WEBVTT - The Ghosts Couldn't be Satisfied, Only Avoided 0:00:01.160 --> 0:00:05.000 Welcome to Haunted Road, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm 0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:08.840 and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion is advised. 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:15.560 Hey, Haunted Roadies, I know you like spooky stuff, That's 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:18.560 why you're here, But have you taken it a step 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:22.599 further and joined the Paranormal Circle yet? The Paranormal Circle 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:26.040 is an online community that I created for all of 0:00:26.120 --> 0:00:32.360 us ghost nerds. It focus on ghosts, hauntings, paranormal investigations, research, 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:35.760 you name it. So whether you're a casual ghost story 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:39.360 lover or a full on paranormal enthusiast, I know you're 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:42.080 going to love the Circle. We have live q and 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:47.080 as and roundtable discussions with guests like Josh Gates, Chip Coffee, 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:50.920 Adam Berry and Moore. There are twenty four to seven 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:56.600 live webcams streaming from haunted locations, including Against my Better 0:00:56.720 --> 0:00:59.319 Judgment one in my very own attic of my three 0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:02.280 hundred year old house, focus on a bunch of haunted 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:05.560 things that I've collected over the years. We also do 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:09.679 in person stuff too, meetups at events and conferences, plus 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:12.920 exclusive meetups just for members. If you come see me 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:16.040 on tour, there's always a free gift waiting for Paranormal 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:17.119 Circle members at. 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:17.720 The merch table. 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:20.240 So if this sounds like something you want to check out. 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:22.120 You can start a free trial today. 0:01:22.240 --> 0:01:26.280 Head to Amybrune dot com slash join to find out 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:30.200 more and Haunted Roadies. You can use code Haunted road 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:34.160 ten for ten percent off your annual membership. I've tried 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:37.200 to keep this very affordable. Full disclosure, it's eight to 0:01:37.240 --> 0:01:39.680 ten dollars a month, but I think what you get 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:42.399 for that is pretty incredible. So please check it out. 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:45.600 Join us if you dare. We'll see you out there. 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:52.320 Thank you, Haunted Roadies. Two decades ago, I was getting 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:55.480 ready to investigate a dream location, a place that had 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:58.320 been on my bucket list four years, a place I 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:01.120 had visited many times during the day, but the whole 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:04.880 time longed to return at night. Somehow, my team and 0:02:04.960 --> 0:02:08.440 I had this place basically to ourselves. We were entrusted 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:11.399 with the keys to the kingdom, as they say. This 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:15.760 massive old mansion has tours during the day, with costumed 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:19.720 guides taking tourists through its many halls. The sun was 0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:22.280 going down and the place had been closed for hours. 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:25.320 But as I was bringing my equipment in, there was 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:28.360 who I believed to be one of those costumed docents 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:31.360 scurrying across the lawn like she had some place to be. 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:35.200 In her gray dress and bonnet, she looked quite at 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:38.480 home in her surroundings. But I knew they had gotten 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:40.880 off work hours ago, so I went to my other 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:43.920 team members and let them know what I'd seen, afraid 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:48.640 perhaps that she could contaminate our investigation. A quick call 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:52.200 to security confirmed what we had thought originally. There were 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:56.280 no employees there other than a few security folks. Definitely 0:02:56.560 --> 0:02:59.920 no one still in costume. So who had I seen 0:03:00.160 --> 0:03:03.480 walking across the lawn that evening? Let's find out? Shall 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:07.760 we join me Haunted roadies as we visit the infamous 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:15.840 Winchester Mystery House. I'm Amy Bruney, and this is Haunted Road. 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:20.359 A very unique house sits in San Jose, California, about 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:24.160 an hour south of San Francisco. It's called the Winchester 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:28.200 Mystery House, and it's a Queen Anne Revival style mansion, 0:03:28.520 --> 0:03:32.440 albeit with some Romanesque and Gothic features. The yellow home 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:36.240 has red roofs that ascend into peaks and conical turrets. 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:39.160 If you're a Disney fan, you might think it looks 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:42.280 a lot like their Haunted Mansion attraction, which is fair. 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:45.680 This real home was an inspiration for the ride, and 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:48.720 as striking as it looks from the outside, the inside 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:53.160 of the Winchester Mystery House is truly bizarre. Some of 0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:57.080 its one hundred and sixty rooms are dark and stuffy, 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:02.320 others are airy, with big windows to let in the sunlight. Windows, mirrors, 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:06.080 and doors sit in unexpected places or hang at odd angles. 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:11.000 The roof is partially made of glass. Additionally, many of 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:14.360 the windows aren't shaped like a traditional four panel square, 0:04:14.520 --> 0:04:17.839 but like a spider web. But it's not the decor 0:04:17.920 --> 0:04:22.720 that gives Winchester its reputation, it's the layout. It sprawls 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:26.760 across twenty four thousand square feet and features hallways that 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:30.640 lead nowhere and doors that open to solid walls. This 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:34.240 makes the home maze like and disorienting. Some people have 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:36.919 even said it feels bigger on the inside than on 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:41.039 the outside. The number thirteen seems to be important here. 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:45.000 There's a staircase with thirteen steps, a window with thirteen 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:49.160 panes of glass, and a ceiling with thirteen panels. For 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:53.360 nearly one hundred and forty years, people have speculated about 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:56.480 why the house is like this. The truth is the 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:59.840 history of the Winchester Mystery House is inextricably tied up 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:03.600 with the woman who designed and built it, Sarah Winchester. 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:08.000 She was born in eighteen thirty nine in Connecticut, and 0:05:08.120 --> 0:05:12.040 even before Sarah had taken her first breath, tragedy struck 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:16.520 her family. Her parents had previously given birth to another girl, 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:20.640 also named Sarah. That girl died before her second birthday, 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:24.040 and the younger Sarah was named for her deceased sister. 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:27.800 Despite the early loss, Sarah grew up in a large, 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:31.679 wealthy family. She was well educated and known for her beauty, 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:34.920 and when she was in her early twenties, she married 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:38.800 a man named William Winchester. William was rich in his 0:05:38.960 --> 0:05:41.679 own right. He was also the son of a gun 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:46.120 manufacturer whose company made the Winchester rifle. It wasn't the 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:49.279 only source of income for William, but it ensured he 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:52.919 and his wife would never want for anything, at least 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:57.960 nothing that could be bought with money. William and Sarah's 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:02.080 marriage was loving, but also marked with more tragedies. Their 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:05.920 first and only child, Annie, died in eighteen sixty six 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:09.080 when she was barely a month old. William and Sarah 0:06:09.120 --> 0:06:12.240 were devastated by the loss and coped by designing and 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:15.880 building a home together in New Haven, Connecticut. They both 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:19.880 appreciated architecture and enjoyed this kind of work, so the 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:22.400 project gave them a reason to get out of bed 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:26.560 each day. Years later, Sarah lost her mother in May 0:06:26.640 --> 0:06:29.600 of eighteen eighty and in December of that same year, 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:34.640 William's father passed. Sadly, William only outlived his father by 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:37.400 about three more months. In March of eighteen eighty one, 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:41.960 he died of tuberculosis. He was only forty three years old. 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:46.560 After his passing, Sarah inherited half of his firearms company, 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:50.680 as well as his family fortune, and once again Sarah 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:52.080 had to cope with her grief. 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:53.160 But now she. 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:56.919 Didn't have William to lean on anymore. She never stopped mourning, 0:06:57.160 --> 0:06:59.479 and she spent the rest of her life wearing black 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:03.839 clothes and a veil every single day. It probably didn't 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:06.719 help that three years later, in eighteen eighty four, Sarah 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:11.600 suffered another untimely loss. This time it was her oldest sister, Mary, 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:15.120 who succumbed to an illness. By now, Sarah was in 0:07:15.160 --> 0:07:18.200 her mid forties and she'd lost her mother, her husband, 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:21.040 her sister, and her only child. It was time for 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:23.760 a fresh start, and she moved to California with her 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:27.360 surviving siblings. This was also when she returned to the 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:30.320 hobby that had given her such relief during an earlier 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:35.720 period of mourning. Home design and construction. In eighteen eighty six, 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:39.160 Sarah bought a small, eight room farmhouse in what's now 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:42.560 San Jose. It was far too modest for her. She 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:44.680 hoped to share the home with all three of her 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:48.800 sisters and their families, so she hired a construction team 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:52.080 to expand the home, and even after her sisters made 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:57.560 separate living arrangements, she kept renovating. Sarah called the property 0:07:57.800 --> 0:08:01.560 yonada villa, translated into an English that means house on 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:05.040 flat land, but of course it would later be known 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:09.240 as the Winchester Mystery House. Right off the bat, Sarah 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:13.560 broke with convention. First, she hired two different architects, but 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:16.480 ultimately let them both go so she could design the 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:20.160 house for herself. It was very unusual for women to 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:23.920 do architectural work in the eighteen hundreds, so this certainly 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:29.040 turned some heads. According to Elizabeth Savoda of Atlas Obscura. 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:32.040 Sarah was also an unusually good boss. 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:33.120 She paid her. 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:36.480 Workers well and gave them frequent breaks. This may have 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:39.960 been because she suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, which left her 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:43.800 feeling exhausted all of the time. She also sympathized with 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:46.640 her employees and ensured that they had a chance to 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:49.800 rest and recover every time she needed to step back 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:55.520 from her own responsibilities. Sarah's rheumatoid arthritis also made it 0:08:55.600 --> 0:08:59.320 difficult for her to walk up and down standard size stairs. 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:03.679 She designed her home staircases to be shallower than usual. 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:07.920 She also rarely interacted with anyone but her construction crews 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:11.360 and family because her condition made it painful for her 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:15.240 to get around town. All to say, Sarah's choices had 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:17.920 logic to them, but her neighbors and other people in 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:21.400 her community weren't privy to these details about her personal life. 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:26.360 They knew Sarah as a mysterious recluse. They also noticed 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:30.480 that by eighteen ninety six, the home was still under construction, 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:34.920 fully ten years after she'd begun. The renovation project. By 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:38.880 now Yanata Villa was several stories high. Sarah had also 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:42.200 added a seven story tower then Once it was finished, 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:44.480 she decided she didn't like it and ordered it to 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:47.600 be torn down and rebuilt, except then she didn't like 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:50.840 the second version of the tower or the third. According 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:54.240 to a newspaper from the time, it took sixteen tries 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:57.960 before the construction crews got the tower just right, and 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:02.880 that situation wasn't unique. According to author Mary Joe Ignoffo, 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:06.640 Sarah had several rooms torn down and rebuilt to ensure 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:12.120 they matched her specifications. Eccentricities like these ensured that rumor 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:15.640 and speculation flew. It was only a matter of time 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:20.199 before people theorized that the ongoing expansions and renovations were 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:24.320 a cult in nature. Some believed that Sarah was building 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:27.800 without ceasing to work out guilty feelings. She may have 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:30.600 been troubled by the fortune her husband had left her, 0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:34.160 specifically because he'd made so much of his money selling 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:38.280 Winchester rifles. As the story went, Sarah was also an 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:42.920 avid spiritualist who often hosted seances in her home. During 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:46.280 one of those sessions, a medium supposedly told her that 0:10:46.360 --> 0:10:49.240 she'd lost her husband and daughter because gun sales had 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:52.600 brought a curse down on her family. Now the ghost 0:10:52.679 --> 0:10:55.800 of every person who'd ever been killed by a Winchester 0:10:55.920 --> 0:10:59.959 rifle had come to haunt Sarah as well. She needed 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:02.720 to keep making the house larger and larger to appease 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:06.040 all of the lost souls. If she ever finished construction 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:09.760 or stopped the work, they would kill her too. According 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:13.320 to Mitch Goth of Haunted Us, Sarah hosted even more 0:11:13.360 --> 0:11:16.760 seances to consult with the ghosts about what structural changes 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:20.800 she should make. Another rumor said that ghosts couldn't be satisfied, 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:25.079 only avoided, so Sarah intentionally made her home huge and 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:27.640 maze like to make it harder for the specters to 0:11:27.679 --> 0:11:31.400 find her. She also supposedly slept in a different bedroom 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:34.840 every night, just to stay one step ahead of the spirits. 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:39.040 By this time in her life, Sarah was very reclusive. 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:42.760 She never entertained guests and rarely appeared in public. 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:44.400 She also never. 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:48.200 Confirmed or denied any of the speculation, so it's hard 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:50.680 to know if there was any truth to these rumors. 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:54.559 That said, it was quite common for wealthy women at 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:59.160 the time to host seances, and firearms were already controversial 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:02.320 even in those days, so it is quite possible that 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:05.160 a medium could have come to Sarah's home and warned 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:09.840 her about the spiritual dangers associated with her family fortune. However, 0:12:10.360 --> 0:12:13.360 there's no hard evidence that Sarah ever hosted a seance 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:17.200 at Yanatavilla, nor did she ever give any indication that 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:20.640 she felt guilty about her association with the Winchester rifle. 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:26.959 Whatever her reasons, Sarah continued expanding the house until disaster struck. 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:31.800 On April eighteenth, nineteen oh six, a massive earthquake shook 0:12:31.800 --> 0:12:35.960 San Francisco and the surrounding area. This included San Jose, 0:12:36.360 --> 0:12:40.120 where Yanata Villa was standing. There's no record of where 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:43.520 Sarah was that day, but rumor suggests she was at 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:47.120 the Mystery House when the quake hit. The seven story 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:51.120 tower collapsed, as did several of the upper floors. It's 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:54.200 hard to estimate the extent of the damage because there 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:57.800 are no blueprints showing the house's original layout, but the 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:03.800 destruction was unquestionably intensive. As the story goes, Sarah supposedly 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:07.079 became trapped in the room known as the Daisy Bedroom. 0:13:07.520 --> 0:13:10.600 Although she repeatedly called for help and rang a bell 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:13.360 to notify her staff that she was in trouble, it 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:17.080 took them hours to find her, since Sarah slept in 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:19.560 a different room every night. They had no idea where 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:21.600 she could have been at the time of the tremor. 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:25.800 Luckily for Sarah, she survived the disaster and made it 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:30.600 out alive. Sadly, her home was badly damaged. She ordered 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:34.120 several crumbling wings and whole stories to be walled off. 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:38.760 Those areas were never repaired, and after the earthquake, the 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:41.040 construction work as a whole ceased. 0:13:42.120 --> 0:13:44.080 It's possible this is the true. 0:13:43.800 --> 0:13:48.000 Reason for the Mystery House's current doorways and hallways to nowhere. 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:51.559 They might not have been built on purpose. Instead, they 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:55.280 were left to sit unrepaired in the aftermath of the earthquake. 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:58.640 But again it's hard to say for sure, because after 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:04.080 the disaster, more and gossip plagued Sarah. Now People whispered 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:07.559 that she was mentally unstable and obsessed with the apocalypse. 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:11.440 Others said the earthquake was a sign that restless spirits 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:15.600 were unhappy with her continued renovations. Whatever the truth lay, 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:20.320 Sarah spent less time at Nada Villa. However, she was 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:23.960 there on September fifth, nineteen twenty two. That's when she 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:28.040 passed away at the age of eighty three, The Winchester 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:31.280 Mystery House sold right away after her death, Even though 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:35.480 appraiser said it had no monetary value whatsoever, the new 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:39.120 owners saw its potential. Though by this time the house 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:42.440 was already rumored to be haunted. Many thought that the 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:45.360 stories of Sarah hiding from the ghosts of the Winchester 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:49.320 Rifle victims had a ring of authenticity, whether they were 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:52.880 true or not, and by summer nineteen twenty three, the 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:55.640 new owners were marketing it as a haunted house and 0:14:55.800 --> 0:15:00.800 offering tours to their customers. In October ninth, teen twenty four, 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:05.760 Harry Houdini himself visited. Now Houdini was there to investigate 0:15:06.080 --> 0:15:08.760 not because he believed it was haunted, but because he 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:13.119 wanted to debunk the rumors. But according to the Winchester 0:15:13.440 --> 0:15:17.720 Mystery House website, he left the house feeling conflicted about 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:22.600 whatever he had experienced there. These days, tourists are still 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:25.680 allowed to walk through the home and explore its mysteries 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:29.680 for themselves. Time magazine considers it one of the top 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:31.880 ten most haunted places. 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:32.760 In the whole world. 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:36.160 Numerous visitors claim they felt a presence in the home, 0:15:36.400 --> 0:15:40.280 a friendly one that said some staffers and tourists flat 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:43.800 out refused to go into certain rooms. That includes the 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:46.920 so called Witch's Cap, which is in the South Turret. 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:49.920 It's not easy to get there. Visitors have to go 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:52.640 through a cluttered attic and a narrow hallway that's only 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:57.040 five feet tall. Eventually they'll reach a wooden, circular room 0:15:57.160 --> 0:16:01.480 that's supposed to be a hotbed for supernatural incidents. The 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:05.320 Daisy Bedroom is also highly active. That is the room 0:16:05.360 --> 0:16:09.360 where Sarah reportedly got trapped during the nineteen oh six earthquake, 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:12.280 and to this day, cracks from the tremor are. 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:13.440 Visible in the walls. 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:17.640 Cameras don't always work properly in the Daisy Bedroom. That's 0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:21.800 according to Kathy Alexander of Legends of America. She also 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:24.720 wrote that when visitors do manage to snap a picture, 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:27.720 they'll often end up with a strange looking photo of 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:34.160 a blurry, white, unidentifiable entity. Shadow figures have also appeared 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:37.840 in this room, as have cold spots elsewhere in the home. 0:16:37.920 --> 0:16:43.160 People can hear disembodied footsteps, whispers and voices, and distant 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:46.760 piano music. Doors open and close on their own, and 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:49.600 sometimes the home fills with the scent of a freshly 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:53.120 cooked meal even though no one is using the kitchen. 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:58.880 Many reports feature a mustached specter known as Clyde. He's 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:01.720 said to be one of the construction workers who helped 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:05.200 build Yanata Villa, and to this day, his spirit still 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:08.560 hauls wheelbarrows of coal around or tries to fix the 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:12.959 fireplace in the ballroom. Clyde wears white coveralls and sometimes 0:17:13.000 --> 0:17:16.520 has a Victorian era hat over his black hair. When 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:19.760 he notices that tourists have spotted him, he usually gives 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:23.280 a friendly nod before getting back to work, and a 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:26.520 few eagle eyed guests have seen a very slim four 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:30.160 foot ten inch woman dressed all in black. She's thought 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:34.720 to be Sarah Winchester herself. The Winchester Mystery House website 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:38.159 says that Sarah can be spotted wandering the halls, looking 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:42.240 out windows, and occasionally visiting the gardens, all things that 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:43.200 she likely. 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:44.399 Did in life as well. 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:48.639 Apparently, it's not only the house that's haunted, but the 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:52.800 objects within it. Over the years, different guests and tourists 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:56.359 stole nick knacks and small items during their visits, and 0:17:56.480 --> 0:18:01.560 regularly these sticky fingered individuals would suffer from bad luck afterward, 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:06.760 until eventually they'd mailed the stolen object back to Yanadavia. 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:07.560 Hoping for relief. 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:11.680 To talk about all this history and all these stories. 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:14.280 Up next, we're going to be talking to my dear 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:18.760 friend Aiden Sinclair, who worked at the Mystery House for years. 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:21.439 He's got some really great stories to tell, and that 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:33.479 is coming up after the break. So now I am 0:18:33.600 --> 0:18:37.920 joined by one of my very good friends, mister Aiden Sinclair. 0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:41.760 This is not his first time to the show. He is. 0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:46.360 I guess you're a resident magician at the Stanley Hotel 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:50.480 and you had an affiliation with the Winchester House for 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:52.680 a long time, So what happened there? 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:56.399 Yeah, we've been really lucky to get to kind of 0:18:56.440 --> 0:19:00.439 perform and investigate at probably the three most famous haunted 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:04.160 places in the US, being the Stanley Hotel, the Queen Mary, 0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:07.680 and the Winchester Mystery House, which is really kind of cool, 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:09.159 you know, it's like a nice thing to have in 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:13.320 your portfolio. But we did shows for the Winchester Mystery 0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:16.560 House for about three years, and we actually did their 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:21.119 first public paranormal investigation there as well, and that was 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:24.199 pre COVID back and I think in twenty twenty we 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:26.960 got to do that brought in twenty people who got 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:30.439 to have the experience, and it's just an immensely fascinating 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:34.280 place and really really cool and obviously amazing history. 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:38.480 Yeah, so I've actually investigated there and it's been many, 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:39.080 many years. 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:39.600 It's funny. 0:19:39.600 --> 0:19:43.800 I think I investigated their pre TV and everything, and 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:46.879 it was kind of when there was still kind of 0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:49.760 a novelty to a paranormal team asking to come into 0:19:49.760 --> 0:19:53.160 a location, and one of our team members actually worked there, 0:19:53.840 --> 0:19:56.919 and so we were able to go in and investigate 0:19:56.960 --> 0:20:00.640 a couple of times and it was super interesting. It's 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:04.760 hard not to like be distracted by your surroundings the 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:07.280 whole time because there's just so much to look at. 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:10.119 And so now I do just want to say, I 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:12.320 want to preface this before we get too far into this, 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:14.600 because I did mention that you are a magician, a 0:20:14.680 --> 0:20:17.560 very skilled one at that, but you're also very much 0:20:17.680 --> 0:20:21.080 on the level when it comes to like paranormal activity. 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:24.159 Like I trust you immensely. I don't think you're you know, 0:20:25.280 --> 0:20:28.040 conjuring spirits as they say, you know what I mean, 0:20:28.320 --> 0:20:33.000 You're very respectful of the paranormal and so I just 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:35.560 wanted to put that out there Aidan is awesome and 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:37.880 I love how much you incorporate just in your act 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:43.280 in general spiritualism and seances and it's just really stunning stuff. 0:20:43.320 --> 0:20:45.040 So if you ever have the chance to see Aidan, 0:20:45.080 --> 0:20:46.880 please do. We'll talk more about it at the end, 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:50.000 but anyway, so you get the chance to kind of 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:54.399 run these public investigations at the house. Now before you 0:20:54.480 --> 0:20:57.359 even started doing that, like, what were some of the 0:20:57.359 --> 0:21:00.240 things that you either knew happened there or you experiences 0:21:00.359 --> 0:21:01.840 yourself in the location. 0:21:02.200 --> 0:21:06.120 Well, we on our very first trip up there, there 0:21:06.320 --> 0:21:09.200 is this It's one of those things where you see 0:21:09.200 --> 0:21:11.040 shadows out of the corner of your eye, you know, 0:21:11.080 --> 0:21:13.560 where like you definitely feel somebody there, and then you 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:17.000 turn in it's empty space and you get that feeling 0:21:17.080 --> 0:21:20.600 a lot of being watched, which is really uncanny. You know, 0:21:20.640 --> 0:21:22.720 it makes your hair stand up on your neck. And 0:21:22.440 --> 0:21:26.159 there's this amazing history of things just being moved, you know, 0:21:26.720 --> 0:21:29.000 not in a poltergeisty way, not in a bad way, 0:21:30.040 --> 0:21:36.200 and there's definitely this presence that's there. The first trip there, 0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:38.760 we just always had that feeling of where we went 0:21:38.840 --> 0:21:42.919 in the house like somebody was with you. And learning 0:21:42.920 --> 0:21:46.040 the history of Sarah. To me, it became really kind 0:21:46.080 --> 0:21:49.240 of it felt a lot like I don't think Sarah's there, 0:21:49.359 --> 0:21:50.879 but I think all the people who took care of 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:53.320 Sarah are very much still there taking care of her, 0:21:53.359 --> 0:21:56.639 if that makes any sense. You know, her staff was 0:21:56.680 --> 0:21:59.240 really loyal to or they were very protective of her. 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:02.600 I think when that's part of somebody's essence in life, 0:22:03.400 --> 0:22:06.560 that maybe that hangs around afterwards, you know, and that 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:09.840 especially with all the traffic and kind of the exploitation 0:22:09.960 --> 0:22:12.960 of the place, I think that that makes them stay, 0:22:13.119 --> 0:22:14.679 you know, and makes them feel like they have to 0:22:14.680 --> 0:22:15.720 be protective and present. 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:17.640 That's something to kind of talk about. 0:22:17.720 --> 0:22:20.840 Do you think that, like the kind of the exploitation 0:22:20.920 --> 0:22:24.880 of her story in general, do you think that that 0:22:25.640 --> 0:22:27.919 adds to the activity. Do you think that's one of 0:22:27.920 --> 0:22:30.240 the reasons why things happen there? 0:22:30.480 --> 0:22:34.600 I think it does. I think it's fascinating that, you know, 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:37.800 the paranormal teams that tend to be more shall we 0:22:37.840 --> 0:22:41.600 say aggressive, or you know, they kind of they could 0:22:41.600 --> 0:22:44.239 be kind of provocative when they go places, you know, 0:22:44.280 --> 0:22:46.960 and their their tonality is much darker. You know, that's 0:22:47.000 --> 0:22:50.280 always is there a demon here? You know that stuff. 0:22:50.680 --> 0:22:53.320 I think when that stuff goes into the house, I 0:22:53.359 --> 0:22:57.920 don't think the provocation generates in interactions, but I think 0:22:57.960 --> 0:23:00.280 there's a dislike for that, you know what I mean 0:23:00.720 --> 0:23:02.639 of that's not what we are and that's not what 0:23:02.680 --> 0:23:06.119 this is. And I think that stimulates some activity in 0:23:06.200 --> 0:23:09.080 a way that is not necessarily good, because I think 0:23:09.080 --> 0:23:10.879 some people will go and go, well, if you provoke 0:23:10.920 --> 0:23:13.560 the ghost, maybe you get a response, but that would 0:23:13.560 --> 0:23:16.280 be like somebody coming into your house and being rude, 0:23:17.400 --> 0:23:19.720 and of course you're going to respond in a rude way. 0:23:20.280 --> 0:23:23.760 So I don't know. I feel kind of the people 0:23:23.800 --> 0:23:26.960 there are. I think all the traffic there gives purpose 0:23:27.160 --> 0:23:30.439 to the entities there, if that makes any sense, Like 0:23:30.440 --> 0:23:31.880 they have a reason to stay there. 0:23:32.680 --> 0:23:35.359 It sounds very personal, and you know, I think that 0:23:35.480 --> 0:23:38.480 a lot of hauntings are kind of personal like that, 0:23:38.600 --> 0:23:42.760 like they feel an obligation. Now when people are doing 0:23:42.800 --> 0:23:46.480 public investigations there, I'm sure when you guys ran those, 0:23:47.280 --> 0:23:50.880