Aussie couple buy $500,000 haunted house The Cage with alarming past: 'People only last four years'

When Aussie couple Amy Waine and Jarrad Cutting signed the papers for their new home in the quaint English village of St Osyth earlier this year, they weren’t surprised when most family and friends told them they wouldn’t be coming to stay.

The house, which has bounced on and off the market and at one point was for sale for 12 years, has a terrifying history. Known as ‘the Cage’, it’s deemed one of England’s most haunted houses.

“We loved the village and we’re very into the paranormal,” Waine, who runs the website, Amy’s Crypt told Yahoo Lifestyle. “When we found out it was for sale it just fell into place. It was on the market for £250,000 (A$500,000) but we got it a good deal cheaper. It’d been on sale for many months and there were not lines of people wanting to buy it! The real estate agent said he was relieved to get rid of it.”

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What is the history of The Cage?

Not only does the house’s history put most potential buyers off but the experiences of previous owners would have even the most skeptical thinking twice.

The Cage was originally a medieval prison and 13 so-called witches were kept there in 1582 while awaiting trial. Three, who became known as the 'Witches of St Osyth,' were hanged.

It then housed people with the plague as well as village delinquents and drunks and a more recent suicide is also thought to have added to the spirit number.

But while homes steeped with history aren’t unusual in the UK what is unusual is the traumatic stories of those who have lived there since.

Previous owners terrified by haunted house

Vanessa Mitchell bought the property in 2005 but she didn’t live there long.

Among countless other experiences, she claims to have witnessed the ghost of a man disappear into an eerie mist, found blood on the floor, and said she was even shoved to the ground while heavily pregnant.

Her son, Jude, then six, also claimed to have seen a legless man and been pushed over while her plumber refused to return because he was left terrified by the paranormal activity.

In Vanessa's final weeks, she told media she resorted to eating packed lunches in bed and kept a potty nearby so that she didn't have to leave the bedroom in the dark.

“Jarrad met Vanessa to gauge her story and she said she would never live there again. She said the house was cursed,” Waine said. “I think people only live in the house for about four years. They can’t stay for longer and I hope we can break that.”

“Everyone in the village has a story - the postman told us he’d seen someone in the window a couple of months ago but the place was unoccupied then,” she went on. “Some locals think we are crazy to buy it.”

Obstacles to renovating haunted house

Waine and Cutting haven’t properly moved into the house yet because it’s in such a bad state. Inexplicably, or perhaps tellingly, the people who owned the house before them started renovations but stopped halfway through.

“There’s a new sink and toilet in the bathroom but they aren’t connected and the electricity’s been cut off,” Waine said. “I’d speculate no one has lived here for about two years. I don’t know if the paranormal made them move but it could be. There is a prevalent theory that renovations and moving furniture stirs up spirit activity so it’s exciting we can test that.”

Aussie couple's "creepy" experience in house

Even though they haven’t spent a night in the house there’s been enough going on during daylight hours to make Cutting feel a “little bit scared” about their decision.

“There’s a couple of moments which have felt a bit sketchy and made me wonder what we’re doing,” he told Yahoo Lifestyle.

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One of these was when Waine was alone in the bedroom on her laptop.

“The atmosphere changed and I got the creepiest feeling around me. It was like someone was really close to me and I had to get up and move,” she said. “Jarrad has had the same feeling in that room and then felt like he was swaying. I’ve also got a strange image through on one of my instruments but I don’t want to say too much about that yet.”

But while there’s fear there’s also excitement and, for a couple who have spent their career filming in haunted buildings, the opportunity to focus on one place is appealing.

“I understand for a regular person that the house being so haunted could be a negative but for me, it’s about pushing boundaries and testing our experiments,” Waine said. “Also we’ll be travelling a lot and Adelaide is still our home so the ghosts will get some respite!”

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