AGE-OLD ARGUMENT: Call it one of the most invigorating and, indeed, spirited debates you'll ever have with a good friend: Are ghosts real? Surely whatever side of the issue you stand on you've found yourself in a lively go-around with a group of pals who think differently (we're picturing the conversation happening over a bottle of wine or perhaps an atmospheric coffeehouse). Studies are cited and personal anecdotes, and, in the end, everyone likely walks away standing their ground -- and still friends, one hopes. But not up for argument? That the flashlight tours at San Jose's Winchester Mystery House are incredibly popular. This could be due, in part, to their relative scarcity. The wander-the-famous-manse-by-dark evenings only ever land on Friday the 13ths and during the month of October. And those Friday the 13th nights? Zip-zow-boom, those tickets fly like they've got little fairy wings attached to their edges. October's the more robust period for the flashlight walks, but, believe it (regardless of what you believe): They fill up. So, are you tempted to see the Other Side? Or at least ramble, by night, through the World's Most Notorious Rambling House? Then click for your ticket info.
AND TRUE: It was, in fact, announced that the Winchester would allow overnight stays on the grounds earlier this year. We suppose it is true what they say: Wraiths sleep in the daytime but come out to play by moonlight. No? That's not how the legend goes? Well, regardless, many fans have longed to stay from dusk through dawn at Sarah Winchester's stairways-to-nowhere labyrinth. What they see under the stars and in the shadows will depend on the guests' quick eyes, their sixth senses, and their devotion to the pursuits of fun and imagination, too.
AS FOR THOSE FRIDAY THE 13THS? There was only one in 2014, and it happened in June. But there are three ahead in 2015. Get ready, flashlight adventurers...
