Fringe review: MYSTERY HOUSE, Fringe Management - Edinburgh Festival Fringe

In 1886, following the death of her husband and child, Sarah Winchester purchased an unfinished farmhouse near San Francisco. She began building. For 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and for the next 38 years, she didn't stop. Resulting in a massive maze of staircases, some leading to nowhere, and even a dedicated seance room - this is the Winchester Mystery House, reported as one of the most haunted house's in America.

Wendy Weiner takes us on an exploration of the house, somewhere she has visited herself on more than one occasion, growing up nearby. Is the history behind she house all that it seems? Are they just exaggerations to attract the tourists? Was this simply Sarah Winchester's way of dealing with her grief?

Reflecting on how we deal with personal grief, reflecting on our lives and the obsessive nature of love, Weiner tells both her own and Sarah's stories with compassion and a light hearted humour.

Historically interesting, factually fascinating and emotionally empathic.

A mystery life housed in grief.

**** Four stars

Reviewed by: Rachel Louise Martin

Mystery House plays in The Turret at Gilded Balloon Teviot at 12.20pm until 28 August.