Our reporter took a terrifying trip to house in Pontefract that was abandoned in the 1970s
Number 30 East Drive has stood empty since the Pritchard family fled when their 13-year-old daughter was attacked by a spirit who dragged her by the throat up the stairs
SITTING on the narrow single bed as the wind howls outside, it doesn’t take a lot to imagine the terrors that led a family to run from this home, leaving almost everything behind.
Terrified visitors have called it the “bedroom of Hell” — and after visiting to see for myself how spooky it was, I lasted just FIVE MINUTES before I fled in fear.
Number 30 East Drive seems like an ordinary semi-detached 1950s house on an unremarkable road.
But whatever now dwells there draws the curious to walk through its smart white front door in
Pontefract, West Yorks, and straight into what some have called “unbelievable evil”.
Jean Pritchard and her family were the last people to call this place home back in August 1966. They fled five years later.
Because, almost from the moment they moved in, a poltergeist made its presence felt.
Mum Jean, dad Joe, son Philip, 15, and 12-year-old daughter Diane were dumbstruck with terror as pools of liquid oozed over the kitchen floor and green foam gurgled out of the taps and toilet.
Objects were hurled through the air by unseen hands while a solid oak sideboard suddenly tore across a room by itself.
Photos were slashed. Mysterious fires started and at night loud bangs and groans shook them awake with bone-chilling fear.
A priest was summoned to perform an exorcism — but a candlestick appeared to float in front of him and unseen forces shoved him down the stairs.
The spirit became more violent, turning his attention to Diane, by then aged 13. At night it would rip away her bedclothes, pull her hair and slap her face.
The final straw came when her horrified family saw the ghost grab Diane by her throat and drag her up the stairs kicking and screaming. She was left with her neck marked with bright red fingerprints.
Hurriedly packing bags with whatever else they could grab, the Pritchards fled.
Diane never spoke of the horror again. Sitting in her small back room at Number 30, I can sense the evil.
The room is cold. The temperature is falling fast even though there is no window open or any other reason why it should do so.
A monitor on the floor has a light which will flash if it senses movement. I hold my breath as I expect it to go off at any moment.
Bil Bungay, who bought the house four years ago, says mediums have told him an airing cupboard in the corner of the room is a portal for spirits to enter and leave.
Art director Bil made a film in 2012, When The Lights Go Out, based on the story of the Pritchards.
“There is something very evil in there,” he whispered.
“One night I heard a kerfuffle at 4am. When I went into her room, her bed had been broken apart. There was no one in the house apart from me.”
One of the ghosts is said to be the 16th Century Black Monk of Pontefract, who was hanged at the gallows that stood on the land now occupied by East Drive. He raped and strangled several young girls.
Bil said: “Two people visiting the house took a photo along the corridor of a young girl. Her mouth looks as if it is cut. The Black Monk cut out the tongues of his victims so they couldn’t scream.
The house now attracts around 2,000 visitors a year, organised by specialist tour firm Haunted Happenings.
Needless to say, Bil does not stay in the house himself.
He said: “Half who come are sceptical but they leave as converts. People experience all sorts.
"Objects suddenly materialising in front of them, shadows going past, hair being tugged.
“I had to take knives out of the house because they would appear on the stairs from nowhere.
“Some groups opt to stay the night. One lot had a real tough guy who said he didn’t believe any of it.
“He went into the coal hole bragging he was going to sit there in the dark. But when his mates went in to get him they found him weeping in total fear.”
related stories
On the night I visit there are around ten others keen to see the ghosts for themselves.
They include Lisa Smart, 38, from Middlesbrough, a health care worker who is visiting for the second time.
Lisa said: “I wanted to see for myself again. The last time there were bangs, lights flickering on and off, orbs everywhere and a big ball of light flew up right into my face.”
As we gather in the kitchen we can hear bangs and knocks coming from upstairs although there is no one there.
But being upstairs in Diane’s room is an even more terrifying experience.
Am I being watched? It feels like invisible hands will slip around my throat at any moment.
By now it is barely above freezing and getting colder by the second. It’s just too much — racing across the room I head for the door and run down the stairs.
At the bottom I don’t stop, only pausing when I’m finally outside the house.
There I meet a young couple who were due to spend the whole night inside the house.
Instead they are hurriedly packing their sleeping bags into their car, saying: “We’re not staying there — no way.
I know just how terrified they feel.