Long ago, in ancient California, there lived a very clever man named William Wirt Winchester, son of Oliver Fisher Winchester, Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut and famous manufacturer of the Winchester repeating rifle, had a most ambitious project, the Winchester mansion. Here, before the city of San Jose was even established, William Wirt Winchester moved to California began to have an architect build him a palace that would have outdone anything in the United States, at the time. The overall appearance was enchanting, indeed, as every castle should be. It was to have colonnades and cupolas, high enough for the king to see his warships riding at the San Francisco Bay, from the Winchester seven story Cathedral, lined on each side with noblemen’s houses. William planned a magnificent mansion that even had running water in the bathrooms. He was very proud of his skill.

William built a huge labyrinth, which had many false turns and dead-ends that no one who entered it could ever find a way out.  The mansion had a Gothic appearance by romantic additions of curious windows, corbels, and crenellations. When the labyrinth was finished, the angry Minotaur was sealed inside it. When the Minotaur was hungry, his roar shook the palace causing the 1906 earthquake, which was a magnitude 8.3 on the Richter scale. It was an extravagant maze of Victorian craftsmanship—marvelous, baffling, beautiful, and eccentric, to say the least. There was a switch back staircase, which has seven flight of stairs with 44 steps, rising only nine feet, miles of twisting hallways with secrete passage ways in the walls, supposedly it was to confuse the ghost or the Minotaur that might be following him. It is estimated that 500 to 600 rooms were built.

There are stairs that lead to the ceiling, doors that go nowhere and that open onto walls, and chimneys that stop just short of the roof. There are 47 fireplaces built of rosewood, cherry, mahogany, Italian marble, oak, teak, and pipestone; all hand carved and no two alike; 10,000 windows, 2 grand ball rooms, and the main staircase has 13 steps. There are different heating systems and three elevators, one hydraulic and two electric. Some of the 13 bathrooms lacked privacy, they have clear glass doors! One rambling room has 4 fireplaces, and hot air registers. A second story door opens into the great outdoors and a 20 foot step. A linen closet has the area of a 3 room apartment; a nearby cupboard is less than one inch deep. There is a skylight places in the middle of a room, in the floor! Another floor is apparently a series of trap doors. Exterior faucets project unexpectedly from under second story windows.

There is a door only 4 feet tall, the next gives clearance for an 8 foot giant. Many stairway turn posts are upside down. Entire walls are built entirely of half inch, half round strips. Everywhere prevails that strange deference to the number 13; 13 stair steps, 13 hangers in a closet, 13 wall panels, 13 lights in the chandeliers, 13 windows to a room, an Italian porcelain sink that has 13 drain holes. There is also a 7—11 staircase built in the shape of a letter “Y”, enabling servants to quickly get to three different levels of the house. There is a blue séance room and a set of $30,000.00 solid golf dinner service. Talk begat rumor and as the years passed and new towers and gables rose behind the six—foot hedge of Llanda Villa, the rumors grew to establish legend. Some started to say that the Winchester mansion was a rendezvous for legions of ghosts, with special attention accorded those created by a Winchester rifle slug.

At night, passers—by heard ghostly music wafting from the dark mansion, and a pack of ferocious hellhounds and a staff of armed bodyguards surrounded the mansion. William was satisfied. William wanted to leave the mansion after it was completed. He told his father Oliver Winchester that he wanted to leave the mansion. “Great King, with your permission, I shall take my leave. My work is done, and I wish to return to Athens with my son,” said William Winchester. “You will do no such thing. You know the secret of the labyrinth. How do I know you will not tell somebody how to find the way through the twisting passageways?”

“I pledge to you that I will do no such thing!” protested William. However, King Oliver Winchester had William Winchester and his son seized, they were locked in a tall tower, at the very edge of the palace grounds. They were kept under close guard in the tower. “Father, are we going to be locked in this tower forever?” Asked William’s son, Randolph. “I am a great inventor, Randolph,” replied William. “This is a difficult problem, but I shall think of a solution. However, while Sarah Winchester (William’s wife), was pregnant with her daughter Anne, lightning struck the tower, and it burned to the ground, killing William and his son.

Shortly after Sarah gave birth, her daughter Anne died also. Sarah Kept building on the mansion, until her death 5 September 1922, the mansion was incomplete, though it had been underconstruction for 38 years. Today, it is open to visitors. However, they are told to keep close to the tour guides so they do not get lost. Some of the mansion was split up and turned into houses for masons, there used to be 160 acres of land, but only 4 remain, and the mansion is now 160 rooms, and the seven story tower was dismantled.