Sarah Winchester Mansion: A True Mystery House

Whenever the subject of strange elaborate haunted houses comes up I think of the unusual and extremely elaborate home that Sarah Winchester built in San Jose California starting in about 1888 and finishing in 1922 on her death. Since her husband William Winchester had perfected and manufactured the Winchester repeating rifles, she became the heir to an incredibly massive fortune upon his death. Her wealth by today’s standards would have been over $500 million! As an extravagant widow, she spent her last 38 years endlessly adding on and embellishing the home that the two had planned together. Since he died before the building plans were complete, she finished it on her own.
The home became her obsession and she was a captive of the labyrinth that it turned into. There are doors that go to nowhere and stairs that are clunked into the ceiling. In the attic, there is a chimney to nowhere. She had no architect, but plans appeared every morning seemingly out of nowhere as her faithful staff just kept on building and building.
She led a reclusive life and was haunted by her empathy for all those injured and killed by the family-built guns. She knew as she continued the house that it looked like a crazy person must have built it. She was a little bit odd in character and that may have contributed to the house’s reputation, which it never deserved. In my 46 years of living in California, I missed the opportunity of seeing this beautiful and unusual architecture from the Victorian era.

The Old Long Abandoned Carrollton Island Villa. 1894

I never want to walk after midnight on Halloween through an old cemetery ever again! My friends made me do that for many years when I was a young boy. Here are the things that can still scare me:

1. Hearing the “hoot hoot” of a distant owl under a full moon!
2. Watching buzzards tear up roadkill!
3. Entering (without permission) a very old dangerous and spooky broken long-abandoned Victorian-era home. Especially one that had great architectural input and a tragic ending. Or in this case the Carrollton Island Villa.

The architect was William Miller and the owner was William Wyckoff. The house location is on the extreme west end of Carrollton Island, New York, just south of Kingston, Canada. It stands at the dead-end of the lonely, sparse, and overgrown Carrollton Island Road. While it once was a lovely home, it has been abandoned for more than 70 years and has been pilfered by vandals. However, the roof still appears much intact.

The owner, Wyckoff, was an inventor who worked at the Remington Arms Company during their efforts to develop the first mechanical typewriters. He decided late in life to spend that fortune on an extravagant home designed for entertaining on a grand scale. Shortly before they moved in, his wife died of a heart attack. A few weeks later, when Wyckoff decided to spend his first night in the sumptuous master bedroom suite, he died of a heart attack just after midnight.

The house has since been torn up by scavengers and critters. One should not go into this building! Especially in the late hours of the night when Wyckoff died in the extreme darkness. If you don’t encounter a ghost you still might find the fox or coyotes which currently make the mansion their home. Besides the dangers of wild creatures, there are damaged portions of the building that have been partially disassembled, so floors or stairs could easily collapse under your weight or fall on you. The grand stairway is crumbling and drifting downward.
So far, there is no happy history there and it would take many millions of dollars to get this once lovely mansion back on a good course.

If you know of any spooky stories or haunted houses that you’d like to share, please email them to lifebetweenthelakesmj@gmail.com and we may use them in future issues.