Sarah L. Winchester ( September 1839 – September 5, 1922) was the wife of William Wirt Winchester and heiress to his estate and a 50 percent holding in the Winchester Repeating Arms Company following his death from tuberculosis in 1881. Convinced spirits would kill her if she completed construction of her California home, Sarah used her fortune to continue uninterrupted, round-the-clock construction on it for 38 consecutive years, according to popular legend (though this account has been disputed by her biographer). Since her death, the sprawling Winchester Mystery House has become a popular tourist attraction, known for its many staircases and corridors leading nowhere.
