Captive of the Labyrinth: Sarah L. Winchester, Heiress to the Rifle Fortune
Written by Mary Jo Ignoffo
Narrated by Nan McNamara
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
The first full-length biography of Sarah Winchester, the subject of the movie Winchester starring Helen Mirren, now available for the first time in audio.
Since her death in 1922, Sarah Winchester has been perceived as a mysterious, haunted figure. After inheriting a vast fortune upon the death of her husband in 1881, Sarah purchased a simple farmhouse in San José, California. She began building additions to the house and continued construction on it for the next twenty years. A hostile press cast Sarah as the conscience of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company-a widow shouldering responsibility for the many deaths caused by the rifle that brought her riches. She was accused of being a ghost-obsessed spiritualist, and to this day it is largely believed that the extensive construction she executed on her San José house was done to appease the ghouls around her.
But was she really as guilt-ridden and superstitious as history remembers her? When Winchester's home was purchased after her death, it was transformed into a tourist attraction. The bizarre, sprawling mansion and the enigmatic nature of Winchester's life were exaggerated by the new owners to generate publicity for their business. But as the mansion has become more widely known, the person of Winchester has receded from reality, and she is only remembered for squandering her riches to ward off disturbed spirits.
Captive of the Labyrinth: Sarah L. Winchester, Heiress to the Rifle Fortune demystifies the life of this unique American. In the first full-length biography of Winchester, author and historian Mary Jo Ignoffo unearths the truth about this notorious eccentric, revealing that she was not a maddened spiritualist driven by remorse but an intelligent, articulate woman who sought to protect her private life amidst the chaos of her public existence. The author takes listeners through Winchester's several homes, explores her private life, and, by excerpting from personal correspondence, gives the heiress a voice for the first time since her death. Ignoffo's research reveals that Winchester's true financial priority was not dissipating her fortune on the mansion in San José but investing it for a philanthropic legacy.
For too long Sarah Winchester has existed as a ghost herself-a woman whose existence lies somewhere between the facts of her life and a set of sensationalized recollections of who she may have been. Captive of the Labyrinth finally puts to rest the myths about this remarkable woman, and, in the process, uncovers the legacy she intended to leave behind.
Related to Captive of the Labyrinth
Related audiobooks
Jennie Churchill: Winston's American Mother Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Irrepressible: The Jazz Age Life of Henrietta Bingham Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Ghost: A Family's Haunted Past in the Desert Southwest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5That Woman: The Life of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Katherine Swynford Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Demon-Haunted Land: Witches, Wonder Doctors, and the Ghosts of the Past in Post-WWII Germany Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America's Ghosts Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Undertaker's Wife Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Shadow over Innsmouth and Dagon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsB. J. Harrison Reads The Burned House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Mountains of Madness: The Life, Death, and Extraordinary Afterlife of H.P. Lovecraft Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5White Pine: American History and the Tree that Made a Nation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Matriarch: The Story of 'Granny Evil' Kathy Pettingill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEnchanted New York: A Journey along Broadway through Manhattan's Magical Past Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBelle Cora: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Murder at Teal's Pond: Hazel Drew and the Mystery That Inspired Twin Peaks Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Duchess Countess Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shadows Over Briarcliff Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings50 Real American Ghost Stories: A Journey Into the Haunted History of the United States – 1800 to 1899 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsZombies! Zombies! Zombies! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsQueen Mary: The Official Biography Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wildcat: The Untold Story of Pearl Hart, the Wild West's Most Notorious Woman Bandit Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Small Plates: Short Fiction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Secret Life, Vol. 8 Chapter 6 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKatherine: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Accursed Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hitler in the Crosshairs: A GI's Story of Courage and Faith Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Historical Biographies For You
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of Charlie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Up From Slavery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Devil and Harper Lee Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lives of the Wives: Five Literary Marriages Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lincoln Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Diary of Anne Frank Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shakespeare Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eliza Hamilton: The Extraordinary Life and Times of the Wife of Alexander Hamilton Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Moveable Feast Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A Memoir of Friendship, Loyalty, and War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Professor and The Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman Who Helped to Hide the Frank Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Bondage and My Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leonardo da Vinci Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Benjamin Franklin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Benjamin Franklin: Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mobituaries: Great Lives Worth Reliving Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Captive of the Labyrinth
0 ratings0 reviews