First stop: the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose (August 8, 2022)

The Winchester Mystery House is a 160-room Victorian Mansion built by Sarah Winchester, widow of rifle manufacturer William Winchester. Sarah and William had one child, Annie, who died about a month after birth in 1866. William died in1881, after which Mrs. Winchester, upset at the deaths of her husband and daughter, reportedly consulted a spiritualist. The medium informed Mrs. Winchester that the victims killed by Winchester rifles were seeking revenge by taking the lives of her family. The spiritualist said the spirits had placed a curse on Sarah and that if she wished to live, she must appease them by constantly, without ceasing, building a house for them night and day. Construction was ongoing from 1884 until 1922, when Sarah died at the age of 85.

This unique building includes dead end staircases, doors to nowhere, and a secret passageway through the seance room closet. The top three stories of the 7-story house were destroyed in the nearby 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The house is now 4 stories tall.

Sarah paid these workers double the going wage to work around-the-clock. Supposedly the sounds of sawing and hammering frightened evil spirts away. Many people claim to have seen the ghost of the man on the right, pushing a wheelbarrow in the coach house.

Here is a narrow staircase to nowhere. See how the mirror reflects the stairs around the turn?

The chandelier arrived with 12 globes. Mrs. Winchester added a 13th globe in keeping with the "13" theme throughout the house.

The house has so many beautiful stained glass doors. Mrs. Winchester designed the center door.  How many circles?  Thirteen, her favorite number. Thirteen is my favorite number too.

Mrs. Winchester had the bell toll at midnight and 2 a.m. nightly, to mark the arrival and departure of spirits in the seance room.