Emotional attachment of the dead makes one place haunted.
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It’s Halloween once again and for today’s article, we will feature three of the world’s most famous haunted houses and the stories behind it.
THE WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE
The Winchester Mystery house located in San Jose, California was once the house of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester and his wife Sarah Winchester. This Victorian mansion is most famous for its beautiful yet bizarre design and the history behind it. Legend has it that with the death of her husband in 1881 and daughter in 1866, Sarah Winchester consulted a medium to seek solace. According to the medium, there is a curse upon the Winchester family because the Winchester rifles have taken so many lives and that their spirits are now seeking vengeance. And the only way to counter this is for Sarah to build a house and never cease building it otherwise the spirits will get her. After that, she proceeded with the nonstop construction of a maze-like house full of twists, turns, dead ends, secret passageways and rooms that lead to nowhere in order to confuse the spirits.
The mansion was built continuously for 38 years until Sarah’s death in 1922. The estimated number of rooms totalled around 500 but due to the continuous dismantling and remodelling, only 160 rooms remain. Apart from that, the house also has 40 bedrooms, 2 ballrooms, 47 fireplaces, 17 chimneys, 10,000 window panes, 2 basements and 3 elevators. There are also stairs that lead to the ceiling, doors that open onto walls, a staircase with each step only two inches high, and other bizarre layouts. Mrs. Winchester also has a special fondness with the number 13 which can be found throughout the house such as windows with 13 panes, 13 bathrooms, 13 steps on many of the stairways, 13 ceiling panels, etc.
There are a lot of mysteries surrounding this house and a lot of ghost stories also such as hearing voices in empty rooms, hearing footsteps, capturing pictures of orbs, ghostly figures and many more. It is said that the ghost of Sarah Winchester can still be seen in the house.
Whether the story behind the house is true, or that Mrs. Winchester just lost touch with reality due to the death of her loved ones, is anybody’s guess.
THE LALAURIE MANSION
In New Orleans, there stood a mansion known for its macabre tales called the LaLaurie Mansion. It was owned by Dr. Louis LaLaurie and his wife Madame Delphine LaLaurie. The couple is well-known in the social circles of New Orleans and for the extravagant parties they always throw. But stories on how Delphine LaLaurie tortured and killed her slaves are the most famous of all.
Rumors on how the Madame treated her servants started when one day, several neighbours allegedly saw her brutally whipping her young slave girl who, in her desire to escape the Madame, jumped to her death from the roof of the house. The stories of maltreatment intensified when one day, a fire broke out in the mansion’s kitchen and when the firemen arrived at the scene, they discovered two of the slaves chained to the stove. It seems that the fire was started by the slaves in order to attract attention and seek help. According to folklore, apart from the two slaves discovered in the kitchen, the firemen also discovered the mansion to be a horror house. There were dozens of slaves chained to the wall, caged, and some were even the victim of mutilations and horrible experiments carried out by Madame LaLaurie.
The population was outraged upon hearing the story and demanded for justice. But Madame Delphine and her husband fled from the scene and were never caught.
After which, the mansion has changed hands several times. It has been a saloon, a school, a furniture store, and an apartment. Since then, many stories were reported from hearing the agonized screams, seeing the young slave who fell from the roof and other incidents where they encounter the ghosts of the slaves.
According to contemporary sources, there were records on the maltreatment of the LaLaurie slaves but has no confirmation as to the severe mutilations and experimentations conducted on the slaves. Some also claims that Madame LaLaurie was the victim of yellow journalism carried out by those who were jealous of her wealthy and exclusive lifestyle.
THE BELL WITCH’S CAVE
In the early 1800’s, the Bell family was plagued with mysterious disturbances and haunting in their cabin. According to most accounts, the family lived peacefully for thirteen years until one night, their 12 yr. old daughter Elizabeth “Betsy” Bell complained of invisible rats gnawing at her bed post. Other members of the family also experienced their bed covers being pulled off them at night. Sounds similar to chains being dragged, stones being dropped, choking sounds, etc. were also heard. Some other times, the family would wake up with sore scalps from the pulling of their hair or sore cheeks from being slapped by someone invisible. The family kept these experiences to themselves for a while in order to avoid being laughed at by others. But then came a point when the need to tell someone became stronger.
John Bell, the father, confided his problems to his friend and neighbour who then agreed to sleep at the cabin. He watched by Betsy’s bedside that night and witnessed the girl being struck several times on the cheeks and her hair being pulled from someone invisible. Since then, he met with the other neighbours and told them of the Bell family’s ordeal and decided to help them. But this move only enraged the spirit and terrorized Betsy all the more.
For several more years, the family’s ordeal became more prominent and several other people has experienced or witnessed it. It also seemed that the focus of the haunting were mainly on John and Betsy.
Many has tried to communicate with the spirit and after several attempts, the spirit started talking. It has manifested its dislike of John Bell and often swore to keep after him until the end of his days. The spirit has also claimed to be the spirit of a deceased woman well-known in their neighbourhood for being an eccentric recluse thus earning her the appellation of “witch”.
The notorious haunting continued on for several more years which according to tales, resulted to the breaking of Betsy’s engagement to her fiancé and the death of John Bell. After the death of the father, the “witch” manifestations decreased steadily until one day, it said its goodbye to the family and a promise to return to one of his descendants after 107 years.
The descendants of the Bell family have not experienced the same ordeal as their ancestors and began to wonder if the story of the mysterious witch is true or that their ancestors were just deeply troubled.