The Weirdest Houses The World Has Ever Seen

By Savannah Cox | Edited By John Kuroski

Published December 29, 2012

Updated November 9, 2023

World’s Weirdest Houses: The Winchester Mystery House

Designed between 1884 and 1922 by Sarah Winchester, heiress to the Winchester rifle fortune, the Winchester House is an oddity in every respect. Believing that she would be haunted by the spirits of all those killed by Winchester rifles, Sarah turned her house in a maze of rooms, corridors, false doorways, and secret passages that, she hoped, would confuse the angry spirits.

At its peak the home boasted nearly 40 bedrooms, three elevators, 47 fireplaces, 17 chimneys, and 467 doorways. The only reason that construction ceased and left the house incomplete was due to Sarah passing and becoming a spirit herself.

Source: Blogspot

World's Weirdest Houses Winchester House

Source: Winchester Mystery House

Source: SAC Skeptics

If you enjoyed reading about the world’s weirdest houses, be sure to read our articles on the world’s tiniest houses and the cubic houses of Rotterdam!

author

Savannah Cox holds a Master's in International Affairs from The New School as well as a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and now serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of Sheffield. Her work as a writer has also appeared on DNAinfo.

editor

John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.

Citation copied

COPY

Cox, Savannah. "The World’s Five Weirdest Houses." AllThatsInteresting.com, December 29, 2012, https://allthatsinteresting.com/worlds-weirdest-houses. Accessed March 6, 2025.