'Astonishing' Number of ‘Witches Marks’ Found Scratched onto Walls of 500-Year-Old Home Ahead of Halloween

Mar. 15, 2025

‘Witches marks’ have been found scratched onto the walls of a historic U.K. property.Photo:English Heritage/Facebook

English Heritage/Facebook

An “astonishing” number of “witches marks” have been found at an over-500-year-old property in England ahead ofHalloween.

The organization wrote of the findings, which were located in the venue’s Old Hall, “Among the marks, are rare ‘curse’ inscriptions, which were probably made around the time that William Hickman owned the property (from 1596). In one inscription, Hickman’s name is written upside down. This was believed to curse the named person.”

‘Witches marks’ have been found scratched onto the walls of a historic U.K. property.English Heritage

English Heritage

Per the charity’swebsite, the merchant Hickman family lived at the historic house until around 1730.

“Other marks include six-petaled flowers in a circle, which was thought to trap demons, a pentangle, originally used to protect against evil and around 100 burn marks — to protect against fire,” the Facebook post, which was shared alongside multiple photos, added. Images were also postedon X(formerly known as Twitter).

Gainsborough Old Hall.English Heritage

The release stated research at the Gainsborough Old Hall had “revealed a staggering array of carved ritual protection, or apotropaic marks.”

The charity described the property, which dates back hundreds of years, as “one of the biggest and best-preserved medieval manor houses in England,” per itswebsite.

The organization’s head of collections, Kevin Booth, said of the findings, “It is astonishing that, centuries on, the amazing old buildings in our care still have secrets waiting to be discovered," per the press release.

“The Old Hall has undoubtedly had a tumultuous past, not least under the ownership of the apparently unpopular William Hickman, but why it’s the scene of quite such a high concentration of protective carvings remains a mystery,” Booth also said, per the release.

The Guardianstated there have “been a number of ghostly sightings at the hall.”

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Volunteer Berry toldCNN, “I have been working as an English Heritage volunteer at Gainsborough for nearly 20 years and I know this property extremely well. So I was astonished when I noticed a previously undocumented protection mark a couple of years ago."

“I decided to see if I could spot any more and I just keep finding them. The last one was a small pentagram and that was a few weeks ago, but who knows how many more there are still to find," he added, per the outlet.

source: people.com