Mrs. Sarah Winchester was the wife of Oliver Winchester of Winchester rifle fame. After the death of both her husband and her child, Sarah Winchester felt that her family was cursed and began contacting mediums and spiritualists. These people told her that her family was cursed with all the deaths caused by the Winchester rifle...
You can read more about the strange goings on here and see why it would inspire King:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_L._Winchester
Here are a few of the pictures I took on our tour there a few years ago:
The first is of the Million Dollar Storage Room. It's called that because Mrs. Winchester designed many of the Tiffany windows in the home herself (many including symbols showing her fascination with the number 13) and these were never put up. At the time, they cost $25,000 and are said to be worth at least a million dollars today. See the little orbs dancing around the windows there?:
The next picture is of our tour group walking through the Seance Room where Mrs. Winchester would get inspiration from the spirits on where and how to build on her constantly growing home each night between midnight and two a.m. More orbs around the stairs:
This next set of photos I sent to the Ghosthunters to see if they could debunk them as odd light anomalies or something of that nature. Their answer was no, they couldn't.
The pictures were taken in Mrs. Winchester's bedroom as I was taking a set of three photos to get the whole room in. I lagged behind the tour also to get the pictures with no people in them so no one else was in the room. The first picture is what I saw when uploading the pics originally. The next is cropped-not altered in any way-to give a closer view of what I saw.
There appear to be the faces of two men directly under the lamp in the mirror. The reflection in the lower half of the picture is of me/my camera kneeling down to take the picture. The other reflection is that of a plaque that's on the blank wall opposite the mirror and much lower than the lamp. One full face (on the left) with full beard and distinct features. The face on the right shows a prominent nose, mouth and beard. Eyes can also be seen on the man on the right but they're not as noticeable.:
The first link here is of the original shot. I guess we're not allowed to put this many images in one post and I didn't realize it. Anyway, there you go for comparison's sake:
If you're ever in town, make sure to take a tour there. The stories of what went on in the house during Mrs. Winchester's life there and after her death are quite interesting. It's got the Stephen King stamp of approval to boot.