The ultimate haunted house?

If you love haunted houses at Halloween, here’s a haunt that may be the genuine article.

The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, Calif., regularly features a haunted house in September and October for spooky season lovers who want to enjoy Halloween in an elaborate Victorian house with a creepy background. The story: A fabulously wealthy widow gone mad with grief who communed with the dead. They say she was a recluse, acting on the predictions of a psychic who told her she must never stop adding on to her house because the moment construction ceased, she would die.

Sarah Winchester moved to California after the death of her husband, William Wirt Winchester, in 1881. With an inheritance of the modern-day equivalent of half a billion dollars and a monthly income of nearly $1 million in today’s money, she bought an 8-room farmhouse on 142 acres and started building. She built day and night for 38 years. Construction only stopped when she took her last breath in 1922.

She didn’t have a building plan. She didn’t have an architect. But she did have a small army of craftsmen to build anything she wanted. At her direction, they created an enormous, eccentric house that at one time was seven stories high.

In the house are mysteries: Staircases end at the ceiling — was it an attempt to fool the spirits? Are doors open to solid walls — was she trapping ghosts? Stained glass windows hang where no light can shine through. Windows were installed inside the house. Despite the massive 24,000 square foot construction, there was only one indoor toilet in the whole house during her lifetime.

You can hear the whole story and take a virtual tour at winchestermysteryhouse.com.