Captive of the Labyrinth: Sarah L. Winchester, Heiress to the Rifle Fortune

281 Pages·2010·36.089 MB·English

by  Mary Jo Ignoffo

CAPTIVE

OF THE
LABYRINTH
SARAH L. WINCHESTER
HEIRESS TO THE RIFLE FORTUNE
MARY JO IGNOFFO
Since her death in 1922, Sarah Winchester
has been perceived as a mysterious,
haunted figure. After inheriting a vast
fortune upon the death of her husband in
1881, Sarah purchased a simple farmhouse
in San José, California. She began building
additions to the house and continued
construction on it for the next twenty
years. A hostile press cast Sarah as the
conscience of the Winchester Repeating
Arms Company—a widow shouldering
responsibility for the many deaths caused
by the rifle that brought her riches. She
was accused of being a ghost-obsessed
spiritualist, and to this day it is largely
believed that the extensive construction she
executed on her San Jose house was done
to appease the ghouls around her.
But was she really as guilt-ridden and
superstitious as history remembers her?
When Winchester’s home was purchased
after her death, it was transformed into a
tourist attraction. The bizarre, sprawling
mansion and the enigmatic nature of
Winchester's life were exaggerated by
the new owners to generate publicity for
their business. But as the mansion has
become more widely known, the person of
Winchester has receded from reality, and
she is only remembered for squandering
her riches to ward off disturbed spirits.
Captive of the Labyrinth: Sarah L.
Winchester, Heiress to the Rifle Fortune
demystifies the life of this unique American.
In the first full-length biography of
Winchester, author and historian Mary
Jo Ignoffo unearths the truth about this
notorious eccentric, revealing that she
was not a maddened spiritualist driven
CAPTIVE
OF THE
LABYRINTH
CAPTIVE
OF THE
LABYRINTH
Sarah L. Winchester
Heiress to the Rifle Fortune
Mary Jo Ignoffo
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI PRESS COLUMBIA AND LONDON
Copyright © 2010 by
The (Curators of the University of Missouri
University of Missouri Press, Columbia, Missouri 65201
Printed and bound in the United Stales of America
All rights reserved
5 4 3 2 14 13 12 11 10
Cataloging-in-Publication available from the Library of Congress
ISBN 978-0-8262-1905-3
This paper meets the requirements of the
American National Standard lor Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, Z39.48. 1984.
Jacket designer: Susan Ferber
Text designer: Stephanie Foley
Typesetter: Foley Design
Printer and binder: Thomson-Shore. Inc.
Typefaces: Bodoni and ITC Garamond
Jacket photographs: Sarah L. Winchester’s enormous, labyrinthine
house, which she designed and had built on the outskirts of San Jose.
California, between 1886 and 1906, when its seven-story tower and
other tall portions collapsed in the San Francisco earthquake. This
photograph, which predates the quake, was probably taken from a water
tower. After Winchester’s death, the house was transformed into a tourist
attraction, the Winchester Mystery House. (Courtesy History San Jose.
Inset: Sarah L. Winchester, circa 1872. portrait by Isaiah Taber of San
Francisco. Courtesy History San Jose.
For Pat
The labyrinth of her days
That her own strangeness perplexed;
. . . what her dreaming gave
Earned slander, ingratitude.
From self-same dolt and knave.
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS.
“AGAINST UNWORTHY PRAISE”
CONTENTS
Author’s Note ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xxi
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 New Haven’s Daughter 7
Chapter 2 Marrying into the Winchester Family 22
Chapter 3 “The Gun That Won the West’’ 39
Chapter 4 The Winchester Fortune 66
Chapter 5 A California Dream 83
Chapter 6 Labyrinth 106
Chapter 7 Daydream or Nightmare 123
Chapter 8 Guns, Guilt, and Ghosts: The First Commentaries
on Sarah Winchester’s Odd House 138
Chapter 9 Health and Welfare 166
vii
viii / CONTENTS
Chapter 10 Changing Fortunes 179
Chapter 11 Trapped in a Mistaken Legacy 196
Chapter 12 Capitalizing on Spirits: The Mystery House 206
Notes 215
Bibliography 233
Index 239
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Although named “Sarah” after her mother and a deceased elder sister,
Sarah Lockwood Winchester was always called “Sallie,” nicknamed for
her paternal grandmother, Sally Pardee Goodyear, who died just months
before Sarah Winchester was born. “Sallie” stuck, and even late in life
Winchester was called “Sallie” or “Aunt Sallie.” Nevertheless, for this narra­
tive, she is identified by her formal name.