Winchester Mystery Mansion

Some true stories stay with the reader for months, even years. Some spur readers to action.  That action may mean simply sharing the true story with friend and strangers.  It may mean the upending of long-held views.’ (Ricketson, M. Telling True Stories: 2014)

While researching true stories, I initially wanted to find something that was significant, interesting and also held historical impact; something that most people would recognise. However, after looking at the PowerPoint from our second lecture, I began to realise that I needed to find something of greater significance, something that not only had a personal element to me but also to the reader; what use was it if the story was dull, boring and repetitive.

This brought across my next problem, what kind of story would be personal to me?  I had already decided that I didn’t want to write about my family or friends, for I felt it would be too difficult to write personally as it would make me feel incredibly pressured to create some sort of masterpiece for them.  My next best bet was a local story, or a story centred to a specific place.  My first thought was to search for something more close to where I live, Brighton, but found nothing that interested me or brought an idea to mind.  I then decided to search stories in Winchester and, although I had no luck in that sense, I was delighted story to find a story about a haunted mansion in Winchester, California.

Winchester Mystery Mansion 

This story, sometimes known as the Winchester Mystery House, is based around a woman named Sarah Lockwood Pardee.  Sarah married William Wirt Winchester, treasurer of the famed gun makers, in 1862.  After William died of tuberculosis, Sarah was convinced that the spirits of those her dead husband’s weapons killed were haunting her.  This story is about the way in which Sarah overcame these spirits, by setting out building a structure to confuse the potential ghosts, it was a mansion outfitted with doors that opened into walls, the stairs lead to nowhere; the whole mansion was a confusing design.

With additional research, I am hoping to find extra information into the lives of Sarah and William to add more context to the story; much like Kate Summerscale did in The Suspicions of Mr Whicher.