Legend has it that Winchester believed she was being haunted by the ghosts who met their demise at the hand of a Winchester Rifle, also known as “The Gun That Won the West.” During the 38 years of nonstop construction work, Winchester turned the eight-room farmhouse into an elaborate fortress with zig-zag staircases, endless corridors and doors to nowhere in an effort to confuse these spirits. A fountain located on the front lawn of the Winchester House in San Jose on March 8, 2022. Whether it be through an old piece of wallpaper found in the walls or a treasure trove of stained glass windows hidden in storage for years, the house’s keepers are constantly uncovering clues to the house’s past hidden in the labyrinth-like architecture the Winchester Mystery House is so famous for. These secrets are revealed through old, original items within the house that, when mixed with modern technology, serve as blueprints for what the house once would have looked like. These houses hold secrets of their past which, when revealed, can show modern generations how to take care of them. Renovation experts say that for old homes like the Winchester House, there is always something that needs to be done. Once engulfed in darkness, these rooms are now lit by stained glass skylights and elaborate chandeliers. The uneven wood boards that covered parts of the unfinished walls in the North Twin dining room are now swathed in green, embossed lincrusta wall coverings and decorative wallpaper with gold flowers, matching green leaves and birds. The exposed wood ceiling beams coated with spider webs became a detailed cream-colored paneled ceiling with green molding with symmetrical gold line designs. Ninety-five years after original owner Sarah Winchester’s death, Boehme decided to bring these dining rooms back to life. The twin dining rooms of the 160-room house had been stripped down to their bare bones and left untouched for over 100 years. “This room used to embarrass me when I would bring people through,” said Boehme, a historian at the San Jose landmark. The hallway leading to the bedroom of the original owner of the Winchester House, Sarah Winchester, in San Jose on March 8, 2022. As Janan Boehme walks through the intricately decorated adjacent twin dining rooms of the 136-year-old Winchester Mystery House, she remembers what the rooms looked like for most of her lifetime.
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