大象传媒

Two years ago, I made a podcast about a real-life haunting at a very ordinary house in London: The Battersea Poltergeist. The series became something of a sensation – attracting interest round the world, but on a personal level, it had an even more profound effect, taking me to the brink of something I’d never thought possible. Believing that ghosts could exist.

Ever since, I’ve wondered if there was another case out there that could tip me over the edge. One that contained unquestionable evidence of paranormal activity. And then I heard about "The Witch Farm" – the true story of truly bizarre and frightening events that took place three decades ago in the Brecon Beacons mountains of Wales, where I’m driving now.

In 1989, a young couple named Liz and Bill Rich moved their family into a remote farmhouse at the foot of a mountain. It felt like their dream home, a rural idyll to raise their family in. What followed though, was utterly horrifying. They experienced poltergeist activity, apparitions, alleged possessions and even physical injury. Their home would have more exorcisms than any other house in British history. The whole ordeal lasted seven years. It changed them forever and affected the entire community around them.

Now I’m following the same route that Bill and Liz Rich took, back in May 1989, in a car loaded with all their possessions, along this precarious road, headed to a house with the Welsh name "Heol Fanog", meaning "Road to the Peaks". The area is steeped in ancient history brimming with stories about faeries, hags, witches and the devil himself. Local rumours circulate about sorcery, murder, ancient Celtic rituals, ley lines and malevolent spirits, all situated in this remote, bleak mountainous landscape pitted with eerie woodland and desolate terrain. I’m conscious I need to sort myth from fact here if I’m to get to the bottom of what genuinely happened.

Back in 1989, it all started innocently enough for the couple. Bill, an artist from England and his Welsh wife Liz who was pregnant with their first child, moved into the old stone property, converted from an even older barn, with Bill’s son from his first marriage, Laurence. They spent a blissful first summer organising and renovating the remote farmhouse and gardens that lie behind a bank of trees, completely cut off from the rest of the world. No neighbours, no other houses in sight, but no witnesses and no one to ask for help when you are in trouble…

Was an unseen entity literally sucking up electricity from the house to fuel its own presence?

But, as winter approached, strange activity started to seep into the couple’s life. Loud, heavy footsteps were heard running through the house and down the stairs. Doors began to slam unexpectedly. The personality of Bill’s son Laurence began to alter significantly. Extreme hot and cold spots were felt within the house and there were also extreme smells – the disgusting stench of sulphur and the distinct aroma of incense, appearing and disappearing frequently and seemingly randomly. Was this paranormal phenomena? Intriguingly, these odd occurrences were coupled with something even more remarkable – the house’s electricity meter began spinning wildly out of control, seeming to surge at the moments when the phenomena were most intense. There was a further shock when Bill and Liz opened their first electricity bill. It was £750 just for three months; the equivalent of almost £2000 in today’s money.

An official from the electricity board couldn’t explain why so much power was being used up in the house or why it happened in such intense bursts. Was it some sort of simple fault with the supply? Or was this a form of paranormal "power drain"? An unseen entity literally sucking up electricity from the house to fuel its own presence? Theories abounded, but no one could explain this bizarre event.

But this was just the beginning of the couple’s torment. Bill and Liz soon faced the mysterious deaths of the animals in their life, horrifying apparitions, an apparent possession, and eerie links between Heol Fanog and the infamous Amityville Haunting in America, which saw the case dubbed "The Welsh Amityville". There were physical injuries to people in the house and a series of intense exorcisms. I couldn’t believe the amount of phenomena involved; I’ve never seen a case like it.

Bill and Liz soon faced the mysterious deaths of the animals in their life.

What could be causing these occurrences? Is it genuinely paranormal activity connected to the history of the farmhouse and the surrounding area? Is it, as some believe, the spirit of a tortured witch, a murder victim or an ancient Celtic force of nature? Does it have something to do with the strange, ruined manor house that sits near to the cottage? Or is there a more rational explanation, such as some form of intoxication from the house’s oil heater, or another natural source? All will be investigated…

What is most exciting for me is the fact that there are several living witnesses on hand to help me with this investigation. In fact, one of them is sitting beside me in the car as we wend our way now towards the house that we have dubbed "The Witch Farm". Liz Rich herself. She’s willing to relive the most horrible period of her life to try and make sense of the what happened to her at Heol Fanog.

And other living witnesses are on hand to help solve the mystery, including Liz’s daughter Rebecca, exorcist Matt Tricker and the family’s lawyer Glyn Maddocks, who was also involved in the notorious Daniel Morgan murder case. Could they, or some of the witnesses whose identities I won’t reveal yet, hold the key to it all?

What I’ve been discovering on my investigation, accompanied by Liz, will stay with me forever. It’s an extraordinary story of unexplained activity, unsettling history and a family torn apart by circumstances they can’t control or understand. Will it finally convince me that the paranormal is real? Will it convince you? You’ll have to listen to find out…