So Supernatural - HAUNTED: The Black Monk of Pontefract

Episode Date: March 6, 2026

In August of 1966, the Pritchard family began to experience bizarre phenomena in their West Yorkshire, England home. Unexplained pools of water, green foam oozing from taps, and violent shoves were just a few of the things the family suffered. And when they discovered the source of the haunting was once a man of God, things got a lot more complicated…For a full list of sources, please visit: sosupernaturalpodcast.com/haunted-the-black-monk-of-pontefractSo Supernatural is an Audiochuck and Crime House production. Find us on social!Instagram: @sosupernaturalpodTwitter: @_sosupernaturalFacebook: /sosupernaturalpod Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We've covered a lot of hauntings on this show. Spirits lingering around bars. Bobby Mackey's music world, right, Rasha? We talked about that. Demonic possessions at prisons. Clarita Villanoeva. Poltergeist activity at a family's beloved home in San Pedro. And there's one commonality we see in a lot of these cases.

When it comes to dealing with unknown. forces, some people turn to their faith for answers. It's that trust in a higher power that gets through the moments we simply just can't control ourselves, which is why many people go to priest or other religious leaders for answers in these situations. And I got to say, that makes total sense to me because I am a person who is deeply rooted in my faith. If you believe religious leaders really do have a connection to the spiritual realm, or even if you don't. Desperate times call for desperate measures, right? But let me just ask you this.

What happens when the spirit you're trying to exercise was once a man of faith himself? Well, that's what the Pritchard family was dealing with in England back in 1966. Following some pretty intense paranormal activity, they began seeing a figure lurking in their home, one they could only describe as a monk in a black hood. The events were so unsettling it was deemed one of the most haunted houses in Britain. And the history behind the monk who was possessing it seemed to be equally as disturbing. I'm Rasha Pecorero. And I'm Yvette Jinta.

This is so supernatural. Today's story takes us to England's west Yorkshire County in the northern part of the country. There's a little town there called Pontefract. And for hundreds of years, this community was known for the Catholic monastery that stood there. It was called the Pontefract Priory, and it was built in or around 1090 CE, though it's hard to nail down an exact date when you're going that far back in history. And for the next five centuries, the priory was very active. Monks from all over the world came there to work, live, and study.

And the building was expanded over the years to support the growing number of residents. But that came to a complete stop in the 1530s. That's when King Henry VIII severed ties with Rome and announced that Catholic churches and monasteries weren't allowed to operate in England anymore. In 1534, Henry appointed himself head of the Church of England, and two years after that, began the actual dissolution of the monasteries. So in 1540, the priory shut its doors for good. But the town of Pontefract still remained.

And by that point, people had been living in working there, for hundreds of years, including noble families who owned centuries-old castles in town. They weren't just going to move just because the church closed. Cut to a few centuries later, after World War II, there was a big push to build more low-income housing throughout the UK, including in Pontefract. So in the 1950s, a council house went up at 30 East Drive. And that's a British term for government subsidized housing, or like I just said, low-income housing. Council houses were a game changer for families like the Pritchards.

In 1966, they were in the market for a new home, but could really use the financial assistance from the government. The parents were Jean and Joe Pritchard, and they had two children, 15-year-old Philip and 12-year-old Diane. In August of that year, they bought the vacant council house at 30 East Drive and settled right in. A few days or weeks later that month, the family takes a vacation. Well, most of them do. 15-year-old Philip is at the age where he feels too old to go on family trips, so he wants to stay home and, you know, hang out with his friends, watch TV, and have some time to himself. His parents agree to let him stay home, but they say he needs a story.

chaperone since they'll be gone for an entire week. So Gene asks her mother, Philip's grandmother, Sarah, to stay with him. But as soon as Sarah and Philip are alone together, they notice something's off. It's really, really cold inside the house. Plus, the doors keep shaking and the windows are rattling, almost like it's super windy outside, except it's not. Sarah and Philip don't think much of it at first, but it only gets weirder from there. So one morning, either Sarah or Philip goes to turn the sink on, but instead of clean, clear water coming out, a steady stream of green foam oozes out of the tap. And around the same time, they also notice puddles of water on the kitchen floor. It must mean something is leaking, but neither of them can figure out where the water's coming from. And after

searching the kitchen floor, checking the drains and everywhere inside the cabinet under the sink, they decide to call the local water department to take a look. A representative comes over that same day, but they also couldn't find anything wrong. And later that evening around bedtime, there's another strange event. As soon as Sarah lays her head down on the pillow, she hears a crash in the next room over. She gets up and she sees Philip in the hall. She gets up and she sees Philip in the hallway who's heard it too, so they head in the direction of the noise. And about halfway down the staircase, they see a broken pot. And the plant that was in it looks like it's been thrown down the stairs, even though nobody else is in the house. And then suddenly they hear a cabinet of dishes

rattling loudly in the kitchen, almost like there's an earthquake, except nothing else is shaking in the house. So Rasha, what do you think they're going to do? I mean, I know what I would do. I would get the H-E-L-L-L out of there. Right, same. But most people just can't up and leave. So they figure there's got to be some reasonable explanation for all of this.

So they just shake it off. I couldn't shake it off. But eventually, Sarah tells Philip to go to bed. said, she's going to stay up for a while and call her other daughter, Phillips' auntie, who lives across the street, to come over. Later that night, Sarah peeks into Phillips' room to check on him, and in the darkness, she sees movement, but it's not Philip. Sarah turns the light on, and she and Philip both suddenly see the wardrobe scooting across the floor,

on its own. They get out of there immediately. Marie didn't see it happen, but she can tell by the look on their faces that they aren't missing around. And that's when they've had enough. They can't spend another minute in this place tonight. So all three of them go over to Marie's. Once they get there, they called the police to report what happened. Since Philip and Sarah are too scared to go back, Marie and her husband go to the house instead.

They unlock the doors and let the investigators in at around midnight. night. But the officers don't see anything out of the ordinary and no signs that anyone broke in. The police think it's all just in their heads. Well, once the sun is up, Sarah and Philip are ready to go back to the house and they're fully prepared for things to get weird again. Except everything is calm and totally normal. Another quiet night passes and finally the rest of the family comes home, you know, from their vacation, and Philip and Sarah tell them everything. Gene and Joe, they're just not buying this story, even though Sarah and Philip are going into great detail down to describing these loud knocks they heard. So sarcastically, Joe asked, what kind of knocks?

And that's when everyone hears three loud bangs coming from the next room over. Well, then, a frigid burst of wind blows through the room, powerful enough to make the windows rattle. And that's when everyone stops in their tracks. Their jaws literally drop to the floor. But that's it for the night. Days turn into weeks, then months, with no strange activity at all. In fact, two full years pass with no more green goo in the sink are inexplicable. gusts of wind or moving furniture. Nothing weird at all happens. It's the sort of thing that would almost make you wonder, did all of those strange things even really happen in the summer of 1966? Or was it all a weird dream? The family pretty much tries to forget about it. If anything,

it's an interesting story to tell at cocktail parties. But in August of 1968, almost two years to the day after the strange activity stopped, it comes back. And this time, the ghost reveals itself. In August of 1966, the Pritchard family moved into a new house in Pontefract, England. Almost right away, strange things started happening. But then it suddenly stopped, and two years passed without incident. Until one night in August 1968, Their daughter Diane, who's now 15 years old, wakes up to see her bedroom lights are turning off and on. Even though nobody's standing near the switch,

and every time the lights change, she hears banging in the other room. This happens again the next night and the night after that, and when Diane complains to her parents, of course they remembered this happened before, the inexplicable pounds and gust of winds. I mean, this is more than just a house settling, you know, creaky floors or a wiring issue. The Prachard family's only explanation is, their house is haunted.

And they need help. So they call a local Anglican priest to come look around. His name is Reverend Davy. He comes over one night at about 7 o'clock. Gene lets him get settled in and serves him some tea and sandwiches. Then she, Joe, and the kids describe everything that's been going on. While they're talking, Reverend Davy notices something, movement on the mantle. He looks up in time to see a candlestick fall to the ground, even though nobody touched it.

Then, while he's staring in astonishment, a second candlestick rises from the mantle. It floats through the air like somebody invisible is actually carrying it. Then it travels across the room and drops to the ground right at his feet. It's the sort of thing you just can't explain away. In fact, the whole family gets excited. As Jean points out, this proves they are telling the truth. So right away, Reverend Davies like, Yep, this house is definitely haunted.

Unfortunately, he isn't allowed to perform an exorcism right then and there. The Anglican Church has a lot of rules, and Reverend Davy needs to go through a very long bureaucratic process to get approval to do the ritual. Otherwise, he could get into trouble. The Reverend warns the family that it could take a long time for all of the higher-ups to sign off on an exorcism. and there's no guarantee that his boss's boss will even agree to do one.

It might not be worth jumping through all of those hoops. Instead, he tells the Pritchards to move out and forget all about this house. That definitely sounds like good advice to me, but as we've mentioned on this show before, it's not always easy to just pack up and leave without any warning, especially when your finances are tight like the Prachar's. At this point, they don't have anywhere else to go, so they ignore Reverend Davies' advice and just stay put. And unlike the last time, this thing doesn't go away after a few days.

Instead, it just seems to be getting worse. Over time, all of their possessions start moving around or getting broken during the night. The family regularly wakes up in the morning to find that friends, framed photos on the wall are shattered, or the things from their drawers and closets are now all over the floor. One day, a visitor comes to the house and sees the lovely grandmother clock they keep upstairs, complimenting on how nice it is. But that very night, an unseen force pushes that clock down the stairs, and it splinters into a million pieces. Can you imagine? I mean, that has to be a huge piece of furniture, right?

When you think of to move. Absolutely. And hard to break, I would think. That's right. I mean, so the Pritchards reach out to everyone that they can think of for help. So they have a friend who claims to be a psychic who can talk to ghosts. So, of course, they invite her over, and she performs a ceremony to help negotiate with the spirit. But it's almost like the ritual makes things worse.

The entity becomes even bolder, picking up objects and destroying them right in front of the family's eyes. Next, they call a Catholic priest, and it seems like his approval process for an exorcism is a whole lot easier because he performs one soon after. But again, it's like the ghost just gets stronger and more active after they're done. In fact, it almost seems to be mocking the Pritchards for, trying to use religion against it. Because after the priest's visit, something destroys all of the religious objects in their home. The Pritchards have crosses and pictures of Jesus hanging on their walls and Bibles on their bookshelves. All of them get torn up or broken. The spirit even paints upside down crosses on all of their doors. I would be freaking out at this point. This is

something worth unpacking because it is a big point of contention in the ghost hunting community. Some paranormal investigators, especially practicing Christians, think it's very effective to use religious symbols and rituals, things like crosses, holy water, constant prayer, and exorcisms to get rid of unwanted spirits. Except, I got to say, we've covered plenty of hauntings where people pray, they arrange exorcisms, or have priests blessed the house, only for nothing to change, which is why some spiritual investigators think religious imagery has no power whatsoever. Others say they can work, but only if you believe God can help you, because ultimately, it's your faith that protects you. Now, the Prachard family seems pretty devout.

vowed, so it doesn't sound like their faith is an issue here. But maybe the Spirit doesn't believe in God, so it can't be frightened off with prayers or crosses or exorcisms, which sounds like a huge problem. Like, how are they going to get rid of this entity? Yeah, I have no idea. But the Spirit tortures the Pritchards for literally years. There's not enough time here to cover everything the ghost does to this family in this home. But I'll give you the highlight reel. At some point, the Pritchards decide to give the ghost a name. They don't actually know what the spirit calls itself or if it's a man, a woman, or even human at all. But they figure it'll be a lot less scary if it has an ordinary everyday name. So they decide to call him Fred. I'll also note that as the years go by,

Jean, Joe, Philip, and Diane start catching brief glimpses of something they can't identify. They'll be doing chores or relaxing just to spot movement out of the corner of their eye. Or they'll see a shadow vanish as soon as they turn to get a better look. But the more this happens, the more solid the thing becomes until eventually they can actually see it more clearly. One night, Joe and Gene wake up in the middle of the night to see the figure of a man. He's standing at the foot of their bed, just staring at them. Or at least they think he's staring. They can't make out his face because he's wearing a robe with a hood over his head.

And not just any robe, but the robe of a monk. Which is so shocking, given this thing doesn't seem to believe in or even be threatened by God or religion. Well, Gene and Joe are chatting with their next door neighbor one afternoon, a woman named May Mountain, and May tells them an eerie story that helps them start to piece a lot of things together. She says a few days ago she was working in the kitchen at her home when she got the feeling someone was watching her, so she turned around. And there was a strange man standing behind her. He had on a black robe like a monk with the hood pulled up so she couldn't see his

face. In other words, she saw the exact same figure as Joe and Jean. Given the way he's dressed, the perchards start using a nickname for Fred, the black monk of Pontefract. Except he doesn't act like a gentle holy man. If anything, he's becoming more violent as time goes on. For example, when a family member goes up or down the stairs, they feel a pair of hands pushing them. And whenever they have guest over, some unseen entity creates tiny round burn marks in the visitor's skin, almost like it's pressing an invisible cigarette against their bodies. Can you imagine going to somebody's house? And leaving with burns on your skin?

Leaving with burn marks? Yeah, no. Again, that's like that reminds me of Clarita Villanoeweva in prison where she was getting those burn marks on her body. Yeah, it was insane. Well, these attacks end up coming to a head on one horrible night. Diane's getting a cup of coffee in the kitchen when she feels a tug against her scalp, almost like someone's pulling her hair. Before she has a chance to react, the invisible figure yanks on her hard enough to make her.

her lose her balance. The next thing she knows, she's being dragged up the stairs by her hair. Philip and Jean witnessed this happen. They can't see the monk, but they can tell Diane's shirt and hair are stretched out like an invisible hand is pulling on them. Right away, they run to help her. They grab Diane by the legs and try to pull her back down to the ground floor, but the monk will not let go. For a few seconds, Diane feels like she's literally being ripped apart. Then, without warning, the invisible hands release her. Diane stumbles back down the stairs and into Philippine's arms. That's when they see fingerprint-shaped bruises on her neck,

as though the monk was trying to choke her. So by this point, the Pritchards feel they've got to do something to get rid of the monk once and for all. But what? Exorcisms and seances haven't worked. They try everything they can think of. More exorcisms, more prayers. They even try singing Christmas carols

and hanging garlic around the home like it's a vampire. Nothing helps. But as time goes on, it's almost like the monk is getting bored with bothering the family. He'll still move stuff around from time to time and be pretty loud about it,

But he at least stops physically attacking them and breaking their things. And by the early 1970s, he no longer acts like a threat. Which is great because all the family wants is to be able to stay in their home, even if it means living peacefully with a spirit from another realm. But there's one thing that's eating at them. Who is the black monk of Pontefract? Who is Fred? Well, to get the answers they need, they'll have to look back into the history of Pontefract

and a dark secret that's 500 years old. In the 1960s and early 70s, Joe, Jean, Philip, and Diane Pritchard lived in a house at 30 East Drive in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, in England. During that time, a mysterious entity they called Fred, or the Black Monk of Pontefract, terrorized the family. The spirit also appeared to their neighbors, guests, and various psychics and priests. Fast forward roughly 10 years later to the 1980s, the Barchards are still living in the same house and presumably still at peace with the monk. And that's when an amateur local historian named Tom Cunliff comes to Pontefrek. He's very interested in learning about the priory and the monks who once live there.

But when he questions the locals, nobody wants to talk about old historic monks. They want to discuss the modern-day version, the black monk of Pontefract, aka Fred the Ghost. Tom is totally intrigued because he's never heard anything about this. He starts looking for accounts of monks who died violently in or near Pontefrec, and he finds one local legend that perfectly fits the rumors. The records are very brief and vague, but here's what we do know. As we mentioned earlier, sometime during the reign of King Henry VIII, between 1509 and 1545, 40, the Pontifract Priory closed. During that time, a monk was living there, but his name hasn't

been recorded, so to keep things simple, we're just going to continue to call him Fred, just like the Prachards did. Sadly, Fred did not take his clerical vows very seriously. Instead of serving God, loving thy neighbor, and caring for the less fortunate, he was a very bad dude. He also sexually assaulted someone. When the local authorities discovered the crime, they decided to sentence him to death by hanging. The gallows where he was executed stood right in the same neighborhood where the house at 30 East Drive was later built, meaning his soul appeared to be tied to the land where he died. And we talk about this all the time, right?

the time. What happens on the land? On the land. So after Tom hears this story, he talks to the Prachards to learn more about their experience and he's stunned by how some details from their accounts line up with the legends about the monk. For example, how ironic is it that Fred attacked Diane by trying to strangle her after he died by hanging? It's compelling enough for Tom to give in contact with the paranormal investigator, who comes to Pontefract to look into the house himself. And after the investigator is done digging through the evidence, he publishes a book called Poultergeis in 1981. And y'all, don't be fooled by the title, it has nothing to do with the movie Poultergeist that ironically comes out a year later. Instead, the book is all about

the haunting and the story of Fred the monk. And with this publication, the house becomes famous. It earns the nickname we talked about earlier, the most haunted house in Britain. All across the UK, people hear about the black monk of Pontefract and decide to visit the town themselves. Over the next four decades or so, more books come out along with TV specials and magazine articles.

30 East Drive even inspires a feature-length horror film called When the Lights Went Out, which was released in 2012. It's a work of fiction, not a documentary, but the events in it closely mirror the true story. The director is a guy named Pat Holden, and he's actually Jean Prachard's nephew, so the movie is very personal to him.

Meanwhile, the producer is a man named Bill Bungi, And despite making this horror film, he doesn't really believe in ghost. He's one of those guys, y'all. A skeptic. But he thinks, the skeptic. But he thinks, of course, the story is fascinating and will be a big step in his career. So he focuses on promoting the film once it's done. The movie was set to be released on September 7, 2012.

And Bill wanted a big premiere event with a screening and a red carpet. it. So he researched different venues and he ended up coming across a listing. The house at 30 East Drive was for sale. By that point, the Pritchards had moved out, a new family had bought it, then put it up for sale almost immediately because of all the strange things that happen to them. Then the same thing happened to the new buyers and even the ones after that. Over just 18 months, five separate buyers moved in, experienced the hauntings, and got the heck out of there. When Bill finds it, the house is sitting vacant because nobody is brave enough to live in it or apparently buy it. In fact, the owners are offering a smoking deal because they are so eager to get rid of it.

They're only asking for 80,000 pounds. Adjusted for inflation, that's about 150,000 U.S. dollars today. But Bill thinks, hold on a minute. How cool would it be to screen my movie in the same haunted house that inspired the script? So he buys the home. He arranges the premiere and everything goes off without a hitch. But here's where things get weird in England. During an on-site press event for when the lights went out,

a woman shows up and introduces herself as Carol. She says that she lives next door. Then she describes all of the strange things she's experienced at her home. She tells Bill and the rest of the cast and crew that Fred the monk is still around and very active. She's seen him with her very own eyes. But as we've mentioned, Bill doesn't believe in ghosts. So he dismisses her stories. I just got to say, bad move, Bill.

You don't know, Bill. Bad move. Of course, strange things start happening that Bill can't ignore. Bill hires someone to take care of the property, since Bill doesn't actually live there and is too busy to manage it himself. His employee is supposed to visit the house periodically, make sure the lawn is maintained, the door is still locked, nothing is broken or leaking, you know, normal things a caretaker does for a house.

But every time this employee, comes over, they end up calling Bill to report a new problem. One day, they see a blue light moving in the hallway. It almost looks like a glowing ball of energy, and they can't figure out what created it. Another time, they say the neighbors have been complaining about loud noises coming from the house at night. It sounds like pounding, and it always happens between the hours of three and four o'clock in the morning. But nobody knows what's making the sound because the home is supposed to be empty. They even say one time they went into the bedroom that used to belong to Philip and saw the shape of a man under the sheets. When the employee ripped the blankets off the bed, it was empty. Nothing

was there. Okay, well, Bill's still not buying it, but he's glad so many people do because this way he can start a side business, charging paranormal investigators to come visit the house so he can make a little cash on the side, which is why he lets a film crew come shoot a documentary on the property. And after the filming wraps, Bill and two of his employees dropped by to make sure the house is clean, like nothing was broken, and to lock up. His two staffers focused on clearing out the upstairs while Bill locks every door in the house, except for one. And then, he tells the workers to go through that door when they leave. He heads outside to secure an old wrought iron gate on the property that's a bit rusty. And it takes a lot of force for Bill to even

push it all the way closed and then latch it. In fact, Bill worries it might pop open on its own even when it's locked. So he grabs a big, heavy sender block and sets it behind the gate to hold it close. So no one from the street can get in. Around this time, the workers come out the door and say they're done. So Bill sees them out, then reaches into his pocket for his keys to lock up. Except they aren't there. He wonders if they fell out of his pocket. So he retraces his steps back to the wrought iron gate.

And guess what? It's wide open with the cinder block pushed to the side. After that, Bill keeps having these strange experiences. For example, at one point in 2016, he goes to the house to work on something. As soon as he walks inside, he sets his briefcase by the door and he sets his hat right on top of it. But later, he walks into the room to see his hat has been moved. Now his hat is on the couch, which definitely wasn't where he left it. Later that same day, he's washing dishes in the kitchen when he gets a sudden impulse to turn around.

That's when he sees a wooden domino fly through the air a fraction of an inch from his face. It's almost like someone through it, but Bill doesn't see anyone. Soon after, the same exact thing happens, but this time, with a marble. Then again, with a screw. Luckily, he's never seriously injured. But all of these events are starting to change his mind. Maybe he's not a skeptic and he's becoming a believer after all. Yeah, by this point, Bill can't deny it.

There's something otherworldly in this house. And he's not the only one to realize this. Bill still regularly rinse the home out to tourists, ghost hunters, and film crews. At the end of their visits, they all consider, They were consistently say the same thing. They weren't alone. They saw and heard things that couldn't be explained away. And yes, they were terrified.

Even ghost hunters, people who are used to hauntings, aren't easy to scare. They have fled the home in terror because of what they experienced there. I got to say, y'all, if you're up for the challenge, Bill still owns the house as of this recording, and it's still available for tours and film shoots. So what do you say, Raj? Hell no. Well, it's clear this spirit, Fred, the Black Monk,

whatever you want to call him, isn't going anywhere. And whatever he once was, he carries something very dark now, something wrong and deeply sinister. Maybe long ago he was a man of faith, but faith doesn't guarantee goodness, and any light he may have had inside of him, it's gone now, extinguished, lost to whatever he has become.

But hopefully one day, he will finally move on to the next realm and find the light in the darkness he may have been searching for all along. If the black monk of Pontefract teaches us anything, it's that sometimes belief isn't about a higher power at all. Sometimes it's about believing in ourselves, trusting our judgment, our intuition, our stories, our truth, even when others tell us our experiences aren't real.

because on this show, we believe in what we cannot see, whether it's good or evil. We are capable of facing the unknown, whatever it is. And the only thing we can rely on to get us through that is our own courage, our own strength, and our own guiding light. This is So Supernatural and Audio Chuck Original produced by Crime House. You can connect with us on Instagram at So Supernatural Pod and visit our website at sosupernaturalpodcast.com. Join Rasha and me next Friday for an all-new episode. I think Chuck would approve.