Danny Robins kicked off his new podcast series recently with the first two episodes focused on an old favourite; the Pontefract poltergeist case. As usual Dr Ciarán O’Keefe and Evelyn Hollow tagged along to represent team sceptic and team believer; providing the shows usual battle of belief.

The first two episodes label the case as “Britain’s most violent ever poltergeist case” and this is made evident by the scene originally described by the family where Diane was dragged up the staircase by an unseen force; which the family called Mr Nobody, but later became more commonly known as the Black Monk.

However, in this post its not actually the details of this case that I wish to discuss, it’s more the concept of the fact that the location has become more than a simple backdrop for a spontaneous case; its now reached what I would say to be a cult level. The interesting fact that the phenomena appeared to occur initially in 1960’s around Diane’s brother, then fade out only to return later stronger and later seemingly focused on Diane. This association with a specific person often occurs in poltergeist cases, but given what we know about 30 East Drive; is it really the case here. Perhaps it’s believed to be true because it fits and feels right, following the narrative and understanding of such cases.

The strange activity described in great detail by Danny Robins and commented on by O’Keefe and Hollow, provides the listeners with a very dark cold case to digest. One that would later become the inspiration for a film and lead to the purchase of the property, which many in Ghost Hunting community have probably set their sights on for an overnight investigation. After all how often do you get the opportunity to stay overnight in house with such violent activity reported.

This is where the case of 30 East Drive takes an odd turn for me. It is my belief that there have been many visiting ghost hunter groups pass through the haunted threshold at East Drive. And many have reported that they have experienced some kind of activity during their visit. Of course we have to be cautious as whilst I have no reason to disbelieve these ghost hunters, I am not convinced its as active as some make out that it is. That said some also report that nothing occurred during their visit.

It is said that poltergeist cases may only last for several months then fade out, but is this really the case, as in reality we don’t actually know this to be true. Although for years before it was purchased and the Pritchards moved out, I think that activity settled and Mr Nobody was nowhere to be seen. So, this now provides three potential possibilities; 1) the visiting ghost hunters have caused the activity to reignite during their visits there bringing Mr Nobody or the Black Monk back to East Drive; 2) the desire to have such an experience has led the ghost hunters to misinterpret whats really going on, so something with a more logical explanation becomes a paranormal event; 3) there is fraud occurring somewhere either by the ghost hunters or property owners. If the activity is genuine then we may have to start questioning if hauntings ever end and how we may monitor that in years to come.

As ever though it was good to listen to Danny, Ciaran and Evelyn discuss this case in detail and was a fitting two part opening to the new Uncanny Cold Cases series. Personally I really enjoyed revisiting this case through the Uncanny team, hearing where various points of the case would fall, and perhaps where the sceptic or believers may align was good too. Robins and the team have built Uncanny up to be a really cool part of the paranormal community remaining true to their format, but more importantly bringing ghost stories back for the podcast generation.

The 30 East Drive case and the fact that many ghost hunting groups still head there is something that really interests me. How known haunted locations like this still maintain their draw after many years is a true enigma, but many report continuous experiences years later, so can we really disregard these simply because it sounds like something that should not happen. Certainly if we ignore such things and don’t allow ourselves to be open minded then we may miss some strange oddities.

I guess a question that this Uncanny Cold Case has sparked within me is also one that I would like to ask my readers, finding out what you think is equally interesting to me. So, my question is; when you hear about cases like 30 East Drive, that have occurred many years ago, but then you hear that ghost hunters are still visiting the location and having experiences of their own; are you team sceptic or team believer? Sorry, I couldn’t resist doing my best Danny Robins.

The true question, do haunted locations remain as such over time? Do cases such as the poltergeist one experienced at 30 East Drive, ever truly end?

I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this and Uncanny Cold Cases too.