Welcome back to Sceptic On The Road! Soon to be a book, and possibly a television series – if we can find the perfect true believer to match my sceptic. It’s not as easy as you think.

But back to the travels.

Back in 2013 after I’d spent a long time having some brutal treatment and was recuperating by watching anything that had ever been made, I came across an amazing little film called ‘When The Lights Went Out’.

I love a good ghost story, as we know, so this was great for me. It didn’t hurt that I knew someone who worked on it so that ensured me giving it a watch.

It’s a story about a family who move into a small house on an estate and are plagued by paranormal activity on a daily basis – most of it centred around the daughter living in the house, Diane. The ghost, which manifested as a robed monk or a black shadow looming around the house, was nicknamed ‘Fred‘ by the Pritchard family, but is now commonly known as the Pontefract Poltergeist.

Lights switched on and off by themselves, cupboards shook violently, and objects appeared out of thin air before flying across rooms, usually aimed at someone nearby.

As the stories of the haunting began to travel in the local area and beyond, visitors started to descend on the simple house, wanting to get a glimpse of the black monk who was terrorising the family.

People were slapped, pushed, scratched and messed with by Fred. The Pritchard’s learned to live with him, however, as mum Jean absolutely refused to be chased out of her home by a bloody ghost.

As the children, Diane and Philip, grew older, Fred’s harmless slaps and scares began to grow in intensity, culminating in Diane being dragged by her hair up and down the stairs – traumatising her forever more.

The story is a great little ghost story, and the film well worth watching. It’s available on Amazon Prime here in the UK, and I’d like to tell you what other countries are showing it, but I’ve spent an hour trying to speak to an actual person without success. But please have a search for it and give it a watch. It’s such a good movie.

30 East Drive, Pontefract

Great news for lovers of the paranormal – you can actually go and visit the house at the centre of the haunting, even staying overnight if you’re brave enough.

The house can be found at 30 East Drive, Pontefract, West Yorkshire, WF8 2AN, where you can often see glimpses of Fred peering out the windows – allegedly. As always, I felt and saw nothing.

But if you’d like to spend a night doing a ghost hunt, or sleeping over, tours and overnight stays can be booked here: https://www.haunted-houses.co.uk/ghost-hunt/30-east-drive-ghost-hunt/

Tours are limited to 10 people at a time and start at £65 per person with the option to stay overnight at an extra cost. Otherwise the tours run from 9pm to 2.30am and sell out pretty quickly.

You can reach Pontefract by train quite easily, or if driving the M62 heads straight in.

Obviously you can go at any time and see the place from the outside, but please be aware it sits on an estate of many houses so be mindful of other residents.

If you’re enjoying reading Sceptic about famous hauntings and paranormal history around the world, or Sceptic on the Road, then please subscribe below.