UK’s most HAUNTED house has finally sold after 12 years on market – as previous owner ‘fled for their life in terror’
A SEMI dubbed Britain’s most haunted house has sold for £250,000 just months after a previous owner fled in terror.
The owner claims an unknown presence threw her to the floor when she was heavily pregnant after she bought the house in 2020 from Vanessa Mitchell.
Previous owner, Vanessa, had spent 12 years trying to sell the 16th Century house – known as The Cage – after a paranormal barrage.
The house sold in 2020 for £240,000 but it was put back on sale for £250,000 in October 2024.
During those four years, the owners used the property as a holiday let and described it as a “cosy and eccentric holiday let, offering promising returns on investment.”
The 16th Century property – and former medieval prison that once held witches, was originally bought by Vanessa in 2005.
But she fled in 2008 with her baby son after she was terrorised by several ghosts including a bottom-spanking ghoul.
Vanessa didn’t realise the house in St Osyth, Essex, was haunted but things soon went bump in the night.
She was terrorised by a bottom-spanking ghoul and a dark apparition would give visitors a chill.
She also witnessed ghostly figures, mysterious blood spatters and was pushed over while pregnant.
The final straw came when her CCTV picked up an eerie image of what she feared was the ghost of a satanic goat.
Vanessa struggled to find a buyer and advertised it for sale with Home Domus 360 for £240,000 – £92,000 more than she paid for it.
While filming a promo video, the crew picked up a strange “symbol” on a door during a long exposure picture of the landing.
Vanessa said: “The house is absolutely haunted. There is no doubt in the world that this house is a very haunted house. It always has been.
“It started off with smaller things that nobody really cared about.
“The doors would open, the kettle would turn itself on, the implements by the fire would swing back and forward, the doors would open and shut, the latches on the doors would go up, the taps would turn on. All that general stuff.
“All of the sudden the room would go freezing cold and you could see the black thing there. That started off quite soon, within days really. I knew the first day.
“I’ve been the guardian of this special house since 2004. It’s now time for me to let somebody else look after it.”
Thirteen witches were kept there before they were put on trial.
The most famous was Ursula Kemp who was tried for witchcraft and hanged in 1582 along with two others.
The Cage remained as a prison for men, women and children up until 1908 before it became a private residence.
The house featured in Channel 4 documentary True Horror ‘The Witches Prison’ which aired on Halloween night in 2018.
Paranormal experts have visited from all over the world.
Vanessa has also penned a book ‘Spirits of the Cage’ about the events.
She left the home with son Jesse in 2008 to move into rented accommodation and has since desperately been trying to flog it.
The cottage itself comprises three reception rooms, a kitchen, a ground floor cloakroom, plus two bedrooms and a bathroom on the split level first floor.
A plaque on the building describes the plight of Ursula Kemp, who was imprisoned in The Cage on suspicion of witchcraft before being hanged in Chelmsford in 1582.
Estate agent Florent Lambert, director of Home Domus, said: “Vanessa did try to sell The Cage numerous times since 2008 and with a number of different estate agents.
“Most agents advised her to sell at auction at ridiculous prices or were not at all interested as they predicted it could not be sold.
“I took it as a challenge and a mission to find the way to best sell it.”