The Essex home-owner stated she lived in fixed worry in what she believed was her dream dwelling, solely to later uncover it had a much more sinister aspect
‘The Cage’ is positioned in St Osyth, Essex (Picture: SWNS)
A mother-of-two from Essex claims she acquired the shock of a lifetime after shopping for her dream property in St Osyth. Vanessa Mitchell, who was raised within the space, stated she was “obsessed” with the Sixteenth-century constructing, which was positioned near her childhood dwelling.
Regardless of whispers of hauntings and being conscious that somebody had taken their very own life there, Vanessa seized the chance to place in a suggestion when the two-bedroom property turned obtainable.
“I knew somebody who had mates that lived there they usually stated it was haunted, however you have to bear in mind I reside in St Osyth – it is an historic village,” she defined. “Our total village is just about haunted, so why would I care?”
Reflecting on recognizing the property listed on the market, she stated on the What It Was Like podcast: “[I thought] I’ve acquired to have it, I simply utterly tunnel-visioned. It got here out of completely nowhere.”
The historic property is broadly recognised as The Cage, having previously operated as a jail for alleged witches through the 1500s, most famously Ursula Kemp.
Ursula Kemp was imprisoned in The Cage in 1582 (Picture: SWNS)
Offering additional particulars on the podcast, host Julian Morgans knowledgeable listeners: “Information present {that a} complete of 14 girls had been convicted of witchcraft on this city, the primary of whom was Ursula Kemp.
“In line with historic proof, Ursula was a poor midwife who fell out with one other native lady and was accused of killing her baby. She was thrown into the native jail, tried, discovered responsible, and hanged.”
Vanessa, child-free on the time and dealing as a salesman, purchased the property in 2004 for £144,000 and settled in together with her childhood buddy Nicole, whose associate subsequently moved in with them.
Nevertheless, merely 24 hours after settling in, the home-owner claims she sensed an uninvited presence past her housemate.
“It was the primary day one thing felt a bit off,” she defined. “I used to be simply making a cup of tea. Nicole was going forwards and backwards, and I used to be busy within the kitchen and thought she’d are available.
The haunted home was purchased by new homeowners in 2025 (Picture: SWNS)
“Then I noticed one thing in my peripheral imaginative and prescient and heard a noise. I stated, ‘Your tea is right here,’ however once I rotated, nobody was there. As a substitute, an enormous black mass-shaped determine was gliding slowly behind me.”
Whereas initially unnerved, Vanessa stated she remained composed and resolved to watch the scenario.
As weeks handed nevertheless, the home-owner stated she “lived in worry” because the unsettling occurrences intensified.
“The sensation in the home began altering. It is a feeling you’ll be able to’t make up, a sixth sense,” she stated.
Describing among the phenomena she claims to have witnessed, Vanessa stated she encountered ghostly figures, faucets turning on with out help, doorways flying open, and an unexplained pool of blood on the ground.
New homeowners have renovated the home (Picture: SWNS)
In a single significantly disturbing episode, she stated she was additionally pushed whereas anticipating her first baby.
“In my case, it turned out to be worse than among the stuff I’ve seen in motion pictures,” she added.
Following the departure of her housemates, Vanessa discovered herself alone together with her first born and selected to “reside in a single room” because of overwhelming worry.
After 4 years, she vacated the house and tried to promote, although the property remained in the marketplace for 9 years with out a purchaser.
“I had no alternative. I needed to depart, I needed to get me and my child to security and that is what I did,” she stated.
Trying again greater than 20 years after buying the property, she mirrored: “I perceive it extra now as a result of now you’ll be able to really activate the TV and watch about these items.
“However again in my day you could not, there wasn’t Discovery+ and all these channels, so I by no means had the expertise of any of that.”
Upon shifting out, Vanessa learnt that quite a few former occupants had encountered paranormal phenomena and none had remained past three years.
“I feel all the opposite people who had left that home over 300 years should not have needed to depart,” she added.
“I feel they had been feeling some sort of method the identical as effectively, that they knew that it was unhealthy. They needed to get out.”
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The residence is now within the palms of Amy’s Crypt, an Australian paranormal investigator, and her associate.
Following their 2025 buy, she knowledgeable followers she was refurbishing the house to ascertain a “secure place for spirits” whereas sustaining the constructing’s historic significance.
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