San Jose, Calif.gem in the west

The Winchester Mystery House—once the home of Sarah Winchester, the widow of the gun maker William Wirt Winchester—is a well-known 160-room Victorian mansion in San Jose. Mansion construction began, under the watchful eye of Sarah Winchester, in 1884 and continued around the clock for 38 years until her death in 1922. The house, with an unfinished design and lack of practical construction, was sold at an auction for $135,000—although estimated costs of the construction are valued at $5.5 million, the equivalent of more than $71 million today. A variety of tours, lasting approximately an hour to two-and-a-half hours, lead visitors through the house and shows the bizarre building structure, such as staircases that lead nowhere, a window built into the floor, and more. Tour guides will tell stories of spirit sightings—the house is rumored to be haunted by everyone that a Winchester gun ever killed. Special flashlight tours are offered some evenings, adding to the spookiness of the strange house.