The Winchester Mystery House by Joshua Werner

Illustrated by Dustin Irvin and Damien Torres

Widow Sarah Winchester moves to California and begins work on a sprawling mansion where construction must never cease. She assembles a team of laborers who work around the clock to keep building new wings of the house. Despite the enormous labor force, her project is plagued with setbacks. Robber barons try to take part Sarah's land for the construction of the railroad, but Sarah and her niece sabotage the survey equipment night after night. Other members of the California wealthy want in on Sarah's inner circle, and sabotage her when they are rebuked. A member of her crew accidentally stabs a co-worker and swears it was because of tricks played on him by vengeful spirits. And then there is the question about the spirits themselves and the role they played in the building of the Winchester Mystery House.

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Growing up in California, this house was frequently part of school lessons and dangled as a way to entice young children to be excited about creepy, unexplained points in history. This comicbook might be a good addition for California libraries because of this interest, but I'm not entirely sure about its appeal outside of the state. This fairly short comicbook doesn't really provide any further details or theories, but rather, it narrates and illustrates some of the known history and legends that is presented on tours of the house. Readers looking for more supernatural content might be slightly disappointed in the scarcity of spirits, but they'll get their payoff during the conclusion of the book when spooky bits previously hinted at come together.

​The fantastic cover art from Irvin and Torres on the single issues, plus the subject matter, originally drew me to this title, and the interior art is also beautiful. The house is drawn incredibly accurately, which is a solid plus for history buffs.

There is some violence on the page, as well as some supernatural horror stuff, so this might be better for mature middle grade readers and high schoolers.

Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 7-12

Publisher: Source Point Press
Publication Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 9781954412477 (Paperback)

Tags: Rating: 8/10, Suitability: Middle School, Suitability: High School, Comicbooks, Horror, Supernatural, History, Historical Fiction