Another rainy Saturday in Sonoma and neither of us wanted to hang around Kris' apartment for 12-15 hours so we decided to drive 90 miles to visit the Winchester Mystery Mansion in San Jose. We signed up for the guided tour and spent the next 1.5 hours in 110 of the mansion's 160 rooms, 24 of which are restored with Victorian era furniture (not Sarah Winchester's but furniture from that period). Bizarre features in the home included doors and window opening onto blank walls, a staircase from the floor to the ceiling, a door opening outward to an 8-foot drop and amazingly beautiful stained glass windows. No one knows why this childless widow did some of the things she did with the incredible amount of money she had from the sale of Winchester rifles or why she kept carpenters busy 24 hours a day for 38 years, but for those reasons the house is interestingly quirky!!!
The emotionally troubled 4'6" woman, who suffered from grief, depression and rheumatoid arthritis for most of her life, is said to have spent millions of dollars continually building the house which would eventually cover six acres of her estate ... and which, was seriously damaged in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. After her death, the house was deemed "valueless" but eventually sold at auction to the only bidder - a California real estate mogul - for just $138,000.
Seems the laugh is on all those who never imagined it would become a popular tourist attraction in downtown San Jose where tickets sell for $32 - $44 each.
It was a nice way to spend a rainy Saturday.
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