30 East Drive

Return to 30 East Drive - the UK's most haunted house.

Our previous visit in 2022 yielded in a small amount of activity which peaked our interest so hence the return. We had waited a whole year to return and on Saturday 26th August 2023 the day had finally arrived!

Team members Lindsey and Lolly returned as a private group of 4 partnering with our spooky friends Kelly-Anne and her daughter Shannon, very much investigators in their own right.

It was the year before in 2022, right here at 30 East Drive, we met these fabulous ladies whilst with another paranormal events company and hit it off right away. We learned that this venue is best investigated as a small group and more importantly we realised how well we worked together with like minded views and beliefs and a healthy balance of skepticism.

30 East Drive - Google image with edit.

A Brief History

The Pritchard family, Jean (Mother), Joe (Father), Phillip (15) and Diane (12) moved into Number 30 East Drive, Pontefract in August 1966. Almost immediately, during the hot summer Bank Holiday, Phillip and his Grandmother first witnessed a baffling phenomenon – a fine layer of chalk like dust falling not from the ceiling, but from a level below head height. This was the beginning of incredible and unexplainable events which lasted for several years.

As a way of 'normalising' the poltergeist they called it 'Fred', rather than 'Nobody' which the local press dubbed it.

It famously became known as 'The Black Monk of Pontefract'.

The house and the Chequerfield housing estate is built near Pontefract Castle and the land was once a battlefield in the Civil War.

Our Experience

We were excited to be visiting on the August Bank Holiday weekend albeit some years later, would these dates be significant? Would we witness paranormal activity?

After getting the keys from Carol nextdoor we excitedly entered 30 East Drive. It was daytime still and the house felt light and normal until we neared the stairs. Those darn stairs. Heavy.

Photo credit 📸 GWB UK. The Stairs.

The bottom of these stairs have quite a unique 'energy' about them. It plays havoc with internet connections for Live streaming and more often than not any photography taken around this area will result in blurry photos (for no reason) and equipment shutting off and having to reset. We had both experiences.

Photo credit 📸 Kelly-Anne Harvey.

View through to bottom of the stairs.

Upstairs of the house in the daylight was fine too, even the bedroom which supposedly has a portal and the bathroom where Joe Pritchard had his heart attack. We gathered in the front room to talk through the all night investigation. It felt just like a regular Saturday gathering that friends do...just not in a 'regular' house.

Photo credit 📸 GWB UK. The Lounge.

We investigated from about 9.30pm on the Saturday evening till 6am the next morning. We streamed a Live from our Facebook page and in the Live we concentrated on three areas, the stairs, dining room and Philips bedroom with the supposed portal. As 'Fred' is supposedly the 'Black Monk of Pontefract' we opened our Live stream with monastic chanting to raise energies.

To start we set up the laser grid light at the bottom of the stairs shinning up towards the top of the stairs, this would allow us to see movement/shadow moving around this area, or up and down the stairs. A children's pushchair was placed at the top of the stairs but pushed up against the wall so it could not accidentally topple. It has been mentioned that the floor here is uneven? This would make a great trigger object as it has been said there is a spirit of a young girl here. We gifted 'Fred' some rosary beads and placed them over the freestanding clock. A Rempod was placed on the top step and would have to be touched to set it off. Cat balls were placed on the steps down the right hand side only.

Photo credit 📸 GWB UK. Laser grid light on stairs.

Prior to our FB Live starting we had Rempod activity whilst we were in the Lounge (we were running late). We rushed to the stairs and called out, asking the spirits to come forward. Apart from a couple of cat ball flashes nothing else happened. We have found here and on other investigations activity can happen when it is not being asked for and typically it is not being recorded. That's exactly what happened here.

Impatient spirits perhaps?

We started our first investigation on our FB Live at the bottom of the stairs, we had a problem streaming here and along with no significant activity we decided to move to another part of the house, the dining room.

Photo credit 📸 GWB UK. Piano in the dining room.

Photo credit 📸 GWB UK. Mantelpiece.

We set up the laser grid light so it was facing into the dining room from the lounge area directly covering the piano. We had numerous cat balls placed and a Rempod in the middle of the room. We did a spirit box session but nothing significant was noted. The cat balls did flash but not intelligently, we moved them around to help with debunking.

After an hour or so we decided to move upstairs to Philips bedroom, the room with the supposed portal. Upstairs, now it was no longer light outside, felt different, something had changed.

This is when we documented real activity...

Look out for Part 2 - The Evidence.

Where you can read about our interaction with a young girl and a male energy, a shadow captured on our FB Live and 3 EVP's recorded with one being a Class A.

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