Who or What was The Black Monk?

The Black Monk of Pontefract was actually a very violent poltergeist case situated in Pontefract in Yorkshire, England. The case was based around the Pritchard family who lived at 30 East Drive, Pontefract in the sixties.

The case itself has been brought to our attention by the Unexplained writer Colin Wilson, the 2012 film ‘When the Lights Went Out’ and then more recently by a Most Haunted Hallowe’en special and also a Paranormal Lockdown special too.

Thanks to these, many Ghost Hunters, Investigators and Researchers have now heard of this terrifying house hidden in yorkshire suburbia. In fact these days the house is empty (I believe) and open to investigators to visit.

A Little Backstory!

First signs of the activity began one night in September 1966 when 15 year old Phillip Pritchard and his Grandmother Sarah Scholes were the only ones at 30 East Drive. The rest of the Pritchard family were away on holiday in the West Country.

At this point the pair realised that the environment was changing and the room they were in had become icy cold. Then half way between the ceiling and floor a white dust began to fall covering most things in the area. Pools of water were also said to have formed, which are classically connected with poltergeist activity. Impressively the pair also witnessed a wardrobe appear to walk across the floor.

However when the rest of the family returned from their holiday the activity calmed and became non-existent. That was for about two years when it returned with a violent vengeance that shook the Pritchard family at 30 East Drive. This time around the activity began with classic poltergeist phenomena such as throwing objects around the house, like pots, pans, bedding and even decorating tools.

The family brought in a priest to attempt to exorcise the noisy ghost, but this was far from successful. The priest witnessed a levitating candle stick which possibly shocked him. In fact he promptly advised the Pritchard’s to move and then left.

At this point activity escalated further and this was when the sightings of the proposed Black Monk began. The family saw a shadowy dark figure that appeared to be wearing a black robe and cowl.

It wasn’t too long after this that the teenage girl Diane Pritchard experienced the most famous event of this case, she was dragged upstairs by unseen hands. In fact she was dragged fighting and screaming, but when she was finally released there were finger marks on her neck. Could this have been the work of the Black Monk?

Oddly following this horrific event the activity at 30 East Drive reduced to nothing. However more recently some of those teams and investigators have laid claim to more paranormal activity occurring at the location.

What Now for 30 East Drive?

It would seem that with the odd pieces of activity reported at the location, some more darker than others, it may be possible that the psychical energy or perhaps spirits energy remains.

The question is, will we ever know if allowing continued investigation of the location causes more harm or will it aid us further in understanding the paranormal world?

If you’ve visited 30 East Drive, please comment below and let me know your experiences there as I would love to know more about it in recent times? After all the more we share about these experiences the greater chance we may have of understanding them.