Hello, Aral Stein Story Club members.

I'm Ivy, your not-so spooky host whose caretaker of the spooky

secret tales hidden in the vault of famous scaremister, R.L. Stein.

Today, I'm going to tell you about a haunted place.

Is it actually haunted or merely misunderstood?

Guess you can be the judge my devoted listeners.

So sit back story club members, as we're about to venture into the Winchester Mystery House.

I recently visited the famous sprawling Victorian mansion that's located in San Jose, California,

and from the moment I walked through the door, something wasn't right.

First off, there was a cold chill in the air in the middle of summer, and it wasn't the air conditioning.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, listeners.

Let me give you a little history of the place first,

and why it will forever be celebrated in the animals of haunted house lore.

It began with Sarah Lockwood Party,

who was born in the summer of 1839 in New Haven, Connecticut.

In 1862, she married William Wart Winchester, who was the son of Oliver Winchester, the lucrative

owner of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company.

In the span of a year, Sarah Winchester lost her mother, father-in-law, and finally her husband

in 1881 to tuberculosis.

Sarah had lost her young daughter, Annie Party Winchester, in 1866, to a terrible disease.

Sarah inherited more than $2 million, which is over a half a billion in today's currency.

A spiritual medium told Sarah that she should leave New Haven and go to California.

...