A gun began this house’s tale, a very special gun.
The Henry Rifle was its name and gave Winchester’s son
A fortune that would be passed on, a legacy bizarre,
When fueled by Annie’s death that left a deep and lasting scar.
This Annie was the first-born child, the light of Sara’s eye.
Marasmus struck and stole that life, and naught could satisfy
The pain and sorrow Sarah felt, she, shattered and withdrawn;
Then Will’am died as TB struck, her everything was gone.
The seer sought to ease her grief, defining widow’s curse.
She’d head off t’ward the setting sun, before things got much worse.
The victims of those famous guns had cursed the family,
And so the widow traveled off toward that western sea.
So build, the seer said, just build, as wealth’s inheritor,
For if you stop, the curse will fall, and death will claim one more.
And so she bought and then she built from daily plans she drew,
As day and night the hammer sounds were all that mansion knew.
As rooms were added onto rooms with chaos everywhere,
Plus doors that led to sudden drops and thirteen treaded stairs.
Closets op’ning to blank walls and bathrooms with glass doors,
Thus over time it taller grew, and topped at seven floors.
’06 then came with tragedy, the earthquake felt by all.
The top four floors came crashing down, the house now not so tall.
Convinced the spirits caused the quake and plotted out her doom,
She vowed to n’er complete the house and boarded thirty rooms.
Increase, increase, the builders built, and then they built some more,
In mazes to confound the ghosts when nightly they’d explore.
With chimneys only halfway up and skylights in the floor,
And bedrooms scattered everywhere and windows by the score.
In 1922 at last, as night hung o’er the manse,
And Sarah’d left that special room, caught up in séance trance,
At eighty three the spirits came and fin’ly had their way,
And she was left with no more chance to see another day.
The myst’ry house with all those rooms, unfinished yet today
Attracts the folks who visit there outside of San Jose.
A flashlight tour is offered now, but just at Halloween.
You’ll see the myriad of rooms . . . if ghosts don’t intervene.
Silver trophy winner
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