What better to do at midnight on Friday the 13th than to walk around Sara Winchester's (1839-1922) old mansion, Llanada Villa, in the dark and spook yourself out?
wish i had a tripod, as these slow exposure shots without flash produced the look i wanted but was hard to keep steady by hand.
Sara's bedroom. Get got depressed when her first born and only child died two weeks after birth in 1866. Went a little further crazy when her husband died in 1881 and soon believed she was being haunted by the ghosts of people killed by Winchester Rifles. When the 1906 SF Quake trapped her for hours, she went mad, kept building until her death and held midnight seances every night. Tonight, we stood in her seance room at midnight.
Wonder what happened to the 1917 Pierce Arrow Limousine and 1916 Buick truck that were left at the house when she died?
Door knobs and misc details:
Some wood laying around the only shop. All this old growth quality woods still looks like new.
I could have swore that from the corner of my eye i saw somebody walking around the back of the place in the garden area that was dressed and looked like one of these guys...
and, of coure, yep-- when i turned to check him out there was nothing....
To continue the tradition of Sara's obsession-- there are 13 photographs in this posting...
Nice evening to feel some Friday the 13th chill.
-scott noteboom
I went there when I was a kid and mostly remember the stairway leading to nowhere. But your pics are amazing. Can you imagine how weird it would be to live with someone that crazy - or to be that crazy and have money? I imagine she suffered but she sure left a legacy.
Thanks again for the pics. Super cool. You can find other California tourist attractions at http://statestouristguide.com/listing/guide/california-tourist-attractions
Posted by: Chris Mecham | May 18, 2011 at 12:27 PM
wow ! your column is so advisory and so helpful. I am cat-and-mouse for your next post. accumulate it up.
Posted by: Petter Joe | July 03, 2012 at 01:55 PM
Very nice, thanks for sharing.
Posted by: sewa mobil jakarta | October 12, 2012 at 12:41 PM