The Winchester house in San Jose, California, is a true architectural oddity.  The house was constructed by Sarah Winchester, heir to the Winchester gun fortune, who never recovered from the deaths of her infant daughter and husband.

She believed her family and fortune were doomed by the spirits of people who were killed by Winchester rifles and that she had to build a great house for the spirits in order for her to not be next in line for death.  It was her belief that as long as the construction on the house never stopped, she would remain alive; thus this unique and strange house was constructed beginning in 1884 and construction never ceased over the next 38 years.

The result of years of construction was a sprawling estate.  The exterior of the house is reminiscent of Queen Anne Victorian architecture and has turrets, towers, cupolas, and balconies that contained exquisite hand crafted details.  The mansion itself consisted of 160 rooms, 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, 47 stairways, 47 fireplaces, 13 bathrooms, and 6 kitchens. 

The interior architecture of the house is also eccentric with many strange features.  The “Switchback Staircase” is seven flights and forty four steps, which doesn’t sound that odd, but each riser is only two inches high.  The interior hallways twist and turn and have secret hidden passageways supposedly to confuse ghosts that might be following her.  Other oddities include stairs that stop at the ceiling and doors that open into nowhere.  Columns are also installed upside down and entire rooms are completely sealed off.  Today visitors are encouraged not to wonder from their guides or they might get lost.

Sarah Winchester designed every detail of the house.  She rarely drew up a set of plans and relied heavily on describing her latest ideas to her construction foreman.  Her construction foreman was named John Hansen and would build a room one week and the next, tear it down and remodel it.  Some people estimate that had new rooms been built instead of constantly re-modeling existing ones, the house would have 500-600 rooms.

There have been many stories over the years, but no one will ever really know what possessed Sarah to build this house.  Was she really just a crazy lady with too much money?  Or was she really haunted by the spirits of the Winchester Legacy? Today the home is open for tours and is in the process of being restored.  Millions of dollars have been spent and countless hours of work to ensure that this architectural wonder is preserved.      

Photos courtesy of www.relache.hubpages.com and www.gorestruly.com