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Cortijo Jurado - Malaga's most Haunted house - Spain - July 2011
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Default Cortijo Jurado - Malaga's most Haunted house - Spain - July 2011 - 27-10-2011, 19:10

Info from the Wiki:

"The Cortijo Jurado or Casa Encantada as it is known is a 19th Century mansion that lies in ruins just off the A-357 near Campanillas Village in Malaga Province (Spain). It enjoys the reputation as being one of the most haunted houses in the Province.
The mansion was built in the 19th century by the influential Heredia family from Malaga, one of Andalucia’s wealthiest families at the time.
The building boasts 365 windows, one for each day of the year and was constructed as part of a plan to convert the farm into a grand agricultural enterprise.


El Cortijo Jurado in better days

In 1925, the property passed to its new owners, the Jurado family. It is known in Malaga as ‘the haunted mansion’, not only for its ghostly appearance, but due to numerous reports of mysterious voices and strange sounds that have been reportedly heard there without explanation.
It is among the best known ‘haunted’ buildings in Spain and is considered a sort of temple by followers of paranormal phenomena.

Legend has it that the Heredia family, together with other rich families in the area, kidnapped young girls, aged between 18 and 21, and subjected them to sinister satanic rituals, involving rape and murder.
The bodies of their victims are said to be buried deep within the property. Whilst it is true that many young girls did disappear during this period, nothing was ever proven to connect their disappearance to the Heredia family.
Many say they used their money and influence to evade justice. Whatever the truth of the matter, paranormal enthusiasts maintain that the pain and suffering that took place within those grim walls has led to inexplicable ghostly phenomena."


The Heredia family in the hallway of the house, and also in the living room of the house


The Heredia family and the Larios family


The Heredia family


Legends about it being haunted began to circulate in the 19th century and became so popularised that old-timers remember local children being warned, “Behave yourself, or we’ll take you to the Cortijo.”

The property group Mirador bought the site with the intention of converting it into a holiday resort, a golf resort I believe. Planning was granted in 2002. The new complex was due to open in 2006. Construction was started on a new building which would have become apartments, but work was stopped and started numerous times and the site was finally abandoned in 2007 due to the company's financial problems. The site has been left open to the elements ever since.
Initially there was security on the property but then it was left to it's own devices. In 2004 a 15 year old boy fell 15 metres into a well in the courtyard and security was again reinstated. The well has since been capped and there no longer seems to be any security presence on site.
The buy was "ghost hunting" as were many other hundreds of visitors to the site in that year after the house was featured on a Spanish "Most Haunted" type programme.
Mirador stated in 2004" it has spent 600 euros on padlocks alone, as surreptitious visitors to the ‘haunted’ house break the locks to get in and poke around. The company also reports that some visitors have been taking away more than just ghost stories; doors, ceramic pieces and even some window frames have recently disappeared from the site."

The local government ordered the owners, Mirador, to sell the property in 2009 via public auction. The auction never took place due to an "admin error".
The 45,206 square metres of land that makes up the Cortijo estate is estimated to be worth almost 1.4 million euros.
However the house has fallen into terrible condition and I doubt anyone would ever find it financially viable to restore. I would think that anyone who bought the property would be interested in the land alone and the house would be demolished. I am not sure if Spain has the equivalent of listed buildings, but in any case that doesn't seem to stop some beautiful listed properties in the UK from ending up victim to a bulldozer...

We visited the site on a lovely sunny day in July 2011.
Surprisingly there seems to be a lot of damage from the elements with many floor and ceiling collapses. I've come across other buildings as old if not older than this in Spain, and they have not been degraded in the same way. Spain does not have the extremes of cold that we do in the UK and abandoned buildings on the whole seem to age quite well, but not in this case. It may be to do with the buildings reputation and the fact that it does attract a lot of attention and visitors. There is a lot of graffiti and I suppose some of the damage could be down to vandalism.

There are many rumours of satanic and masonic rituals being conducted here, and of tunnels linking the site to another large mansion close by, also owned by a masonic family (Larios). It is said that the tunnels and underground rooms contained torture devices and stone slabs, like alters. The bodies of 5 young women, aged between 18 and 21 were found along the river bank close to the house, although nothing was ever proved to connect the family to these killings. It is rumoured that more bodies are buried under the house and in the courtyard. People who worked at both houses have confirm the existence of the tunnels and rooms, and in some cases the torture devices("other passages in which he found all kinds of machines and torture devices, human bones, scattered niches"- quote from a gypsy who worked at the site in 1930's), though others strongly deny the rumours.













Some nice old features remain but everything is in a very sorry state. Unfortunately the story of the house is now much more interesting than the house itself. We tried every underground access we could find, but did not find any evidence of tunnels.

More photos on my photobucket:
http://s495.photobucket.com/albums/r...jito%20Jurado/


For those of you who believe in ghosts (I know a lot of you don't and frown on this kind of thing, but some folks here are interested in this and seeing as it is a post about a haunted house I thought I would include this) here is some more info about the ghosts and spirits of the site:

A Ouija session in 2003, five people held a Ouija session in Cortijo Jurado. In a few minutes detected with a foreign presence. "Who are you?" he asked. The vessel was moved by letters from the board and created the name "Elena." "How old are you?" asked the entity. "Twelve" replied the spirit. The dialogue later came to an abrupt: "Why are you dead?" "I killed." Being answered by the board, while intense cold seemed to take over the room. "Were you a victim of the owners of this house." "Abduction". Then a knock in the next room were to be incorporated later to continue with the session they were doing. "Did you some kind of ritual?" "Much damage" "you were more innocent people? ' "Girls" . "In what year did it?". "unknown" "Where are you buried?" "In the backyard." "Are you too deep? ' "4" "Meters?" "Yes" "Are you alone? " "No". "Are there more girls with you?" "Yes" "Tell us the exact place and try to get you" "Signal" was the response of the alleged mysterious spirit. The communication is interrupted at the time. The participants of the Ouija board decided to abandon Cortijo Jurado since apparently no longer perceive anything or got any response. Scarcely had set foot on the ladder, one of them gasped. Terrified, everyone could see a white light coming from the courtyard through one of the many windows are there in the big house. ... It was perhaps the "signal"?

and here is a link to a Youtube video:

http://youtu.be/1xCUPx-8zYU

This next video shows the well before it was capped:
http://youtu.be/O4MXU_RghGs

Last edited by The Smurfinator; 27-10-2011 at 19:28.
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Default 27-10-2011, 19:38

Absolutely stunning....bring back the days where people derssed "properly"


It's Dark and Hell is Hot........
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