What Do We Know About the Winchester House?

What Do We Know About?

by Emma Carlson Berne, Who H.Q., Ted Hammond (Illustrator)

The What Do We Know About? series explores the mysterious, the unknown, and the unexplained. Why was Sarah Winchester's puzzling mansion built with so many mysterious features? And is it truly haunted?

In 1884, Sarah Winchester began building a large mansion in Santa Clara County, California. Under Sarah's direction, the house rose to be seven stories high and filled with mysterious features, including stairs that lead to nowhere and windows that look into other interior rooms. The house is more than just oddly designed, Many people believe that it is haunted. What made the heiress to the Winchester rifle fortune, an independent woman in many ways ahead of her time, create such an unusual house? Is it really filled with ghosts and spirit energy? Find out more in this nonfiction title about one of America's most famously unexplainable and possibly haunted houses.

Genres: Nonfiction, Middle Grade, History, Childrens, Historical, Juvenile

112 pages, Hardcover

Published August 15, 2023

About the author

Emma Carlson Berne is the author of the YA thrillers STILL WATERS and NEVER LET YOU GO (coming Fall 2012 from Simon & Schuster). She has also written the thrillers FIGMENT and CHOKER under the pen name Elizabeth Woods. She lives and writes in Cincinnati. Learn more about Emma and contact her directly at her website, www.emmacarlsonberne.com. Or check out Emma Carlson Berne Books on http://www.facebook.com/EmmaCarlsonBe... or follow her on Twitter.

Reviews

[Sonja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as much fun as all the mystery and rumors you get when growing in the area and visiting the house.
Probably closer to the truth, though.

[Rachael Fryman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the WhoHQ books! This, like all of them, was a great, age appropriate, look at the mysterious Winchester House. I think it was informative, enjoyable, and really made me think about the accuracy of the rumors surrounding Sarah Winchester.

[madeline ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm going to say 3.5 stars.

I know it's meant for children, but it bugged the ever-loving hell out of me how often sentences started with "and" or "but." I kNoW iT's gRaMmAtICalLy cORrect! I don't care it! I hate it! It gave me the willies every single time I saw it.

SPOILERS:
Essentially, this whole book says that nothing spooky is happening in the Winchester House. It did give me some new insight into how immediately after the earthquake she just built the roof on top of it, so it may explain the rooms and stairwells that end out of nowhere. However... let me have nice things!

I also never knew that the man who purchased the house after her death also purchased carnivals and amusement parks. I really love keeping things in the family of weirdness. It definitely supports the idea that there was nothing weird about the house until someone P.T. Barnum-ed it.

[Anna Beth]

I've definitely always leaned into the rumors about Sarah Winchester and thought that the house would be the spookiest place ever. Now that I've read this book, I think maybe she was just a lady who wanted peace and we're just a bunch of jerks for thinking she's nuts? I would still love to see this very interesting house in person!

[MissSusie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting Who HQ book about the Winchester House, I found it really interesting and will be buying it for our library!

Fabulously narrated by, Adenrele Ojo


4 stars

I recieved this book from the publisher PRHAudio for a fair and honest review.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow I now what to look more into this house. I knew nothing about it before I read this. This is very fascinating!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarah Winchester always has a soft spot in my heart so I do love that they don’t play into the “moved to ca because the spirits told her to” gimmick. Did have some facts even I didn’t know but kinda fell flat overall. I’ve read books from WhoHQ before but this one seemed to have a LOT of pictures.

I do wish they shared my favorite story about the house though. In one room she had a vault that then had a different vault and I think that went on like 3 times. When they finally got to the final one there was a piece of her husband and daughters hair and their obituaries. Because in the end that was what was most important to her.

[McKenzie Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

For more reviews, check out my blog: Craft-Cycle

3.5 stars

An interesting look at the Winchester Mystery House and Sarah Winchester more specifically. I'll admit, before reading this I'd only heard the supernatural versions of the story. I appreciate that Berne took a fact-based approach and highlighted some of the reasons for the unique architecture.

The book covers quite a bit of ground, ranging from the Civil War to the San Francisco Earthquake, working in spiritualism, gossip, and the importance of evaluating sources when reporting facts.

At the back of the book is a Timeline of the Winchester House as well as a Timeline of the World with more general events throughout the same time period.

Overall, this was an interesting read. A empathetic look at what we know of the life of Sarah Winchester and a nice example of the importance of fact checking.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m just going to automatically give all of the books in this series five stars just for the simple fact that they get kids interested and learning something.

I chose this book because I was at the Winchester Mystery House (as it was called then) in 1985. It was interesting. I remembered nothing that I learned about the house at that time except that “Mrs Winchester loved her shrubs and flowers” because it’s still a joke between my cousins, who were also there, and me.

But apparently what they tell you at the house is mostly fabricated so I enjoyed learning about the real Mrs. Winchester and her background, though not a lot of information about the house is known as she was somewhat withdrawn which then became the cause for speculation. But it was still interesting to learn of her beginnings.

I’m actually super surprised that it made it into this series. I don’t know why, but it just seems a bit of an odd choice.

[Ariana · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a big bummer to read this. I'm happy for Sarah that she wasn't crazy after all but not for the whole spooky story for the rest of the population. Hahaha. What an annoying man who bought the place later and added things to make the number 13 around the house. The earthquake ruining things makes sense as well. She did have a sad life where love was concerned. Losing her husband at such a young age and a child had to be hard. She sounded like a very nice and generous lady. The tour of the mansion and property today truly sets the tone of the house being haunted and a crazy lady. It was interesting to read the other side of things. There is always two sides.

[Gail DiVico · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good short biography of Sarah Winchester and the The Winchester House. A quick read, only 112 pages, but it presents a lot of information about Sarah, why she decided to build this house, some family information, etc. Apparently, her husband died after about 20 years of marriage and her only daughter was sickly and passed away at 5 weeks of age. Sarah also suffered from severe arthritis and very often didn't leave the house. She didn't entertain as she wasn't feeling well enough to do so. People thought her to be a little crazy and odd but, from this book, I got the impression it was due to her illness and both her husband's and baby girl's death. Very interesting.

[Lacy H Buckhault · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, I read this book because my 11 y/o daughter suggested it. We love books like this!

The story was definitely one I’ve heard about. But the book didn’t really follow the story I had heard. Then again, after reading the book, the story has seemed to change over the years.

Basically, this woman lost her husband and her child (in utero) and she never married again. Supposedly she haunts people who visit her house (that’s how a tourist attraction in California).

But, who knew?! Guess there’s only one way to find out.

This is a good book for children to read, in my opinion.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never even heard of the Winchester house, just knew the Winchester name obviously from the guns, so to read about the history of Sarah and the weird house she built with all the money and how she kept it and what she did in her advanced age was a curious WhoHQ story.

At first I'm thinking a reminiscent of the HH Holmes house but instead there's really no answer other than speculation about stairs that drop off suddenly and odd rooms as additions to the house. It's a cool little mystery about a woman with a lot of money and sadness in her life.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is such a fun series of books! I love how accessible the information is. As an adult who is not the intended audience for these books, I like how this series can give me a cursory glance at topics and people before I do a deep dive to learn more about. different topics.

For this book in particular I already knew a fair amount of the knowledge about the Winchester before I read the book, but I did learn a few facts about what happened with the house after Mrs.Winchester passes away.

[Kristen B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up because I finally got to tour The Winchester Mystery House in May of this year. It was a fabulous tour, and I loved everything about it. I was curious to see what this little book has to say about it. I didn’t learn too much more about the house that I didn’t already know, but it was a nice refresher. I was a bit disappointed that so much of the “fun” about the house is downplayed. It basically says that all the strangeness about Sarah and her house can be easily explained. I know that’s probably true, but I still love to imagine the mystery. Why can’t they just let us have our fun? 😆

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another book to prep for my San Francisco trip. We will be visiting the Winchester House. This house is famed to be "haunted." And while that remains to be seen, this book did a wonderful job of telling the story and debunking some of the myths about the house and the woman who built it. I can't wait to go on the tour in a few weeks. I love these short little history books that give you a quick overview of a topic, place, or person. I would love to find a longer, more in-depth book on this house, though.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a great book about the Winchester House for kids. Even though I love all the ghost and mystery aspects of the house, I liked that this book addressed that those are all rumors to make the house a tourist attraction. It’s interesting to see the truth coming to light and I think does justice to Sarah Winchester’s memory.

[Viktoria Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read. It’s been over 40 years since I’ve been to the Winchester House, so I found the book informative. I don’t think it goes beyond what the tour tells people, but, again it’s been a while. Of course I wish there were more answers to the questions about Sarah Winchester, but with no descendants, it’s hard to know who she was.

[Taleigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

What do we know about the Winchester House was an okay book. It was a crazy house with a lot of crazy features. It was creepy because there were bloody hand prints on the walls. The house was visited by ghost hunters. If you want to learn more about the Winchester House then you should read this book.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sarah Pardee Winchester was likely lonely and sad, having trauma from the deaths of her baby daughter and husband. She probably didn't know what to do with herself, and having a bit of mental breakdown, decided to live in a unique was that seemed odd to those around her.

[Ranee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up not too far from the Winchester House, called the Winchester Mystery House during my time, and heard the rumors but never did go on a tour. I liked how the author explored many different explanations and stories about the house and Sarah Winchester herself.

[Lawanda Shields · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never heard of the Winchester House before reading this book. I did enjoy the facts about the house and Sarah Pardee. The book was well-written and informative. However, it included some extra information that I felt were not important. Would I recommend? Yes.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

The information was fascinating, would recommend this short intriguing historical highlight.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

Just a short read not a novel but more of a synopsis of a very wealthy private woman. A good book for a kids book report.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been fascinated by the Winchester House ever since my friend and her family told me about it when I was in middle school. I hope I can visit it someday!

[Sylvia "Chivy" · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not what I expected. Everything thing I knew about Sarah Winchester was the total opposite.
I highly recommend it.

[Elexndra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Library borrow

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook

[Debbie Means · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative book. I like all the history it gives about the house instead of just playing into the paranormal stuff.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great kids book that goes beyond the junk stories out there to really share Sarah's story about her life and the house.