California Hauntings

Not everyone believes in ghosts or haunted houses. You may have visited any one of these places I am going to tell you about and not experienced anything unusual.  To the people who experience it every day, the hauntings are very real.

Winchester Mystery House, San Jose

Many people have heard the story surrounding this amazing house.  Sarah Winchester began building in 1884 and never stopped until she died.  She was the heiress of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, makers of the famous Winchester Rifles.  Sarah believed that she was haunted by all the victims killed by those guns so she moved to California and began building the mansion.  She had been advised by a medium that as long as the building continued, the spirits would be thwarted and she would live.  The house was originally an eight bedroom farmhouse that she began to remodel and expand.  The house is filled with odd architecture such as stairs leading straight to the ceiling and doors that open from the upper floors to a straight drop down.  There is a room that only has one way out and windows looking down into the kitchen below.  The house now has one hundred and sixty rooms.  Her favorite number was thirteen and in almost every room you will find thirteen of something, whether it be windows, tiles, stairs, etc.  Each night she would await instructions from the ghosts on what to build next.  The house has 47 firplaces and every column in the house, from newel posts to porch supports was installed upside down.  Today, employees and visitors are sometimes greeted with strange occurrences, some having seen Sarah herself sitting at the kitchen table.  An employee once turned off every light in the house before leaving only to have the entire third floor lit up opun arriving at his car in the parking lot.  The ghost of a man in overalls seen around the house and court yard has also been reported.  Many more strange things have happened at this house.  I have been there twice and so far felt nothing.

The San Fransisco Art Institute

The San Fransisco Art Institute is a Spanish Colonial revival architecture.  The institute opened its doors in 1927 and almost immediately people felt there was something strange about the bell tower.  Nothing happened however until 20 years later in 1947.  A night watchman and student had decided to sleep in the bell tower to reduce expenses.  One night after locking himslef in he heard the door at the bottom of the tower open and close.  He dismissed it at first as the janitor, but he soon heard footsteps climbing all the way to the third floor.  His door opened and closed as though someone had entered but there was no one to be seen.  The footsteps continued across the floor, turned and walked back to the door.  The door opened and closed and the footsteps continued up to the observation room.  That was only his first encounter with the ghost.