Evil Spirits
The Evil Spirits (悪霊, Akuryō) are the main antagonists of The Mysterious Manor the Widow Kept Expanding: Winchester Mystery House, the fifth episode of The Lives of Eccentrics.
They are vengeful ghosts who haunt Sarah Winchester. They attempt to avenge the Winchester family, who were responsible for the creation of the weapons they were killed with during the American Civil War.[1]
Appearance
The spirits usually appear as a pair of hands, often as dark handprints that inexplicably appear on the surfaces of objects.
Personality
They are malicious and vindictive spirits who hold a grudge against the Winchester family for creating the weapons that killed them in the American Civil War. As ghosts, they seek vengeance against the family by killing Sarah Winchester or driving her to suicide by killing her loved ones.
Abilities
Ghost
The evil spirits have the ability to bring misfortune to their victims as they were able to inflict deadly diseases on Sarah Winchester's family. They can also physically interact with the world with their hands as well as possess inanimate objects.
History
Background
In 1861, Abraham Lincoln became president of the United States and abolished slavery. The south, largely reliant on slave labor, decided to secede from the north, leading to the American Civil War. One of the things that led the North to victory in 1865 was the lever action repeating rifles manufactured by the Winchester Company. Some of the people killed with those rifles held on to their grudges into the afterlife, turning into evil spirits who take vengeance against the Winchester family.
In 1866, one year after the end of the Civil War and the year of the Model 1866 Winchester rifle, the spirits caused the death of Annie Pardee Winchester, a month-old daughter of Sarah Winchester. In 1881, her husband, William Wirt Winchester, died of tuberculosis. Soon, her parents died too. By killing her loved ones, the evil spirits had successfully instilled suicidal thoughts in Sarah. In 1883, she moved southeast of San Francisco and, following the advice of a Fortune Teller, began the construction of the Winchester Mystery House, a labyrinthine mansion meant to protect her from evil spirits.
Winchester Mystery House
In 1906, during the construction of the Winchester Mystery House, Sarah's butler, James, notices a dark, foul-smelling handprint in the wine cellar. He, as per his mistress’s request, demands the construction workers destroy the whole cellar. When one of the workers goes to investigate the handprint, he notices that it is made of dead flies stuck to a shelf. As he leans closer, the hand grabs his face; the shelf collapses as his face gets impaled by nails.
After washing his face, James, disguised as Sarah to confuse the spirits, notices a peculiar smell seeping from the outside. He opens the window to investigate and sees a produce bag with a dark handprint. The handprint grabs James's hair and begins pulling it inside the bag. James shuts the window in panic. With his hair stuck in the window, James notices a drawer out of his reach. Using his veil to catch the handle, he opens the drawer and grabs a razor, with which he cuts off his hair. The bag squeezes through the window and launches at James. He attempts to defend himself with the razor, but the hand extending from the bag takes it from him and cuts the side of his face.
James manages to escape into another room, where he immediately calls the fortune teller, begging for help. While being strangled by the spirit’s right hand, she tells him to run, as the house is about to be destroyed by an earthquake. The building begins to collapse; the left hand extends from a piece of rubble and grabs James’s face. Suddenly, Sarah Winchester appears from a hatch on the floor, takes his arm, and pulls him to safety, to the bewilderment of the spirit.
Gallery
Pages 2–3, full color
Page 4, full color
The spirits' handprint in the wine cellar
Killing a consturction worker
Sarah Winchester haunted by the spirits
Attempting to enter the mansion
Attacking disguised James
Strangling the Fortune Teller
Getting hold of James
