Posted on 05/05/2017 9:32:47 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The Winchester Mystery House will soon be immortalized on celluloid.
The popular San Jose haunt doesn't look at all scary in the bright sunshine. But some Australian filmmakers are turning Sarah Winchester's eccentric story into a psychological thriller for the big screen.
CBS Films announced that production on "Winchester" began Wednesday in Melbourne, Australia. The movie crew will begin shooting scenes at the mansion starting Friday, the production company said.
The plot of "Winchester" follows a psychologist who studies firearm heiress Sarah Winchester and concludes her obsession with constructing her mansion wasn't so crazy after all. Winchester was convinced that she was haunted by the souls killed at the hands of the Winchester rifle. After the sudden deaths of her husband and child, she threw herself 24/7 into the construction of the enormous mansion designed to keep the evil spirits at bay, according to the Winchester Mystery House website.
The title character is being portrayed by Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren. The film is written and directed by Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig.
I did the tour in `86 on my honeymoon with the missus.
Felt a definite cold spot walking though a hallway, but other than that thought it was just an old woman with too much money—so she was eccentric, not crazy.
Sarah was into popular-at-the-time seances and mysticism, and thought that the spirits of people killed by her husband’s firearms would haunt her unless she scared them away with the sound of hammers and construction.
The stairways to nowhere were to confuse the spirits. The number 13 is repeated throughout the house. Lots of cool stuff but crazy too: doors that opened to long drops, cupboards an inch deep and another was endless. Stairs that rose only a few inches: she was a little woman. It was obvious the workmen did what they were told, as long as they got paid.
Lefty writer Stephen King pretty much lifted his novel/movie `Rose Red’/The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer’ from the Winchester house story, I think, like so much of his stuff (clearing throat) borrowed from the Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock and other stuff he saw as a kid.
The guns were the best part. I had some Winchesters, a recoil action model 50 and 1897 `trench sweeper’ 12 gauges, `62 model 70 feather light ... until ghosts tossed them off my boat, dam spooooks.
after all these years here,, I have not visited that place yet . .
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.