During the holidays, I took Caroline to the Winchester Mystery House. We arrived late in the afternoon so half of the tour was conducted in the dark. We decided to do the regular tour of the house plus the behind the scenes tour, which included a trip into the basement. (cue scary music)
I was pretty bummed to learn that we couldn't take pictures anywhere inside of the house. So, I was limited to exterior shots. By the time we got outside though, it was dark AND cold. So the pictures I took are grainy and shaky (from my shivering), but I have to share them because this house is amazing.
For those of you who live under a rock, here's a little background on the Winchester House and it's eccentric owner. Sarah Winchester was a very superstitious woman. She was obsessed with the spirit world. One day a Boston psychic warned her that the spirits of all the men killed by the Winchester rifle would come back to haunt her, and that the deaths of her husband and child were a way of exacting their revenge.
Upon the advice of said psychic, she bought a farmhouse in San Jose and spent the next 38 years building onto it. She had been told that constant construction on her house would confuse the spirits, keeping her safe. On the day that Sarah died, construction finally stopped. But that's not the weird part.
Mrs. Winchester had designed the house in such a way that behind some doors are brick walls, one opens to a two-story drop, stairs lead to the ceiling, all of the pillars are upside down, etc.
The basement was the creepiest part by far...not only because they made us wear hard hats, but it's easy to imagine ghosts creeping along down there.
Caroline really enjoyed the tour. Hopefully I'll be able to take her back for the flashlight tours next time. Same tour, only they turn all the lights off and you have to navigate by flashlight. The best time for this is Halloween, but Friday the 13th works just as well. =)
I have a very strict rule about haunted houses. I don't go inside them. Mom believed in all that stuff. She even claims to have seen Dad in the bedroom shortly after he passed away. I told her not to try any of that weird stuff from the afterlife (unless it was to give me the winning lottery numbers). I did have a very plain vision of red roses shortly after she died. They disintegrated as I stared at them. I don't know if that was something Mom did but it shook me up. Probably I was dreaming. I still don't believe in the supernatural.
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