WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Why Is the Winchester House Built So Strangely?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren vogelbaumb here with a classic episode from the vault.

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<v Speaker 1>This one tells the twisting tale of the purposefully odd

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<v Speaker 1>Winchester House. I'm bringing it back because this is one

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<v Speaker 1>story where the truth is just as strange as any

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<v Speaker 1>fiction that could be concocted. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogel

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<v Speaker 1>bomb here. Most of us want to get home construction

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<v Speaker 1>over as soon as possible. We worry about the expense

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<v Speaker 1>and complain about the inconvenience. But for Sarah Winchester, construction

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<v Speaker 1>was a way of life. For thirty eight years, she

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<v Speaker 1>had construction going twenty four hours a day at her

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<v Speaker 1>home in San Jose, California. This was no ordinary construction job. Though.

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<v Speaker 1>The house is an odd ball labyrinth of rooms that

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<v Speaker 1>at one point reached seven stories. It's filled with weird

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<v Speaker 1>things like stairs and doors that go nowhere. Not to

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<v Speaker 1>mention the ghosts. Sarah Winchester didn't start out looking for

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<v Speaker 1>this kind of project. Born Sarah Party in eighteen thirty nine,

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<v Speaker 1>she was one of the social stars of New Haven, Connecticut.

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<v Speaker 1>Although she only stood four feet ten inches, she was

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<v Speaker 1>known for her beauty and sparkling personality. In eighteen sixty two,

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<v Speaker 1>Sarah married William Winchester, who was the heir of the

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<v Speaker 1>Winchester Repeating Arms Company. The company had developed the Repeating rifle,

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<v Speaker 1>a gun that was easy to reload and fired rapidly

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<v Speaker 1>at a rate of one shot every three seconds. The

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<v Speaker 1>gun was used by Northern troops in the Civil War,

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<v Speaker 1>and it was also known as the Gun that Won

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<v Speaker 1>the West. The young couple started a family in eighteen

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<v Speaker 1>sixty six, but their daughter Annie died in infancy and

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<v Speaker 1>mister Winchester died of tuberculosis fifteen years later. Distraught over

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<v Speaker 1>these losses, Missus Winchester visited a medium for spiritual guidance.

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<v Speaker 1>The medium told her that the Winchester family had been

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<v Speaker 1>struck by a terrible curse and was haunted by the

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<v Speaker 1>ghosts of all those killed by the Winchester rifle. Their

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<v Speaker 1>spirits were seeking vengeance and the only way to appease

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<v Speaker 1>them was to build a house for them. But the

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<v Speaker 1>ghosts had another request that the house never be completed.

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<v Speaker 1>Never stop building, the medium told Missus Winchester, or you

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<v Speaker 1>will die. We can't know exactly how she interpreted this, advice.

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<v Speaker 1>She might have thought the spirits would get her if

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<v Speaker 1>she stopped, or she might have seen the continuous construction

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<v Speaker 1>as a path to eternal life. Missus Winchester headed west

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<v Speaker 1>to build a home for herself and her ghosts. She

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<v Speaker 1>bought a six room farmhouse on one hundred and sixty

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<v Speaker 1>two acres in California and set to work. She served

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<v Speaker 1>as her own architect, but it's possible that some ghosts

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<v Speaker 1>had a hand in designing the house as well. Every night,

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<v Speaker 1>Missus Winchester would retreat to her seance room and receive

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<v Speaker 1>instruction from the spirits on the progress of her house.

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<v Speaker 1>The next morning should present her construction workers with hand

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<v Speaker 1>drawn sketches of what was to be done. Sometimes it

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<v Speaker 1>seemed she didn't care what she built, as long as

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<v Speaker 1>she could hear the hammers of her crew. The crew

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<v Speaker 1>might spend a month constructing a room, only to be

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<v Speaker 1>ordered to destroy it the next month. Because Missus Winchester

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<v Speaker 1>paid well, no one disputed her instructions. Missus Winchester had

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<v Speaker 1>inherited twenty million dollars and just less than half of

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<v Speaker 1>the Winchester Repeat Arms Company stock. That left Missus Winchester

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<v Speaker 1>with a daily income of about one thousand dollars to

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<v Speaker 1>spend on her house. That's equal to about twenty five

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<v Speaker 1>thousand dollars a day in today's money. But what of

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<v Speaker 1>those doors and stairs to nowhere? Doors may open onto

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<v Speaker 1>walls or, in the case of a second story door

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<v Speaker 1>to the outside, resulting in a big fall for anyone

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<v Speaker 1>who might try to exit that way. A closet door

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<v Speaker 1>on the second floor seance room opens onto a first

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<v Speaker 1>floor sink several feet below. The stairs to nowhere are

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<v Speaker 1>pretty much what they sound like. Stairs go up until

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<v Speaker 1>they reach the ceiling, and then they just stop. These

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<v Speaker 1>might have a simple explanation. The stairs were likely part

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<v Speaker 1>of the original house that Missus Winchester bought, and when

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<v Speaker 1>she started adding on to the home, she covered up

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<v Speaker 1>the stairs. Whether it was accidentally or on purpose. Missus

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<v Speaker 1>Winchester usually covered up her mistakes by just continuing to

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<v Speaker 1>build around them. Because she had no master plan for

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<v Speaker 1>the house, her architectural ideas didn't always work out. Since

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<v Speaker 1>she had no deadline for completion, she'd either tear down

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<v Speaker 1>the mistake or cover it up with something else. But

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<v Speaker 1>the new stairs she built also zigzag back and forth,

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<v Speaker 1>going around and around in circles, and most are only

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<v Speaker 1>two inches about five centimeters tall. Some people think that

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<v Speaker 1>these touches were designed to confuse the evil spirits that

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<v Speaker 1>were haunting Missus Winchester. The height of the stairs served

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<v Speaker 1>a very specific purpose, though she had very bad arthritis,

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<v Speaker 1>and these small stairs allowed her to get around. However,

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<v Speaker 1>Missus Winchester might have deliberately installed some of the other

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<v Speaker 1>weird touches, believing that ghosts would get lost on stairs

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<v Speaker 1>that went nowhere or accidentally step out of door that

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<v Speaker 1>went outside. If this sounds strange to you today, you're

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<v Speaker 1>not alone. Even at the time that Missus Winchester was

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<v Speaker 1>building the house, she was regarded with suspicion. Some thought

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<v Speaker 1>her in eccentric with too much money on her hands,

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<v Speaker 1>and her home took on the nickname Mystery House not

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<v Speaker 1>long after her death. Because Missus Winchester left no diary

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<v Speaker 1>or other communication, we honestly have no idea what might

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<v Speaker 1>have been going on in her mind. What we do

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<v Speaker 1>have is her house, which is still open to tourists.

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<v Speaker 1>Missus Winchester died in her sleep in nineteen twenty two,

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<v Speaker 1>and the house was sold to a group of investors

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<v Speaker 1>who wanted to create a tourist attraction. To this day,

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<v Speaker 1>it's hard to know exactly how many rooms are in

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<v Speaker 1>the house because people keep getting lost when they try

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<v Speaker 1>to count, but it's estimated that about one hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>sixty rooms are in the home. It had reached seven

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<v Speaker 1>stories by nineteen oh six, but the top three floors

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<v Speaker 1>collapsed after the nineteen oh six San Francisco earthquake. Some

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<v Speaker 1>other famous numbers associated with the house include its forty

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<v Speaker 1>seven fireplaces, seventeen chimneys, two basements, six kitchens, ten thousand

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<v Speaker 1>window panes, and four hundred and sixty seven doorways. Despite

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<v Speaker 1>these impressive numbers, there are only two mirrors. Missus Winchester

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<v Speaker 1>thought the ghosts were afraid of their own reflection. Missus

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<v Speaker 1>Winchester also had an obsession with the number thirteen. Many

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<v Speaker 1>things installed in the home feature thirteen of something a,

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<v Speaker 1>thirteen window panes, thirteen wall panels, thirteen sections of flooring,

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<v Speaker 1>thirteen stairs. In each staircase, there are thirteen bathrooms, sinks

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<v Speaker 1>that have thirteen drain holes, and the sands room has

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<v Speaker 1>thirteen coat hooks. And beyond the stairs and windows to nowhere,

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<v Speaker 1>there are other architectural oddities all over the house. Stair

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<v Speaker 1>posts were installed upside down, and chimneys that served no

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<v Speaker 1>purpose are all over the house. There are cabinets that

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<v Speaker 1>are less than an inch deep that's about two and

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<v Speaker 1>a half centimeters. Missus Winchester ordered a beautiful and outlangily

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<v Speaker 1>expensive tiffany glass window, but after she installed it, a

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<v Speaker 1>wooden wall was built behind it so that sunlight could

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<v Speaker 1>never shine through the panes. Missus Winchester was convinced that

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<v Speaker 1>she lived with spirits, but are they still there today?

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<v Speaker 1>Does the spirit of Missus Winchester herself walk the halls?

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<v Speaker 1>Some psychics say yes, that upon visiting the house, they

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<v Speaker 1>sent spirits wandering. Tour guides and visitors report mysterious footsteps,

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<v Speaker 1>banging doors, and weird moving lights. Some see door knobs

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<v Speaker 1>move by themselves and feel cold spots. It may be

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<v Speaker 1>something you'll have to determine for yourself. The Winchester Mystery

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<v Speaker 1>House offers daily tours, and for those who want to

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<v Speaker 1>be particularly spooked, flashlight tours are offered on Halloween and

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<v Speaker 1>all fridays that fall on the thirteenth of the month.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article What's so Scary

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<v Speaker 1>About the Winchester House story on how Stuffworks dot Com,

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<v Speaker 1>written by Molly Edmonds. Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio

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<v Speaker 1>in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com, and it's produced by

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<v Speaker 1>Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit

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<v Speaker 1>the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

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<v Speaker 1>your favorite shows.