winchester house virtual tour free

Virtual Travel

A Smithsonian magazine special report

Take a Free Virtual Tour of the Winchester Mystery House

The California landmark is closed, but you can explore its bizarre architectural features from afar

Brigit Katz

Correspondent

The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California, is one of the nation’s most curious landmarks. Built by a millionaire widow over the course of 36 years, the sprawling mansion features more than 200 rooms , 10,000 windows, trap doors, spy holes and a host of other architectural oddities.

A popular tourist attraction, the house, along with many other cultural institutions in the United States, has closed to help curb the spread of coronavirus. But as Michele Debczak reports for Mental Floss , you can now explore the Winchester House from afar via a detailed video tour posted on the mansion’s website.

The narrated video tour spans more than 40 minutes, providing insight into the property and the mysterious woman who built it: Sarah Winchester , wealthy and reclusive heiress to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, which manufactured an innovative rifle that became a fixture of Westward expansion.

Sarah Lockwood Pardee married into the Winchester family in 1862. Four years later, she gave birth to a daughter, Annie, who died about a month later. Her husband, William Wirt Winchester, died in 1881, leaving his widow with a vast fortune: 50 percent ownership in the Repeating Arms Company and a $20 million inheritance.

Winchester decided to leave her home in New Haven, Connecticut, and head to California, where two of her sisters lived. In San Jose, she purchased an eight-room farmhouse that she began to renovate in 1886. The construction project continued until Winchester’s death in 1922, producing an enormous, labyrinthine mansion filled with logic-defying features: staircases that end at the ceiling, indoor balconies, skylights built into floors, doors that open onto walls. The designs, wrote Pamela Haag for Zócalo Public Square in 2016, were Winchester’s; she sketched them onto napkins or pieces of brown paper, then handed them over to a team of carpenters. Sometimes, she would have features built and plastered over the next day.

Exactly why Winchester embarked on this dizzying cycle of building, undoing and rebuilding is impossible to say. Popular lore has it that she was a keen follower of the Spiritualist movement , which was rooted in the idea that dead souls can interact with the living, and consulted a medium who told her she had been cursed by victims of Winchester rifles . The medium reportedly instructed her to constantly build a house for these ghosts. If construction ever stopped, she would die.

But as Katie Dowd of SFGate points out, there is “scant proof” for this theory. Winchester could have been engaging in an eccentric brand of philanthropy, as she built her home during an economic depression, and the continuous construction project provided jobs for locals. When she died, in fact, the heiress left most of her money to charity.

“She had a social conscience and she did try to give back,” historian Janan Boehme told Robin Abcarian of the Los Angeles Times in 2017. “This house, in itself, was her biggest social work of all.”

The true nature of Winchester’s motivations is likely to remain a mystery. But as the video tour points out, the house she built was not only bizarre—it was innovative. Take, for example, the north conservatory. Winchester loved to garden, so the conservatory featured an indoor watering system and wooden floorboards that could be lifted up to water plants resting below.

Though visitors can watch the video tour for free, the Winchester Mystery House is asking visitors to consider purchasing a voucher for use at a later date.

“Like many other [Bay Area] businesses, closing our doors until April 7th will severely impact the employees who maintain the estate,” the website explains . “Come when you are ready, but please come!”

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Brigit Katz | | READ MORE

Brigit Katz is a freelance writer based in Toronto. Her work has appeared in a number of publications, including NYmag.com, Flavorwire and Tina Brown Media's Women in the World.

Introducing Immersive 360° Tour Experience

• April 22, 2020 August 31, 2020 By Jacob Gospodnetich
• Winchester News

SAN JOSE, CA (April 22, 2020)—For the first time ever, the Winchester Mystery House is offering guests unprecedented access to the world’s most bizarre mansion with an all-new tour —The Winchester Mystery House Immersive 360 Tour. This virtual experience allows guests to independently roam each level of the mansion, from the basement to the rarely seen fourth floor, while exploring many rooms previously inaccessible on standard Estate tours. The Immersive 360 Tour is available now for $8.99 HERE . Guests who purchase this tour during the Estate’s closure will receive one complimentary pass for a future tour when it reopens.

“Sarah Winchester was ahead of her time in many ways. She was a woman of independence, drive, and courage, and the mansion she built is world-renowned for its many design curiosities and innovations,” said Walter Magnuson, Winchester Mystery House General Manager. “Today, we are striving to follow in her footsteps by offering an innovative way for guests to explore the mansion unlike ever before. We are asking the community to help us maintain this important historical landmark until we can once again welcome guests in person.” The 24,000-square-foot home’s iconic design features—such as the stairs to the ceiling, secret passageways, and doors to nowhere—were all captured by Los Angeles-based Matterport 3D Tours over the course of just one weekend using their Matterport 360 cameras. The new tour also offers fans and the Winchester Mystery House staff the first-ever digital floor plan of the historic mansion. Sarah Winchester’s 38-year renovation project became the most infamous historic home in the country, but upon her death, no blueprints or floor plans were ever found. Now, after 97 years of guiding guests safely through its confusing halls without a map, the Estate’s caretakers are thrilled to present this digital floor plan to the public.

Guests interested in supporting the Winchester Mystery House during this unprecedented closure can visit winchestermysteryhouse.com/support-the-estate/ to purchase the Immersive 360 Tour, “good any day vouchers,” and exclusive Winchester Mystery House merchandise. The previously offered video tour is also still available to rent for $5.99 or to purchase for $13.99 online at winchestermysteryhouse.com/video-tour/.

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You Can Now Take a Free Virtual Tour of California's Winchester Mystery House

The eeriest home in the country has opened its virtual doors.

All over America, businesses are closing their doors in the name of public safety and flattening the curve. Some sections of the country, like New York City and California’s Bay Area, have been hit especially hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Among the many buildings closing down during this crisis is the Winchester Mystery House —Sarah Winchester's haunting, labyrinthine mansion in South Bay's San Jose. Although the spooky attraction has had to cancel walking tours for the time being, there is some good news for fans of the strange and unusual: the Winchester Mystery House is now offering free virtual tours through April 7th!

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The story of this supremely eerie estate and purported haunted house is one of tragedy and self-determination. In 1862, Sarah Lockwood Pardee married William Wirt Winchester, treasurer and the son of the founder of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Four years after their marriage, Sarah gave birth to a little girl named Annie. Sadly, Annie died about a month after her birth. Then, in 1881, William passed away, leaving Sarah with $20 million dollars and 50 percent ownership in the gun manufacturing company.

Understandably, the deaths devastated Sarah. So in 1886 she left New England and moved out west to California, purchased a property in San Jose and began her mysterious construction project—one that lasted until her own death in 1922. 

Legend has it that Sarah constructed her mystery mansion after receiving advice from a clairvoyant. This psychic warned her that she was cursed, haunted by the spirits of all those who died from the shots of Winchester weapons. The only way to keep herself safe and appease the spirits would be to construct a home of manifold hallways, doors, and rooms—and never stop building.

Related: 16 Haunted House Books That Will Leave You Sleeping with One Eye Open  

What started out as an eight-room farmhouse grew into a seven-story mansion, full of mystery and haunted by the pains of the past. Inside, stairways led to nowhere, hallways stopped abruptly, and doorways opened onto open air. A private seance room was included in the grand home's design, into which Sarah would enter alone at night. In total, Winchester Mystery Mansion boasts some 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, 47 stairways, 47 fireplaces, 17  chimneys, 13 bathrooms, 6 kitchens, 2 basements, and 3 elevators.

Typically, the in-person tour of the house costs between $20 and $54 per person. Since there won’t be any (living) visitors allowed inside before April 7th, ticket vouchers are now being offered, along with the readily available 41-minute narrated video tour of the estate. To continue to support this one-of-a-kind attraction, consider visiting the online store to purchase a memento and a voucher for a later visit or become a member of the Skeleton Key Club .

In the meantime, settle in and click the button below to take the free virtual tour of the Winchester Mystery House now!

Featured photo: Wikimedia Commons / CC

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The Winchester Mystery House Is Offering Free Virtual Tours and Special Ticket Deal

Best virtual tour ever!

To give a little background: This eccentric Northern California estate was designed by a woman named Sarah Winchester. If the last name sounds familiar, it's because her father-in-law, Oliver Winchester, had founded the rifle company Winchester Repeating Arms . Sarah was never a fan of the company and believed her family was cursed because of it. In fact, she wanted to build a large home for herself to hide in from the sprits of those killed by a Winchester rifle. In 1886, when her father-in-law passed away, Sarah was left a large fortune, allowing her to finally build her fortress. She decided to start a new life and fled her home in New Haven, CT to travel to San Jose, CA. There, she purchased a small eight-room farmhouse and embarked on renovation project that would last 36 years. The renovation project only stopped due to the fact Winchester passed away in 1922.

Over the years, Winchester's home had grown from a tiny farmhouse into a sprawling 24,000 square foot Victorian mansion, best described as "Queen Anne meets Gothic Revival," according to the brochure. While the home was extravagant, it was swarming with odd features that were unexplainable. Think: doors leading nowhere and staircases leading up to the ceiling. In fact, the home has 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, 160 rooms, 13 bathrooms, nine kitchens, and yes, one seance room.

The museum, which opened the year after Winchester's death, has since dedicated itself to sharing the story of Sarah Winchester and her brilliant, but baffling home. While the Winchester Mystery House is currently closed, guests can still get a taste of just how remarkable this property is with this video tour. If you’re looking to visit in person, the museum is currently selling special tickets for $26 that can be used anytime (tickets are normally $42 a piece). You can buy those tickets here .

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Take a virtual tour of the Winchester Mystery House from your sofa

“The house seems designed to confuse anyone other than its owner; it is a place in which you might lose yourself”

In 1884, Sarah Winchester, heiress to the titular rifle fortune, purchased a ramshackle farmhouse on 160 acres of farmland and orchards in the Santa Clara Valley. Over the course of 38 years, it’s where she built the Winchester Mystery House , a residential spectacle that draws crowds to this day.

Unfortunately, the sprawling Queen Anne Victorian, like most museums and businesses , has temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic .

“We depend on our guests to help us continue her legacy and keep the history and intrigue of the house alive,” Winchester Mystery House General Manager Walter Magnuson said in a statement.

And with that, the Mystery House will offer free virtual tours of the noted abode in lieu of physical tours. The San Jose landmark will offer a 40-minute video tour of the property from now until April 7.

The house comes with 160 rooms spanning 24,000 square feet, including 40 bedrooms, six kitchens, 47 fireplaces, a hydraulic elevator, and an aviary full of tropical birds. Eschewing blueprints, Sarah used made notes and sketches on napkins when planning the architectural marvel.

As Curbed noted of the architectural marvel in 2018, “It’s difficult to apprehend its hugeness when you’re inside, as the space is so compartmentalized and divided,” adding, “the house seems designed to confuse anyone other than its owner; it is a place in which you might lose yourself.”

Ticket holders can keep their tickets as vouchers that can be used in the future, with no blackout dates.

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The Winchester Mystery House Is Offering Free Virtual Tours and We're Shaking

From Country Living

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, majority of businesses and attractions have been forced to shut their doors. As a result, workout classes, museum tours , and even Disney rides have been made available online. If you've exhausted all of Netflix's spine-tingling content, then consider giving this virtual tour a watch. The Winchester Mystery House has released free a video tour of the property and it's bound to get your heart racing.

To give a little background: This eccentric Northern California estate was designed by a woman named Sarah Winchester. If the last name sounds familiar, it's because her father-in-law, Oliver Winchester, had founded the rifle company Winchester Repeating Arms . In 1886, he passed away, leaving Sarah a large fortune. With that money, she decided to start a new life and fled her home in New Haven, CT to travel to San Jose, CA. There, she purchased a small eight-room farmhouse and embarked on a 36 year renovation project. Winchester had believed her family was haunted and wanted to built a large home to hide in from the ghosts of those who had been killed by the rifles' her family produced. Renovations only ended on the property when Winchester passed away in 1922.

View this post on Instagram Got some time on your hands? We're publishing the official video tour of the Winchester Mystery House today. Share it with your friends, but #BeLikeSarah and practice social distancing 😄 Discounted good-any-day ticket vouchers are now available for purchase as well. Learn More | Link in bio. A post shared by Winchester Mystery House (@winchestermysteryhouse) on Mar 19, 2020 at 9:30am PDT

Over the years, Winchester's home had grown into a sprawling 24,000 square foot architecturally-rich Victorian mansion, best described as "Queen Anne meets Gothic Revival," according to the brochure. While the home was extravagant, it was swarming with odd features that were unexplainable. Think: doors leading nowhere and staircases leading up to the ceiling. In fact, the home has 2,000 doors, 1o,000 windows, 160 rooms, 13 bathrooms, nine kitchens, and yes, one seance room.

View this post on Instagram Stay safe, practice social distancing, and #BeLikeSarah A post shared by Winchester Mystery House (@winchestermysteryhouse) on Mar 18, 2020 at 10:55am PDT

The museum, which opened the year after Winchester's death, has since dedicated itself to sharing the story of Sarah Winchester and her brilliant, but baffling home. While the Winchester Mystery House is currently closed, you can still get a taste of just how remarkable the home really is with this video tour. If you’re looking to visit in person, the museum is currently selling $26 tickets that can be used anytime (tickets are normally $42 a piece). You can buy tickets here .

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Take a 40-Minute Virtual Tour of the Winchester Mystery House

By michele debczak | mar 24, 2020.

Taking online yoga classes and watching soothing animal live-streams isn't the only way to cope with isolation. If taking a virtual tour of one of the most allegedly haunted places on Earth is more your style, now you can check out every baffling nook and cranny of the Winchester Mystery House on the landmark's website .

Along with many public businesses and institutions across the country, the Winchester Mystery House closed earlier in March in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. A visit to the site in person normally costs up to $54 , but until it reopens, anyone can take a virtual tour of the estate for free.

The Winchester Mystery House is one of the most notorious pieces of property in California's Bay Area. Constructed between 1886 and 1922, legend says Sarah Winchester built the unusual abode to ward off the vengeful spirits of people killed by Winchester rifles. (The founder of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company was her father-in-law.) The home's bizarre layout, which includes stairs that stop at the ceiling and doors that open to nothing, may reflect her fear-driven compulsion to keep building.

Today the Winchester Mystery House is an iconic California landmark. It's a bucket-list destination for ghost hunters, and it's even been immortalized as an elaborate LEGO sculpture . To see the inside of the structure, and to learn more about its history, you can take the 40-minute virtual tour here . If you're looking for more ways to support the attraction while it's closed to visitors, consider buying a discounted ticket voucher now to use when the house reopens.

Coronavirus

The Winchester Mystery House is offering virtual tours of its spooky mansion

Get your fill of creepy from the comfort of your armchair.

COVID-19 has forced tens of millions of people to stay inside their homes. With restrictions and stay-at-home orders in effect, businesses are trying to get more creative with their consumer-facing products, including ticketed virtual tours of museums, free or tip-what-you-want band performances, digital gallery tours, remote wine-tasting, and more. Now, a haunted mansion is getting in on the action, too.

The famous Winchester Mystery House has announced that it will offer virtual tours of its (purportedly) haunted — and undeniably, visibly creepy — property in California. The best part? The tours are free.

How it works — The sprawling 24,000 square feet Winchester property, located in San Jose, California, is worth looking at whether you believe in apparitions or not. The company claims the mansion has 10,000 windows, 2,000 doors, well over 100 rooms, almost 50 stairways, and other jaw-dropping architectural features. So, if you're in the mood for a free tour of a bizarre mansion, here's the Winchester Vimeo clip to give you a taster.

Virtual tours are on the rise — Tech solutions are coming to the forefront as the viral outbreak continues to grip, and arrest, the world. To keep business running, wineries have turned to virtual wine-tasting tours . Some realtors are also trying virtual tours with prospective buyers as house sales plummet.

Google's Arts and Culture program also recently partnered with national parks in the U.S. to offer people digital tours of volcanoes, caverns, canyons, and more, while the Monterey Bay Aquarium and San Diego Zoo have launched virtual tours of their own for anyone interested in animals — aquatic or land-based. Theater, opera, and art enthusiasts also have the chance to watch nightly live streams of performances from the Metropolitan Opera House and browse exhibitions in the Guggenheim Museum.

While virtual tours don't necessarily guarantee revenue, especially when they're offered for free, they do keep public interest in different enterprises alive, and could translate into ticket sales down the line.

Feeling generous? Help out — While its virtual tour is free, Winchester Mystery House is encouraging visitors to help keep the lights on by buying a no-blackout ticket for a future tour. "In these uncertain times, we understand your hesitation in booking upcoming travel. Like many other Bay Area businesses, closing our doors until April 7th will severely impact the employees who maintain the estate," the company says.

"Come when you are ready," the company adds, "but please come! Vouchers are only $26 ($13 off the box office price!) and can be purchased now. Good through May 1st, 2021!"

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Take a Free Virtual Tour of the Fascinating Winchester Mystery House

Listen, there’s social distancing, and then there’s spending 38 years locked in a house, building and adding to it constantly so that ghosts won’t torment you. You may think you have this isolation thing down, but you’re nothing compare to Sarah Winchester. If you’re unfamiliar with her story, you’re in luck: because you can now take a virtual tour of her expansive “mystery house” for free .

Sarah Lockwood Pardee was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1839 . She went on to marry William Winchester, the heir to the Winchester arms fortune and company, in 1862. Sarah’s early life was marred by tragedy and turmoil. Her only child died in 1866, even as her husband’s fortune and the family company grew. They released the Winchester Repeating Rifle in 1873, which came to be known as “the gun that won the west.” But less than a decade later, both Sarah’s husband and father in law would be dead.

Legend has it that Sarah was told by a spiritualist medium soon after her husband’s death that the tragedy in her life was due to the souls of those that had been killed by the Winchester rifles coming after her family, and that the only way to confound the spirits out for her would be for her to find a house and start building it out and never stop.

Sarah purchased the small, two-story farmhouse in San Jose that would become her sprawling villa in 1886 and did as the medium suggested. She started building and didn’t stop until her death in 1922. She was able to do this thanks to inheriting a fortune from her husband’s family and maintaining a large stake in the Winchester company.

The house, which Sarah called “Llanda Villa,” is full of details that are both confusing and creepy, from the doors and staircases to nowhere, secret seance rooms where she would receive building instructions from spirits, and a preoccupation throughout the house with the number thirteen, as well as spiderweb patterns. It’s a major tourist attraction in San Jose and the name Winchester has become synonymous now not just with guns but with mystery and the, um, Supernatural .

With sites like the Winchester Mystery House shut down, it’s easy to think you can’t visit. But that’s not the case. You can enjoy the house’s free, 45 minute (!) virtual tour. This tour is usually something you have to pay for, even to watch online, so it’s a very cool opportunity to see all the secrets of the estate while you’re staying home.

And hey, you might feel inspired to do some home improvement of your own after. We don’t think it will help keep away coronavirus, but it will certainly keep away the boredom. Take the tour on this link .

(Via: BoingBoing Image: Winchester Mystery House LLC/Screencap)

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The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose Announces a New Tour!

T he Winchester Mystery House, the historic mansion located in San Jose invites visitors to experience an unforgettable journey, especially with the exclusive Explore More Tour. This tour offers a unique opportunity to delve deeper into the interesting story of the mansion, uncover hidden secrets, and access areas previously off-limits to the public.

Photo by Winchester Mystery House

The Explore More Tour expands on the classic mansion tour, offering a more in-depth exploration of this historic landmark. Visitors on the Explore More Tour will venture into additional rooms and hidden corners of the mansion that aren't normally accessible to most visitors. According to the  Winchester Mystery House website , "During the Explore More Tour, you’ll have the opportunity to explore rooms not included on the regular Mansion Tour, some of which include the Basement, Witches Cap, North Wing, South Turret, Crystal Bedroom, Staff Quarters and more."

To make the most of the Explore More Tour, here are a few tips:

• Wear Comfortable Shoes: The tour involves a lot of walking, including climbing stairs.
• Allow Plenty of Time: The Explore More Tour offers an in-depth experience, so visitors should plan to spend a couple of hours exploring the mansion.
• Bring a Camera: Unique features and stunning highlights of the house are worth capturing.

TOUR DETAILS:

Location: Winchester Mystery House

Tour length: 60 minutes, ticket price: starting at $39.99 adults, $17.99 children (ages 5-12).

Click to see five unique places to visit in San Jose California!

new doors unlocked

Experience the ultimate exploration of winchester mystery house with our explore more tour —an exclusive opportunity see even more rooms in this historic mansion. prepare to uncover hidden secrets and unlock doors to the oldest sections of the home..

Building upon the foundations of our classic mansion tour, Explore More promises to reveal new dimensions of the mansion’s history, architecture, and intrigue. As we delve into the decades-long construction saga spanning 36 years, guests will witness the evolution of Winchester Mystery House from its humble beginnings to its current iconic status. From Sarah Winchester’s initial visit to San Jose to the present day, every step of the journey unveils a new chapter in the mansion’s rich tapestry of history. With additional unique architectural elements and captivating stories to share, Explore More promises a deeper look into our story like never before.

Not only will you get to see more stunning highlights of the house, but for the first time ever, guests will have the opportunity to explore a section of the house previously off-limits to the public, adding an exciting layer of discovery to their visit.

Experience the ultimate exploration of winchester mystery house with our explore more tour — a unique opportunity to see even more rooms in this historic mansion. prepare to uncover hidden secrets and unlock doors to the oldest sections of the home., don’t miss your chance to explore more of the mansion during your visit, the exploration begins may 25th, 2024. book your tickets now for the explore more tour and prepare to step into a world of mystery and history at winchester mystery house., tour details:, location: winchester mystery house.

• Tour Length: 1 Hour And 5 Minutes
• Ticket Price: $42.99 Adults, $29.99 Children (Ages 5 – 12)

*Children under 5 are not permitted on this tour due to the exposed areas of the basement and the third floor, which require safety helmets.

Tour Length: 60 minutes

Ticket price: starting at $39.99 adults, $17.99 children (ages 5-12).

We offer the Mansion Tour for guests to learn about the amazing woman at the heart of this home, and to see all the bizarre architectural designs and mysterious elements of the Winchester Mystery House. But there is only so much we can show you and tell you about in one hour. The Explore More Tour expands on more of the history and architecture of the mansion, taking you through the rooms you do not see on the Mansion Tour.

All that talk of paranormal sometimes worries parents that the tour will be to scary for children. Not to worry – the tour is very family friendly!

However, due to the exposed areas of the basement and the third floor, which require safety helmets, children under 5 are not permitted. It is recommended that children must be 5 and up and be able to walk unassisted. We do ask that any minor be accompanied with an adult at any time. 

During the Explore More Tour, you’ll have the opportunity to explore  rooms not included on the regular Mansion Tour, some of which include the Basement, Witches Cap, North Wing, South Turret, Crystal Bedroom, Staff Quarters and more. Plus, guests will have the opportunity to step into additional rooms never before accessible to the public.

The duration of the Explore More Tour typically lasts approximately 60 minutes.

Photography is permitted during the Explore More Tour, but flash photography and videography is not. Please respect any guidelines provided by our tour guides.

Tickets for the Explore More Tour can be booked online through our website at winchestermysteryhouse.com or purchased at the Winchester Mystery House ticket office. We recommend booking in advance to secure your spot as availability may be limited.

Unfortunately, due to the historic nature of the Winchester Mystery House, not all areas may be wheelchair accessible. Please contact us in advance to discuss any accessibility requirements, and we will do our best to accommodate your needs.

Cancellations and rescheduling are subject to our tour booking policies. Please refer to your booking confirmation or contact our customer service team for assistance with any changes to your reservation.

The Explore More Tour is a separate, premium experience and is not included in the regular Mansion Tour admission ticket. We do recommend purchasing the bundle experience of our Mansion Tour and Explore More Tour to have the ultimate Winchester Mystery House exploration during your visit.

Please visit https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/discounts-promotions/ for our current discount and promotions.