Testimonies and records from those who knew her describe her as intelligent, kind, a savvy financial manager, and not superstitious, remaining sharp-witted even into old age.

[1][2] Winchester's father was a skilled craftsman who had established a mill and wood shop called Leonard Pardee & Company.

[3][2] Her family had progressive ideas for the time regarding religion and philanthropic choices, publicly expressing their opinions on such things as abolition, suffrage and animal rights.

[1] As an adult Sallie supported her sister Belle Merriman's animal rights activism, and is known to have chastised a boy who sought permission to hunt robins on her property.

[1] According to Mary Jo Ignoffo in her book Captive of the Labyrinth, Winchester was an independent thinker who was not as social as her siblings as a teenager.

[1] During the American Civil War, Pardee, who was under five feet tall[5] and then twenty-three, married William Wirt Winchester, then twenty-five, on Tuesday, September 30, 1862.

[3] Because of building material shortages due to the Civil War, the two lived with William's parents on Court Street, New Haven.

[6] On June 15, 1866, Sallie gave birth to a baby girl they named Annie Pardee Winchester, in honor of William's late sister, who had died during childbirth.

Architecture and design became life-long hobbies for Sallie, who also learned about real estate investment and financial strategies from William and her father-in-law.

[6] The house was completed in 1868, was approximately 20,000 square feet, had over twenty rooms with marble floors, decorative fireplaces and chandeliers, large bay windows, plasterwork ceilings, and a circular drive in front.

[6] After the loss of so many family members and after a physician recommended the dryer and warmer climate for her worsening rheumatoid arthritis, Winchester decided to move to California, which was touted, at the time, as a place with a good climate, soil, and relatively cheap land for sale.

[9] The windows, which are pastel-colored, asymmetrically designed and sharply bevelled, were initially believed to be made by Tiffany & Co. [9] Historian Jim Wolf believed that the windows were most likely made by glass artist John Mallon from Alexander Dunsmuir's company, the Pacific American Decorative Company, since this style of glass could also be found at Craigdarroch Castle in British Columbia, Canada.

Wolf's theory was confirmed when an envelope with the Dunsmuir company seal on it, postmarked July 1894,[11] was found within the walls of a dining room that was undergoing restoration.

Windows on the right and left side of a brick fireplace have Shakespearean quotes from Richard II and Troilus and Cressida.

In some areas the home was five stories high and she added a seven-story tower that the San Jose News said was rebuilt sixteen times before Winchester was satisfied.

For instance, my upper hall which leads to the sleeping apartment was rendered so unexpectedly dark by a little addition that after a number of people had missed their footing on the stairs I decided that safety demanded something to be done so, over a year ago, I took out a wall and put in a skylight; Then I had to have plastering done and as that could not well be done in the heat which succeeded, I had to wait for cooler weather; then I became rather worn and tired out and dismissed all the work-men to take such rest as I might through the winter.

[6] In 1893, Winchester's youngest sister, Estelle Pardee Gerard, became ill. She was moved from San Francisco to Llanada Villa with the hope that the dryer climate would improve her health.

[7] It is unknown if Winchester was at Llanada Villa during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake that caused tremendous damage to the building.

[14] Damage to Llanada Villa included a seven-story tower, the third and fourth floor additions and most of the chimneys collapsed.

This left the home with water pipes protruding, second story doors opening to nothing where balconies once were, and staircases going up to a ceiling where once another level existed.

[7] Winchester purchased 140 acres of land next to the Merriman home with the intention of raising and marketing large carriage horses.

In 1907 she purchased a Tudor style home in Burlingame Park where she stayed while overseeing the dredging of a canal for her houseboat.

[6] After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Winchester undertook a project that she imagined would attract visitors to the Burlingame area.

She envisioned coastal estates with personal docks and passages that visitors visiting California would enjoy after going through the soon to be completed Panama Canal.

[14] It was stated that "half the sidewalks in Burlingame were made from sand stolen from Winchester's beach by a well-known contractor at the time.

[8] By 1920, Winchester rarely left her home, shopping for clothing and material via mail order or having store employees bring purchases out to her in her car.

[4][18] September 1922, Winchester was driven from her home in Atherton to Llanada Villa to be closer to her doctor, who lived in San Jose.

[22][2] In 1908, the first mention of angry spirits haunting Winchester appeared in the San Francisco Examiner with rumors she was considering selling Llanada Villa.

[14] Incorrect rumors spread about Winchester's houseboat, stating that she purchased the boat after the earthquake for fear of a biblical flood.

[14] Since the Winchester Mystery House opened as an attraction in 1923, the owners chose to embrace and expand upon the rumors and stories that had been in print and discussed by the community.