What to Know
- Friday, Dec. 13
- $49 (souvenir flashlight included)
- San Jose
None of us control the calendar, but if we did?
We might rearrange things, just here and there. We'd put our birthday on a Saturday every year, and make some months a bit shorter, and others a lot longer.
And Friday the 13th? No surprise here: We're sticking that in October.
But the thirteenth day of October doesn't always land on a Friday. And sometimes, in a twist, December, which we think of as sparkly and festive and full of unspooky cheer, get its own cackly calendar-based occasion.
Which will happen in 2019, when, yes, Friday the 13th pops up in the final month of the year.
So where can you go for thrills, chills, and haunted high jinks when all around you people will be caroling, wrapping boxes, and consuming peppermint-based treats?
The Scene
Want to find new things to do in Los Angeles? The Scene's lifestyle stories have you covered. Here's your go-to source on where the fun is across SoCal and for the weekend.
Why the Winchester Mystery House, of course.
The enormous abode, a spirited San Jose landmark, is known for its host of possible ghosts, thanks to former owner Sarah Winchester's curious construction plans and devotion to that most fabled of all numbers.
Yes, we're talking about 13 here.
To honor both its eerie nature and the eerie date, the attraction will hold a special Friday the 13th Flashlight Tour, all to give guests a low-lit look around the many-room'd mansion after sundown.
In fact, the Winchester always plans something special for every Friday the 13th, even when Friday the 13th shows up in the ho-ho-happiest month on the calendar.
A ticket is $49, and comes with a souvenir flashlight. Spots are on sale now, and, given the fact that many people are in the let-down mode that follows Halloween, you can bet tickets will be snapped up faster than you can open a door that leads to a wall.
Which, yes, the Winchester Mystery House does have, quite famously.
Where will you spend Friday the 13th in December 2019? Baking cookies, tying ribbons, or pointing a flashlight beam into shadowy recesses in search of ethereal beings?
You could do all three, to be honest, if you plan accordingly. Maybe we are, after all, in charge of our time, even if we can't change the calendar around in the way we ultimately wish, giving every month its own Friday the 13th.
