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What is haunting the old farmhouse at the heart of The Witch Farm?

Avid listeners have been surprised, horrified, intrigued and perplexed by Danny Robins’s latest spooky extravaganza The Witch Farm. The podcast delves into the strange occurrences that took place at a remote Welsh farmhouse deep in the Brecon Beacons during the late 1980s and 90s.

The residents, Bill and Liz Rich, were tormented by footsteps, power surges, slamming doors, apparitions, possession and demented animals during their tenure at the location considered one of the most paranormally active in the UK.

Listen to The Witch Farm

Joseph Fiennes and Alexandra Roach star in a new paranormal cold case from Danny Robins, creator of The Battersea Poltergeist.

And, as Danny has discovered, there are a whole host of suggestions and ideas about the bizarre occurrences at the location. Fans of the show, as well as paranormal experts, have all submitted theories surrounding the case. Here are just some of the possible explanations.

Were there ghosts – echoes of a terrible crime?

Are the happenings at Heol Fanog genuinely paranormal? Could it be disquieted spirits determined to make their presence felt?

Returning home one day she spotted a figure at a window. The figure of an old woman.

After a series of troubling and terrifying events, including phantom footsteps, temperature changes and stories of radiators being torn from the walls night after night, Liz Rich finally saw an apparition. Returning home one day she spotted a figure at a window. The figure of an old woman.

This individual was later identified by Liz as someone with a connection to the property. But this was not the only spectre detected. There was speculation that this was more of a protective presence attempting to keep an even darker and more destructive undead force away from the people living at the Witch Farm. Indeed, Liz and Bill did see a sinister shadow figure and several other apparitions.

A number of exorcists, mediums and ghost hunters visited the site during Bill and Liz’s tenure. All felt some sort of dark presence at the house that they attempted to remove with limited results. Could this presence be connected to a terrible crime that took place in the area many years before? The idea that past events can have resonances in the present day is fascinating, but whether it is really possible remains a matter of frenzied debate.

Ley lines – rivers of dark energy or pseudoscience?

Ley lines are mysterious, possibly mystical, potentially utterly imaginary unseen rivers of energy that link up various prominent landmarks across the world. Those who believe in them are convinced that the energy possessed by the lines can be utilised for good or possibly evil.

A number of ley line experts visited Heol Fanog over the years and detected streams of "dark energy" beneath the structure. Danny Robins visited the site with a dowser named Laurence who also felt that any ley lines in the area were malevolent.

The presence of ley lines has been used to explain one strange aspect of the case – the Rich’s electricity meter which went haywire with no explanation, indicating unexpected power surges. A ley line was thought to run beneath the meter. Could some presence be manipulating these dark streams of energy to torment the Riches, or is this avenue a red herring of pseudoscience?

Black magic or Hollywood fantasy?

Well, it is called the Witch Farm.

Brecon Beacons national park, Wales

The area of Wales where Heol Fanog is located, deep in the Brecon Beacons, has long been associated with mysticism and the occult. There are local landmarks named after witches, tales of sorceresses that lived and died in the region and accounts of Celtic myths and associations dating back hundreds of years.

Could this plethora of sorcery and black magic account for the bizarre happenings at the house? Many in the local area thought that the land that Heol Fanog sat on was cursed in some way. Others who had lived there, or in farms across the region, suffered from unexplained hardship and odd, disturbing events. The farmhouse itself was said to be built from gravestones taken from the grounds of the local manor house. Could this have led to paranormal disturbance?

Or could it be something even more sinister and primordial than witchcraft? A far deeper horror, associated with the age-old battle between the forces of good and evil? One that could be connected to "the devil" himself? That was the theory of certain exorcists, but is it just too "Hollywood movie" to be true?

Bad actors or bad trips?

Is it possible that the events at Heol Fanog are some sort of concerted effort by local malcontents aimed at disturbing the current residents?

Could the disturbed animals have been affected by illness?

One interesting theory pitched by the show’s listeners is that local farmers, upset that an Englishman was now living on this Welsh farm, were trying to scare off Bill. One particularly disturbing element of the case involves the animals in and around the building. A pig, dogs, cats, and – most chillingly – a horse that Bill had painted, all died in mysterious circumstances. Could the local farming community purposefully be poisoning these animals to spook their neighbours? This does seem one of the most far-fetched theories, but Welsh discontent with English incomers, particularly those who bought second homes, was very real during this period and there was a spate of houses being burnt down.

There has also been speculation that these disturbed animals could have been affected by illness, such as Aujeszky's disease or "pseudorabies", or ergot poisoning where eating infected grains leads to hallucinations and death.

Another frightening aspect of the case was Bill waking one morning in extreme pain and finding his hands to be bleeding and injured. Some Witch Farm listeners have speculated that this could be stress-related eczema, or even Bill consciously or unconsciously injuring himself, but there are others who feel that the presence in the house had the power to inflict actual physical harm!

Is any of it actually real?

Despite all the apparent evidence, could the haunting have been all in the minds of Liz and Bill? Was it caused by something as simple as sleep deprivation (they had a new-born baby), their environment (perhaps a leaky oil heater was affecting their perception) or contagion (where one individual’s fear spreads to others around them)?

The enormous amount of recorded activity suggests that there was definitely something strange happening at Heol Fanog, but could it be as simple as a series of coincidences or circumstantial events that, in their minds, added up to something paranormal?

All of these possible, intriguing reasons for the disturbing activity at Heol Fanog, and many more bizarre events, are investigated and developed in The Witch Farm podcast. Will Danny Robins and the team get to the bottom of the mystery in the final episode?

Listen to find out…