After her daughter and husband died, heiress Sarah Winchester became obsessed with the idea that spirits haunted her and to appease them she had to have a house continuously built for them. So she did - 24 hours a day for 38 years.
This Halloween special episode of Stuff You Should Know dives deep into the fascinating and mysterious Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California, exploring the strange 160-room Victorian mansion built by the eccentric Sarah Winchester, heiress to the Winchester rifle fortune. The hosts discuss how Sarah, grieving the loss of her daughter and husband, was allegedly told by a Boston medium that she needed to build an endless house to appease the spirits of people killed by Winchester rifles, leading her to spend 38 years and millions of dollars constructing an architectural maze full of staircases to nowhere, doors opening onto empty air, and hidden passages. Beyond the spooky lore surrounding the house's construction, they also reveal Sarah's surprisingly innovative side, including her pioneering use of insulation and electric push-button light switches, showing that beneath the eccentricity was a woman actually learning and advancing home design.
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