30 East drive Friday 22nd August 2025

Description

History

Number 30 East Drive, on the Chequerfields Estate, East Yorkshire, stands on a corner at the top of a hill, close to what was once the site of the town gallows.

Paranormal History

The poltergeist, later to become known as the Black Monk of Pontefract, began disturbing the Pritchard family in 1966 with a wide variety of paranormal activity. Water pools, lights turning off and on again, furniture overturning, pictures being slashed, objects flying or levitating, knocking sounds, objects disappearing and appearing again, foul smells, farmyard noises, heavy breathing sounds, sudden drops of temperature, and a mysterious, black-robed figure, whose appearances became more and more frequent were all reported at the house.

The events began in August 1966 during the August Bank Holiday week. The family had gone on holiday to Devon leaving 15-year-old Philip at home with his grandmother, Sarah Scholes.While alone in the house, Sarah felt a cold gust of wind, despite the warm weather outside. When Phillip re-entered the house, he noticed white powder falling from mid-air all around the living room, onto the floor.

Their first assumption was that it was somehow falling from the ceiling. At this point the pair were more confused than scared, so Sarah went to consult her daughter, Marie Kelly, who lived just across the road. When Marie saw the white powder, she went into the kitchen to get a cloth to clean it up and promptly slipped in a pool of water that had formed on the kitchen floor. This was only the beginning though. Later that evening at around 7pm, Sarah was watching TV in the living room when from the kitchen, Philip shouted “Grandma, it’s happening again!”.

The worktop in the kitchen was strewn with sugar and dry tea leaves and as they stared at it, the button on the tea dispenser went slowly in and out several times covering the draining board in tea. As if this were not enough to fray their nerves another sound rang out from the kitchen making them jump once again. On investigation they saw that the crockery cupboard was vibrating as though someone was trapped inside and trying to get out.

As soon as Philip snatched open the door the vibrations stopped whilst almost immediately another loud banging noise started up somewhere else in the house. A physical manifestation of the poltergeist did not occur until sometime later. A figure first appeared to Joe and Jean Pritchard while they lay in bed. The two allegedly saw a black-cloaked figure hovering over their bed, but it soon dissipated.

On a few subsequent occasions, other members of the family as well as visitors reported seeing a figure that looked like a monk, though no one ever glimpsed a face underneath the robes.

Investigation Includes:

When you arrive, you will be greeted by one of our team and you will be placed into a small group. Once introductions have been made and the team have run though the health and safety. You will explore different parts of the building throughout the evening with your team member. You will get the chance to conduct some amazing experiments such as Ouija Boards, Table Tipping, Glass Moving vigils and our up-to-date ghost hunting equipment. We will be using the most active areas of the venue throughout the night and you will be guided through this terrifying process by our friendly and capable team. Included near the end of your evening you will be able to go off and explore for an hour to yourself using what equipment you would like. Do you dare to explore the unknown?