Winchester Wealth

We know that possessing wealth does not guarantee happiness, a story that’s been told over and over.  The latest example I have found expliningthat state of affairs comes from a book sent to me by the Western Writers of for review.  THE WINCHESTER: THE GUN THAT BUILT AN AMERICAN DYNASTY by Laura Trevelyan outlines the manufacturing path of the founder Oliver Winchester who started out in business as a shirtmaker.  If he had stayed in that endeavor, he could have been very comfortable in life, but he became interested in the firearms industry and built it into an internationally recognized brand name.

Sarah Winchester, one of the heirs to the company’s fortune, suffered from a guilty conscience because she felt so much of the money had been made from selling rifles used to kill Indians in the West.  Leaving the east coast she moved to San Jose, California and bought property, whereupon she began a never-ending construction project of a large mansion that became known as the Winchester Mystery Mansion.  It consists of 160 rooms, 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, 47 stairways, 47 fireplaces, 13 bathrooms, and 6 kitchens.  Renowned for its architectural curiosities and lack of a master building plan, workmen started building in 1884 and stopped with her death in 1922.  

Different people including Sarah herself claimed the mansion was haunted by the spirits of those killed with Winchester rifles.  Secret passageways twist and turn through the house where it was said Sarah would try to hide from any ghost pursuing her.  The property has become a tourist attraction.