A house dubbed ‘the most haunted in England’ may be sold as a holiday escape for thrillseekers - after estate agents warned it could be impossible to sell as a normal home.
The building in St Osyth, Essex, is known as ‘The Cage’ because of its use as a medieval prison where 13 so-called "witches" were kept while awaiting trial in 1582.
Three, including the notorious Ursula Kemp, were subsequently found guilty and hanged – but some believe their spirits have lingered at the site.
Vanessa Mitchell, who has owned the building since 2004, says her time at the house was plagued by hauntings and that a ghost there pushed her over while she was pregnant.
She fled the house in 2008 and has been trying to sell it since, and now the home is back on the market for £240,000.
Estate agents at Home Domus 360, who have taken charge of the sale, say they are pinning their hopes on a buyer who appreciates the paranormal.
Spokesman Florent Lambert said: “Vanessa can’t live in the house because of the ghosts and she has tried to sell it a few times over the years without much success.
“I think it’s going to be pretty impossible to sell the house to someone that wants to live normally inside.
“But there is such a big following and such a big market [for the paranormal] in the US and Japan, and England is obviously a place with a lot of history and a reputation for ghosts.
“And there’s a market to turn the property into a holiday cottage with a twist – that twist being its paranormal edge.
“So we are really trying to target someone that can turn it into a holiday cottage.”
Mr Lambert said his research indicated that most of the previous owners had only kept The Cage for roughly three years before selling.
A previous owner had also committed suicide in the house, he found.
It’s a history unlikely to appeal to potential homeowners, but the estate agent believes the building’s troubled past could make it a lucrative holiday rental.
“If you want it as a normal cottage,” he said, “you could probably earn let’s say £12,000 to £15,000 a year on rental, which would be a bit more than normal long-term rental.
“As a paranormal cottage, however, you’re probably looking at getting at least twice that, because the market is probably not as seasonal.
“That’s because you would typically use a holiday cottage during the summer, but in this case it’s not weather dependent.
“Especially around Christmas and on gloomy days, it’s likely to attract tourists anyway.”
The current owner also claims to have seen mysterious blood splatters at the house and to have spotted several ghosts, including what she feared was a satanic goat roaming the premises.
Ursula Kemp was hanged for witchcraft after being accused of using her so-called powers to bring sickness and death to her neighbours.