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or nearly 100 years the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California, has stood as a testament to the ingenuity, singular vision and lore that surrounds its namesake, Sarah Pardee Winchester (heiress to the Winchester Repeating Arms fortune). Originally known as Llanada Villa, today it stands as an architectural wonder, a time capsule of a bygone era and one of America’s most alleged haunted mansions. Sarah Winchester was a true woman of independence, drive, and courage who lives on in legend as a grieving widow who continuously built onto her initially small, two-story farmhouse to appease the spirits of those killed by the guns Byways 44
manufactured by her husband’s firearms company. The mansion is renowned for its many design curiosities, innovations (many ahead of their time) and rumored paranormal activity. From 1884 to 1922 construction seemingly never ceased as the original eight-room farmhouse grew into the world’s most unusual and sprawling mansion, featuring: • 24,000 square feet • 10,000 windows • 2,000 doors • 160 rooms • 52 skylights • 47 stairways & fireplaces • 17 chimneys
