Once home to Winchester rifle heiress Sarah Winchester and popular spooky tourist attraction, the Winchester Mystery House will re-open this weekend for in-person tours after being closed to the public for nearly a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new self-guided mansion tours will be available starting this Saturday, March 6, 2021, and have been built with social distancing protocols in mind. The tour paths are one way and focus on the larger rooms of the home. With ample space and time in each room, guests can tour the mansion at their own pace, in their own space. The Mansion Tour ticket also includes access to the Victorian Gardens, which re-opened to the public for tours back in February.
Advanced ticket purchase is required for the new tour and must be purchased online through the Winchester Mystery House website. To limit one one one contact, the Winchester Mystery House will not be selling tour tickets on-site.
While closed, the mansion offered a video access tour, as well as an immersive 360° tour, both of which are still available for folks who still aren’t comfortable with being out during the pandemic.
Located in San Jose, California, the Winchester Mystery House is the end result of a 38 year, $5.5 million renovation of a small eight-room farmhouse. Legend has it that Sarah Winchester purchased the home after she was instructed to do so by a medium whom she found solace after her husband and only child’s passing. Believing she was cursed and being haunted by the spirits of those killed by the Winchester rifle, Mrs. Winchester took the medium’s advice. She left New Haven, Connecticut, to start a new life in California in 1184. Work on the home would continue around the clock until her passing on September 5, 1922. In the end, the home would span six acres and contain 160 rooms, 2,000 doors (some of which lead to nowhere), 10,000 windows, 47 stairways, 47 fireplaces, 13 bathrooms, and six kitchens.
To learn more about the mansion and the currently available tours, visit winchestermysteryhouse.com.
