Winchester Mystery House, San Jose

According to lore, New Englander Sarah Winchester moved to California with an unusual purpose. After the premature deaths of her daughter, Annie, and husband, William Wirt Winchester, president of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, she followed the advice of a Boston medium to construct a grand, yet strange, Victorian manor to appease the spirits of those killed by Winchester rifles.

1. Llanada Villa

Winchester gave the name Llanada Villa to this 160-room rambling and still-unfinished mansion. Using most of her $20 million inheritance and an income of $1,000 per day, she employed workers beginning in 1884 to transform a small farmhouse she purchased. They labored for 24 hours a day, year-round, until her death in 1922.

2. Sarah Winchester's personal rooms

Guided tours take visitors through a maze of staircases, hallways and rooms. These include the seance room where Winchester purportedly communicated with the spirits who helped her plan the construction of her home. Is the house haunted? That question has lured the likes of Harry Houdini, paranormal investigators and psychics.

3. Architectural details and stained glass windows

The home does possess quirky, unexplained architectural details, such as a staircase ending at a ceiling, a door opening to a sheer drop outside and ceiling columns placed upside down. It also contains exquisite, custom-made stained glass windows, including several with images of daisies, designed by Winchester.

4. Fourth-floor balcony

The fourth-floor balcony affords rooftop views of several of the home's rooms, windows, cupolas and finials; outbuildings such as the water tower; and the Central Garden, giving a perspective on the expansiveness of the estate, which once occupied 161 acres and included a working farm with orchards of apricots, plums, etc.

5. Winchester Historic Firearms and Antique Products museums

Racks of encased rifles and pistols make up the collection of the Winchester Historic Firearms Museum, which displays historical documents and a video presentation about the home. The Antique Products Museum displays roller skates, hammers and other sporting goods, produced once the need for firearms dwindled after World War I.

6. Victorian gardens

Four fountains with cherubs, a cupid, an egret and a serpent highlight the formal portion of this garden. It's also adorned with statues of Chief Little Fawn and Demeter, the Greek goddess of agriculture, a wrought-iron gate marking the estate's original entrance, a greenhouse, roses, exotic plants and trees.

PARKING

Free parking in lot at the Winchester Mystery House.

GETTING THERE

By public transit: Take Caltrain to the Santa Clara Station. Then take the VTA bus route 60 southbound to the Winchester Mystery House. www.caltrain.com, www.vta.org.

By car: From S.F., take Interstate 280 south to the Winchester Boulevard exit in San Jose. Turn left onto Moorpark Avenue and left onto South Winchester Boulevard. The Winchester Mystery House will be on the left.

GOOD TO KNOW

The Winchester Mystery House, 525 S. Winchester Blvd., San Jose. (408) 247-2101, www.winchestermysteryhouse.com. Tours: $22-$33. Tour times vary, open daily except Christmas Day.