Local Travel Tip

Looking for a haunted thrill this Halloween season? Head to San Jose, California, to visit the Winchester Mansion mystery house.

William Wirt Winchester was dead to begin with.  He was a gun tycoon, who died along with their only daughter, leaving his wife Sarah as a lonely widow in 1884. Sarah believed that the house was haunted by those who had been killed by the company’s rifles that were originally owned by her husband.

Sarah reported seeing a spirit that told her she had to build a house for herself and all the spirits. She was required to keep building and building as long as she could. As long as she kept building and adding on to the original home, she’d live… but if she ever stopped building, she’d die.

And so on went the construction and on and on it continued, to appease the lost souls who died at the hands of a gun. The construction was continued up until her death in 1922, the construction went on for nearly 38 years.

The rooms go from a normal size to being teeny tiny, haphazard floors, stairways lead up to ceilings and go nowhere, random windows, hallways come to dead ends and doors open to nothing … it’s been said Sarah commissioned the builders to craft the home this way so the spirits couldn’t get to her.

Today, Winchester Mystery House is a tourist attraction, where people are taken on a walkabout through the house to see some of its stranger and creepier attributes. You have the option of taking a regular daylight tour, or they have special tours on Friday the 13th and Halloween that are done in the dark…watch your step…(imagine a creepy laugh and organ music now.)

Capitola is a small beach-front city located at the base of the Santa Cruz mountains. Capitola is a charming place for a relaxing day trip, to stop at on a road trip down the California coast, or to spend more time on a vacation. This charming city features the Capitola Mercantile located right on the beach front. You will have a wonderful day while visiting shops and boutiques, getting some taffy from Carousel Taffy, looking at some paintings at the Thomas Kinkade Gallery, and grabbing a bite to eat from Pizza My Heart- all located right on the beach. Don’t forget to end the day with a  walk up along the cliffs as you watch the sun set over the ocean, but be careful- because it will take your breath away!   I have been to Capitola more times than I can count but every time is better than the last- it definitely keeps me coming back for more.

Capitola Beach