![]() If anyone from the Winchester Mystery House is reading this - please try and inject a little enthusiasm into your tour guides and reduce the maximum number of people per tour. The exterior and gardens are are beautiful, but as mentioned the house looks out of place next to a cinema complex, shopping centre and the Interstate! Overall I did enjoy this and would recommend a visit if you are in the area. The house’s official website explains: The Winchester Mystery House is an architectural wonder and historic landmark in San Jose, CA that was once the personal residence of Sarah Lockwood Pardee Winchester, the widow of William Wirt Winchester and heiress to a large portion of the Winchester Repeating Arms fortune. I was disappointed that nothing was made of the ghostly side of things - I heard about the house on a ghost show on TV and thought there would be stories of ghostly goings on, but it was a pretty basic tour - this is this, that is that etc. Seeing inside the rooms that were abandoned after the 1906 earthquake was interesting too. Even though the furnishings were not original, there were plenty of period fittings such as fire places, windows and woodwork that were, and gave you an idea if the grandeur of the house. The house is simply odd - you do wonder what the woman owner was thinking when building it. Tour guide Pam was a little robotic at the start but warmed up as the tour went on. On the other hand, I did enjoy the Mansion Tour. Or perhaps because there was simply not much extra to show. Even though there is a saving if you take both tours, in all honesty the Mansion Tour is enough, I felt the behind the scenes did not add anything to the experience, possibly because the guide for that part (James) spoke very quickly, had little personality and didn't seem to want to be there. ![]() There are two tours here, the Mansion Tour and the so called Behind the Scenes Tour. I think about the only thing we could say about this tour is that they need to bring the prices on the tour down to $10 a person because it left much to be desired. The Behind the Scenes Tour was even worse due to the fact that you saw some extra rooms and all they did was tell you what machinery they used in them. I'd have to say that all of the highlights were the ones we saw on TV and when you saw them in person, it was not impressive at all. Which meant it was mostly other pieces that they acquired from the times to furnish the house. Winchester's because she willed it away to her niece. Secondly, mostly 95% of the furniture that was in the house was not Mrs. You could tell that they memorize a script and were tired of telling it over and over. First of all, the tour guides where very robotic and mechanical. We found $2 off coupons on the net which was definitely not enough of a discount to ask me to recommend this place to any of my traveling friends. It will cost you about $24.95 per person to do the Mansion tour and the Behind the Scenes Tour. There is a snack bar and large gift shop on the grounds with items as unique as she was.This past weekend, we went to the Winchester Mansion. Some of her inventions were really ingenious for her time. Winchester, Heiress to the Rifle Fortune by Mary Jo Ignoffo. Selby or Captive of the Labyrinth: Sarah L. Winchester and Her Mysterious Mansion by Lisa L. For a better understanding of this lady you might do a quick read of The Inscrutable Mrs. It is well worth your afternoon or morning. I guess it takes a lot of money for upkeep on such a large house and grounds. I wish we had been able to also take the Behind the Scenes Tour, but the ticket prices were a little steep (They do have Seniors' tickets.). There were some logical reasons for some of the unique features of the house, and for others there weren't. ![]() Winchester and visiting her house, I really don't think she was quite the crazy lady the advertisements make her out to be.
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