Chapter 1: What haunted location is explored in this episode?
Life out. Everybody out.
What's up everybody and welcome back to another episode of Lights Out. I'm your host Josh and I'm the producer Daniel.
Chapter 2: What historical events led to the witch trials in St. Osyth?
Today we're going to be taking a look at one of the most haunted locations in all of England. It's known as the Witch's Cage. This is a house that was a jail many many years ago in the small little village of St. Osseth. And this place is haunted, unlike anything I've ever seen before. And it makes a lot of sense.
Chapter 3: Who was Ursula Kemp and what was her role in the witch trials?
I mean, if you think back to the witch trials here in the U.S., I know we've talked about some haunted locations associated with that. And just what some of these women went through was unbelievable. I mean, the cruelty, the suffering that they endured was unbelievable. Just insane. All because somebody came and said, I think she's a witch. I think she bewitched or cursed my child.
And yeah, people just took that as face value. And before they knew it, they were being burned at the stake. And in the case of the UK, they didn't burn witches at the stake. they hung them instead. And in addition to a very, very dark history, the cage also has a terrifying family haunting associated with it as well. But Danny, have you ever
Chapter 4: What experiences did Vanessa have living in the witch's cage?
met or known anybody who's been a self-proclaimed witch before yeah i have i have how were they very kind yeah yeah they weren't devil worshiping psychopaths no i mean i guess she she she classified herself as a wiccan not a witch so okay i i wouldn't know if you would
I wouldn't know if I would classify her as like a traditional witch, because she identifies more as a Wiccan, but she's honestly, she's one of my wife's best friends. Great person, great personality, always been nice to me.
same. I've had nothing but very nice interactions with, uh, people that call themselves a witch. There's a really cool, uh, kind of metaphysical witchy store down in Manitou Springs, uh, in Colorado. And, uh, the woman that owns that is a witch and she's always been super, super friendly and really knowledgeable about all things, uh, whether it be, uh,
witchy things to the metaphysical to even some of the more taboo subjects, but I always find them super interesting and it's been sort of a goal of mine to get a really legitimate practicing witch here on the show who's got a lot of experience sort of in that realm to kind of educate me further. So if anybody out there is a practicing witch who has some very interesting stories to share.
Hit me up because I'd love to interview you and learn more about what it means to be a witch. But back in the day, back in the 1500s, this was a totally different time period where there was zero understanding or desire to really understand what it meant to be a witch. And it could have just been somebody who is like a holistic health practitioner.
who was creating tinctures and using herbs and other supplies to try to heal the sick. And that in itself was considered demonic and resulted in their death a lot of the time.
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Chapter 5: How did the haunting evolve over the years for Vanessa?
And just a wild time to be alive. I mean, anytime I see a film from this time period, I'm always just shocked and... Bewildered at how insane it must have been to and the fear that many women lived in trying to, you know, practice these things that were very innocent and harmless in nature. And yet, you know, somebody comes along.
and they have a disagreement on beliefs with you, then before you know it, you could be cast into the cage where you would sit and wait and often be tormented, waiting for your fate to be decided. I mean, it's just a whole other level of brutalness. But what if I told you... that one of the most terrifying medieval witch prisons in England still stands today.
And some say that the spirits of the accused have never left. In this small village of St. Ossith sits an ordinary building that the locals call the Cage. But behind its simple walls lies a chilling history. In the late 1500s, it was a jail that held women accused of witchcraft during the village's brutal witch trials.
Chapter 6: What evidence is there of paranormal activity in the cage?
They were locked away, waiting to face interrogation, harsh judgment, and a grim fate. Some say the suffering that filled that house over 400 years ago never faded away. And over the centuries, stories surrounding the cage have only grown darker.
And what makes it even more unsettling is that the old jail was eventually renovated into a home with people living within the same walls that once imprisoned suspected witches. Visitors have reported hearing noises when no one is present and seeing apparitions appear before their eyes. Some people have even experienced being physically attacked by an unseen presence.
Because of many accounts like this, the cage is considered one of the most haunted locations in the United Kingdom. Was this small, old jail simply a place with a dark history, or did the pain, fear, and injustice of the witch trials leave something chilling behind? To understand the cage, we need to understand St. Oseth.
The small village is located in the county of Essex and has an estimated permanent population of 4,600 people. Though it's a small place, St. Osseth is steeped in history and legend. For instance, the town's name comes from Osketh, a 7th century noblewoman and nun. And legend has it that in 700 AD, Osketh was confronted by a Viking pirate off the coast of Essex.
The pirate demanded that she denounce her faith in God, but when she refused, he beheaded her. It's said that she was guided by angels to pick up her own head and walk back to her nunnery. Once she entered, Osguth collapsed to the ground and died.
Her courage and faith earned her canonization from the Catholic Church and her story was passed down through the centuries and left a chilling mark on the village that bears her name. And this story is just one of many in St. Ossith's sordid past. The most infamous historical event in the village occurred in 1582 when St. Ossith became the center of a deadly witch hunt. The story of St.
Ossith witch trial centers on one woman, Ursula Kemp. Ursula, also known as Ursli, was well respected in the village as a healer using holistic and spiritual practices to treat the sick. However, historians have noted she was also a poor single mother who earned some money as a nursemaid and midwife. Ursula was also considered to be a quote-unquote cunning woman.
During the Middle Ages in the United Kingdom, cunning folk were considered practitioners of good magic by using charms, spells, herbs, or grimoires. People would turn to the cunning folk to cure ailments, bring fortunes, or even lift witch curses.
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Chapter 7: What are the implications of the witch trials on modern perceptions of witches?
Even though witchcraft was deeply feared in the late 1500s, people in the village saw Ursula as someone who used her abilities to help others. But that reputation would shift when Ursula's neighbor, Grace Thurlow, came to her seeking help. You see, Grace had a young son, Davy, who became dangerously sick. But once Ursula used her abilities to treat Davy, he recovered fully.
During the entire ordeal, Ursula and Grace formed a friendship. However, their relationship unraveled in late 1581 when Grace was preparing to give birth to her second child. Ursula wanted to work as her nursemaid during the delivery, but Grace never asked her for help, and Ursula felt slighted by that. After the birth, she confronted Grace about it and their friendship completely fell apart.
And shortly after this, Grace was stricken with a bout of lameness. According to the Society for the Study of Disability in the Middle Ages, lame was used as an adjective similar to impaired or weak and often referred to an issue with limbs. The exact details of Grace's bout of lameness are unknown, but we do know that she did seek Ursula's help in curing it.
Grace told her she couldn't afford the 12 shillings for the treatment but promised to pay once she was healed. Ursula agreed, treated her, and shortly after that, Grace was healed. However, when Ursula later came to collect her payment, Grace refused to hand it over, which deeply angered her. A few days later, Grace's newborn daughter suffered a horrific accident.
Chapter 8: What is the current status of the witch's cage and its legacy?
The baby fell from her cot and broke her neck, which caused her untimely death. But Grace didn't see this as an accident at all. She believed that Ursula put a curse on her family, which had stricken her with lameness and caused her baby's death. Grace had some influence with important members of the village since she worked in the home of Magistrate Brian Darcy.
Using that connection, she leveled accusations against Ursula, and according to the historical pamphlet on the trials, on February 19, 1582, Grace went to him and formally accused Ursula Kemp of witchcraft. Soon after, another villager, Agnes Leatherdale, came forward with more accusations against Ursula.
She claimed Ursula had whispered a spell into her daughter's ear and afterwards the girl became very ill. And with these accusations and her reputation as a cunning woman, Ursula was arrested and thrown into the village jail that would later be known as The Cage. Before the cage became infamous for imprisoning witches, it was just the village's lockup for petty offenders.
It was a cramped one-room stone structure, and the only thing in the cold place were sets of iron chains on the wall to detain the criminals. The space was always in darkness, except for when the jailer would open the heavy iron-locked door and sunlight would pour in. As harsh as the jail was, the cage took on a darker reputation after Ursula Kemp was held there.
During her confinement, Ursula was questioned by Brian Darcy. In the official records, there's no written account of any torture inflicted on her, but historians have questioned if that was purposefully omitted. Based on methods used during other witch hunts, it's not difficult to assume that cruel torment was inflicted on the accused in St. Osith.
And we'll never know exactly what Ursula endured, but what we do know is that she ultimately confessed to being a witch. And this was an incredibly serious admission. At the time, witchcraft was widely feared throughout England. In 1563, Elizabeth I passed an act against conjurations, enchantments, and witchcraft making. Witchcraft punishable by death. In 1579, just three years before the St.
Oseth witch trials began, Elizabeth I assembled a group of magistrates and justices of the peace to reprimand them for not doing enough to prosecute witches. So by the time Ursula was imprisoned, local officials were eager to pursue witchcraft cases as aggressively as possible, likely as a way to make a name for themselves and advance their political careers.
Magistrate Brian Darcy also questioned Ursula's 8-year-old son Thomas, and he admitted to Darcy that his mother was in fact a witch. He also told him that she had four familiars, two cats named Jack and Tiffin, a black toad named Pigan, and a white lamb named Titty. Thomas also claimed to have witnessed all of them drink blood. from his mother's arms.
After Ursula was imprisoned, her son was abandoned and his fate is unknown, which is just extremely cruel that there was no care for her child whatsoever. During Ursula's next round of interrogations at the cage, Brian Darcy offered Ursula clemency in exchange for a full confession. and she confirmed everything Thomas had said was true and even elaborated further.
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