Before consciousness can come, a certain degree of activity in the movement must be reached. This requisite degree is called the “threshold;” but the height of the threshold varies under different circumstances: it may rise of fall. As Sarah L. Winchester was working on her sprawling complex, sighting of an old man, dressed in a raincoat and hat, were frequent enough, to scare Mrs. Winchester and several of the construction workers. Although the phantom was usually benign, choosing to spend most of his eternity simply patrolling the ground of the house, occasionally people witnessed the ghostly temper. The spirit explained, though a Ouija board, that the previous owner of the farmhouse had murdered him. It soon became apparent to Mrs. Winchester that the spirit was both angry and aggressive. He threw things, set fires, and even wrapped the cord from an electrical appliance around a visitor’s neck. Mrs. Winchester moved to her houseboat for almost a year, but it was not long before the spirit found her there and began to draw attention to himself by banging on the exterior walls. When the invisible entity hurled a fisherman to Mrs. Winchester’s house boat, the confused and frightened woman moved back to her mansion.  Mrs. Winchester initiated into a coven which operated secretly. It was an old-established coven by all accounts and among the more renowed—but secret—rituals the coven performed was their attempt to help Mrs. Winchester stop evil spirits from taking her life, too. They claimed responsibility for helping Mrs. Winchester’s husband, William Wirt Winchester create “The Gun that Won the West.” #RandolphHarris 1 of 9

The coven consisted of 12 witches and the devil was the leader. Each member of the coven specialized in a particular branch of magic, such as bewitching agricultural produce, producing sickness or death in humans, storm raising, and seduction. The New Forest coven told Mrs. Sarah L. Winchester that her family and fortune were being haunted by spirits, and the group was deadly serious about their secret rituals to keep the demons and evil spirits at bay and decided beforehand that they could leave nothing to chance. However, to be 100 percent effective, no only would Mrs. Winchester have to build an estate as a monument to the spirits, but there would also have to be a human sacrifice. It is aid that the oldest and frailest member of the coven volunteered to die during the ritual, set for what proved to be the coldest May night in many years. All but the frail old man had covered their bodies with an ointment, which was in reality a heavy grease used among other things to keep the body warm. Having formed their magic circle in the depths of the forest, the group, who were unveiled, made a line and held hands and then danced furiously around a small bonfire, chanting the incantation banishing the demons and evil spirits from Mrs. Winchester. They performed the rite with such vigour that one or two of them fainted, a not uncommon experience when a serious amount of power and energy is aroused by performance of ritual. The old volunteer duly collapsed and died, and it is not known whether it was from an overdose of mushrooms, over-exhaustion or the cold. #RandolphHarris 2 of 9

The great sacrifice had been made and the potency of their magic could only have been enchanted when two other members of the coven died from pneumonia in the following two weeks, and two others passed to the waiting room for reincarnations not long afterwards. The angry spirit’s energy seemed to be dissipating. He was no longer destructive, but limited his ghostly activity to creating balls of ghost light—also knowns as ignes fatui—that would harmlessly bounce round the mansion. The very existence of the Winchester Mansion and Mrs. Winchester was so dark and mysterious that many doubted it was real. People heard that she manufactured gold through alchemy, and aimed toward the moral renewal and perfection of mankind. It is said that Mrs. Winchester eventually became incorporated into Freemasonary. Excited by the ritual and the coven, Mrs. Winchester became an ardent student of witchcraft. Because her own coven was made up entirely of elderly people who merely possessed partial knowledge of the old religion and the ritual, Mrs. Winchester began a comprehensive study of recent books. She believed there was an urgent task ahead of her, especially when seven coven members died after conducting their rite against the spirits killed by the Winchester Rifle, and seemed to believe that it was up to her to save witchcraft from extinction. #RandolphHarris 3 of 9

Two nights before the 1906 Earthquake, the phantom attacks began late one evening in Mrs. Winchester’s bedroom when she was thrown and molested by an unseen force. Her screams of terror brought her niece Daisy running into the room. For a second Daisy stared in disbelief as she plainly saw her aunt was being assaulted. What Daisy could not see who by who or what. Thinking that Mrs. Winchester had suffered a terrible nightmare, Daisy tied to calm her horrified aunt. Mrs. Winchester had her niece search the house search the house thoroughly, it took nearly 24 hours to comb through the catacombs of the mansion, but no signs of a break-in were discovered. One hour before the 1906 earthquake, all was quiet in the grand mansion. The stars hung low over the distant dark horizon, and there was a mere stroke between the Earth and Heaven. The soft wind swept though the rooms of the house, beneath the high ceilings, bring a tropical freshness to every nook and cranny, though the big mansion was cold. Mrs. Winchester did not care. Because of her mansion’s immense size, it contacted forty-seven fireplaces and seventeen chimneys. One rambling section in particular, the Hall of Fires, was designed to produce as much heat as possible. She was bundled in a long Shetland wool turtleneck, and legs snug in wool stockings, and she enjoyed the chill of the breeze as much as the fierce and specific heat coming from her busy fireplaces. The cold, the smell of the water, the smell of the fire—all of it was Lalanada Villa in the winter, Mrs. Winchester’s hideaway, her refuge, her safe place to be. #RandolphHarris 4 of 9

As she lay on the couch opposite the hearth, staring and the intricately carved mahogany wood ceilings, watching the play of light on it, and wondering in a passive uncurious sort of what, what it was about Daisy that made her so happy—and why she had been such a perfect escape from the perpetual gloom of her life. Mrs. Winchester decided to retire to her favorite bedroom, “The Daisy Bedroom.” Sadly, as she laid her head down on the pillow, vicious attacks by a paranormal intruder started up—and Daisy rushed to respond to her aunt’s cries for help. The early morning, the entity’s strength was especially powerful, its forced picked up Daisy and hurled her out of the room, slamming the door shut and living Mrs. Winchester alone. Daisy landed on the floor, and broke her back on impact. As for Mrs. Winchester, “The morning was the most terrible disaster that ever befell my house. For me to describe the scenes and events of the past few days would be an impossibility at present, and no doubt you would have had more news regarding the fate of my estate than I myself know. All that I can say is that at this writing is, that about 5.13 a.m., Wednesday morning, my niece was flung for my room as the door slammed, I was thrown out of bed an in a twinkling of an eye, the nine-story observation tower of my house was dashed on top of my house, locking me in my bedroom and destroying most of the fourth floor of my home. As I was tossed to and fro on the floor amid flying glass and timber and plaster, I begged for my life. #RandolphHarris #RandolphHarris 5 of 9

When the dust cleared away, I was an able to open my door, and banged and banged on the door, desperately calling for help. I saw nothing but a ruin of house, and home that it had taken nearly two decades to build. I saw the fires in the sky arising in great clouds and it was no time to mour my loss so getting into what clothing I could find. As I waded through plaster, to I all my precious goods still on the shelves with no damage being done to them, but I wondered how my most precious gift, my niece Daisy was. I still could her crockery and glassware falling as the house shook more and more. The piano in the next room crashed into the wall like a freight train. I was more nervous than excited. As the mourning of the third day came, I could barely speak, I was too weak to walk, and so thirsty that I thought I would parish, but that is when my men busted down the door and rushed me to safety. This home was really part of me and made me think of what was ahead of us. Only an independent force could be responsible for this tragedy.” Through all of this, Mrs. Winchester was badly shaken. Mrs. Winchester felt the Earthquake was a warning from the spirits that she had spent too much money on the front section of the house, which was nearing completion. After having the structural damage repaired, she immediately ordered the front thirty rooms—including the Daisy Bedroom, Grand Ballroom, and the beautiful front door—sealed up. The heavy, ornate doors, which had been installed just prior to the earthquake, had only been used by three people—Mrs. Winchester and the two carpenters who installed them. #RandolphHarris 6 of 9

Through all this, the attacks continued and word of the bizarre hauntings leaked to the press. Not only were the spectral attacks continuing, but now the being was leaving scrapes and bruises all over Mrs. Winchester’s body. The woman’s pride had been totally obliterated by fear. Clocks, vases and mirrors were thrown about by angry, invisible hands. Cold breezes blew through the house and a nauseating odor permeated the rooms. Mrs. Winchester’s agony went on for months, and years. The entities gained strength and began to materialize with physical forms. The terror had reached its climax. And what a dreadful thing they had all done to Mrs. Winchester. Did not anyone care what the woman felt? All many of the people in the town did was gossip and tell her, “You have lots of blood on your hands.” As for the idea that Daisy was in real danger, that Daisy had been forced somehow to leave, that something might have happened to her—that was almost too terrible a thought for Mrs. Winchester to bear. Yet Mrs. Winchester was pretty sure something had happened to Daisy. Something really bad. She could feel it. Mrs. Winchester said she could see ghosts, and did not think anyone should bank on Daisy coming back. Mrs. Winchester had so many regrets. Sometimes it seemed to her that her entire life was a great sighing regret. Beneath the lovely surface of her Grand Queen Anne Victorian Mansion, her gorgeous new born daughter was gone, her favorite niece was missing, all her charming nephew did was stop by to pick up a check and was never seen again, and her handsome husband, God rest his soul, also died prematurely. Her own southern style, was nothing but regret, as if her life had been built atop a great and secret dungeon. #RandolphHarris 7 of 9

Where was her emerald ring Mr. Winchester had left her? The evil in the house lived in every brick, piece of wood, and every bit or mortar; twelve witches and a devil; and to think, all their old possession were up in the attic. The evil lived in those things; it lived in the plaster ceilings, and under the porches and eaves, like bees’ nest hidden in the capitals of the Corinthian columns. Mrs. Winchester began to write out in longhand a compilation of ritual and ceremony, a sort of grimoire or magician’s handbook the type compiled by occultists and alchemists of old. She called hers The Book of Shadows and claimed it contained the handed-down version of her own coven’s centuries-old theory and practice of witchcraft. By tradition in witchcraft and the occult, practitioners of both were expected to write in their own hand a diary of their workings and rituals; printed various were said to cause the loss of power. It was this work that was to form the basis of the re-creation of modern witchcraft, and it is used in covens the World over as what amounts to the new witches’ gospel. Mrs. Winchester was also told by a medium that not only was she supposed to keep building her mansion to achieve eternal life, but that she must also keep writing her book and never let it out of her hand, for if it was found in the hands of another, they would be taken and tortured, and there would be no hope for her life if she betrayed the occult. However, if she were steadfast to her death, she would experience the ecstasy of the Goddess. #RandolphHarris 8 of 9

Mrs. Winchester gave witchcraft a new lease on life by revealing the inner secrets of the craft and leaving clues built-in to her mansion. She made a beautiful image out of witchcraft. It was her ambition to banish the fear of witchcraft in society and make it more publicly acceptable. Consciousness cannot expand until it is first made whole and this is to oppose creation of all its limitations. I conjure thee, Spirits of Sarah L. Winchester and William W. Winchester, by Alpha et Omega, Lezo and Yschirios, Ohin Ission, Niva, by Tetragramation, Zeno, by Peraclitus, Ohel, by Orlenius, Lima, by Agla, that ye will obey and appear before me and fulfill my desire, thus in and through the name Elion, which Moses named. Wherefore thou shalt make faithful answers unto all my demands, O Spirits of Sarah and William Winchester, and shalt perform all my desires so far as in thine office thou art capable hereof. Wherefore, come thou, visibly, peaceably, and affably, now without delay, to manifest that which I desire, speaking with a clear and perfect voice, intelligibly, and to mine understanding. I do conjure thee, O thou Spirits of Mrs. and Mr. Winchester, by all the most glorious and efficacious names of the MOST GREAT AND INCOMPREHENSIBLE LORD OF GOD OF HOSTS, that thou comest quickly and without delay from all parts and places of the Earth and World wherever thou mayest be, to make rational answers unto my demands, and that visibly and affably, speaking with a voice intelligible unto mine as aforesaid. I now plant the seed of my desire withing the black earth, through the mouth of Arezura where the powers of sorcery and counter creation dwell. Through this gateway of darkness, I now shine the light and power of my will upon this World for the benefit of me and mine! #RandolphHarris 9 of 9

Winchester Mystery House

Happy Early Turkey Day! 🦃

The Winchester Mystery House will be closed on Thursday, Nov. 24 in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday and will reopen on Friday, Nov. 25! https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/