Randolph Harris II International Institute

The great secret, known to internists and learned early in marriage by internists’ wives, but still hidden from the general public, is that most things get better by themselves. Most things, in fact, are better by morning. With the way in which a modern humans with a Christian education and background comes to terms with the divine darkness which is unveiled in the Book of Job (in the Christian Bible), and what effect it has on one…I hope to act as a voice for many who feel the same way as I do, and to give expression to the shattering emotion which the unvarnished spectacle of divine savagery and ruthlessness produces in us. The Book of Job places this pious and faithful man, so heavily afflicted by the Lord, on a brightly lit stage where he presents his case to the eyes and ears of the World. It is amazing to see ow easily Yahweh, quite without reason, had let himself be influenced by one of his sons, by a doubting thought (Satan is presumably one of God’s eyes which “go to and fro in the Earth and walk up and down in it,” reports Job 1.7). In Persian tradition, Ahriman who is the evil spirit in Early Iranian religion is the Lord of Darkness and Chaos, and the source of human confusion, disappointment and strife. He is believed to have proceeded from one of Ormuzd’s, the chief god of the ancient Persians, the creator and lord of the whole Universe, doubting thoughts. Satan or Ahriman is supposedly the being who made unsure of Job’s faithfulness. #RandolphHarris 1 of 20

With his touchiness and suspiciousness the mere possibility of doubt was enough to infuriate God and induce that peculiar double-faced behaviour of which he had already given proof in the Garden of Eden, when he pointed out the tree to the First Parents and at the same time forbade them to eat of it. In this way he precipitated the Fall, which he apparently never intended. Similarly, his faithful servant Job is now to be exposed to a rigorous moral test, quite gratuitously and to no purpose, although Yahweh is convinced of Job’s faithfulness and constancy, and could moreover have assured himself beyond all doubt on this point he had taken counsel with his own omniscience. Why, then, is the experiment made at all, and a bet with the unscrupulous slanderer settled, without a stake, on the back of a powerless creature? It is indeed no deifying spectacle to see how quickly Yahweh abandons his faithful servant to the evil spirit and lets him (Job) fall without compunction or pity into the abyss of physical and moral suffering. From the human point of view Yahweh’s behaviour is so revolting that one has to ask oneself whether there is not a deeper motive hidden behind it. Has Yahweh some secret resistance against Job? That would explain his yielding to Satan. However, what does man possess that God does not have? Because of littleness, puniness, and defencelessness against the Almighty, man possess, as we have already suggested, a somewhat keener consciousness based on self-reflection: he must, in order to survive, always be mindful of his impotence. #RandolphHarris 2 of 20

God has no need of this circumspection, for nowhere does he come up against an insuperable obstacle that would force him to hesitate and hence make him reflect on himself. Could a suspicious have grown up in God that man possess an infinitely small yet more concentrated light than he, Yahweh, possesses? “You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,” reports Exodus 20.5. A jealousy of that kind might perhaps explain God’s behaviour. It would be quite explicable if some such dim barely understood deviation from the definition of a mere “creature” had aroused his divine suspicious. Too often already these human beings had not behaved in the prescribed manner. Even his trusty servant Job might have something up his sleeve….Hence Yahweh’s surprising readiness to listen to Satan’s insinuations against his better judgment. Without further ado Job is robbed of his herds, his servants are slaughtered, his sons and daughters are killed by a whirlwind, and he himself is smitten with sickness and brought to the brink of the grave. To rob him of peace altogether, his wife and his old friends are let loose against him, all of whom say the wrong things. His justified complaint finds no hearing with the judge who is so much praised for his justice. Job’s right is refused in order that Satan be not disturbed in his play. #RandolphHarris 3 of 20

One must bear in mind here the dark deeds that follow one another in quick succession: robbery, murder, bodily injury with premeditation, and denial of a fair trial. This is further exacerbated by the fact that Yahweh displays no compunction, remorse, or compassion, but only ruthlessness and brutality. The plea of unconsciousness is invalid, seeing that he flagrantly violates at least thee of the commandments he himself gave out on Mount Sinai. Job’s friends do everything in their power to contribute to his moral torments, and instead of giving him, whom God has perfidiously abandoned, their warm-hearted support, they moralize in an all too human manner, that is, in the stupidest fashion imaginable, and “fill him with wrinkles.” They thus deny him even the last comfort of sympathetic participation and human understanding, so that one cannot altogether suppress the suspicion of connivance in high places. Why Job’s torments and the divine wager should suddenly come to an end is not quite clear. So long as Job does not actually die, the pointless suffering could be continued indefinitely. We must, however, keep an eye on the background of all these events: it is just possible that something in this background will gradually begin to take shape as a compensation for Job’s undeserved suffering—something to which Yahweh, even if he had only a faint inkling of it, could hardly remain indifferent. Without Yahweh’s knowledge and contrary to his intentions, the tormented though guiltless Job had secretly been lifted up to a superior knowledge of God which God himself did not possess. #RandolphHarris 4 of 20

Had Yahweh consulted his omniscience, Job would not have had the advantage of him. However, then, so many other things would not have happened either. Job realizes God’s inner antinomy, and in the light of this realization his knowledge attains a divine numinosity. The possibility of this development lies, one must suppose, in man’s “godlikeness,” which one should certainly not look for in human morphology. Yahweh himself had guarded against this error by expressly forbidding the making of images. Job, by his insistence on brining his case before God, even without hope of a hearing, had stood his ground and thus created the very obstacle that forced God to reveal his true nature. With this dramatic climax Yahweh abruptly breaks off his cruel game of cat and mouse. However, if anyone should expect that his wrath will now be turned against the slanderer, one will be severely disappointed. Yahweh does not think of brining this mischief-making son of his to account, nor does it ever occur to him to give Job at least the moral satisfaction of explaining his behaviour. Instead, one come riding along on the tempest of his almightiness and thunders reproaches at the half-crushed human work: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without insight?” reports Job 38.2. In view of the subsequent words of Yahweh, one must really ask oneself: Who is darkening what counsel? #RandolphHarris 5 of 20

The only dark thing here is how Yahweh ever came to make a bet with Satan. It is certainly not Job who has darkened anything and least of all a counsel, for there was never any talk of this nor will there be in what follows. The bet does not contain any “counsel” so far as one can see—unless of course, it was Yahweh himself who egged Satan on for the ultimate purpose of exalting Job. Naturally this development was foreseen in omniscience, and it may be that the word “counsel” refers to this eternal and absolute knowledge. If so, Yahweh’s attitude seems the more illogical and incomprehensible, as he could then have enlightened Job on this point—which, in view of the wrong done to him, would have been only fair and equitable. I must therefore regard this possibility as improbable. Whose words are without insight? Presumably Yahweh is not referring to the words of Job’s friends, but is rebuking Job. However, what is Job’s guilt? The only think he can be blamed for is his incurable optimism in believing that he can appeal to divine justice. In this he is mistaken, as Yahweh’s subsequent words prove. God does not want to be just; he merely flaunts might over right. Job could not get that into his head, because he looked upon God as a moral being. He had never doubted God’s might, but had hoped for right as well. He had, however, when we recognized God’s contradictory nature, take back this error already, and by doing so Job assigned a place to God’s justice and goodness. So one can hardly speak of lack of insight. #RandolphHarris 6 of 20

The answer to Yahweh’s conundrum is therefore: it is Yahweh himself who darkens his own counsel and who has no insight. He turns the tables on Job and blames him for what he himself does: man is not permitted to have an opinion about him, and, in particular, is to have no insight which he himself does not possess. For seventy-one versus God proclaims his World-creating power to his miserable victim, who sits in ashes and scratches his sores with potsherds, and who by now has had more than enough of superhuman violence. Job has absolutely no need of being impressed by further exhibitions of God’s power. Yahweh, in his omniscience, could have known just how incongruous his attempts at intimidation were in such a situation. He could easily have seen that Job believes in his omnipotence as much as ever and has never doubted it or wavered in his loyalty. Altogether, he pays so little attention to Job’s real situation that one suspects him of having an ulterior motive which is more important to him: Job is no more than the outward occasion for an inward process of dialectic in God. His thunderings at Job so completely miss the point that one cannot help but see how much he is occupied with himself. The tremendous emphasis he lays on his omnipotence and greatness makes no sense in relation to Job, who certainly needs no more convincing, but only becomes intelligible when aimed at a listener who doubts it. #RandolphHarris 7 of 20

This “doubting thought” is Satan, who after completing his evil handiwork has returned to the paternal heart in order to continue his subversive activity there. Yahweh must have seen that Job’s loyalty was unshakable and that Satan had lost his bet. He must also have realized that, in accepting this bet, he had done everything possible to drive his faithful servant to disloyalty, even to the extent of perpetrating a whole series of crimes. Yet it is not remorse and certainly not moral horror that rises to his consciousness, but an obscure intimation of something that questions his omnipotence. He is particularly sensitive on this point, because “might” is the great argument. However, omniscience knows that might excuses nothing. The said intimation refers, of course, to the extremely uncomfortable fact that Yahweh had let himself be bamboozled by Satan. This weakness of his does not reach full consciousness, since Satan is treated with remarkable tolerance and consideration. Evidently Satan’s intrigue is deliberately overlooked at Job’s expense. Luckily enough, Job had noticed during this harangue that everything else had been mentioned except his right. He has understood that it is at present impossible to argue the question of right, as it is only too obvious that Yahweh has no interest whatever in Job’s cause but is far more preoccupied with his own affairs. Satan, that is to say, has somehow to disappear, and this can best be done by casting suspicion on Job as a man of subversive opinions. #RandolphHarris 8 of 20

The problem is thus switched on to another track, and the episode with Satan remains unmentioned and unconscious. To the spectator it is not quite clear why Job is treated to this almighty exhibition of thunder and lightning, but the performance as such is sufficiently magnificent and impressive to convince not only a larger audience but above all Yahweh himself of his unassailable power. Whether Job realized what violence Yahweh is doing to his own omniscience by behaving like this we do not know, but his silence and submission leave a number of possibilities open. Job has no alternative but formally to revoke his demand for justice, and he therefore answers in the words quoted at the beginning: “I lay my hand on my mouth.” He betrays not the slightest trace of mental reservation—in fact, his answer leaves us in no doubt that he had succumbed completely and without question to the tremendous force of the divine demonstration. The most exacting tyrant should have been satisfied with this, and could be quite sure that his servant—from terror alone, to say nothing of his undoubted loyalty—would not dare to nourish a single improper thought for a very long time to come. Strangely enough, Yahweh does not notice anything of this kind. He does not see Job and his situation at all. It is rather as if he had another powerful opponent in the place of Job, one who was better worth challenging. #RandolphHarris 9 of 20

This example of displaced projection is clear from his twice-repeated taunt: “Gird up your loins like a man; I will question you, and you shall declare to me,” reports Job 38.3 and 40.7. One would have to choose positively grotesque examples to illustrate the disproportion between the two antagonists. Yahweh sees something in Jon which we would not ascribe to him but to God, that is, an equal power which causes him to bring out his whole power apparatus and parade it before his opponent. Yahweh projects on to Job a sceptic’s face which is hateful to him because it is his own, and which gazes at him with an uncanny and critical eye. He is afraid of it, for only in face of something frightening does one let off a cannonade of references to one’s power, cleverness, courage, invincibility, et cetera. What has all that to do with Job? It is worth the lion’s while to terrify the mouse? Yahweh cannot es satisfied with the first victorious round. Job has long since been knocked out, but the great antagonist whose phantom is projected on the pitiable sufferer still stands menacingly upright. Therefore Yahweh raises his arm again: “Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be justified? Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?” reports Job 40:8-9. Man, abandoned without protection and stripped of his rights, and whose nothingness is thrown in his face at every opportunity, evidently appears to be so dangerous to Yahweh that he must be battered down with the heaviest artillery. #RandolphHarris 10 of 20

What irritates Yahweh can be seen from his challenging to the ostensible Job: “Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked where they stand. Hide them in the dust together; bind their faces in the hidden place. Then will I also acknowledge to you that your own right hand can give you victory,” reports Job 40.12-14 (“in the hidden place” is Revised Standard Version alternative reading for “in the World below”). The most satisfying proofs will come to one that God is really guiding the course of one’s outer life and really inspiring the course of one’s inner life. There will be decisions that one does not think out logically, moves that one does not plan calculatingly. Yet the sequence of further events will prove the one to be right, the other wise. For they will have come intuitively. One may have no idea how to get out of one’s predicament. Yet suddenly one will make some unreasoned and unpremeditated act which will do this for one. One’s best moves are mostly the unplanned ones. One would be wise to do nothing drastic unless there is a clear and positive urge from the deepest part of being approving the deed. Such efforts will eventually open the way for intuition to come into outer consciousness and absorbing all lesser elements, give one the great blessing of its guidance. Job is challenged as though he himself were a god. However, in the contemporary metaphysics there was no deuteros theos, no other god except Satan, who owns Yahweh’s ear and is able to influence him. He is the only one who can pull the wool over his eyes, beguile him, and put him up to a massive violation of his own penal code. #RandolphHarris 11 of 20

A formidable opponent indeed, and, because of his close kinship, so compromising that he must be concealed with the utmost discretion—even to the point of God’s hiding him from his own consciousness in his own heart! In his stead God must set up his miserable servant as the bugbear whom he has to fight, in hope that by banishing the dreaded countenance to “the hidden place” he will be able to maintain himself in a state of unconsciousness. If we tried to reduce them to the purely negative factor of Yahweh’s fear of becoming conscious and of the relativization which it entails, the stage-managing of this imaginary duel, the speechifying, and the impressive performance given by the prehistoric menagerie would not be sufficiently explained. This conflict becomes acute for Yahweh as a result of a new factor, which is, however, not hidden from omniscience—though in this case the existing knowledge is not accompanied by any conclusion. The new factor is something that has never occurred before in the history of the World, the unheard-of fact that without knowing it or wanting it, a mortal man is raised by his moral behaviour above the stars in Heaven, from which position of advantage he can behold the back of Yahweh, the abysmal World of “shards.” (This is an allusion to an idea found in the later cabalistic philosophy.) Does Job know what he has seen? If he does, he is astute or canny enough not to betray it. However, his words speak volumes: “I know that thou canst do all thing, and that no purpose of thine can be thwarted,” reports Job 42.2. #RandolphHarris 12 of 20

Truly, Yahweh can do all things and permits himself all things without batting an eyelid. The absoluteness of the Godhead is complete and basic. It is not categorically identical with humans any more than the ray is with the Sun; they are different although not more fundamentally different than the ray from the Sun. hence there can be no direct communication and no positive relationship between them. A profound impenetrability, and existence beyond comprehension, is the first characteristic of the Godhead, when gazed at by human sight. The Godhead as he is, and God as he appears; God in the vacuous repose of Nothingness, and God in the continuous activity of a cosmos; God forever hidden in his own being and forever unknown to mortals, and God revealed in relation to humans; THAT which is not perceptible to human thinking as opposed to HE who is experienceable by intuition—these differences seem to imply an inherent contradiction. Those attractive and positive attributes which we always associate with the very name God—justice, goodness, and the like—cannot be associated with the Godhead for the reason that nobody, not the greatest of mystics, knows or ever can know the Godhead. If a human is made in the image of God, then this God is something other than the Ultimate Principle, for THAT has no likeness with anything else; it is a void, a no-thing, and so utterly beyond human perception that it is destined to remain forever unknown. Nothing on Earth is alone adequate to comprehend the Real. Neither can inner peace affirm it nor can intellect negate it. #RandolphHarris 13 of 20

Not for the finite mind is there to know knowledge of Ein Soph, the Hebrew philosopher’s idea of the Infinite, what he terms “the Most Hidden of the Hidden.” Leave God alone! Why must humans forever bleat and whimper, praise and glorify That of which they know nothing and imagine everything! Why do the not write and fight, argue and quarrel about those things which they can touch or know, see or examine? There is no discernible sign, form, or clue by which the Absolute, the Unmanifest, may be known. It is wrapped in blackness, which is why the Manifested World is symbolized by light, why its colour is white when contrasted with the other. The great Mystery remains where it always has been—untouched by human’s feelings and undefined by their thoughts. Human mentality cannot comprehend the real nature of thus mysterious substratum of all existence. Human understanding cannot assimilate that which utterly transcends it. It is not a testable truth; it must be left the mystery that it is. With brazen countenance God can project his shadow side and remain unconscious at human’s expense. He can boast of his superior power and enact laws which means less than air to him. Murder and manslaughter are mere bagatelles, and if the mood takes God, he can play the feudal grand seigneur and generously recompense his bondslave for the havoc wrought in his wheat-fields. “So you have lost your sons and daughters? No harm done, I will give you new and better ones.” #RandolphHarris 14 of 20

Job continues (no doubt with downcast eyes and in a low voice): “Who is this that hides counsel without insight?” Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. “Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you declare to me.” I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee; therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. (Job 42.3-6, modified). Shrewdly, Job takes up Yahweh’s aggressive words and prostrates himself at his feet as if he were indeed the defeated antagonist. Guileless as Job’s speech sounds, it could just as well be equivocal. He has learnt his lesson well and experienced “wonderful things” which are none too easily grasped. Before, he had known Yahweh “by the hearing of the ear,” but now he has got a taste of his reality, more so even than David—an incisive lesson that had better not be forgotten. Former he was naïve, dreaming perhaps of a “good” God, or of a benevolent ruler and just judge. He has imagined that a “covenant” was a legal matter and that anyone who was party to a contract could insist on his rights as agreed; that Gd would be faithful and true or at least just, and, as one could assume from the Ten Commandments, would have some recognition of ethical values or at least feel committed to his own legal standpoint. #RandolphHarris 15 of 20

However, to his horror, Job has discovered that Yahweh is not human but, in certain respect, less than human, that he is just what Yahweh himself says of Leviathan (the crocodile): “He beholds everything that is high: He is king over all proud beasts,” reports Job 41.25 (Zurcher Bibel); cf. 41.34 (Authorized and Revised Standard Version). Unconscious has an animal nature. Like all old gods Yahweh has his animal symbolism with its unmistakable borrowings from the much older theriomorphic gods of Egypt, especially Horus and his four sons. Of the four animals of Yahweh only one has a human face. That is probably Satan, the godfather of man as a spiritual being. Ezekiel’s vision attributes three-fourths animal nature and only one-fourth human nature to the animal deity, while the upper deity, the one above the “sapphire throne,” merely had the “likeness” of man (Ezekiel 1.26). This symbolism explains Yahweh’s behaviour, which, from the human point of view, is so intolerable: it is the behaviour of an unconscious being who cannot be judged morally. Yahweh is a phenomenon and, as Job says, “not man.” The naïve assumption that the creator of the World is a conscious being must be regarded as a disastrous prejudice which later gave rise to the most incredible dislocations of logic. For example, the nonsensical doctrine of the privatio boni would never have been necessary had one not had to assume in advance that it is impossible for the consciousness of a good God to produce evil deeds. #RandolphHarris 16 of 20

Divine unconscious and lack of reflection, on the other hand, enable us to form a conception of God which puts his actions beyond moral judgment and allows no conflict to arise between goodness and beastliness. One could, without too much difficulty, impute such a meaning to job’s speech. Be that as it may, Yahweh calmed down at last. The therapeutic measures of unresisting acceptance had proved its value yet again. Nevertheless, Yahweh is still somewhat nervous of Job’s friends—they “have not spoken of me what is right,” reports Job 42.7. The projection of his doubt-complex extends—comically enough, one must say—to these respectable and slightly pedantic old gentlemen, as though God-knows-what depended on what they thought. However, the fact that humans should think at all, and especially about him, is maddeningly disquieting and ought somehow to be stopped. It is far too much like the sort of ting his vagrant son is always springing on him, thus hitting him in his weakest spot. How often already has he bitterly regretted his unconsidered outbursts! One can hardly avoid the impression that Omniscience is gradually drawing near to a realization, and is threatened with an insight that seems to be hedged about with fears of self-destruction. Fortunately, Job’s final declaration is so formulated that one can assume with some certainty that, for the protagonists, the incident is closed for good and all. We, the commenting chorus on this great tragedy, which has never at any time lost its vitality, do not feel quite like that. #RandolphHarris 17 of 20

For our modern sensibilities it is by no means apparent that with Job’s profound obeisance to the majesty of the divine presence, and his prudent silence, a real answer has been given to the questioned raised by the Satanic prank of a wager with God. Job has not so much answered as reacted in an adjusted way. In so doing he displayed remarkable self-discipline, but an unequivocal answer has still to be given. To take the most obvious thing, what about the moral wrong Job has suffered? Is man so worthless in God’s eyes that not even a tort moral can be inflicted on him? That contradicts the fact that humans are desired by Yahweh and that it obviously maters to him whether men speak “right” of him or not. He needs Job’s loyalty, and it means so much to hum that he shrinks at nothing in carrying out his test. This attitude attaches an almost divine importance that could mean anything to one who has everything? Yahweh’s divided attitude, which on the one had tramples on human life and happiness without regard, and on the other hand must have man for a partner, puts the latter in an impossible position. At one moment Yahweh behaves as irrationally as a cataclysm; the next moment he wants to be loved, honoured, worshipped, and praised as just. If his actions happen to run counter to its statutes, he reacts irritably to every word that has the faintest suggestion of criticism, while he himself does not care a straw for his own moral code. #RandolphHarris 18 of 20

One can submit to such a God only with fear and trembling, and can try indirectly to propitiate the despot with unctuous praises and ostentatious obedience. However, a relationship of trust seems completely out of the question to our modern way of thinking. Nor can moral satisfaction be expected from an unconscious nature god of this kind. Nevertheless, Job got his satisfaction, without Yahweh’s intending it and possibly without himself knowing it, as the poet would have it appear. Yahweh’s allocutions have the unthinking yet none the less transparent purpose of showing Job the brutal power of the demiurge: “This is I, the creator of all the ungovernable, ruthless forces of Nature, which are not subject to any ethical laws. I, too, am an amoral force of Nature, a purely phenomenal personality that cannot see its own back.” This is, or at any rate could be, a moral satisfaction of the first order for Job, because through this declaration man, in spite of his impotence, is set upas a judge over God himself. We do not know whether Job realizes this, but we do know from the numerous commentaries on Job that all succeeding ages have overlooked the fact that a kind of Moira or Dike rule over Yahweh, causing him to give himself away so blatantly. Anyone can see how he unwittingly raises Job by humiliating him in the dust. By so doing he pronounced judgment on himself and gives humans the moral satisfaction whose absence we found so painful in the Book of Job. #RandolphHarris 19 of 20

The poet of this drama showed a masterly discretion in ringing down the curtain at the very moment when his hero gave unqualified recognition to the (cannot translate Greek name) of the Demiurge by prostrating himself at the feet of His Divine Majesty. No other impression was permitted to remain. An unusual scandal was blowing up in the realm of metaphysics, with supposedly devastating consequences, and nobody was ready with a saving formula which would recue the monotheistic conception of God from disaster. Even in those days the critical intellect of a Greek could easily have seized on this new addition to Yahweh’s biography and used in it his disfavour (as indeed happened, though very much later) so as to mete out to him the fate that had already overtaken the Greek gods. However, a relativization of Gd was utterly unthinkable at that time, and remained so for the next two thousand years. When the conscious reason is blind and impotent, the unconscious mind of humans sees correctly. So it does not matter that the law was established before modern humans knew anything about the brain, ancient humans obviously knew more than modern human realize. The drama has been consummated for all eternity: Yahweh’s dual nature have been revealed, and somebody or something has seen and registered this fact. Such a revelation, whether it reached man’s consciousness or nor, could not fail to have far-reaching consequences. #RandolphHarris 20 of 20

The story of any locale is assembled from people, settings, and events. As the competition for space in local history grows with the addition of time, participants whose impacts were not so durable (or perhaps so sensational) fade into the realm of the Almost Forgotten. Most of us could identify William Randolph Hearst and his castles, James Lick and his contributions, or Tiburcio Vasquez, the bandit. Many could place Sarah Winchester or James Manly. Only a few will have heard of Elisha Stevens and Mountain Charlie. Before what you see now existed, this castle by Sarah Winchester, a wealthy woman from New Haven, Connecticut, was more than a glorified two-story farm house. However, do not let the charming atmosphere fool you. Many people said the mansion appeared out of nowhere. Five hundred men were employed to work round the clock to build the mansion in one month. Men with names like “Pretty Boy,” “Bones,” “King of Chicago,” “The Butcher,” and “Baby Face” during the late 18^th century (which would mean the mansion is much older than people know). It continued to thrive, growing bigger and more flamboyant all the time, so much so that it caught the attention of President Roosevelt, however, he was not allowed to tour the mansion. In 1902, Pretty Boy’s quick action saved Mrs. Winchester from an attempted suicide in her bedroom, but only a month later she tried and succeeded. Many say this is why there is a Sarah E. Winchester and a Sarah L. Winchester.

Mrs. Winchester officially died in 1922, and her house was quickly looted by archeologists. It was reported that each day for six weeks, six moving trucks stripped the mansion of Mrs. Winchester’s belongings and auctioned them off in San Francisco, California. It is reported that the items were cursed by the Devil and that people who possessed her belongings met an ill fate. The TV show Friday the 13^th the Series was tightly based on stolen goods from the Winchester mansion. In 1923, with all living occupants gone, the mansion was opened for visitors. However, still on the dinning room was Mrs. Winchester’s solid gold $30,000.00 dinner services and freshly prepared food, but not a human being in sight, and one of this six kitchens was in disarray. Many report hearing sobbing sounds and the linger scent of perfume. In 2010, with many staff members still fearful of being in the mansion alone, it was decided to hold a séance there. A vision William Wirt Winchester and his baby girl Annie, was seen by some and a recording was made of unknown voices speaking a strange language. Later someone suggested that the language might be Native American. It was decided to take the tape to a Washoe Indian living in Reno. He confirmed that the voice was indeed speaking a Washoe dialogue but refused to translate, saying instead: “You do not wan to know. What is the point of sounding an alarm? Who would believe me this time?”

One man spent the night in the Winchester mansion, he thought he was awake, but was watching himself sleep, when he was attacked by a man in a black druid robe. The druid was walking out of the room and he could see him, and heard his claws dragging on the carpet when the druid turned around, walked back to the bed and tried to drag the man out of bed. He woke himself as he was kicking to get free. There was old blood on the bed, and a gash in his upper thigh, but no one was in the room but he. Months later the wound stopped bleeding, but will not form a scab, it is just pink, like one might expect from a radiofrequency ablation (RFA), which uses electrical energy to destroy cancer cells with heat. He rushed through the open doorway only to find the hallway empty. Attic and lower floors revealed nobody. He went back to his room and retrieved the crumpled-up paper from the fireplace. He knew what it was before he read it. It was a letter to the trespasser of the Winchester Estate, warning him to get off the property. He straightened it own and turned it over. There was no response written on it. Then he remembered the tapping on the mantelpiece, and sure enough there was a letter there, or at least a piece of folded white paper.

The white paper was thick and fancy, and writing was in script of a florid and large design. He could smell the India ink in which it had been written. This is an approximation of what it said:

My Dear Boy,

I am not as assumed by your notice as one might expect. On the contrary, I rather resent your intrusion into a portion of the Winchester Estate to which I hold unwritten title, thanks to the generosity and foresight of your great-great-great-grandfather William. If I had not set eyes on you tonight and not recognized you for the sensitive and serious young man which you are, I might take even greater umbrage than I do. As it stands, allow me to explain that I want the mansion undisturbed by you, and it is my express which that none of you or your family come here. I treasure my privacy, my boy, perhaps more than your treasure your life. Think on it, my boy. The Great Mystery remains where it always has been—untouched by human’s feelings and undefined by their thoughts. Human mentality cannot comprehend the real nature of this mysterious substratum of all existence. Human understanding cannot assimilate that which utterly transcends it. It is not a testable truth; it must be left the mystery that it is. It is a secret society that meets out here, you know, a sort of romantic clandestine thing, and one of them has come into this house, which you know is open to you at all times, you know, and he has dared to go upstairs. There is nothing romantic about dumping dead bodies. My sweet boy, I shall have this investigated in every conceivable way, make no mistake on it. But I am going to get you out of here.

The Resident of the Winchester Estate

The story of Santa Clara Valley’s most famous lady, Sarah Winchester and her fabulous mystery mansion

Winchester Mystery House

Tickets for today are SOLD OUT, but they are still available for tomorrow!

Explore the 160-room mansion on the new Self-Guided Mansion Tour. The touchless, self-guided experience allows guests to independently navigate the world’s most bizarre home and expansive estate.

🎟️ Link in bio. winchestermysteryhouse.com

March 21, 2021 3:11 am