Some say that the Black Monk of Pontefract is one of the most violent poltergeists in Europe. Are they right?

It is believed that the terrace house in the Chequerfields Estate in East Yorkshire is built near to where the town once had its gallows. The Black Monk of Pontefract, as identified by author Tom Cuniff, is said to have been a 16th century monk who was found guilty and then hung to death for the rape and murder of a girl.

Modern reports of hauntings and supernatural disturbances began in the 60s when Jean and Joe Pritchard moved in with their son and daughter, Phillip and Diane. One report cites the first instance starting while some of the family where on holiday in Devon but grandmother Sarah Scholes was at 30 East Drive looking after Phillip. First a strange gust of chilling wind swept through the house, then white powder began to fall from the ceiling with, finally, pools of water appearing throughout the house.

During that incident a tea dispenser seemed to work by itself, a plant pot threw itself down the stairs and objects flew out of the cupboards. The water board was called to investigate the puddles but could find no solution.

This video shows a 25 minute investigate by Abandoned Investigated.

Featured in this video are Karen and Alison, both sensitive, Ben and Tom as investigators, Kris as the Medium, Laura on camera and Jess, Ema and Steve as guests.

30 East Drive in Pontefract is now a commercial venue after a film and a second wave of haunting.

The British movie “When The Lights Went Out” is loosely based on the poltergeist occurrence known as The Black Monk of Pontefract. It was made after Colin Wilson’s 1981 book Poltergeist! A Study in Destructive Haunting, Including the Black Monk of Pontefract became popular among supernatural investigators and experts. In the movie Jenny and Len move into the home only for their daughter, Sally, to be terrorised by an evil entity. The movie stars Kate Ashfield, Tasha Connor, Steven Waddington, Craig Parkinson, Martin Compston and Jo Hartley.

A newspaper report by Andy Lea describes how locals noticed an increase in supernatural activity after the film. A neighbour, Carol Fieldhouse, was unaware Pritchard’s had sold the house to movie producer Bil Bungay. Carol said;

“I saw Philip in the front, tidying up the garden,”
“I went out and asked him if he’d sold it to one of his nephews. I thought it must have been one of them because I knew they were deaf and I’d heard the telly blasting out all night.

“He said ‘There’s no TV in there. It’s empty’. Then he turned pale and went ‘God, it’s started again’. I haven’t seen him since.”

Carol later told reporters that she held a séance in the neighbouring house and managed to make contact with the Black Monk.

A Most Haunted Live Halloween special in 2015 hooked cameras up to the Coal Hole, the EVP / Dining Room area and Stairwell and invited viewers of the Really TV channel to watch. In the run up to the night the Most Haunted Crew have already discovered the name “Carl Anthony”, a 52-year-old priest from 1633, who gave them one message: GET OUT.

In the show balls and marbles have moved around, there have been knocks and whispers and a knife dangerously hidden in a sofa.

In Pure Spirit

Have you done what Yvette and Karl of Most Haunted have done and visited 30 East Drive? Let us know if you have and what your thoughts are on the location in the comments below.

Do you believe that Carl Anthony is the Black Monk of Pontefract? Do you believe the death of a young girl during the reign of King Henry VIII at the hands of a priest could be responsible for a Yorkshire haunting that is still in effect today?