Comments (0)

By Doug, July 18, 2010 15:06

The "Door to Nowhere" on the Winchester Mystery House

The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California is a monument to one woman’s obsession with avoiding death. Sarah Winchester, the heiress to the Winchester gun fortune, had her carpenters working 24 hours a day, 365 days a year adding to her huge mansion. All of this was because her child, Annie, died in 1866 and her husband, William, died 15 years later of tuberculosis. Greif stricken, and sitting on a fortune estimated at $20,000,000.00, she consulted a spiritualist, like any normal, sane person would do.

The spiritualist, a medium from Boston, convinced her that her family and her fortune were being haunted by spirits of American Indians, killed by the Winchester rifles her husband’s family had invented. Since her daughter and husband had already been taken, naturally the medium convinced Sarah that she would be next. The only way to avoid this horrible fate was to move west and begin construction on a great house. This would appease the “spirits” and as long as construction continued on the house, Sarah would be safe.

Construction on the house continued for 38 years, until Sarah’s death in 1922. What was left is a massive mansion containing 160 rooms, 2,000 doors, 10,000 windows, 47 stairways, 47 fireplaces, 13 bathrooms and 6 kitchens.

Exploring this weird, wonderful place is a great way to spend an afternoon, or even longer.

Winchester Mystery House

Further reading:

• Museums in Santa Clara County, California: Ames Research Center, Winchester Mystery House, Forbes Mill, Villa Montalvo, New Almaden
• Haunting of Winchester House
• America’s Castles – California Dreamers: The Winchester Mystery House and Scotty’s Castle

Comments (1)

By Doug, July 12, 2009 03:08

Salvation Mountain

What can you do to make an ugly desert God just plopped down in Imperial County, California look nice? Pile up some junk and clay then paint it, of course! And, Leonard Night is doing just that so we don’t have to look at the ugly desert anymore.

Salvation Mountain is Leonard’s tribute to God and his gift to the world with its simple yet powerful message: “God Is Love.” Leonard’s passion has lovingly created this brilliant “outsider art” masterpiece resplendent with not only biblical and religious scripture such as the Lord’s Prayer, John 3:16, and the Sinner’s Prayer, but also including flowers, trees, waterfalls, suns, bluebirds, and many other fascinating and colorful objects.

Leonard became a Christian in 1967, on a Wednesday, at 10:30 in the morning while sitting in his van. He was 35 years old and had held various odd jobs including fighting the Korean War for 10 days. Leonard went around to various churches trying to enlighten them on how to properly worship Jesus but for some reason met resistance. Moving on, he was then inspired to make a hot air balloon to help spread the Lord’s message and began collecting bits of fabric and sewing them together. That occupied Leonard for the next 14 years but apparently it wasn’t God’s will to have Leonard fly in his balloon to spread the Word as it (the balloon, not the Word) kept collapsing on itself when he tried to inflate it. Although he persisted, eventually the balloon began to rot and Leonard looked for other ways to spread the Word.

Leonard decided to leave California but wanted to spend one extra week in the area to make a small memorial with a half bag of concrete he had lying around. Weeks begat months begat years and after tons of junk, sand, concrete and paint were assembled, Leonard had the 50-foot high creation he was after! Until it collapsed on itself.

Undaunted, Leonard rebuilt the mountain, this time using native adobe clay and straw. He applied paint liberally to keep the elements from washing away his work. Over the years, Leonard has applied well over 100,000 gallons of paint to his mountain of clay and debris as (he hopes) a lasting tribute to God.

If you stop by, bring some paint for Leonard!

Related reading:

• Faith: Trusting Your Own Deepest Experience
• Have a Little Faith: A True Story
• The Faith: What Christians Believe, Why They Believe It, and Why It Matters
• The Faith Instinct: How Religion Evolved and Why It Endures

Comments (0)

By Doug, July 10, 2009 18:00

Donner's Pass Memorial. The snow level of 1846/47 was as high as this statue is tall.

In 1846 a group of people started out for California. Along the way they met a man who said “hey, I know a shortcut” and so 87 people in 23 wagons headed off on a route that took them through the Wasatch Mountains and the Great Salt Lake Desert. The arduous trek took three weeks longer than the more normal route and by the time the parties reached the Sierras in November, snow was falling. With Pioneer Spirit and I’m suspecting more than an average amount of stupidity (and perhaps a little whiskey), the party took on an attitude of “hell, we’re almost there, no sense stopping now!” and trod off through the snow and mountains.

After hitting 22-foot deep snow they decided to stop and send 10 men and 5 women for help. Two men and five women eventually found help on the other side of the mountains. The balance of the 15 members became tasty little morsels.

Four waves of rescue parties went after the folks camped out in the Sierras, each wave finding fewer and fewer people alive with those less fortunate once again becoming People McNuggets. Finally, the last surviving man was rescued and taken back to Sutter’s Fort, where he arrived on April 29. In the end, 39 people died and 48 survived. In addition, two California Indians who were bringing supplies from Sutter’s Fort became trapped and also died, bringing the total to 41.

Today, we’ve erected a monument at Donner’s Pass, with the inscription below, to warn others not to try to cross the Sierras in winter without adequate food and supplies lest ye be eaten.

VIRILE TO RISK AND FIND; KINDLY WITHAL AND A READY HELP. FACING THE BRUNT OF FATE; INDOMITABLE, -UNAFRAID.

Related reading:

• Desperate Passage: The Donner Party’s Perilous Journey West
• The Expedition of the Donner Party and its Tragic Fate
• Ordeal by Hunger
• Donner-Reed Tragedy

Comments (0)

By Doug, July 7, 2009 05:10

Gene Autry

Trying to figure out the “begats” for the Museum of the American West is like trying to figure out why a dog likes to stick his head out of a car window while the car’s moving but hates it when you blow in its face. Sure, you can figure it out eventually but you’ll probably need to take a couple of aspirin before it’s all said and done.

The Museum of the American West is part of the Autry National Center of the American West. The other two parts of the Autry Center are the Southwest Museum of the American Indian and the Institute for the Study of the American West. The Autry Center was formed when the Southwest Museum, the Women of the West Museum and the Autry Museum of American Heritage merged. Not sure what happened to the women during that move but at least the name was dropped for good. So, that’s all I’m going to say about that.

For those who know nothing about cowboys, here’s a little bit about Gene Autry:

Gene Autry’s career spanned some 60 years in the entertainment industry, encompassing radio, recordings, motion pictures, television, rodeo and live performances. He also became a broadcast executive and major league baseball owner.

Known as ‘America’s Favorite Singing Cowboy’, he is the only entertainer to have five stars on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, one each for radio, records, film, television and live theatrical performance (including rodeo). In his ability to transcend media and in the sheer scope of his output, Gene Autry was unsurpassed as a popular image-maker of the American West.

Born in Tioga, Texas, on September 29, 1907, Orvon Gene Autry bought his first guitar at the age of 12 for $8. By the late 1920s, he was working as a telegrapher for the railroad in Oklahoma. While he was singing and playing in the office one night, Gene was discovered by the great cowboy humorist Will Rogers. Rogers advised the young Autry to try radio, and the rest is history.

But what about that museum, you may ask. Well, I was getting to that.  The museum is located in Griffith Park, California.  Exhibits include art, costumes, firearms and (of course) music related to the American West. But the museum exhibits rotate quite a bit so make sure you look into what’s going to be there when you are or you might end up seeing a whole lot of stuff you really don’t care about. However, if you are the least little bit a fan of the American West, that’s not likely!