Richard Estep takes you deep into the scary world of the paranormal. You feel like you are there with them investigating and or living with the unknown. Spirits of the Cage is a fascinating book, that engulfs you in the story, and won't let go. We join Vanessa Mitchell in a nightmare that was never expected when she moves into the cage. A beautiful little cottage in Essex, England holds deep dark secrets that are begging to be told. The cottage or the Cage as it is called was once used to imprison those accused of witchcraft in the 16th century. Spirits of the Cage tells the story of Vanessa Mitchell and Richard Estep investigating the intriguing supernatural world of the paranormal. Highly recommend.

I admit to being fascinated by ghosts. I watch all the shows, read all the books, etc. I always take everything with a dose of healthy skepticism, and just want to be entertained and a little spooked.

Do not read this book at night!! I've heard of the cage through certain documentaries on television but never really paid it much attention until now. Once I started to read this book I just could not put it down. Historically and hauntingly a great read

Wow what a book. This is a true account of one of England's most haunted homes. In the 16th century it was used as a prison for people accused of witchcraft. Some of the people have never left. Among some of the spirits there is the Jailer, at least one woman accused of witchcraft, a child, a previous owner who committed suicide in the house and more.

Vanessa Mitchell is the owner. After 3 years of living in terror in the house finally had to move out. She tried renting the place out but her tenets never lasted long. Now she allows the curious to tour the home and allows Paranormal Investigators in to do investigations. Paranormal Researcher and author of this book Richard Estep was one of those who investigated int he house. The book is about his week there and also he tells Vanessa's story as well as a few others eyewitness accounts.

The book is awesome. It has those terrifying moments that make you turn another light on while reading. He lays out how their investigation goes from day one. I would personally love to go to England and visit this house. I wouldn't want to be on a lock down there but a visit would be amazing.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars, I really liked it.

I admit to being fascinated by ghosts. I watch all the shows, read all the books, etc. I always take everything with a dose of healthy skepticism, and just want to be entertained and a little spooked.

I have read all of Mr. Estep's books on the paranormal. He's a local guy, living along the Colorado Front Range like me, which adds to the draw. It was in fact, his book on local hauntings in Longmont, CO that first caught my attention.

I'd heard of The Cage and seen it appear in a few of the ghost shows and wondered about the woman who had tried to make it her home, but TV only has so much time, so details were few. When I saw this book available on NetGalley, I jumped at it so I could learn more about the site and the people involved.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. The book gives the owner's history and viewpoint as she explains how she came to own The Cage and her experiences there. Meanwhile, Mr. Estep gives the viewpoint of his paranormal team as they investigate The Cage for a week.

I got goosebumps reading of all their experiences and consider it a story well told by the authors as a result.

If you like real-life ghost stories, you will probably enjoy this book. "Spirits of the Cage: True Accounts of Living in a Haunted Medieval Prison" by Richard Estep and Vanessa Mitchell is a chilling read about one woman's life struggle living in The Cage for over three years and a paranormal investigators 5 day immersion into her world.


This novel is unique, as Vanessa's story is interwoven with Richard's paranormal exploration of The Cage. The Cage is a highly active paranormal house in a small English countryside town that has been show on several television programs and investigated by numerous paranormal teams. The oldest portion of the house dates back to the medieval times, where it was used as a jail to house people under suspicion of witchcraft.

Richard and his team spend 5 days living in Vanessa's house. They use several different means of communicating with the spirits, including spirits boards, dowsing, and just simply trying to talk with the spirits. As Richard discusses their investigation, you get sort of journal entries written by Vanessa, telling of all the paranormal activity she (and a number of her roommates and friends) witness during the years she lived in The Cage. There are several different entities that live in The Cage, some benevolent, however the most active are much more sinister in nature. Right before Vanessa finally moves out of the house, she had confined herself and your infant son to basically living in one room, as there was so much malevolent activity in the house, she couldn't risk entering the older parts.

I have to admit, I am a huge fan of all these haunting books and TV shows. I've watching many of the series on TV and love "true-life" ghost story books. To be honest, I am still not 100% sure what I believe, I'm a fence-sitter, but some claims made in this book are scary, and I know given the chance, I would not stay in this house overnight.

The last several chapters of the book are actually accounts of another groups investigation of the house. Now this portion is from interviews done by Richard of the other team, so it isn't a first-hand account of the haunting. This was my least favorite portion of the book, as I would have liked a little bit more about Richard and Vanessa's story.

Overall I liked this book, it jumped around a little, which was fine, but I got lost a time or two. Not a big deal. It was creepy, filled with a lot of paranormal occurrences I recommend if you like ghost stories and history, or just want a creepy story to read.

A satisfying, appropriately spooky tale of ghosts and haunting. With a sceptical bent, it makes the actual discoveries more satisfying and the occurrences more spooky. Not one to read at night time!

This was a fun, quick read based on the author's experience investigating a Medieval witches' prison turned private home in England. The book relates the homeowner's experiences (as well as those of others who have lived and visited the home) as well as the results of his group's paranormal investigation.
If you love ghost stories and unexplained phenomenon, this book will prove satisfying. Of course, as with every haunted house story, the reader wonders why the owner didn't leave as soon as she suspected her home was haunted by dangerous entities or how the current resident is able to continue to live there.
Estep's paranormal group has some unexplained experiences that only add to the mystery of why this place attracts so much ghostly activity. While there are no pat answers, the book is great for those who prefer their ghost stories based on real people and events.
Full Disclosure--Net Gallery and the publisher provided me with a digital ARC of this book. This is my honest review.

I really enjoyed this. The stories seemed very reliable because they were experienced by such large numbers of people. The disturbances in the house seemed to be non-stop. The writing was interesting and held my attention throughout.

The fascinating true story of Vanessa Mitchell, who rented what appeared to be a lovely old cottage in England. It turns out the property was a notorious prison, called the Cage, where those accused of witchcraft were held in the 16th century. Mitchell’s stay there was filled with noises and apparitions that terrified the single mother into leaving. That’s when Estep, a paranormal investigator, moved in to document the strange and sometimes violent phenomena. Are there such things as ghosts? I don’t know, but I do believe there are things that we do not understand. If anything, this book looks back at a terrifying time in history, when people, especially women were persecuted for being old, poor, or different. And interesting read for believers and those who have yet to make up their minds