Editor’s note: Every weekday in October, former Mystery House blogger Stephen will post an excerpt from his in-progress guide to the Winchester Mystery House. Previous entries can be found here.

The tour script for the linen rooms focuses on the built-in wooden cabinets, painted with a faux wood grain to simulate maple (a common Victorian-era technique), but it also makes mention of Mrs. Winchester buying entire bolts of cloth from local merchants. Looking back at my own tour script, it surprised me to learn that the script does not mention a motivation for this. Guides, myself included, always add a post-script that she purchased the entire bolt to prevent anyone else from wearing the same pattern.

Since most guides learn the tour script by listening to other tours, there’s an interesting oral tradition built in to the tour and misinformation spreads virally. A person interested in studying the oral transmission of information might find the Mystery House an interesting laboratory.

The room itself contains an interesting, but unfortunately hidden detail. If you slide one of the large, heavy drawers completely out of the cabinets, you can see the original wallpaper. The pattern is similar to the wallpaper found in the room now, but the newer paper lacks the gold leaf of the original.