<P> Tabloids from the time said that, at some point after her infant daughter died of an illness known as marasmus, a children's disease in which the body wastes away, and her husband died of pulmonary tuberculosis, a Boston medium told her (while supposedly channeling her late husband) that she should leave her home in New Haven and travel West, where she must continuously build a home for herself and the spirits of people who had fallen victim to Winchester rifles . Winchester left New Haven and headed for California . Though it is possible she was simply seeking a change of location and a hobby during her lengthy depression, other sources say that Winchester came to believe her family and fortune were haunted by ghosts, and that only by moving West and continuously building them a house could she appease these spirits . </P> <P> In 1884 she purchased an unfinished farmhouse in the Santa Clara Valley and began building her mansion . Carpenters were hired and worked on the house day and night until it became a seven - story mansion . She did not use an architect and added on to the building in a haphazard fashion, so the home contains numerous oddities such as doors and stairs that go nowhere, windows overlooking other rooms and stairs with odd - sized risers . Many accounts attribute these oddities to her belief in ghosts . Environmental psychologists have theorized that the odd layout itself contributes to the feeling of the house being haunted today . </P> <P> Before the 1906 earthquake, the house had been seven stories high and carpenters may have been brought in initially to repair damages caused by the quake . Today it is only four stories . The house is predominantly made of redwood, as Mrs. Winchester preferred the wood; however, she disliked the look of it . She therefore demanded that a faux grain and stain be applied . This is why almost all the wood in the home is covered . Approximately 20,500 U.S. gallons (78,000 L) of paint were required to paint the house . The home itself is built using a floating foundation that is believed to have saved it from total collapse in the 1906 earthquake and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake . This type of construction allows the home to shift freely, as it is not completely attached to its brick base . There are roughly 161 rooms, including 40 bedrooms, 2 ballrooms (one completed and one unfinished) as well as 47 fireplaces, over 10,000 panes of glass, 17 chimneys (with evidence of two others), two basements and three elevators . Winchester's property was about 162 acres (66 ha) at one time, but the estate has since been reduced to 4.5 acres (1.8 ha)--the minimum necessary to contain the house and nearby outbuildings . It has gold and silver chandeliers, hand - inlaid parquet floors and trim, and a vast array of colors and materials . Due to Mrs. Winchester's debilitating arthritis, special "easy riser" stairways were installed as a replacement for her original steep construction . This allowed her to move about her home freely as she was only able to raise each foot a few inches . There was only one working toilet for Winchester, but all other restrooms were decoys to confuse spirits . This is also the reason why she slept in a different room each night . The home's conveniences were rare at the time of its construction . These included steam and forced - air heating, modern indoor toilets and plumbing, push - button gas lights, and Mrs. Winchester's personal (and only) hot shower from indoor plumbing . There are also three elevators, including an Otis electric and one of which was powered by a rare horizontal hydraulic elevator piston . (Most elevator pistons are vertical to save space, but Winchester preferred the improved functionality of the horizontal configuration .) </P> <P> Mrs. Winchester never skimped on the many adornments that she believed contributed to its architectural beauty . Many of the stained glass windows were created by the Tiffany Company . Some were designed specifically for her, and others by her, including a "spider web" window that featured her favorite web design and the repetition of the number thirteen, another of her preoccupations . This window was never installed, but exists in the so - called "$25,000 storage room" - so named because its contents were originally appraised at a value of $25,000 . The value today is inestimable, but $25,000 would be equivalent to $366,000 in 2017 . A second window was designed by Tiffany himself, so that when sunlight strikes the prismatic crystals a rainbow is cast across the room . The window was installed in an interior wall in a room with no light exposure, preventing the effect from being seen . </P>

How many rooms are there in the winchester house