Winchester Mystery House: Overnight Stays Ahead

Spending the night at the famously spooky abode is given the okay.

HAUNTED SLEEP: California is known as the home to a number of legendary haunted hotels. The Queen Mary of Long Beach, San Diego's Hotel del Coronado, and even The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Disney California Adventure in Anaheim have ghost-eerie stayover cred. (True, you can't sleep in Tower of Terror, but the faux hotel is all about the phantoms.) But what of a famously haunted destination that goes the other way, from spooky house to stayover spot? It's an unusual turn of direction, but it is one that the Winchester Mystery House of San Jose is soon to take. The Silicon Valley Business Journal reports that Sarah Winchester's rambling mansion has recently nabbed the permits required to allow guests to stay overnight.

NOPE... this does not make the house a hotel, in the traditional sense. No mints on the pillows, no bell carts. But there are those super fans of the house who've dreamed of staying after closing time, to see if the spirits do indeed come out to play. The Journal reports that the San Jose planning committee gave the a-ok on March 5, and "lodging possibilities" around the capacious property shall be investigated. No rooms will be added, which could be seen as a touch ironic, given that there was a day when rooms could not stop being added to the house, which currently stands at 160 rooms.

MORE CHANGES ARE AHEAD... for the ever-popular tourist favorite, including raising a glass among the wraiths; Boing Boing's Cory Doctorow says "I know what I'll be doing next time I'm in northern California" given that "consumption of alcohol across the entire site" was thumbs-up'd. What will this mean for Halloween and October, one of the busiest times of year for the landmark? More spirits that come in bottles and full-night stayovers? Stay tuned, Winchesterians. As the house changed over many years, so is the story of San Jose's most storied abode forever evolving.

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