#Winchester mystery house books windows#

A prime target for those who wish to absorb the Glamour of the place is the UnClock, a chimerical flower clock with thirteen hour markings, springing from the house's front lawn. Kithain can gather Glamour here, in surreptitious games of hide-and-seek with the imaginary keepers among the shrubs and trees of the vast grounds. Faerie frolics with these beasts can be light-hearted amusement, but they can also devolve into running battles that last until the intruding Kithain are driven off the house's grounds or chimerically killed. Frequent visitors are more or less tolerated by the odd thirteen-eyed beasts who prowl the grounds and hallways, but only so long as they're not too frequent. The House is home to literally hundreds of chimerical beasts and objects, but such is their power that no Kithain dares to attempt to establish a permanent hold on the place.

The most recognizable freehold in the County of Selkrest in the Kingdom of Pacifica, the Winchester House is not, technically speaking, a freehold at all. Apparitions reportedly seen around the house seem to be some of the old Winchester caretakers and servants, apparently guarding the manse. In places, nails can still be seen half-driven into walls where workmen, informed of the mistress's death, abruptly halted their labors.

#Winchester mystery house books windows#

Thirteen is the dominant theme of the house, reflected in the number of lights on chandeliers, coat hooks on walls, windows in rooms, and even the number of drainage holes in the kitchen sink's trap.Īt the widow's death the house contained over seven hundred rooms, of which more than a hundred and sixty still stand today. The Gothic Victorian monstrosity was constantly expanded with dozens of pointless rooms, stairs leading nowhere, narrow hallways less than two feet wide, secret doors, and ceilings so low one had to stoop to enter.Īt midnight each night, Sarah would don a nightgown inscribed with occult symbols and weave her way through mazes of rooms via secret, sliding panels to the 'seance room.' For the next two hours she would receive instructions from the ghosts, telling her what sort of chambers and galleries should be built next. Heiress to the Winchester Arms fortune, Sarah believed that she was under a curse placed on her by the countless victims killed by Winchester Arms, and had to build rooms to house the dead. The Winchester Mystery House is a tourist attraction in San Jose, California.īegun in 1884, the Winchester Mystery House's ongoing construction occupied the remaining thirty-eight years of Sarah Winchester's life.