Winchester Mystery House — Attraction in San Jose

This is my second time to tour this house, however it's been about 20 years since my last time.

The house is beautiful as always and the gardens and renovated rooms are beautiful. If you've never been, you need to go at least once to experience.

My biggest issue with the experience was our tour guide Brenda and gift shop workers. Upon being greeted for my 10:25 tour, our tour guide was friendly and greeted us. However, she was wearing a cloth face mask and most of those in my group had a hard time hearing and understanding her throughout the tour. Apparently the group just 5 minutes before ours went long on every stop so we were awkwardly forced to stay in the room we were in before we could advance. Our tour guide knew her script, but had no additional knowledge or stories to pass on while we were waiting to move on. Not sure what the tour guide ahead of us was saying but was evidently a lot more than what we were getting. She would only awkwardly ask if there were any questions and then gracefully give evasive answers when she didn't appear to know the actual answer to them. There were also several times we would move from one room to another, but due to the size of our group we could not all fit in the same room. Those as the back would be stuck in a hallway and again with Brenda's quiet voice and mask, none of what she said could be heard.

The tour has added some special effects like the earthquake and videos in some of the stained glass. Those were a cool update.

Lastly, I generally found the staff in the gift shop were not very helpful. They seemed to be more interested in having their own non work related conversations between each other than to help customers. When trying to check out, one employee rang me up and gave me a total, told me I had to go to another register after I said I was paying with cash. At the next register my total was almost 10 dollars more. Upon bringing it to the cashiers attention, she found she made the mistake however there was no apology or any indication that she had cared she over charged me.

In the gift shop there were several old vending games but every one of them was out of order. Throughout the property a lot of things seemed to be out of order.

All in all, still a cool place to visit but it doesn't seem the employees are nearly as invested in giving a great customer experience as they had been...

If you’re anywhere near San Jose, The Winchester Mystery House is an absolute must-see! 🕸️

We decided to check it out while in town for my brother’s cancer treatments at Stanford — and I’m so glad we did. Yes, the tickets were a little on the pricey side (around $45 per person, plus extra for the basement tour), but it was absolutely worth it. We were literally the last group to leave that night, and it made the whole experience feel extra special and just the right amount of spooky. 👻

Before the tour even started, my brother crushed it at the shooting gallery game — and got a full-on ovation from everyone watching! 🥳 It set such a fun tone for the visit.

Once inside, the house itself is a wild, twisting maze of rooms, staircases, and secrets. You’ll see stairs that lead to nowhere, doors that open to 8-foot drops, and windows built into the floor — it’s like stepping into a Victorian puzzle box that never ends. Learning about Sarah Winchester herself was just as fascinating — she wasn’t just wealthy; she was an innovator and inventor, creating designs and systems way ahead of her time.

My brother, who’s a plumber and pipefitter, was completely captivated by the old plumbing work throughout the house — each pipe was custom built and welded together back in the 1800s! The level of craftsmanship and creativity is mind-blowing.

Highlights for us included the Séance Room, the easy-riser stairs (built to ease Sarah’s arthritis), the intricate spiderweb designs, the repeating number 13, and standing in Sarah’s bedroom, imagining her wandering those halls by lantern light.

A huge special shout-out to Frannie, who went above and beyond — showing us some extra hidden gems, sharing even more stories about Sarah, and taking a moment to pray over my brother for healing as he faces a difficult road ahead (it meant A LOT to my brother). That kindness meant more than words can say. ❤️

And a big thank-you to our tour guide, Alexis, who infused the entire tour with humor, personality, and energy — she made the history come alive in the best way possible!

Whether you’re into architecture, history, craftsmanship, or a touch of the paranormal, this place has it all. It’s weird, wonderful, and totally one-of-a-kind —...

The Winchester Mystery House is right up my creepy alley. I think we’re missing out of the decline of spiritualism. It’s not because I believe that we can actually commune with loved ones who have passed on, but there is something that happens to relationships with a shared experience. Whether that shared experience is a true reach beyond the dimension we currently Inhabit, or a shared hysteria, there is a cohesion that takes place in the souls of those involved. There is no better way to get a sense of what the mystics were into between the 19th and 20th centuries, than a tour of the beautiful, albeit mad, house that Sarah Winchester built. The grounds are beautiful. The entire estate is wonderfully and lovingly maintained and the staff are gems, each and every one. Arizona led our Mansion Tour and is a lovely human being who’s adoration for the property is absolutely evident and you get the sense that she has a deep affinity for the spiritualism practices that took place in those haunted halls. Will led our Explore More tour and is another solid gold individual, who may not share the deep affinity for the spiritualism practices, but is a quick wit, not shy with a dad joke, and has had some interesting ghost experiences, even if maybe not a true believer. The prices seemed a bit steep, but the grounds have got to cost a fortune to maintain and this property is smack dab in the middle of the most expensive county on this continent. I would also have to add that while it may be a bit pricey, it is without doubt, completely worth it! A wealth of history, culture and spooky are to be had in abundance when you tour the house that Sarah and her team built. I highly recommend taking the Mansion Tour first and adding on the Explore More Tour the same day. Not only do you save money in the second tour, but you’ll get the most complete picture of the rich history of the house and the area, and you’ll get to enjoy two different personal takes on this special place. Both tours combined takes about 4 hours. So open your spirit and your wallet and learn something you didn’t know about the original Capital of California, and who knows, maybe you’ll learn something...