30 East Drive, an unassuming-looking post-war ex-council house, has caused quite a stir in the paranormal community Dubbed the most haunted house in Britain (on it’s own website) ghost hunters can spend the night in this spook-infected example of mid-50’s architecture, for the exorbitant fee of £450 per night You can even get a protection spell cast on you before entering – for an additional fee of course.
So what’s the real story behind this bizarre tourist attraction? Is there something truly paranormal lurking in the shadows, or is it all a bit of an exaggeration? Let’s dive in.
Where is 30 East Drive?
The house is located in Pontefract, a town in West Yorkshire in the north of England It’s part of an estate of post war housing, built to meet the needs of the growing population of Pontefract in the 1950’s and 1960s It is a typical example of a semi-detached council house of that era, located on a corner plot in a street where the average property price ranges from £200,000 to £280,000.
Inside, the house maintains it’s 1980’s vibe, feeling like you have very much stepped back in time This adds to the vibe that something is “off” about the house as it instantly feels like stepping back into the past In fact, the alleged haunting of the house dates back to the 1960’s, and over the years the entity at East Drive has been given a name – The Black Monk of Pontefract.
The Beginning of the Haunting
In 1966, the Pritchard family moved into the house The Pritchards were an ordinary working class family, consisting of Joe and Jean and their children Phillip 15 and Diane 12 Joe was a coal miner before purchasing a pet shop in the town Jean as with many women of that era was a stay at home mom It is often said that poltergeist energy either eminates from or is attracted to adolescent females and Diane was the perfect age for this phenomenon However, it was Phillip Pritchard who was the epicentre of the first major incident.
It was August Bank Holiday in 1966, and Joe, Jean and Diane had gone to Devon for a weeks holiday Phillip had stayed behind and was accompanied by his grandmother, Mrs Scholes After an uneventful morning, the pair were in the living room when white powder started to fall from just below the ceiling At first it fell sporadically. Still, very soon the air was filled with the falling white powder.
An Eventful Day
However, the dust was only the start of what would turn out to be a very strange day indeed The tea dispenser above the sink turned itself on as if the button was being pressed by unseen hands dumping tea everywhere Alarmed, Mrs Scholes called a relative who lived across the street to come and see what was happening in the house Pools of water appeared on the kitchen lino in perfect circles but when the linoleum was pulled up the floor below remained perfectly dry.
Green sludge emerged from the taps, and pot plants were levitated and tipped over. Mrs Scholes summoned several more friends and relatives to witness the phenomena, as well as a plumber to check for leaks and other plumbing issues. The plumber could find nothing wrong with the water system despite the strange puddles and sludge.
Paranormal Expert
One of those summoned to witness the weird goings-on was a local paranormal expert who explained to the family the sort of destructive behavior poltergeists like to indulge in like slashing photographs and hurling household items around Almost on cue, a wedding photo of Joe and Jean was slashed and thrown to the ground, as if the entity had heard what the paranormal expert had said.
The terrifying phenomena continued into the evening, but when a heavy wardrobe began to move, Mrs Scholes and Phillip had had enough. They left the house and stayed with a neighbour until the family returned.
On arriving back from Devon, the Pritchards could scarcely believe the strange stories of what had been happening in the house whilst they were away At one point, they even suspected that Phillip may have been playing tricks on his grandmother. Still, they would come to realise that whatever was haunting their home was not done with the family yet.
The Calm Before The Storm
You may have expected the phenomena to ramp up when the family returned, but curiously, it didn’t. In fact, for the next 2 years, the family lived in peace in the house. Relaxing, they thought the events of the summer of 1966 were merely an oddity, and they got on with their lives accordingly.
It was Mrs Scholes who began to experience the entity again first. She mentioned it in passing to Joe and Jean, who both scoffed at the idea, and thought that she was imagining things, But they were very wrong.
That very evening the tools that Jean had been using to redecorate Diane’s room were thrown across the room, including the buckets of paint This was only the start of the entities reign of terror which including heavy objects being moved around, crockery being thrown, milk being poured on a visitors head, objects materialising and dematerialising, and heavy wooden items being smashed to bits.
Focus on Diane
This time, the entity seemed to focus mainly on Diane who was now in her early teens Diane suffered a catalogue of abuse from the poltergeist, including being pinned by a heavy sewing machine table, having the covers ripped off her. Her mattress overturned as she lay in bed, her hair stood on end and in the most serious assault of all, she was being dragged upstairs in a manner that suggested the entity was holding her by the throat.
The Black Monk
Throughout most of the haunting of the Pritchard, the entity was invisible, not being seen by the family at all in bodily form However, towards the end it began to take on form, appearing as a dark hooded figure, reminiscent of a monk This figure was seen by several people, including Phillip The Pritchards next door neighbour reported standing at her kitchen sink doing the washing up when she encountered the black, smoky monk like figure standing in her kitchen behind her.
Interestingly, this seemed to mark the end of the haunting of the Pritchards. The children grew up and left home, Joe sadly died but Jean Pritchard remained in the house. In fact, Jean Pritchard lived in the home for many years in apparent peace, before finally moving into a care home in her old age.
East Drive in Popular Culture
In 2012 a film was released about the haunting at East Drive entitled When The Lights Went Out Whilst the film didn’t lead to critical acclaim, as the Rotten Tomatoes rating shows it did lead to a happy accident for one of those involved with the film, producer Bil Bungay.
Bungay had finished working on the movie and found himself unexpectedly in Pontefract Seizing the opportunity to go and look at the real-life 30 East Drive, he noticed that the house was up for sale Seizing the opportunity, he bought the house and has now preserved it for the enjoyment of paranormal fans everywhere You can visit the official website of the house at 30 East Drive.
Slepticism
Whilst many believe Pritchard’s story, some believe that the phenomenon was faked or, at the very least, exaggerated.
The first red flag is the timeline and consistency of the reports. However, the primary accounts come from the family and a small circle of people close to them. There was no extensive documentation at the time, no police records of severe disturbances, and no impartial observers confirming the events.
Critics argue that many details have been retroactively amplified or even fabricated. Much of what is “known” today comes from books and interviews long after the fact.
A Genuine Poltergeist?
However, if the phenomena were faked, to what end? The family never courted publicity, and they postively discouraged it The first thing many paranormal researchers ask themselves when they investigate a phenomena is what does the observer have to gain from this? In this case, there doesn’t appear to be any reason for the family to want to fake the phenomena.
Mrs Pritchard lived in the house for many years after the poltergeist activity stopped, which rules out the family wanting to move house or sell the home for a profit. The 30 East Drive case has the hallmarks of a genuine haunting, and is believed to be one of the most authentic poltergeist cases ever seen in the UK.
