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Britain's 'most haunted house' has now got some new owners after struggling to find a buyer for 12 years. Amy Waine, 38, and Jarrad Cutting, 40, bought The Cage in St Osyth, Essex earlier this year upon after learning it was on the market from a friend. Vanessa Mitchell, the previous owner, spent 12 years trying to sell the eerie cottage after witnessing ghosts and alleging she was knocked over while pregnant. The 16th-century two-bedroom property has a chilling past, having once served as a prison for women accused of witchcraft, where they awaited trial or execution in the 1500s. Join the Manchester Evening News WhatsApp group HERE Now, Amy and Jarrad, originally from Adelaide, Australia, are restoring the £230k home to its original state and intend to operate it as a holiday rental. The couple, who are paranormal investigators who specialise in 'ghost-busting', have reported an increase in creepy occurrences after they began renovating. The pair report hearing odd sounds and their bedroom light switching on by itself at 3am since moving in. "Sometimes you'll walk in and think it feels strange. We've heard strange noises and had strange smells. Doors open and close on their own - I've had a speaker come off a shelf," Amy said. "Our bedroom lights turned themselves on at 3am. "There is a theory in the paranormal that when you undertake a restoration, it can spike the activity. "It is interesting to feel the house shift and change. "It gets a bit creepier at night and I try to get to bed before Jarrad so I don't have to be alone downstairs." The Cage, which served as a prison from the 16th Century until 1908 before becoming a private residence, was the holding place for thirteen women accused of witchcraft prior to their trial in Chelmsford. Among them was the most infamous, Ursula Kemp, a healer who was hanged in 1582 after a family accused her of causing their daughter's death. Jarrad said: "We're looking for ways to preserve and honour those women's legacies for what they went through. "This house has become the home of the witch trials. "We are here to show the house and any ghostly residents respect and share the history." Amy added: "The more you read about the history of the witch trials, the angrier you get about the injustices of women." Vanessa, the previous owner, claimed she witnessed mysterious blood spatters and ghostly figures such as a 'tall, black figure'. She previously stated: "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. "All of the sudden the room would go freezing cold and you could see the black thing there." Amy and Jarrad, who travel the globe exploring haunted locations, have amassed 330k subscribers on their YouTube channel Amy's Crypt. The pair visit eerie locations, explore the background and chat to those who have encountered paranormal activity. Amy initially developed an interest in the supernatural after spotting a young girl in a flat she was residing in whilst in San Francisco. "We never really looked for or considered a haunted property," she said. "But when speaking with friends about The Cage, we were told it was actually up for sale. "We loved the house and the claims about it - a couple of months later we were the owners. "It came to us rather than we went looking for it." The property, which had remained vacant for nearly ten years, suffered from issues with dampness and mould. Amy explained: "There were problems with it as it had been unoccupied. "There was no central heating, the kitchen was rotting. "We wanted to bring back the originality. We're restoring the floorboards which had been layered with carpet. We're buying period furniture. "We want to make it a period home but still functional and modern. "Our grand plan to open it for the public overnight stays - hopefully by next October." Jarrad added: "This is the first time we've worked on a property restoration and we want the house to tell its story accurately. "We have blown our 50k budget and we're winging it now." Sign up to our Manchester property newsletter here
