as a tourist attraction?

I'm not aware of any public statements by Mrs. Winchester's family. Both her sister and her niece were living in the San Jose area when the mansion opened for tours, but I think they probably chose to ignore what was happening. The stories about Mrs. Winchester were not new, and they may have believed that trying to refute them would only draw attention.

I read that it was sold at auction but were there any stipulations in Sarah's will about its use after sale at probate auction? Was it purchased inexpensively? Did all the proceeds go to the niece?

Mrs. Winchester made no stipulations about the future use of the mansion. In fact, her will doesn't mention the mansion at all. Appraisers valued the house as worthless, probably due to the unrepaired earthquake damage and the impractical nature of its design, and the house was sold at auction to a local investor. The proceeds were divided among several of her heirs. The house sold so cheaply ($135,000), that the divided proceeds were significantly less than the other sums Mrs. Winchester left to her main heirs.

Where did the 'story' of the house come from?

First, I think it's important to separate the story of the house from the story of Mrs. Winchester. The story of Mrs. Winchester, that her husband and daughter died tragically, and that a psychic told her to build a house for the spirits of everyone killed by the Winchester Rifle, grew out of rumor and speculation. There may have been some truth to any portion of it, but its never clear where the truth ends and gossip begins.

The story of the house itself seems much more invented to me. Having walked through the mansion more than six hundred times, I find the idea that Mrs. Winchester purposefully built it in a confusing manner unconvincing. There are a handful of oddities (a door that opens to a wall, stairs to a ceiling, etc.), but most of these can be explained in mundane ways. For example, the stairs to the ceiling were covered over when the second floor of the barn they were in was connected to the second floor of the mansion. Mrs. Winchester would not have been able to use the stairs at this point anyway because of her arthritis, so they were simply abandoned. In my opinion, the idea that she built the house to confound the spirits is more of a marketing scheme than a historical fact.