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| In the late 1800s, an architectural work began that defies logic! The designer was a lady named Mrs Sarah Winchester. She was the wife of the son of the maker of the Winchester Repeating Rifle - Mr William W. Winchester. Together, they had one child - a daughter named Annie. She died only a few weeks after birth of a protein deficiency. Fifteen years after that, in 1881, William also passed away of turberculosis. This left her very rich and very alone. These deaths didn't affect Mrs Winchester too well, and when she was urged later on to go to a spiritualist, she went. The medium told her that the spirits of those killed by the rifles that her husband's company had been manufacturing had put a curse on her. The medium also said that if she moved out west, bought a place, and built on it without finishing it, she could keep the curse from coming upon her. 3 years later, she moved to the area now known as San Jose, where she bought a house with 8 rooms. She started immediately with what would be a life-time building project that went on until she died in 1922. That was 38 years of building with 22 carpenters, 16 gardeners and field hands, as well as the 18 servants that she hired! The place went from 8 rooms to 160 of them! At one stage, it had 7 floors, until the earthquake that happened in 1906. At the moment, it has only 4 floors. She used 20,000 gallons of paint on the place! It has around about 467 doorways and 950 doors - many of which have a wall behind them! There are 40 staircases, a few which lead only to the ceiling! The story is that she was trying to confuse the spirits. Of course, she ended up dying anyway despite all her efforts to please the spirits! Her fear of death haunted her and drove her till her dying day. If that isn't a picture of trying to get salvation by works, I don't know what is! The lady never had any guests, and only 2 cars turned up to her funeral! The only people that went through her beautiful front doors were herself and the 2 guys that built it! The only photo taken of her was the one at the top of the page because she had a fear of that too! The story is that one of the servants hid behind some bushes to take it! The glass that she used was from Tiffany's (very expensive), and a lot of the windows were designed by herself. She especially liked spider webs and daisy designs. Her favourite number was 13 (hence her love of daisies - they have 13 petals), so if there were multiples of things to be had - there would be 13 of them. eg: 13 candles in a chandelier. She had around about 40 bedrooms in the place, and she wouldn't sleep in one for more than 2 nights at a time because of her fear of the spirits. She got her designs through seances. One of the sad parts of all of this is that it cost her $5,500,000 US! In our day and age, that is a heck of a lot to be spending on your home, let alone in her day! She could afford it though - she earned $1,000 US/day! She had not only inherited her husband's money, but his company. |
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| Of course, she ended up dying anyway despite all her efforts to please the spirits! The saddest thing is that she did spend the rest of her life on this unnecessary project. Her fear of death haunted her and drove her till her dying day. If that isn't a picture of trying to get salvation by works, I don't know what is! The lady never had any guests, and only 2 cars turned up to her funeral! The only people that went through her beautiful front doors were herself and the 2 guys that built it! The only photo taken of her was the one at the top of the page because she had a fear of that too! The story is that one of the servants hid behind some bushes to take it! (see picture at the top) I don't know about you guys, but that is a very sad way to live! I just keep thinking that if this lady had known about the power of Christ to remove guilt and protect her from evil, things could have been so much different for her. The God that created us has greater power than those spirits that were running her life. If He had been allowed into her life, all those icky spirits would have gone scampering. God doesn't want us to live under any kind of bondage, including fear or guilt. He isn't some guy up there with a lightning bolt watching to see where we go wrong. He knows that we are human - that is why He sent His Son - to get rid of the weight of sin and bondage that humanity has been under. He only wants to see us set free, so that we can live the life that we were meant to. He wants us to be free from fear - the Bible says that perfect love casts out fear (1). It also says that Christ made a spectacle of the devil and all of his hosts! Christ defeated them when He rose again with the keys of hell and death in His hands (2). If we will make Him the Lord and Saviour of our life and stop trying to do it ourselves, He can do more than we could ever imagine (3). LIFE or DEATH is the choice set before us - Sarah Winchester, though fleeing from DEATH, unwittingly and needlessly chose DEATH, which will you choose? |
| (1) 1 John 4:18 - "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." (2) Colossians 2:15 - "And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." (3) 1 Corinthians 2:9 - "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him." |
| Here are some Scriptures for you to check out about... GOD'S POWERFUL, NON-ENDING LOVE: John 15:13 - "Greater love has no one than this, that He lay down His life for His friends." Romans 8:38 - 39 - "No in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to seperate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Hebrews 13:5 + 6 - "God has said, "Never will I leave you: never will I forsake you." So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper: I will not be afraid. What can man do to me." SALVATION BY FAITH, NOT BY WORKS: Romans 3:20-24 - "Therefore no one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Ephesians 1:7 + 8 - "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding." Ephesians 2:8 + 9 - "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." ETERNAL LIFE: John 3:16 + 17 - "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him." John 11:25 + 26 - "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die..." |
| from the official page - stairs that lead only to the ceiling. |
| the only photo of Sarah. |
| front view of the unusual place |
| click on the photo for an enlargement of the view from the air of the place |
| If you would like further information about how to get to know the God Who created you, please contact me at moli_mouse@yahoo.com.au |
| Hebrews 2: 14 + 15 - "Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil - and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." |
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| door to nowhere! |
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| the bell tower - the bell used to be rung twice during the day for the servants to come to dinner and twice during the night during her seances where she got her building plans |
| one of the forty bedrooms that she slept in no more than two nights in a row |
| the front door that only 3 people ever went through |
| the bed that Sarah died in of heart problems only 38 years after she started building |
