SAN JOSE — What is the hottest ticket in October in San Jose?

It’s a fully-immersive, multi-sensory Halloween experience at the Winchester Mystery House that replaced the wildly popular candlelight tours conducted in past years during Halloween. The Fright Festival takes place at the Winchester House thru Nov. 1.

If you’ve passed on the idea of plunking down cold cash to tour the rambling house that at 261,369 square feet could squeeze in two typical Target stores, an average Trader Joe’s store, and a three or so Starbucks because you think touring 110 of the 160 rooms in a home built by an eccentric woman intent on wading off evil spirits as ho-hum stuff, the “Unhinged Tour” will get your heart going.

The website says it best.

“The year is 1926, and something has awakened at the Winchester estate. Following Sarah Winchester’s death, the mansion and grounds seem to pulse with new energy as Festival Fright Nights brings the entire estate to life through four immersive festival zones featuring 13 attractions and experiences—including haunted houses inside the historic mansion, eerie entertainment, photo ops, seasonal food and drink offerings, and mysterious encounters hidden throughout the grounds.”

“Our festival format allows you to pick and choose from a variety of attractions from traditional haunted houses inside the notoriously haunted Winchester Mystery House to theatrical, seated experiences like Harry Houdini presents “Do spirts really exist?”

Tickets start at $59.95 for Thursdays, $87.99 for Fridays and Sundays, and $92.99 for Saturdays through Nov. 1.

For those who like their mystery seen with a lot more light, there are two daily day tour options.
The Mansion Tour is 1 hour and 5 minutes and includes 110 of the 160 rooms with tickets going for $42.89 to $48.25 for adults and lower prices for children and seniors.

The add on Basement and Attic Access is 15 to 45 minutes and covers areas guests rarely go.

The price is $19. Guests must be 5 years for a ticket.

So, what’s the story behind the Winchester Mystery House?

You could say Sarah Winchester was a real pistol.

Not only did she inherit $20.5 million from her husband William Wirt Winchester who founded the gun firm of the same name when he died in 1881 from tuberculosis, but also a nearly 50 percent stake in the company that have her $1,000 a day of income or the equivalent of $25,000 daily in 2017.

Add that kind of money and an obsession to spend it — think Paris Hilton in a Neiman Marcus store — in a bid to ward off evil spirits and you end up with what is a candidate for the quirkiest home on the planet in excess of 24,000 square feet.

Not only are there doors and stairs leading to nowhere and windows overlooking rooms — a result of no architect being hired and the home being added onto by the widow’s whim— but at one pointed she had 12 of her 13 bathrooms “disconnected” leaving only one functioning bathroom for the entire 160-room house.

It includes 40 bedrooms — she reportedly slept in a different one each night to confuse spirits — 47 fireplaces, 17 chimneys, two basements, two ballrooms, three elevators, and architectural splendor including many stained glass windows designed by Tiffany Company.

To illustrate her oddness, Tiffany himself created a special window for Winchester that cast a rainbow across a room when sunlight strikes prismatic crystals. Winchester had it installed in an interior room with no light exposure rendering the unique design moot. The window was appraised at $25,000 when it was designed more than a century ago or the equivalent of $357,704 in 2016.

Winchester was obsessed with the number 13. Drain covers on sinks have 13 holes. Chandeliers accommodate 13 candles. Clothing hooks are in multiples of 13. As a tribute to Winchester, a large bell on the grounds is rung 13 times at 1300 hours (1 p.m.) on Friday the 13th.

Besides the quirks, the house is a pain to maintain. It takes 20,500 gallons of paint to paint it.
And as evidence there are still things to find out about the home whose construction started in 1884 and ended in 1922 with Winchester’s death, another room was discovered in 2016. It is an attic space that has a pump organ, Victorian couch, dress form, sewing machines, and paintings.

The Queen Anne-style home also boasts on its grounds one of the largest historic firearms museums on the West Coast, as well as a “shooting gallery” that takes aims at spirits, a gift shop, museum, and café.

To know what you are dealing with the 160 rooms has 10,000 windows, 2,000 doors, 52 skylights, 47 stairways and fireplaces, 13 bathrooms, 17 chimneys, and six kitchens. It was built for $5 million in 1923 or $80 million in today’s dollars.

For more information, go to winchestermysteryhpouse.com.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com