Why the Winchester Rifle Heiress Built Herself a Haunted Mansion

Ghosts and Guilt Compelled the Wealthy Widow to Build San Jose’s Winchester Mystery House

Once the United States’ largest private residence and the most expensive to build, today you could almost miss it. The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California, sits between the eight lanes of the I-280 freeway, a mobile home park, and the remains of a space age Century 23 movie theater. The world has changed around it, but the mansion remains stubbornly and defiantly what it always was.

Each time I visit the Mystery House I try to envision what this space must have looked like to the …

By Pamela Haag | July 5, 2016

The Creeping Demons of Ambition

After Running the Race of My Life, I Became Consumed by Doubts and Disillusionment

By Kyle Merber | October 29, 2015

Three years ago, on a rain-soaked track in rural Pennsylvania, I ran the fastest 1,500-meter race by an American college student in history. My time was 3:35.59. Add an extra …

I Choose Not to Believe in Ghosts

There Are Enough Things in the World to Haunt Me

By Paul Bisceglio | October 29, 2015

Last December, a woman I was dating told me she believed in ghosts. We were chatting at a holiday party with two other guests, one of whom manages communications at …

Do Brown Recluse Spiders Reign by Terror?

An Arachnologist Dispels the Fears of the Eight-Legged Boogeyman

By Rick Vetter | October 29, 2015

About a decade ago, a pest control manager emailed me saying he had a big problem. At six military facilities he oversaw, strange wounds were popping up on people’s skin. …

The World Needs More Darkness

The Modern Obsession with Light and Transparency Has Made Us Much Too Vulnerable

By Joe Mathews | October 29, 2015

Remember the good old days when Californians were scared of the dark? When Hollywood was king and we all knew that there was no monster or ghost scarier than the …

My First Great Love Hates My Guts

I Fear That His Judgment of Me Is True

By Andrea Marks | October 29, 2015

The first time I thought someone might actually hate me, I had just received an email from my first boyfriend, three years after we broke up. He was replying to …

Haunting