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30 East Drive

Location:Pontefract Uk

It's claimed to be one of the most haunted houses in Britain and the film When the lights went out was based on the events that happened at 30 East Drive.

The semi detached council house was abandoned in the 1970's by the Pritchard's family and hasn't been lived in since. Today it is a bed and breakfast and hired out to ghost hunting teams.

The story to why 30 East Drive is one of the most popular haunted locations for ghost hunters to investigate started in August 1966 when the Pritchard's family who included Jean , Joe and their 15 year old son Philip and 12 year old daughter Diane moved into the property.

Shortly after they moved in the first phenomenon was witnessed by Philip and his grandmother. A fine layer of chalk like dust fell from below head height. Philip's aunt Marie came to the house after the grandmother rang her to see what happened. As Marie went to get some cleaning equipment to clean up the chalk like dust she slipped on a pool of water. She began to mop up the water when more pools of water started to appear in front of her and Philip.

Around 7pm that night Philip shouted "Grandma, it's happening again" . Grandmother came into the kitchen and saw sugar and dry tea leaves all over the worktop. As they looked at it, the button on the tea dispenser went in and out several times covering the work top and draining board in more dried tea. The Grandmother shouted "stop it" in desperation . Then a loud crash came from the hall way. When they made their way to the bottom of the stairs they saw a plant half way up the stairs which was missing it's pot. Just as they were looking at the plant a sound from the kitchen made them jump.

The crockery cupboard was vibrating and as soon as Philip opened the door the vibrations stopped and another bang happened almost immediately after from somewhere else in the house.  Grandmother decided to fetch Marie again. When Marie arrived she was confronted by the sound of shaking crockery cupboard and plates rattling inside. The grandmother decided to go to Mr and Mrs Mountain who lived next door to see if they were responsible for the banging noises to find out they wasn't banging and they thought it was them. By the time the grandmother got back to the house the noise stopped.

Around 9:30 pm Marie left and Philip and his grandmother decided to go bed. When the grandmother went into Philip's bedroom to wish him goodnight a heavy chest of drawers began to swag without explanation. Philip and his grandmother left the house out of fear for their safety and stayed at a neighbour's house.

By the time Jean and Joe returned from holiday the activity stopped and for the next couple of years nothing happened.

All of a sudden activity started again. Over the next several years more unexplained phenomenon happened mostly around Diane.
Mother Jean refused to be terrorised out of their house. Whilst the local press called the poltergeist Mr Noddy the family referred him as 'fred' as a way of trying to persuade 'fred' to leave the family alone.

After numerous exorcisms performed at the property none of them had little effect. During an exorcism walls had holy water thrown on them and Christian songs where being sung in an attempt to banish him. However 'Fred' reacted in a way they didn't expect. His hands appeared mid air and started to move them like he was conducting the Christian songs. On some of the exorcisms he would slap the faces of those participating and attempt to push them down the stairs.

The second time the activity started it was more violent. Diane was the main target , she had been dragged up the stairs by unseen forces and was left with marks in her neck and she was often thrown on the bed.

'Fred' especially didn't like outside company and it was common when outside company was presence he made loud crashing sounds.
He started to appear in the physical manifestation firstly to Jean and Joe Pritchard whilst they laid in bed and then to other members of the family. They all reported seeing a figure that looked like a monk but no one had even seen his face. The activity stopped after members of the family saw his apparition.

Since the film was released the public interest in the house grew and sparked more visitors which some say has made the black monk of pontefract to stir again.

'Fred' is believed to be a 16th century monk who was hung for the rape and murder of a girl. One theory to why 'Fred' focused the activity around Diane is because she was a similar age to his victims.

The house has had very little work carried out over the years and is said to be slightly damp due to the old well that is under the fireplace and adjoining property which is where they believe the executed monk and his victims where thrown down.

Many ghost hunting teams have investigated 30 East Drive including Tv shows. Some have captured unexplained black mist/figures on photo's and one team captured a dolls pram falling down stairs.