WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE, SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, USA

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Our story begins in September 1839 with the birth of a baby girl to Leonard and Sarah Pardee of New HavenConnecticut. The baby's name was also Sarah and as she reached maturity she became the belle of the city. She was well-received at all social events, thanks to her musical skills, her smoothness in various foreign languages and her sparkling charm. Her splendor was also well-known by the young men about town, despite her miniature size. Her lack of size, she was only four feet and ten inches tall, made up for her persona and allure. On 30 September 1862, at the height of the Civil War Sarah Pardee married William Wirt Winchester in an elaborate ceremony in New Haven an on 15 July 1866, Sarah gave birth to a daughter called Annie Pardee Winchester. Just a short time later, Sarah's daughter contracted an illness knows as "marasmus," a children's disease in which the body wastes away. The infant died on 24 July, and Sarah was so traumatized by this event that she withdrew into herself and wavered on the edge of psychosis for some time.

Almost a decade later another disaster struck and William, now heir to the Winchester empire contracted pulmonary tuberculosis. On 7 March 1881, he died and as a result of his death Sarah inherited over $20 million dollars, an incredible amount in those times. She also received and income of $ 1000 per day.

Following the advise of a spiritual medium, and believing that she was under the influence of a terrible curse, caused by the people who died from a weapon created by the company owned by her late husband, she moved to the Santa Clara Valley in 1884 where she found a six room home under construction which belonged to a Dr. Caldwell. She bought the home on the 162 acre land. She then began rebuilding, altering, changing, construction and demolishing one section of the house after the other for the next 39 years. 22 carpenters worked for her 24 hours a day. Eventually the place grew to a height of seven storeys, with three elevators, 47 fireplaces. There were countless staircases that led to nowhere, a blind chimney, closets that opened to blank walls, trap doors, double back hallways, and more other oddities. Together with that everything that contained a certain amount of something contained it in 13s. Thirteen steps on a staircase, thirteen window panels, thirteen door frames. The number thirteen had a noteworthy role to play in the construction of the house. This was a way for Sarah to control the spirits that came to the house for evil purposes. The whole house was built in a jumble to puzzle the spirits.

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