PRISON CELL IS EVIL REALLIFE GATEWAY TO HELL
FOR SALE: A lovely two- bed semi in the picturesque Essex village of St Osyth, near Clacton- on- Sea.
It comes with a period fireplace, Georgian sash windows, beamed ceilings… and a malevolent group of violent ghosts that forced the current owner to flee in terror.
Spare a thought for the estate agents who have spent years trying to market Britain’s most HAUNTED house.
At first glance the pretty cottage looks tempting – it nestles in the coastal village of St Osyth and bustles with holidaymakers in the summer months.
But this ancient, 500- year- old dwelling, called The Cage, bears an awful history.
From the late 1500s, right up until 1908, it was used as a prison – keeping suspects banged- up prior to them being hauled before the courts.
In the 16th and 17th centuries St Osyth was also the scene of a harrowing succession of witch trials, as 10 local women were HANGED there as a result of their supposed dabblings with the occult.
All of them – including, in 1582, one well- known witch called Ursula Kemp, whose skeleton was said to have been unearthed in the village in 1921 – will have spent their final hours in The Cage, awaiting their execution while paralysed with fear.
SCARED: Nicole soon had to leave pal Vanessa on her own (
SPOOKY: Shadows appear in brochure photos
And their spirits live on. Ask any local and they’ll tell you about The Cage’s frightful reputation as a site for paranormal activity.
But that didn’t stop Vanessa Mitchell, 45, buying it for £ 250,000 back in 2009.
The mum- of- one explains: “It was my dream home and I loved it. It’s a beautiful little cottage – even if it’s got a prison door stuck on the side. It’s a little slice of English history and it’s just so pretty.
“Yes, I knew all about the supposed haunting when I bought it, but it didn’t put me off. In fact, when I first went to look round the place, some of the local villagers told me about the ghosts who lived there.
“But I just laughed and said, ‘ Even if it is haunted, it can’t be that bad’.
“But it is bad. It’s really bad. I found that out for myself. Which is why I’ll never live there again.”
At first Vanessa moved in with housemate and close friend Nicole Kirtley.
But it wasn’t long before this house from hell showed its true colours.
She recalls: “On a typical day, you’d be sitting there on the sofa and things would start flying across the room. You’d hear door latches go, footsteps running up and down the stairs, taps in the bathroom turning on. It was pretty unbearable.
“I stayed in there for three years. I mean, I had to! When you buy somewhere you can’t just think, ‘ Oh, I’ll move out tomorrow’, because I have a mortgage on it.
“I saw three different ghosts while I was there – two men and a woman. And I can honestly say that I was petrified all of the time.”
After a year of unexplained phenomenon, nervous pal Nicole moved out, leaving Vanessa on her own… and more scared than she’s ever been in her life.
And then one day – following the birth of her young son, Jesse – something happened that made Vanessa realise she simply couldn’t stay there any longer.
Speaking about the incident in 2012, she revealed: “One day, I was doing the ironing downstairs and my son Jesse, who was only four months old at the time, was asleep upstairs.
“I was actually in The Cage – the prison room. And I heard the sound of Jesse’s toys being turned on. There was no- one else up there and Jesse was tucked- up in bed.