It didn’t help that Sarah was a private person, opting to stay at home rather than rub elbows with the California elite. The only other person who lived in the house was her niece. Who was this mysterious, wealthy widow? Why was she spending all of her time building a massive mansion in the middle of an economic depression? She had no children. The larger the house became, the more people talked. Changes were made on a whim, and sometimes entire wings were constructed only to be torn down again.Ĭonstruction went on constantly between 18. What started as a modest farmhouse slowly morphed into the stately mystery seen today. Over the next 36 years, Sarah transformed her California cottage into a massive, seven-story Queen Anne Revival. The land included a modest, eight-room house. He died of tuberculosis in 1881, leaving Sarah a 50% stake in the growing company.Īfter donating a large sum of money to a hospital in New Haven, the grieving widow took the rest of her money to San Jose, California, where she purchased 40 acres of land.

Able to fire 15 shots in a row, the Model 73 was a killing machine, earning it the nickname “the gun that won the west.”īut William’s success was cut short. William found his business to be a welcome distraction.īetween 18, the company sold over 700,000 Winchester rifles. Anne’s little body wasn’t processing nutrients, and she died six weeks later, having slowly starved to death. In June of that year, Sarah gave birth to their first child: A little girl named Anne.

Sara winchester mystery house