New ‘Winchester’ Movie Has Everyone On Edge (trailer)

Some think it's scary. But some want the movie to mean more than jump scares.

A new teaser trailer was released today for the movie "Winchester: The House That Ghosts Built", which is awesome. I've been waiting for a Winchester Mystery House movie. (I've also been waiting for Supernatural to have an episode at that house...I mean, the main character's last name is "Winchester". Coincidence? Not on that show.)

But a lot of people are on the fence about the movie. And here's why:

For those of you that don't know the Winchester Mystery House is in San Jose, California where construction began in 1884...and never stopped.

It is also known as one of the most haunted houses in America.

Sarah Winchester was the widow of William Winchester, heir to the Winchester Repeating Arms fortune. After his death in 1881, Sarah inherited over $20.5 million dollars and 50% ownership in the company. Sarah then moved from East coast Connecticuit to West Coast California to begin building a new home. Tabloids say that Sarah went to a Boston medium who told her to move out west and continuously build a home to appease the spirits of those killed by Winchesters rifles.

Or, Sarah simply wanted a change of scenery and felt guilty that all of this money she had now was because of guns that were used to kill. The Winchester rifle is commonly known as "The Gun That Won the West" These guns weren't just used for hunting animals. They were used in fights and land wars all over the west in the late 19th century. Especially against Native Americans that still lived in the west. It would make perfect sense that Sarah would feel guilty about the money.

But also, that tabloid could be completely correct. I mean, Sarah did hold regular seances in her house trying to communicate with her late husband and those killed by the Winchester rifle. Who knows?

What IS known is that Sarah bought an unfinished house in 1884 and started construction, which didn't stop until her death in 1922. (Although, some say the spirits of construction workers that died on the property are still building in certain unfinished parts of the house.)

Between 1884 and 1922, the workers only had only one goal: keep building. There was no architect and no rhyme or reason to anything. Sarah believed that she had to keep adding to the house to appease, and hide from, the spirits of those killed by Winchester rifles. (She slept in a different room every night to try and avoid being haunted by spirits.) There are windows inside the house that look into other rooms, or just walls, or even ceilings. Doors and stairs that lead to nowhere. And rooms that have no doors or entrances at all that are still being found to this day. The literally just found a room in the attic last year that has a pump organ, sewing machine, dress form, and Victorian couch.

In the early 1900's the house was 7 stories tall, but after the earthquake of 1906 the structure was reduced to only 4 stories, as it stands today. So some of the doors and stairs that lead to nowhere might have actually led somewhere at some point. But because there were to blue prints or architect, we may never know which stairs and doors to nowhere are intentional or accidental.

The house today spans over 4.5 acres and has 161 rooms (that we know of today), 40 bedrooms, 2 ballrooms, 3 elevators, 47 fireplaces, 17 chimneys, 9 kitchens, 10,000 windows, 2,000 doors, and 2 basements.

Now, as awesome as this Mystery House is, people are loving the trailer for the movie, but also criticizing it.

First of all, it's a straight up horror movie (because this house is haunted as hell). But some people want there to be more meaning behind the movie. They want there to be a message somewhere in there about gun violence, or the genocide of the Native Americans, or the actual grief that Sarah went through when her daughter and husband died and what led to her moving across the country and building this house. Because it looks like all we're getting is "Creepy rich lady built a haunted house" and there is so much more to Sarah Winchester than that.

Watch the trailer below and tell us what you think.