History of the Winchester Mystery House

Following her husband’s death in 1881, Sarah Pardee Winchester left New Haven, CT, and moved to San Jose, CA. She purchased an eight-room farmhouse, which grew into the Winchester Mystery House. 8 rooms was nowhere near enough for Sarah, and she continuously renovatec it up until her death. Allegedly, Sarah built the home to appease spirits, specifically of people whom a Winchester rifle had killed. Sarah’s father-in-law formed the Winchester Repeating Arms company in 1866. Her husband inherited the company 4 months before his death from tuberculosis, leaving Sarah a wealthy widow with some incredibly unfortunate karma.

The Haunting of the Winchester Mystery House

Legendary magician Harry Houdini stopped by the Winchester Estate during his 1923-1924 tour. He wanted to disprove Spritiualism by debunking the lore that surrounded the recently-deceased Sarah Winchester’s massive, mysterious mansion. His visit elicited more questions than answers. New since Diana’s visit, there is now a Houdini-inspired escape room on the Estate: Houdini‘s Spirited Escape! We hope we can review it for you soon.

Since Houdini’s visit, subsequent investigations of the Winchester Mystery House read like a list of who’s who in the paranormal world, including Zak Bagans from Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures, renowned psychic Sylvia Browne, and famous medium James Van Praagh.

Some sources make the wild claim that the Winchester House is “Certified as Haunted by the US Department of Commerce.” This tale probably originated from a brochure aimed at promoting foreign travel to the US. The US Travel Service, part of the Department of Commerce, published it abroad in the late 1960s. Called ‘Who’s Whooooo‘, the brochure gave details of several allegedly haunted locations in the US, including the Winchester House.

Less officially, both visitors and employees have encountered some ghostly sightings. Per the Winchester Mystery House’s website, “a number of employees—and a few visitors—claim to have crossed paths with ‘Clyde,’ a mustached man sometimes seen pushing a wheelbarrow in the basement, or trying to repair the fireplace in the Ballroom.” Guests have said “We really like the actor who was ‘repairing’ the ballroom fireplace, wearing white overalls and a Victorian boater hat!” To which the staff reply “huh? We didn’t hire an actor.” You might feel Clyde tug on your pants or shirt as you’re winding through the tour.

Some of the tour guides refuse to use the 3rd floor corridors after dark, as they have heard footsteps or a voice calling their name, even when they are completely alone.

The Mysterious Construction of the Winchester Mansion

The Winchester Mystery House® is an architectural wonder and historic landmark in San Jose, CA. It was once the personal residence of Sarah Lockwood Pardee Winchester, the widow of William Wirt Winchester and heiress to a large portion of the Winchester® Repeating Arms fortune.

From 1886 to 1922, construction seemingly never ceased. The original modest farmhouse grew into the world’s most unusual and sprawling mansion, which currently, at 24,000 square feet, has:

• 10,000 windows
• 2,000 doors
• 160 rooms
• 52 skylights
• 47 stairways and fireplaces
• 17 chimneys
• 13 bathrooms
• 6 kitchens

The Winchester House is Still, Literally, A Mystery

What Sarah Winchester left behind is still a mystery. Before she passed away, rumors circulated that a wealthy and eccentric woman was building a mystereous, sprawling estate. Did a psychic tell her to build it? Was she haunted by the ghosts of those felled by the “Gun that Won the West”? Did she want construction to ever finish? Built at a price tag of $5 million in 1923 ($71 million today), there had to be a good reason for Sarah’s contruction fever. But none of the living can say with absolute certainty what those reasons are.

A speculative view into one theory was produced into a major motion picture in 2018. Titled simply Winchester, the movie starring Helen Mirrin shows what might have motivated the widow: a spectacular haunting. In the film, set in 1906, Mrs. Winchester’s niece and nephew come to visit, only to live out a horror story. At the same time, the Winchester Repeating Rifle Company board commission a disgraced psychiatrist to declare the widow mentally unfit. The board will use the declaration to relieve her of her controlling financial interests. The movie was a classic ghost story period piece. It contained nothing too shocking or at all gory. You’ll probably enjoy it even if you normally don’t enjoy horror films. Just prepare to jump a few times. 

Visit the Winchester Mystery House

With all of the immersive views of the actual house, it is shocking to learn that ALL scenes and footage shot at the actual mansion wrapped up after just 72 hours of filming! In fact, mainly only the outdoor scenes were actually filmed on-site, meaning…

Taking the Tour of the Winchester Mystery House

Taking the tour may be your only way of seeing inside the mansion. This is because tourists may not take photos inside the house. On the tour, Diana learned that at least 1 bit of the film was undeniably true. The 1906 Great San Francisco Earthquake did cause part of the house to crack literally in two. It also destroyed most of the 4th floor, and a 7-story observation tower. One of these rooms was never repaired nor torn down. The strange bifurcation caused by the quake over a century ago was disorientingly fun to observe on the tour.

Diana did both tours in 2018. This included the normal mansion tour, clocking in at just over an hour, and 110 of the 160 rooms. Most of the rooms on the classic tour are museum-esque. There is ample free time to read placards and admire artifacts. You’ll get to see many of the parts of the mansion featured in the film, like Sarah’s seance room, the staircase to the ceiling, the earthquake damage, and Sarah’s bedroom. The 8-room farmhouse Mrs. Winchester originally purchased is a fascinating part of the tour because of its relative tininess. It was mind-boggling to see the appliances, plumbing, and other luxuries available to the insanely wealthy at the turn of the 18th century. Most ordinary folks wouldn’t even realize these things existed for decades to come.

What’s this…ANOTHER Tour?

110 may sound like a lot of rooms (although at its most prodigious, the house had about 500 rooms!). But we all know that, if you want to witness the paranormal part, you’ve gotta go beyond what’s normal. So, after a quick break, Diana donned the required hard hat and lined up for another hour + tour. This second tour, the Explore More Tour, is a pretty new offering. It is considered an add-on, so make sure you take the other tour first to gain your historical orientation.

The vibe of the Explore More Tour was completely different. It was obvious this was the tour the paranormal enthusiasts were really here for. The tour guide definitely played that up. Every description rings with tragedy, sadness, or outright ghosts, both from the lore and from modern staff and tourist experiences. Diana got to visit areas that were unfinished, dilapidated, and under construction (thus the hard hats). This tour also ventured into the creepy cellar, where there miiiiiiight have been a light staged to flicker out just as we passed by for effect (at least, Diana hopes it was staged). Her favorite part was the Witch’s Cap, a tower spire which creates a perfect echo while standing in its center. It was a spooky, attic room that simply felt haunted.

The Winchester House Halloween Tour

EVERY haunted place should have a special Halloween event. The Winchester Mystery House has recently realized this universal truth, and added a seasonal haunted attraction to their lineup! This new special event, All Hallows’ Eve, is offered on select nights from Sep 10, 2021 to Oct 31, 2021. This year, All Hallows’ Eve features the Lost In The House Tour, an indoor theatrical paranormal investigative adventure! Scaredy cats can stay behind to take the family-friendly Jack O’ Lantern Trail through the Victorian gardens and watch the light show.

Tickets

Prices for each tour at the time of this writing run $41.99 per adult, $19.99 for kids 5-12, and $34.99 for seniors over 65, military, and EMT/firefighters. But, by taking both tours back-to-back, the second tour was only $23. Kids under 6 aren’t allowed on the Explore More Tour, because of the inherent safety issues of these unfinished rooms. Diana purchased tour tickets in the gift shop right before the tour, where she also played this exciting fortune-telling arcade game:

Accessibility of the Winchester House

From Diana’s experience, the Winchester Mansion is not hospitable to those who use a wheelchair or have difficulty with stairs. Keep in mind it was all built before 1922, by a woman who was pretty petite. Strangely, Mrs. Winchester suffered from debilitating arthritis, and so some of the later additions to the house feature random half-height stairs. If you happen to be a petite person with knee problems, you’ll have to let us know if these actually provide any sort of increased accessibility. For tallish Diana, the oddly short-yet-long winding staircases felt more difficult to descend, rather than less. There are 3 elevators on the Winchester property, but with the winding, sprawling nature of the house, these won’t take you to every location on the tour.

If you want to explore the grounds, there is still plenty to see, and the outdoor areas are very accessible. Also, free! In the courtyard just past the cafe, you’ll find the main restrooms. You’ll also do a double-take at this gem of a play shooting gallery to rival those of even famous theme parks, but with a haunting x Winchester Repeating Rifles theme:

Diana spent quite a lot of time wandering through the beautiful flower gardens, admiring the gingerbread design. She tried to take photos of her favorite rooms from the outside, since there were no photo ops inside. In vain, as it turns out; it’s pretty impossible to tell what’s going on inside from the outside. With one notable exception: the Door to Nowhere dangles open, clearly labeled, for a Kodak moment you can risk if you aren’t afraid of some clumsy tourist falling out of it onto you.

Visiting the Winchester Mystery House at Halloween

The following photos were submitted by Kristen Stafford, producer of the Halloween Art and Travel podcast. Thank you, Kristen!

What do you think motivated Sarah Pardee Winchester to construct the still mysterious Winchester House?

Until next time, have a spooky day!

By Stephanie Long and Diana Doty

The post Winchester Mystery House Ghost Tour Review appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Site history of one of the most haunted places: Deadwood

When the Fairmont was built in 1895, everything was legal in Deadwood. The rough settlement of gritty pioneers and miners prided itself on being completely lawless. The only rule was the fastest gun. You’ve probably heard of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. Well, I wasn’t too familiar, but Amber was excited to share all the cool Wild-West history with me.

Although there were legitimate lodgings at the Fairmont, it was also once a lively brothel. Remember, wild wild west; I think every building that could fit a bed was a brothel in some way. Hookers would flock from all over to earn a legal living in the pioneer town for the next century! No kidding, prostitution was technically legal in Deadwood from 1876-1980. 

The Spooky Ghost Tour of the Fairmont Hotel

The Fairmont has been called one of the most haunted places in the state of South Dakota (certainly one of the most haunted places in Deadwood, SD), and investigated by many paranormal teams. it was even featured in an episode of Ghost Adventures. The ghost stories we heard involved tragic tales of murder, jealousy, suicide, and above all, prostitution. The tour spanned what used to be two separate brothels, one above the gaming room and one above the oyster bar. The most famous haint is that of Jack McCall, murderer of Hickok.

Tickets

We were able to buy last-minute tickets from the bartender right before the tour. But this was during the off-season, so I’m not sure we’d have gotten so lucky on some nights. Tours are really only available on weekends in the Summer, since winter tourism isn’t so big in chilly South Dakota. We felt the quality of the 1 1/2 hour tour was fair at $20 a ticket.

Accessibility

The town does have handy public transportation, at least in the warmer months. The bus goes all the way to the campgrounds on either side of town. During the tour, there are several stories of stairs to climb. When we took the tour in 2018 we didn’t notice an elevator, you’ll have to call and check if you can still participate if you cannot do stairs. The entirety of the tour took place upstairs of the 3-story building. These floors were unfinished and under-construction at the time, which lent to the spooky, abandoned, behind-the-scenes vibe. The last staircase was steep and only wide enough for one-way traffic, but we were the only living souls upstairs so it wasn’t crowded. 

We did get to sit for the initial history of the hotel, which is always lovely. Mannequins dressed in garish old-timey lingerie looked on as our tour guide told the tale she was obviously quite familiar with. It was a little difficult to hear this part, since we were on a balcony over the busy casino below, so don’t be late like us and have to sit far from the guide. 

Tour guide at the Fairmont Hotel

Please keep in mind that we took this tour in 2018, and many things including the tour guide may have changed. Our guide had a down-to-earth attitude but some wild and crazy stories to tell. Some of the stories were actually quite frightening! There were definitely a couple rooms I didn’t want to be the last to leave. 

Our tour was special because the tour guide had spent some time living in the hotel. On the tour, she recounted her own personal ghost stories of what happened to her in her room at the Fairmont Hotel, and while she worked in the bar downstairs. But our favorite part about the tour was that it made us feel like active participants. Every time the guide told a ghost story, she’d give us 5-10 minutes to poke around and take photos before moving on. I personally prefer this type of interaction over just being a passive listener to a long history lesson.

A not-so-paranormal photo

While we were on the tour, there was a part of the upper floors above the bar that was unfinished due to some damage that had slowed construction. The guide said this was a great place to take potentially-paranormal photos, so we split up and snapped away at random. I thought I was hot stuff for catching this orb…

But a few frames later, the image manifested into a full apparition of someone rightly see-through! After dozens of uneventful ghost tours, I thought I’d finally caught a ghost!

But the tour guide just laughed and pointed to a very solid lady in a pink shirt. My ghostly photo was just one of the tour participants moving quickly. To be fair, my phone screen was pretty tiny in those days.

A real paranormal experience on this spooky ghost tour?

From the front room of the upper floor, we looked out at Main Street below through huge windows. The tour guide explained that the windows were used for advertising. The prostitutes would stand in the windows, dressed in low-cut lavish hoop skirts. They’d get attention by waving and calling to the gentlemen passing below. The patron would head up to this sitting room to chat up a lady of the evening.

While we were listening to this tale, I kept absentmindedly reaching down to scratch an itch on my legs. The feeling continued, so I turned to see if a curtain was billowing against my legs, or if I had a bug on me. Nope. I shifted a few feet to the side, in case it was a draft. No matter where I stood in the room or which side I had towards the windows, I felt it on the backs of my ankles. This continued to annoy me until we left the room. Then, some time later, I became aware it had stopped. 

Later, walking back to the bus stop, Amber asked me if I’d experienced anything odd on the tour. I recounted the strange sensation of fabric brushing back and forth against my calves. She said she’d felt it, too, and in the same room! What she described was identical to what I’d felt! Specifically, she’d felt something like soft fabric gently brushed against just the backs of her legs. 

I stopped walking. “We were in a room where a ton of women used to wiggle it in front of those windows. Women dressed in hoop skirts, most likely.” 

What are some of the most haunted places (Deadwood, perhaps), that you have been to? Let us know on our Facebook page, or DM us on Instagram if you have stories or photos you’d like to share with us for our blog.

We hope you enjoyed the Fairmont Hotel ghost tour review! Until next time, have a spooky day!

The post Fairmont Hotel Ghost Tour Review, Deadwood, SD appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Getting to the Crescent Hotel Ghost Tour

The main thing to remember driving there is that GPS is less helpful when you’re driving in the 3rd dimension. In other words, many travelers’ GPS can’t tell if it’s on a road at the top of the mountain, or a parallel road at the bottom. Because of that, you’ll want to look carefully for street signs guiding you to America’s most haunted hotel.

The main touristy area of Eureka Springs is along Spring Street, which you’ll take out of town to the northeast. Make a right at the post office to stay on Spring. Turn left on steep Howell at the bottom of the hill, then keep heading uphill. Turn right at the stop sign on Prospect, which you’ll stay on until you arrive at the 1886 Crescent hotel parking lot. Free parking is almost always pretty easy, except during major festivals.

There is also public transit available if your car isn’t brave enough to drive up the side of the mountain. For visitors staying the night at one of the Basin Park Hotel‘s guest rooms, there’s an on-demand free shuttle to the Crescent Hotel.

Welcome to the Eureka Springs Crescent Hotel

The hotel front desk where guests checked in was just to the left of the entrance, as was the crystal dining room. But you’ll actually turn right when you enter to get on the hotel elevator to the 4th floor.

Sometimes, I feel like the elevator is the first spooky attraction at the haunted hotel. It has definitely been there much longer than one lifespan. The dim light within after the dark lacquered doors close is reminiscent of The Shining. Perhaps enough to make you wish you’d hiked the many creaking stairs instead. 

Entering the Crescent is a special experience for me personally, since I used to visit so often making lifetime memories in my childhood. I still see each detail with a glint of the fantasy it imbued to my younger self. In front of the enormous fireplace sits the EXACT antique brass fireplace screen I grew up with in my home. Seriously. My mom sold it to the Crescent Hotel at an antique road show many years ago. But most importantly, I always look for Morris’ special exit. 

An adorable mascot for a Haunted Hotel

Morris was an assistant manager that worked at the hotel during the 1990’s. He wasn’t supposed to be there, given that he was a cat, but the hotel staff gave him a job so that he could stay. I’ve been a hard-core cat lady since birth. Many days in my childhood, I’d follow that fluffy orange tail around the hotel’s crystal dining room and lobby, until he slipped out his personal tiny exit door.

Nowadays, there’s a plaque in the lobby of the Crescent hotel dedicated to Morris’ lifetime memories. There’s also a sweet grave located between the back door and the swimming pool. You can read about the famous kitty while you wait to tour one of America’s most haunted hotels. Delightfully, I spotted a new fluffy black and white feline manager snoozing under a table in front of the fireplace. 

The Crescent Hotel Ghost Tour Review

Finding the ghost tour within the Crescent Hotel

Upon entering the fourth floor corridor, turn left and head past the bar. You’re going to a little sitting room on your left, where they’ll take your tickets. In that room, you’ll meet your guide.

Our guide was a serene, slight young woman with a wide-brimmed hat, reminiscent of a cheerier Lydia Deetz in technicolor. She was the perfect combination of animated and excited telling people’s true ghost stories, yet placid and patient with questions from participants. She spoke loud enough to hear perfectly. Plus, she waited until everyone could see her before starting each new story as we made our way through the Crescent hotel. We didn’t run into many hotel guests, but it was a Thursday evening.

Accessibility on the ghost tour of the 1886 Crescent Hotel

Before the pilgrimage started, we gathered in the sitting room to hear the history of the 1886 Crescent Hotel. Maybe I’m getting old, but I love sitting comfortably for the backstory. Some tours seem to think it’s a great idea to stand for 2 hours straight. I think most tourists would disagree. When I’m in tourist mode, I’ve been pounding the pavement constantly for multiple days. I’d like to have a seat as often as possible during the storytelling parts. That being said, the the hotel lobby carpets are padded and pretty comfortable to stand on. The elevator is very close to the stairs, so those who choose to take it won’t miss the ghost stories.

The main bathroom is around the corner from the staircase, but it’s a tight squeeze. You may want to ask ahead about other options if you have a chair. There may be accessible bathrooms downstairs in the New Moon Spa. There is also a ramp up to the front door which isn’t too steep. The place was built a century ago, so you can expect some narrow hallways. The group doesn’t really go through any narrow doorways. Watch your head in the morgue, where the ceilings are low and the lighting is dim. 

Crescent Hotel History: MILD SPOILERS, but you’ll want to take the ghost tour to get the full stories

Aside from just ghost stories, we heard the whole history of this Eureka Springs lodging. We learned that the 1886 Crescent hotel was several times grander than just about every other luxury hotel in America at the time. It was built for the many guests who crowded the Victorian village in its heyday for the local spring water with mystical healing properties. But despite recently becoming a stop on the Frisco Railroad, the mountain passes entering Eureka Springs, Arkansas, were still difficult for travelers to access in the winter. Thus, the Crescent hotel had many vacancies for half of each year.

The perfect solution was to make the Crescent hotel a college during the colder months. From 1908 to 1924, it was rebranded as the Crescent College and Conservatory for Young Women (and later a junior college until 1934). And this is where we get our first ghostly tales. According to our guide, recent guests have seen the apparition of a beautiful woman whom some suspect was a scandalously pregnant student from the conservatory.

Let the true horrors begin

For a couple years in the late 1930’s, Norman Baker purchased and turned the Crescent Hotel into the Baker Cancer Curable Hospital. The new owner boasted a 100% cure rate for all cancers. The extraordinary reputation of Eureka Springs healing water helped buoy Baker’s reputation. Given the limitations of the medical field at the time, a late-stage cancer patient likely had little hope of recovery in a standard hospital. The Baker Hospital might seem like a reasonable last resort.

Unfortunately, Baker was a charlatan. He had no medical training, and purportedly gave the cancer “patients” nothing useful, not even for pain relief. Instead, he locked those nearing death away in a distant room in a separate wing to suffer into madness. 

After these poor swindled people died, a nurse would wheel them right past the new guests, down to the morgue. There on the autopsy table, their tumors would be removed, preserved in alcohol, and displayed in the lobby of the Baker Hospital as “proofs of success.” Unfortunately for many cancer patients, the general public knew so little about medicine and anatomy at the time, that the excised tumors were used as proof that cancer was being cured without surgery. Because Baker didn’t perform surgery…on the living.

Justice served…or was it?

Fortunately, Baker was eventually shut down and convicted. But not for fraudulently practicing medicine, only for mail fraud, so the sentence was a pittance. Apparently, the same charlatan committed the same atrocities in other towns as well. Nobody was able to make the connections until it was far too late. I’m really glad I live in the age of the internet and facial recognition software. 

After Baker went to prison in 1940, the Crescent Hotel actually stood empty for six years. But those tumors stayed on the property until at least the 1970’s. The ghost tour guide speculated that, some time after that, someone must have carelessly buried the tumors on the grounds of the hotel without reviewing the contents.

Rebuilding the 1886 Crescent Hotel

Marty and Elise Roenigk purchased the Crescent Hotel and the Basin Park Hotel in the late 1990’s. Philanthropists and preservationists, the Roenigks repaired significant damage from a 1967 fire, carefully restoring the Crescent Hotel and health resort.

Our guide told us that the previous owners weren’t too thrilled to be known as America’s most haunted hotel, and tried to downplay the spooky ghost stories. The new owner seems much more open, and now the Crescent Hotel hosts ghostly events nightly.

A gory discovery

Now, one exciting new development has occurred since my last time taking the 1886 Crescent Hotel ghost tour. In 2019, an excavation on the hotel grounds uncovered a large cache of preserved tumors.

Because of the alcohol preservation techniques and the haphazard disposal, some of the specimens were pretty useless by their unearthing, seventy years later. A local Arkansas university took the well-preserved samples for study and analysis, but you’ll still see many specimens as part of the ghost tours at the Crescent hotel. The hotel still owns hundreds of bottles of shriveled human tissue, etc. These are displayed in the morgue for your morbid inspection. Because yes, the hotel does indeed still have a morgue below the kitchens and honeymoon suites, a macabre sight which you’ll likely only see on this official tour. 

Diana took a mysterious photograph

The entrance to this death wing is also where we snapped this picture of something that we didn’t see until examining the photographs later. I snapped photos every time the tour guide pointed out another location where previous guests had spotted a spirit. I tried to take several burst shots in a row, a technique that allows for quick comparison and helps with noticing things that are there one moment and gone the next. You can see by comparing the photos below that nothing has significantly changed position between the two moments caught on camera. Well, nothing living, at least.

I was beyond thrilled when I saw this bizarre blur on my camera roll late that night! I’ve been on dozens of ghost tours in historic hotels in AR and around the world, and I’ve NEVER caught anything remotely paranormal on camera on a ghost hunt before. What do you think that is? Does that look like Morris the cat to you?

More Paranormal Things To Do at the 1886 Crescent Hotel

• CRESCENT HOTEL Eureka Springs Paranormal Weekend: An annual 48 hour conference with a professionally-guided ghost hunt. Occurs both on January 26-28 2024 and February 2-4, 2024 this year. ESP Conference guests get discounts on guest rooms at the Crescent Hotel.
• Overnight Paranormal Investigation Lockdown: 65 guests will be guided through a private paranormal investigation at the haunted Crescent Hotel on January 9, 2024. Over night room required.
• Haunted Crescent Hotel Kids Ghost Tour: A mini, 45 minute, not-so-scary intro to ghost tours for children ages 5-12. Accompanying adult admission is free.

Want to see more ghost tour reviews?

Was this review of America’s most haunted hotel ghost tour helpful or interesting? Was there anything that left you wanting more? Have you taken any other good ghost tours around Eureka Springs? If you’ve been on the Crescent Hotel ghost hunt yourself (or stayed the night in a haunted room there), was this review accurate? Did you catch any ghosts (or ghost cats) on camera?

If you’re planning a haunted Ozarks road trip, there are hundreds of back episodes of our paranormal podcast to stream on your ride there. Perhaps you could start with this regional episode about Ozark folk magic. We’ve interviewed everyday people with true ghost stories about the paranormal from all over America and the world. Please drop us a comment on our Facebook page letting us know if there are other spirit tours you’d like us to review. We love an excuse for a road trip, and a spooky day!

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