Britain's most exorcised home where a family was terrorised

When Liz Rich, a pregnant young mother, moved into an idyllic home in the Brecon Beacons, she had no idea what was in store.

Alongside her artist husband Bill, and his teenage son Laurence, the family were expecting a peaceful life in the stunning but sleepy Welsh mountain range.

But what transpired was grossly different.

Instead of their dream life, Liz and Bill faced seven years of hell inside the home they believe was haunted.

In fact, the so-called Witch Farm has since become the UK's most exorcised home.

Shortly after moving into the home in 1989, Liz, Bill and Laurence began hearing heavy footsteps running through the house and down the stairs.

Then doors began to slam unexpectedly, animals began to die mysteriously and Laurence's personality began to alter significantly.

The paranormal activity became so intense the family were forced to call a priest to perform a series of extreme exorcisms and they eventually moved out. 

The story of what happened in Heol Fanog is the subject of a paranormal investigation for a BBC podcast, The Witch Farm, presented by Danny Robins.

The haunting spanned a period of seven years and Liz believes that she was possessed in the property and it 'destroyed' her husband. 

Speaking on the podcast she said: 'I felt violated, the thought of something, some energy, having the audacity to take your body even for a short period of time.'

It all began when the family moved into the farmhouse in 1989, Liz was pregnant with her first child Ben, but then the couple started hearing the heavy footsteps.

Liz said: 'They were not gentle footsteps, they were loud, it wanted to be heard, it kept getting braver whatever it was.'

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 but randomly.

'It wasn't tangible that's what the scary part was. It was like it was playing with us, like a cat with a mouse', Liz added. 

The house's electricity meter would also spin wildly out of control, seeming to surge at the moments when the phenomena were most intense.

The couple were shocked when they opened their first electricity bill, it was £750 for just three months - the equivalent of almost £2,000 today.

An official letter from the electricity supplier could not explain why so much power was being used in the house or why it happened in such intense bursts. 

Within a few weeks of living in the house all their animals had either died of 'gone crazy' and ran away. 

Liz explained: 'The pig died, two cats died, guinea pig and dog died and a herd of six goats died. This bizarre plaque of madness had spread to all the animal's that we had.

'There was no happiness in there anymore, it was a hell hole, an absolute hell hole.' 

Liz revealed she was walking back to the house with Ben in his buggy one when she glanced up at the house to see an old woman looking out Ben's bedroom window at her. 

The couple noticed Laurence's personality starting to change, when Liz's mother came to stay overnight he spat in her face. 

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Frightened and desperate, Liz and Bill enlist the help of a psychic medium, who suggested that the haunting is the fault of somebody in the house. 

The medium said they had to ask 15-year-old Laurence to move out as he might be the one being haunted. 

The couple had a second child in 1990, a little girl Rebecca, as she grew up she also experienced the paranormal activity. 

Speaking to the podcast Rebecca said: 'I had recurring dreams, we all started sleeping in the same bedroom, I couldn't be alone at night.

'Numerous times we would be rushed out of the house in the middle of the night an taken to my grandparents house.' 

Liz said: 'I know people will just think we're weird people and we're making it up all but you'd have to have one hell of an imagination to make all this up. It felt dangerous in that house. 

'The kids always slept with me, I wouldn't let them sleep on their own. I definitely felt very threatened there. When you've met evil, you know it. Ghosts don't scare me now because I've come up against such evil in my life. That's the truth.' 

Bill further withdrew into himself and his art, creating ever more dark and disturbing images. 

The haunting stepped up another terrifying gear as another apparition appeared in the house, a dark scary figure. 

Bill and Liz were forced to flee Heol Fanog and go to Liz's parents house a couple of miles away. 

Desperate, they turned to a new exorcist – the Reverend David Holmwood, who was convinced that the paranormal activity was caused by something truly evil. 

David convinced the couple it was the work of the Devil, and he believed the answers lay in the mysteries of the past.

Liz said: 'He went through the house, and picked out some of Bill's paintings and said that needs burning and burnt them.' 

Podcast host Danny learned about a violent murder that occurred 150 years ago. Taking place near the house, in 1848.

An innocent 18-year-old farm worker, James Griffiths, was attacked by 23-year-old Thomas Edwards, who hit him in the back of the head with an axe and then reportedly buried the corpse at a farm near Heol Fanog. He was later hanged for his crime.

As the terrifying phenomena reached extreme heights, Bill started having dark thoughts and Liz started to question if she was losing her mind. 

Liz and Bill prepared for the exorcism to end all exorcisms, with celebrated ghost hunter Eddie Burks, however Bill started to believe he was to blame for all the paranormal activity. 

Bill revealed he was hiding a dark secret and claimed he was a witch in the past, he had once been connected with a man who practiced witchcraft, even once half-heartedly taken part in a ritual before changing his mind.

In 1996, the family eventually left Heol Fanog, moving to Cowbridge, after they inherited money when Liz's grandfather passed away.

However Bill couldn't shake off the dark feeling and he turned to alcohol which eventually killed him.    

Liz tearfully said: 'There are a lot of people who just float through life and it's all nice, perfect and easy, I've wished a million times I could have had one of those lives.'