Stop 6: The 13th Bathroom

To get into the 13th Bathroom, you’ll need to go down a set of Easy Risers stairs. As mentioned in the section about The Goofies, it’s much harder to travel down these steps than to go up, so step carefully.

This room was probably among the last rooms built, and a lot of the detail of Mrs. Winchester’s later life can be gleaned from it. For example, the room includes a standup shower, with no place for a bathtub, making it likely that Mrs. Winchester was no longer able to get in and out of a tub in her last years. It is also on the same level as the bedroom during the years when her arthritis confined her to a wheel chair, but the Easy Risers let us know she could still walk as late as 1919, when the room was constructed (based on the date the mansion was wired for electricity).

Your guide will give you a few quick facts about the room, including confirmation that there are thirteen bathrooms in the house (none of them in use, and one of them only accessible from outside), but aside from that, there’s nothing too compelling about the bathroom. I would recommend taking a quick look at the shower controls by the door. They’re completely unlike any shower controls that I’m familiar with, and have a built in thermometer (see image below).

As you leave the 13th bathroom, you’ll go up a very long set of Easy Risers, then back down another set as you round the corner. The steps are low enough that most people hurry past, but take a second to look around you. On your right, as you exit the bathroom door, is Mrs. Winchester’s office. According to her attorney, she conducted business for the rifle company and also her farm and property until the end of her life.

The next stop will be one of Mrs. Winchester’s bedrooms, better known as THE ROOM WHERE SARAH WINCHESTER DIED.