Kofi Masdammer, a 24-year-old audio visual engineer from New Cross, London, has spent eight years cleansing the UK's most haunted homes, earning up to an extra £700 a month with his ghostly side hustle.
Masdammer, who taught himself how to heal haunted homes before performing his first cleanse on his own home at age 18, charges up to £350 per cleansing. He says his aim is not to make money but to help people, and those he has helped have described his cleanse as 'lifechanging', as many thought they would be forced to live alongside ghostly apparitions forever.
From First Cleanse to Full-Time Side Hustle
Masdammer first became interested in the spirit world through studying the history of ancient civilisations in his spare time. While researching, he discovered the process of cleansing houses to clear out energy left over by spirits and began teaching himself to do this using yoga and meditation.
Once he felt ready, he tackled his own home first. 'When I was growing up, my mum said I acted as if I was playing with somebody, and she recalled many instances of seeing things that weren't there,' Masdammer explains. 'I researched the history of my area and realised it was bombed in World War II, meaning many people left their bodies in a state of shock, which can mean they become trapped.'
Following the cleansing, his family no longer experienced any signs of spirits in their home and said the home felt much 'lighter', as though harmony was restored.
How the Cleansing Process Works
To cleanse houses, Masdammer works with the elements, using fire, water, smoke and sound to purify homes. He uses tools such as incense and harnesses his own energy to purge the spaces. Cleansing a two-bedroom flat can take up to 45 minutes, while a bigger house with three to four bedrooms can take up to two hours.
The baseline fee he charges for a cleansing is £50, with bigger jobs requiring the £350 charge. However, he says he does it to benefit 'all sentient beings'.
'I have to work very carefully when I enter homes, as I'm dealing with things that aren't visible to the naked eye,' Masdammer says. 'There's a lot of care and compassion that goes into it. Every experience is different, and a lot of people can become ill because of encounters with otherworldly forces. People say that I've helped say it's changed their lives, many of them thought they'd never get out of it.'
From Airtasker to Haunted Homes
After finishing university in 2022, Masdammer began using Airtasker, which allows users to outsource everyday tasks, to earn some extra cash. He started by using his skills as an audio visual engineer to help people install sound systems and mount TVs, charging around £50 per task and making around £300 extra per month.
One day, Masdammer spotted a request on Airtasker from someone asking for their house to be cleansed, and realised he could use his cleansing skills to help people in need. Since then, he has cleansed countless homes for people who have reported everything from unexplained noises to seeing ghostly apparitions.
'Recently I went to a house where a woman was experiencing doors slamming, and hearing people walking through the house,' he says. 'This was causing her health to deteriorate. When I entered the house, I experienced a coldness, which is a tell-tale sign that someone is draining the life out of the environment. Whilst I was asking her about her experiences, a door slammed, which was a sign that whatever she was talking about, wasn't happy with her talking about it.'
Hauntings More Common Than People Think
Masdammer says a lot of people feel paranoid but worry they'll be judged for asking for help. However, feeling like your house is haunted isn't all that uncommon.
According to a Paramount+ survey, a fifth of Brits think a spirit resides in their home, with a further 15% saying they've woken in the middle of the night to see a ghostly figure sitting on the end of their bed, and one in ten feeling a sudden or unexpected chill.
'A lot of people feel afraid to reach out, or feel like they're going crazy, and that no one will believe them,' Masdammer says. He explains there's an increase in otherworldly activities during Halloween and in the winter, adding: 'A lot of people feel low during the winter, because of the lack of sunlight, and negative forces feed on these feelings.'
