Post by Alaska on Oct 21, 2011 0:08:30 GMT -5
The Winchester Family Curse...
On September 30, 1862, Sarah Lockwood Pardee could not have been happier. She was twenty-three years old, was well-educated, spoke four languages, played the piano proficiently, and had just wed one William Wirt Winchester, heir to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, manufacturer of the world-famous Winchester repeating rifle. The couple lived quite splendidly in New Haven, Connecticut, and welcomed their daughter, Annie, on July 12, 1866. Life could not have been better.
Her happiness was not to last, however, as young Annie passed away just a few short weeks after her birth. Sarah was inconsolable, and quickly fell into a deep depression. Fifteen years later, in 1881, she had also lost her father-in-law, Oliver, and her beloved husband, William, to tuberculosis. Widowed and childless, a very distraught Sarah Winchester sought out the advice of a friend, terrified that her family was cursed.
The psychic told her that the Winchester family was haunted by ghosts -- people who had been killed by the Winchester Rifle the family was so renowned for. Terrified, Sarah quickly agreed to move west and to use her $1000 dollar a day inheritance to build a house to appease the spirits. In 1884, Sarah moved west to what is now known as San Jose, California and began work on the new home. She purchased an 8-bedroom farmhouse situated on a 161 acre plot of land and immediately began renovating the place, adding new rooms as she felt the spirits required.
Work continued round the clock -- 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 (or 366) days a year -- for the next 38 years...
Now, the Winchester Mystery House serves as the location of the prestigious Aether's Academy of Magical Arts, a Potterverse roleplay set in America. Join in the fun and the mystery! Enroll today!
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