This year’s fright fest at Winchester Mystery House takes a deep dive into the lore surrounding Sarah Winchester’s San Jose estate, where Festival Fright Nights are set to be held Sept. 26-Nov. 1.

Stay on top of what’s happening in the Bay Area with essential Bay Area news stories, sent to your inbox every weekday. The Bay Bay Area-raised host Ericka Cruz Guevarra brings you context and ...

Helen Mirren says her new film "Winchester " isn't a horror flick, but rather a ghost story with foreign roots and a distinct American element — the psychological impact of gun deaths. Mirren plays ...

A colossal estate traces its origins to an empire forged through a history of brutality and bloodshed, with its vast corridors built by a grief-stricken mother. Tormented by her family's dark past, ...

SAN JOSE, Calif. - One of the most famous mansions in the Bay Area is upping the ante this Halloween season. The Winchester Mystery House is adding a new experience: Festival Fright Nights. On the ...

Forget ghosts. Forget seances. Forget mazelike passageways constructed to confuse vengeful spirits. The real mystery of the Winchester Mystery House is how it’s such a fascinating study in ...

Sisters Isabel Merriman and Sarah Winchester called the house on Edgewood Lane in what is now Los Altos “El Sueño.” Courtesy Los Altos History Museum. The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose is an ...

Among the Pardee sisters born in New Haven, Conn., much is known about Sarah—heiress to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. Less is known about Winchester’s younger sister Isabel Merriman, an ...

The story is so famous most locals can recite it by heart: An eccentric widow, heir to an American rifle fortune, is tortured by the horrors wrought by the weapon. She becomes convinced only building ...