The Cage - St Osyth, Essex
During the reign of Henry the 8th, in 1542, The Witchcraft Act, England’s first witchcraft law was passed. At this time, if convicted, it didn't always results in a death sentence until the reign of Elizabeth the 1st, when in 1563, ‘An Act Against Conjurations, Enchantments and Witchcraft’, was passed, which meant that anyone using witchcraft to kill or harm others would face the death sentence.
In July 1566, Chelmsford held the first major witch trial where 4 women stood accused. Lora Wynchester, mother and daughter Agnes and Joan Waterhouse and Elizabeth Frauncis, all from Hatfield Peverel. Agnes was the only one given the death sentence which made her the first person in England to be put to death for witchcraft. |
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The witch trials continued until the 18th century and around 500 of the accused had been killed, 90 percent of them being women.
In September 1589, James the 6th of Scotland's wife, Anne of Denmark was travelling across the North Sea to join him and to be crowned queen, when a devastating storm capsized one of the ship’s and the ship that Anne was travelling in had to retreat back to Denmark.
James decided to go and meet his wife in Copenhagen in January 1590 and his journey was almost as bad, violent storms nearly made him turn back. While in Denmark, two people were accused of causing the storms by use of witchcraft. They both confessed and five others were also convicted, all were burned at the stake.
In September 1589, James the 6th of Scotland's wife, Anne of Denmark was travelling across the North Sea to join him and to be crowned queen, when a devastating storm capsized one of the ship’s and the ship that Anne was travelling in had to retreat back to Denmark.
James decided to go and meet his wife in Copenhagen in January 1590 and his journey was almost as bad, violent storms nearly made him turn back. While in Denmark, two people were accused of causing the storms by use of witchcraft. They both confessed and five others were also convicted, all were burned at the stake.
Witch hunt mania was all over mainland Europe and hundreds of people had been accused of witchcraft and killed which would escalate into the thousands. The witch hunts were caused because of a book written in 1487 by a German monk named Heinrich Kramer, the book was called ‘The Malleus Maleficarum’, or ‘The Hammer of the Witches’. The contents of the book explained how to identify a witch, how to make them confess and how to execute them.
King James of Scotland became aware of this and wrote a book himself called, ‘Demonology’, which became very popular in England after the death of his cousin, Elizabeth the first when he took over the English throne and became James the 1st of England in 1603. James was convinced that witches were out to kill him after a case in Edinburgh in 1590.
In 1590, the deputy bailiff of Edinburgh, David Seaton claimed that his housemaid Gyliss Duncan was a witch. He said that she suddenly had healing powers and he’d seen her sneaking out at night.
‘Her master began to grow very inquisitive, and examined her, which way and matters of so great importance: whereat she gave him no answer, nevertheless, her master to the intent that he might the better tire and find out the truth of the same, did with the help of others, torment her with the torture of the Pilliwinkles upon her fingers’.
‘Her master began to grow very inquisitive, and examined her, which way and matters of so great importance: whereat she gave him no answer, nevertheless, her master to the intent that he might the better tire and find out the truth of the same, did with the help of others, torment her with the torture of the Pilliwinkles upon her fingers’.
Gyliss was tortured with Pilliwinkles, thumb screws that crush the bones of the fingers, she still didn’t confess to something she hadn’t done. He then wrenched her, a torture process where a rope was tied tightly around her head and pulled tight until the skull fractured and she would have received terrible rope burns across her face. She still wouldn’t confess so he searched her body for a mark that had been left by the devil, this could have been anything form a birthmark or a mole. He found a mark on her neck and she then confessed, most likely because she couldn’t take anymore torture and knew she’d die. Her confession would be lead to the death of many innocent people over the next hundred years. In November 1590, Gyliss was taken to the Old Toll Bath prison in Edinburgh where she confessed to being part of a coven. She also gave the names of another eight witches, each one of these named more people and in total over a hundred people were tortured. Glyniss also said that her coven had been working with the witches in Copenhagen who had been executed for trying to murder Kings James and his wife, Anne of Denmark. Because of this, James got involved. Glyniss named a woman called Agnes Sampson, a midwife from Edinburgh as the head of the coven, who, while under torture confessed to the attempting to murder King James using witchcraft. James interrogated her himself and didn’t believe her until she started repeating a private conversation between him and Anne on their wedding night. This convinced James and he ordered to have her executed by being burned at the stake along with other witches on 28th of January 1591 at Castle Hill in Edinburgh. 70 of the convicted people were found guilty and sentenced to death. Glyniss Duncan stayed in jail for another year before being executed.
In Essex, England, lies a village called St Osyth, where in 1581 a young boy was taken very ill and his mother called for the local wise woman, Ursula Kemp to help. The mother’s name was Grace Thurlow and her son’s name was Davy Thurlow. Ursula visited Grace’s house and performed a ritual on Davy and he became better overnight. Grace was heavily pregnant at the time and Ursula presumed that she would be asked in assisting Grace when she gives birth but Grace told Ursula that she’d arranged for someone else to help her. Ursula was offended that she wasn’t asked and the two women argued. Grace threatened Ursula that she would tell the magistrate that she had bewitched her and was the cause of her lame leg but Ursula wasn’t bothered at all. Ursula then asked Grace if she would like her to help nurse the baby and in doing so she would also cure Grace’s lame leg, in which Grace told her that she’d be nursing the baby herself.
Sadly, 3 months after giving birth, the baby fell from her cot and broke her neck. When Ursula found out she responded by saying that it wouldn’t have happened if she was nursing the baby. Not long after, Grace’s leg became much worse, barely being able to stand but Ursula offered to help her for 12 pence. Grace took her up on the offer as she was in so much pain. Ursula cured Grace’s leg and returned five weeks later to collect the money but Grace said that she couldn’t afford to pay her. Ursula left in anger, and as soon as she left, Grace’s leg became lame again. The pain became worse than it ever had been before. Grace claimed that she managed to treat her leg herself but every time it started to feel better, her son Davy would become ill again and when Davy got better, Grace would be in pain again.
In February of 1582, Grace Thurlow went to Brian Darcy who was the Justice of the Peace and she accused Ursula of causing the death of her baby, causing her son Davy to be ill and for making her leg lame by using witchcraft. Other people from the village also spoke out about Ursula, including her own son, eight year old Thomas Kemp who told the jury that his mother kept four familiars which he described as a grey cat called Tyffin, a white lamb called Tyttey, a black toad called Pygine and a black cat called Jacke. He also told the jury that he had seen his mother feed them beer and cake and let them suck blood from her own body.
She was held at the local lock up known as the Cage until March of 1582, when she was transferred to Colchester Gaol. After being tortured, Ursula accused other people from the village of witchcraft who were also held at the Cage while being interrogated before some being took to Colchester to be tried. Ursula was found guilty and sentenced to hand in the same year.
In 2004, a house came up for sale in St Osyth. A woman who grew up in the area bought the house, knowing it’s history as the local medieval lock up, known locally as the Cage which was still being used as a small prison up until 1908. As soon as she moved in, she started to experience strange things. Door handles would move, the kettle would turn itself on, doors would open and shut and taps would turn on. She was sitting on the floor in the living room when a woman dressed in old fashioned clothes walked across the room carrying a wooden bowl. She could see what looked like crushed herbs in the bowl and as she approached the owner, the apparition sprinkled some of the herbs onto her head. After a little while, the new owner didn’t mind any of what she had been experiencing as it made it a talking point when friends and family visited, many of them seeing some of these things happening for themselves, some of them not visiting again. She started experiencing more and more paranormal activity. She would hear the sound of children playing, talking, laughing and often running up and down the stairs. One day she was sitting in the living room when a man walked past her, she described him as having long black hair and that he smiled but she was only able to see him from the waist up.
Things started to become more malevolent. One day, a huge dark mass came up through the floor and went up through the ceiling and this would start happening on a day to day basis. She was brushing her teeth one morning when she was hit by an unseen force, as if someone had punched her. She was pregnant and doing her day to day chores around the house when she was pushed over.
Two close friends visited one day, one a nurse and the other an ex soldier. After they’d walked in, one of them noticed blood marks on the wooden floor in the living room, he examined it and it was wet blood, like something bad had just happened.
After her baby was born, she was too afraid to leave him alone in any part of the house. It was around 6 o clock one evening and the baby was asleep in the bedroom. She needed to iron some clothes for work the next day, so took advantage while the baby was sleeping. The ironing board was in the prison room so she went in and started ironing. Some of the baby's toy trains were on the floor when they suddenly started moving around her feet as if someone was playing with them. She was terrified. She turned off the iron, grabbed the clothes and headed towards the stairs. As she reached the stairs, she looked up and a man was standing on them. He was wearing brown trousers and a white shirt, modern clothes.
Things became so bad that she lived in just one bedroom in the house, she would make her food at work and eat it in there. The noise was becoming unbearable, men, women and children talking, banging up and down the stairs, children playing and a loud whisper constantly repeating kill yourself. After 3 years she finally moved out and the house stood empty, only being used for paranormal investigations.
In 2019, the house was cleansed by two members of the clergy and it calmed down. She started going in the house again but a presence still remained. The house was sold in 2020 and has closed its doors to paranormal investigators.