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Winchester Mystery House goes Hollywood

San Jose’s Winchester Mystery House, the bizarre mansion that has creeped out locals for the past 80 years, will soon be the backdrop of countless nightmares across the globe.

Exclusive Media, a Los Angeles-based film studio, announced on Friday that it has acquired the rights to film a movie about the mysterious house. The horror flick — its script still unwritten — will be filmed on-site using the Victorian’s 160 rooms, 47 stairways and 2,000 doors.

In a recent press release, Tom Armbrust, Exclusive Media’s President of Worldwide Production and Acquisitions expressed the company’s excitement in bringing the spooky lore of Sarah Winchester’s mansion to the silver screen:

“We are also thrilled, and terrified, that the House has allowed us to film on the premises.”

According to Julia Benaroya, Director of Publicity at Exclusive Media, the studio hopes to begin filming early next year. Hammer, the legendary U.K.-based studio that has brought us such horror gems as “Dracula,” “Curse of Frankenstein,” and “The Mummy” will co-produce the film.

Marketed as “the world’s most haunted house,” the elaborate and confounding construction of the Winchester mansion began in 1884. Sarah Winchester, a troubled widow, believed that she was being haunted by the souls who fell victim to her deceased husband’s Winchester rifles.

To appease the spirits, a psychic advised her to build a massive house. So build, she did. Around the clock. For 38 years.

According to KTVU, the house still attracts up to 1,200 visitors a day.

Last modified May 1, 2012 4:35 pm

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