It’s located at the ‘Winchester Mystery House’ in San Jose, CA. I’ve only ever been there once, maybe about five or six years ago. I used to live in California when I was going to college. One day, my friend from an online video-game was in town. She ended up randomly meeting up with me. Weird, I know. Well, not that weird these days. What is weird though, is what ended up happening to her when we arrived…
If you haven’t heard of the ‘Winchester Mystery House’, it’s as simple as this: a woman bought a country estate in 1886, after her closest family members died, and, legend has it, she couldn’t stop building for fear she would die too.
That’s right. She built a bunch of wacky rooms, supposedly to confuse the spirits so they wouldn’t be able to find her, and of course, the whole town mocked her for her irrational fears. Anyways, I haven’t been able to find a single post about this happening to anyone else. I need to find out any information I can about the “Door to Nowhere”.
It was a hot, sunny day in Seaside, CA. I was on my way to work. I hated my job. I was a barista at a boujie cafe in Carmel Valley. Traffic was bad and I was at a stop light for what felt like 5 minutes when I got a call from a random number. I almost didn’t pick up, but decided, F it.
click “Hello?” A bubbly voice picked up, “Hey, dude. Sorry, I got a new phone!” It was my friend, Kriz. The online friend I was talking about. She went on, “So I was driving and just passed a sign that said ‘Welcome to Seaside’. Aren’t you from Seaside?!”
Boom. That was it. That’s all I needed to hear. I had been looking for a reason to quit my job all week. Plus there was no way I was going to miss out on possibly the only real opportunity to see my free-spirited friend from MapleStory. She was like my older sister growing up. She texted me a couple of weeks ago saying she was going on a road trip and might be passing through soon. It wasn’t for sure, but I had a good feeling.
“Oh my gosh! I’m in.” I said. “Yes! Where you at? I’ll come scoop you.” She sounded so stoked. “Give me like 10 minutes. I’m on my way back. I’ll send you the addy.” I didn’t tell her about my job. It just wasn’t a good time. I couldn’t ruin today with sour news, so I pulled a U-ey and headed back home.
When I got there, she was already waiting for me. I looked down at my outfit and realized I was still wearing my name tag. I quickly ripped it off and hid it in my center console, then I looked up and smiled with a casual wave. (Super inconspicuous.)
We hugged and she told me to jump in. “We’re going on an adventure, but it’s a secret.” She said, “To San Jose!” “Aye, aye, Captain!” I saluted her and we took off. We were both pretty elated just to be with each other in person for the first time so, in turn, we talked a lot about life and our future plans.
When we were about 5 minutes away, she finally started sharing about where the heck we were even going. After getting into the details, she finally got to the juice.
“‘The Winchester Mystery House’ was bought by a Ms. Sarah Winchester on this very day 137 years ago, and legend has it, Sarah will open the gate to all who pass on this sacred day.”
“Um, ma’am, this is a Chili’s.” I snarked.
“Seriously! I HAVE to see this place for myself. Even if it doesn’t open, we’re finding a way to sneak in even if it kills me!” She stuck her finger in the air, assertively.
I looked at her, puzzled. “What? Sne… sneaking in?” I was shook.
“We HAVE TO! You don’t understand. This is the only day every year they aren’t open.” She said. “Isn’t that suspish?!”
“Well, what if they’re in there celebrating with the staff or something? Don’t they give tours there?” I was concerned.
“Relax! If we see any cars, we’ll leave. Oh, look, speak of the devil, we’re here!” We pulled into a fancy gated driveway with a beautiful, scenic property.
“Well, it’s closed. Would you look at that?” I was uneasy. I wished she would’ve told me all of this like 5 minutes into the drive, not 5 minutes out from our destination.
She got out and asked, mockingly, “Do we have to say the magic words?”
I laughed, “Get in. This is ridiculous!” “Open sesame!” She laughed. And just like that, the gate opened, no hesitation, like something heard her words.
We stared at each other for a second, while the doors slowly creaked open. It was kind of unsettling actually. Like we both knew something was off.
“Shit.” She whispered as she jumped back in the driver’s seat and grabbed the clutch. She eased in through the gate.
We drove for about 30 seconds until we reached the front entrance. This place looked and felt disarming. It was like there was someone watching us. Or something.
“What if they have cameras?” I asked.
“Oh, shush. The gate opened. We’re just here for a tour.” She smirked.
“I can’t believe you dragged me into this.” I mumbled as we climbed out of the car.
“Relax. We’re young and dumb. It’s fine.” She reassured me.
We both walked up to the front door together and found it was locked. I looked at her again, uncertainly.
“You check that door,” She pointed at a nearby entryway. “And I’ll check the one by the garden over there!” She pointed.
I nodded and marched over to the left entrance. This place was pretty big, so it took me about a minute to get to the other door. I looked behind me and Kriz was still on her way to the garden as well, but it looked as if some faint light was following her. I can’t really describe it as anything else. It was like an orb.
Just then it started raining. It felt like a funeral day. I got this overwhelming feeling that something was wrong, but I kept on, knowing very well I was probably just causing myself man-made anxiety.
I finally got to the door. It was locked. I shrugged and turned to walk away, but just then, it inched open. I thought maybe I just hadn’t turned it hard enough the first time. I called out to Kriz 3 or 4 times, but she didn’t answer, so I decided to try to run around the inside of the courtyard to unlock the door from the other side of the garden and let her in. It was such a long walk to go get her and then come all the way back around, so I just thought, why not.
I entered the courtyard and it was absolutely gorgeous. There was a garden with fresh flowers and the property was massive. I wondered how many rooms had been built here.
I raced to the other side of the property by the garden and didn’t see Kriz. I assumed she tried walking back to the car, so I unlocked the door and peaked out, but I didn’t see her.
I started getting worried, so I turned around to see if she had come in through my door, but no luck. I thought back to that orb. What was that?
Just then, I heard a loud scream. Standing in the middle of the courtyard, I whipped my head towards the unpleasant screech. There was a door with no floor in front of it leading out from the second floor. It was called, “The Door to Nowhere”.
“Kriz!” I screamed. “How did you get up there??”
She responded, “I don’t know! I don’t know!”
Just then, something started taking over her body. It started pushing her forward.
“Help me! Oh my god! Help me!” She begged as she held the doorframe with both her hands.
But it was no use. The “force” threw her body down off the balcony. It didn’t throw her down flat though. It literally flipped her body upside down. When she landed, a loud crack echoed through the courtyard.
I screamed. Panicking, I ran to her body, absolutely shaking. Slipping in the mud, I fell right in front of her. I flipped her face up. Her eyes were rolled back in her head and she was not breathing. I looked around me, afraid of what might happen next. Just then, her head rolled back almost completely and she muttered, “Get out.” But it wasn’t. Her. Voice.
I screamed, picking myself up out of the mud, and sprinting towards the door I initially came in. I whipped it open and ran through. The car was still parked where we left it, so I booked it to the driver’s side and hopped in. I went to start the car and it was just then that I realized, she had the keys.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM There was a knock at my window. It was her. She was alive and looked completely normal. I couldn’t believe it.
Naturally, I screamed.
“You trying to leave without me?” She asked through the glass.
I screamed again.
She opened the door as I peeled backwards into the other seat.
“Hey, relax. Is everything okay? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.” She laughed. “Did you find a way in?”
“What do you mean?! How are you still alive?!” I stammered.
“Alive? Dude, we just went to the other gate, came back, and you sat down in my seat. Are you okay?” She looked concerned.
I pulled myself together and wondered if I may have cooked that whole situation up in my head. No, it was too real. There’s no way.
“Get in! Hurry. We have to go.” I rushed.
“Alright, alright, already. I’m coming.” She slid into the car and we turned around to leave. She turned the radio on. “Let’s just listen to some music and calm down, shall we?”
“Yeah, that sounds good, I just…” I replied, but was interrupted by the radio going static and a bunch of white noise coming through.
“The gate!” I yelled. It was closing and we still had a good 500 feet to go before we could make it through.
She panicked and stepped down on the pedal as hard as she could. The car jolted a bit and then our bodies stuck to the backs of our chairs as we started flooring it. The static started getting louder and a voice came through, “Leave… Get out…” The gate was almost completely closed now.
“What do I do?!” She started slowing down.
“OPEN SESAME.” I yelled as I reached over and pushed my foot down on hers over the gas pedal.
We broke through the gate, knocking her right mirror off and puncturing a headlight, but we didn’t care. We kept going, speeding away as fast as we could. It was weird too. The rain stopped immediately upon leaving the property, almost like it was only raining there.
We never went back to the ‘Winchester Mystery House’ ever again or spoke about this with anyone. Kriz has never been the same since. Her close family members have been dying off over the last few years. She reached out about it a week after we had met up. Her grandmother who was in good health passed suddenly and then her best friend was in a fatal car accident a couple of days later.
Since then, she has lost both of her parents and most of her close friends. Kriz has been bed-ridden and terrified for the last few years. She fears she may curse yet another victim just by the grace of her sheer presence.
I researched the “Door to Nowhere” and I guess an earthquake had destroyed the room that was once there in 1906. Does anyone know where this door was trying to lead to? I have to help my friend.