Hollywood Gothique
Funhouses, Mazes & WalkthroughsLA Attractions Gothique

Winchester invites you to Halloween Housewarming

As befits a website named Hollywood Gothique, we focus on events in the Greater Los Angeles area (what helicopter traffic reporters like to call “The Southland”). However, we do make periodic journeys up north to the Bay area, and one major reason for that is the Winchester Mystery House’s annual Halloween event, Unhinged. This year’s presentation will offer an origin story titled Unhinged: Housewarming, set in 1923 during a party thrown by new owners who move into the famous house following the death of Sarah Winchester. The event will include a Roaring ’20 garden party in venue’s front garden, including live entertainment, games, character interaction, and food and drinks. Afterward, guests will enter the Mystery House to explore the haunted halls therein.

New this season, Winchester Mystery House features a Halloween Museum with an emphasis on vintage decorations artifacts, and memorabilia, such as masks and costumes from decades past. The Halloween Museum is open to guests throughout September and October at no additional charge.

Rather as the now-defunct Dark Harbor benefitted from being set inside the “haunted” Queen Mary, Unhinged exploits the spooky reputation of its historic location, which provides a walk-through haunted house experience more extensive than any other we have experienced. Though completely nonthreatening by day, Winchester Mystery House is the perfect nighttime setting for an immersive horror show, providing ample opportunities for ghostly inhabitants to deliver scares. If Unhinged: Housewarming lives up to its predecessors, it will be well worth the drive.

Unhinged: Housewarming runs on select evenings from September 22 through October 31. Ticket prices start at $64.99 for general admission and $89.99 for RIP Tickets. The latter offer quick access through two haunt routes, a complimentary drink voucher, a souvenir lanyard and a t-shirt, and a coupon for 10% off eerie merchandise in the gift shop. Winchester Mystery House is located at 525 S. Winchester Boulevard in San Jose, CA. For more information, visit winchestermysteryhouse.com/unhinged.

Steve Biodrowski, Administrator

A graduate of USC film school, Steve Biodrowski has worked as a film critic, journalist, and editor at Movieline, Premiere, Le Cinephage, The Dark Side., Cinefantastique magazine, Fandom.com, and Cinescape Online. He is currently Managing Editor of Cinefantastique Online and owner-operator of Hollywood Gothique.