The Pontefract Poltergeist - In search of a lost well, by Kester Lee

30 East Drive, Pontefract (Kester Lee)

In the United Kingdom at least, many elements of a reported haunting fail when historical research is undertaken.

In spite of claims to the contrary, in depth research rarely occurs. This allows for an alleged haunting to provide numerous witnesses prepared to vouch for its authenticity, witnesses to a haunting based upon an absolute lie, often propagated by those with a vested interest for doing so and other, not so innocent purposes.

To this end, we have found that the amount of time engaged in historical research far outweighs the time we spend upon paranormal research itself.

Fortunately, there are others that also recognise this, although they tend to be few and far between.

One such researcher that we’ve worked closely with over the past couple of years, Kester Lee, recounted to his disappointment with a paranormal investigation at Leicester Guildhall that he attended back in 2015 and, his subsequent dealings with the organisers.

More recently, at an investigation in Manchester he took part in, two film makers arrived unexpectedly, who later released a sensationalist video about an ‘incubus demon’ within days, that no way reflected what the family at the property claimed to have experienced, nor what happened that evening.

Due to these and other, similar experiences over the years, Kester adopted the methodology of observation, where accounts of ghosts, preferably written, are studied with the aim to then visit the location.

Those circumstances to which ghosts are said to have been encountered are emulated as far as possible according to who, where, when and what happened. His objective is to then evaluate the credibility of those accounts by means of observation, photography and audio.

With this in mind, Kester has recently researched the background to a supposedly attested fact at a property he is very familiar with, 30 East Drive, in Pontefract, West Yorkshire. Here are the result of his findings, subject to further revisions.

Was there actually a well beneath 30 East Drive?

L&M

The Pontefract Poltergeist

In search of a lost well

Those who know the story of 30 East Drive, Pontefract, probably have a fascination for ghosts and poltergeists.  Colin Wilson wrote the definitive book on the house entitled, ‘Poltergeist’ in 1980 having been in the position to interview the witnesses first-hand a decade after the events.  His work covers the story remarkably well, but he was never in a position to say why it happened.  

Poltergeists are unlike ghosts in that ghosts tend to have a connection with their location, poltergeists tend to move in and cause all kinds of disturbances for no obvious reason. While looking for an explanation for the events at 30 East Drive it has been assumed that there had been a rape and murder of a young girl by one of the local Black Monks – yes, they really existed and were called so by the black robes they wore.  

In the History of Pontefract by George Fox, published in 1827, it mentions an abbey of Black Monks, Cluniac Monks, brought in during the reign of William II as residents of the then hospital, by Pontefract Castle.  His source of information on this subject comes from the antiquarian John Leyland, born in 1503, died in 1552.  

It has to be mentioned that there is no record anywhere, so far, of a Black Monk guilty of the rape and murder of a child, and subsequently hanged on the site, and his body thrown down a well where 30 East Drive stands today.  

Over recent years that story has expanded into not one, but two monks having the innocent one die in place of his evil twin.  Where did this account originate from?  

The origin of the story has it that the Lady of the house, Jean Pritchard awoke one night to see a tall figure dressed in robes standing in her bedroom doorway. Contemporary to that experience Elsie May ‘Ma’ Mountain, the then next-door neighbour had her own experience in in her kitchen.  While washing the dishes one day she turned and came face to face with the apparition of a monk standing silently behind her.  His face was covered, like in the account of Jean Pritchard, with a cowl, but this time it appeared to be curious of her washing her dishes.  

It should be easy to conclude that the house was haunted by a local Black Monk based on witness testimony.  The difficulty is, the insertion of the claims from an unidentified local historian who is supposed to have suggested to the Pritchard family, prior to the arrival of Colin Wilson, that a deceased Black Monk is responsible for what was going on.  

That suggestion may have been overheard by the poltergeist who decided to play along and then reveal itself as a Black Monk.  Poltergeists are known for puerile pranks.  Furthermore, the rumour of a book allegedly discovered in a wall giving account of a murderous Black Monk has been attributed to this same unidentified local.  Who this person is, nobody is sure, but possibly the same person who invited Colin Wilson to visit the Pritchard family.  

Local legend now has it that the book was discovered in a Victorian built house to near The Cir, a circular road between East and West Drive, south of number 30 during the late 1960s or early 1970s.  It has been described as a thick book bound in yellow leather, the dimensions being 6x6x9 inches.  

This brings us to the point of this essay.  It seeks to answer one simple question, based on maps – what was there before 30 East Drive was built, and is there a well beneath 30 East Drive, Pontefract?

Chequerfield, Pontefract in 1953

On the 1953 ordnance survey map the location of 30 East Drive is easily identified, as indicated by the orange dot.  

On closer inspection it is apparent that number 30 had not yet been built.  The map was held as relevant and in circulation until 1957 by which time the house may or may not have been built, but the common speculation was that the house was built in the late 1950s.  One could assume it was built between 1957 and 1959.  

From what we see, East Drive was built in the Chequerfield part of Pontefract as a normal, modern, post war housing estate on the Southern side of Pontefract.  By using image overlay, 30 East Drive can be located on the antecedent 1938 map.  

1953 OS Map

Chequerfield, Pontefract in 1938

The 1938 O.S. map was overlayed to the 1953 and aligned by a contour line on the right of the map.  What is seen is largely an undeveloped area, probably put to agricultural use.  

To the north one can see urban Pontefract approaching Chequerfield.  Most notably the infectious diseases hospital which was disused by 1953.  

Further to the east is the site of the Battle of Chequerfield which occurred on March 1st, 1645. Here, Sir Marmaduke Langdale defeated the Parliamentary forces and reclaimed Pontefract Castle.  

To the north west and south east of where 30 East Drive would come to be are two letters, the letter ‘P’ which is presumably for a pump.  A third pump is located towards the south of the second one just mentioned.

1938 OS Map

Chequerfield, Pontefract 1907

On the 1907 map, below, the contour line is clearly seen and numbered 200.  By following it around one may notice a thin line where details are missing.  

Thankfully, this does not lead to any misrepresentation for the reader.  It merely indicates where one page of the map has been brought towards another page to cover a blank margin.  What is interesting is the presence of another letter ‘P’ beneath the first one mentioned while the other ‘P’ beneath the south east ‘pump’ is labelled, ‘W’ which will be relabelled as, ‘P’ in 1938.

1907 Map

Chequerfield, Pontefract 1892

Moving back to 1892 (see below) it becomes clear that ‘W’ stands for a well.  

This becomes an interesting prospect if the story of the Black Monk is true.  Could he have been disposed of down this well?  It is, however, far from Pontefract Castle, nor close to where 30 East Drive would be.  Furthermore, there are other pumps in the area, being closer, and must also have been wells before being modernised into pumps.  

What the map does, however, is confirm that ‘P’ stands for ‘pump’ and that the infectious diseases hospital at this time is not on the map.  A clear indication that it had not yet been built.  This suggests that the hospital was in operation from around 1907 until 1952, possibly a little earlier and a little later. 

1892 Map

Chequerfield, Pontefract in 1851

The next map dates from 1851.  There are earlier maps, but they are not particularly easy to find, nor commonly available.  The five maps so far used in this essay are available and can be independently checked.  What is clear, and expected, is the lack of man made features in 1851.  30 East Drive does not yet exist, Pontefract is a way off, the site of the battlefield is not mentioned, but labelled as Chequer Field.  

Field boundaries are displayed suggesting aggricultural use of the lands, but no clearly marked orchards as it has been suggested that was what the local monks used the land for.  

The most notable feature is that number 30 was on what was called, ‘Chequer Field road.’  That road still exists today as East Drive, and runs right besides the house.   At this point in time the already noted wells and pumps do not appear to exist at all.   

One can explain the location of pumps and wells based simply on where water was found.  Unlike today, water back then was found and drawn up, whereas today water is ‘pumped’ into millions of homes.  

Going back further in time it is difficult to suggest when the first well was sunk in the area, but one may fairly assume the first well was sunk no earlier than the 16th century when Leland wrote of, ‘…an abbay of blake monks.’  

If there was no well in the area then the narrative of a Black Monk being thrown down a well probably never happened, certainly not nearby, and it did happen that bodies were thrown down wells to poison one’s own water supply, but monks held all possessions in common so it is unlikely the monks would have permitted such an act.  

What remains is an unanswered question, why was there a haunting at 30 East Drive, Pontefract?  

The history of the surrounding land offers no visible clue, in fact it disputes there ever being a well.  It also disputes the sub-story of a small bridge over a stream formerly at the site of number 30.  The maps do not indicate any course of a stream.  Unless events are lost to earlier times of history where one reaches further into speculation and further away from any evidence.

1851 Map

Chequerfield, Pontefract in 1851, the West View

Looking further to the west on the 1851 map can be found a rectangular building marked, ‘pump’.  

Towards the north-west of it is a circle of dots possibly indicating a small quarry or possibly, an orchard.  

When overlayed on a contemporary map it is located in a part of Chequerfield called, ‘Friars Nook’.  A nook being a secluded place.  It is possible then that monks did frequent there as a place of quiet contemplation, but it also calls into question, has it always had a monastic connection or is the name a modern creation?  

It is not easy to tell, but it does encourage one to attempt to validate the reliability of the maps used here.  

1851 Map - West View

2020 Aerial view of the area, 30 East Drive to the top right

Andrew Kenrick Jones in his thesis, circa 1980, entitled, ‘The Maps of Yorkshire in the period 1577-1857, as sources of topographical information’ questions the reliability of maps within that period for topographical information, but he does make one very useful observation on pages 431-432.  Of the 550 maps printed for Yorkshire during that period, 85% can be described as publisher maps as opposed to surveyor maps in that the, ‘content of maps which are reprints or derived maps is to a large degree a duplication of features recorded on earlier maps’.  

The implication is on one hand that the maps used here are reliable based on the regularity of features, but equally unreliable in what could have been missed out.  

For that reason, a complete overlay should help the reader understand the features of the area in question.  What one sees is the reliability of the maps.  On the one hand the maps are reliably consistent, and on the other clearly show new features as they came into being.  Furthermore, the maps used here largely fall after Jones’ period of unreliability.  

What one can safely suggest is that there was never formerly a well, stream or bridge on the site of 30 East Drive.  What there was, was a road called Chequerfield Road from Waterloo Monument, passing by Chequerfield battle site up to the east side of Pontefract surrounded by fields.

The 1851, 1892, 1907, 1938 and 1953 maps combined.

Five Maps combined - 1851 to 1953 inclusive

We return here to Waterloo Monument.  One could be forgiven for being so focussed on the immediate location of 30 East Drive that one forgets to take a wider look.  

Waterloo Monument is approximately the same distance from Friars Nook although further south at approximately half a mile distance.  In the Pontefract: Geographical and Historical information from the year 1835, states that in 1818 a monument was raised there in commemoration of the battle of Waterloo.  

It goes on to describe the environs as,‘…pleasant, and abound with interesting and diversified scenery, are several noblemen’s seats.  The gardens and nursery grounds produce abundance of excellent fruit and vegetables for the supply of the neighbouring markets, and are famous for the superior quality of the liquorice, which is cultivated extensively’.

The problem with the extract is that one could make the mistake of thinking the environs was around the monument whereas in fact the environs is probably the whole town of Pontefract, but it still gives us a clue as to the agricultural nature of land around where 30 East Drive would come to be.  One of those noblemen’s seats might have been Edward Trueman as the monument was built on the grounds of The Grove, his home.  It is thought he lost his son in the battle of Waterloo.  Due to the lean in the monument it became known as the Cranky Pin and during a heavy gale it collapsed in 1943.  In 1946 the remains of the monument was demolished and the new Council house estate was begun.  That housing estate was known as the largest council estate in Europe and was to home servicemen and families returning from the second world war.

Benjamin Boothroyd in his, ‘History of Pontefract containing an interesting account of its castle, and the three different sieges it sustained  during the civil war with notes and pedigrees, of some of the most distinguished Royalists and Parliamentarians, chiefly drawn from manuscripts never before published’, 1807 gives us an interesting insight into the Black Monks themselves.  

In Part II, page 319 he wrote of the Priory of St. John which was founded by Robert de Lacy in 1090.  Nothing remained of the priory during his day but it was located near the castle on what is called today Monkhill.  The monks were not permitted to leave their confines but only to occupy themselves with prayer, silence, solitude, and work on their farm.  Their diet was meat and wine free surviving off a pound and a half of bread per day.  

The black gown they wore reached down to their boots and their cowls were also black.  As for how many Black Monks there were the number given is around 200 with little consideration to the population changes through time.  

Boothroyd goes on to account for another group of monks which arrived in 1221 during the reign of Henry III.  They settled in Friar Wood which is about 0.7 mile west of 30 East Drive close to the hospital.  They initially settled in the house of one Symon Pyper that is described as situated in the centre of a garden with a well.  That well was later removed along with the foundations.  This order was founded by St. Dominic and so called the Dominicans.  

Within their confines they wore a white cassock with a white hood except when they left.  Then they would wear a black hood and a black cloak over their white vestments.  Although dedicated to austerity they acquired considerable wealth which caused them to relax their discipline and so became particularly, ‘odious’ to many Catholics.  Their number at the house is given as low as, seven.

In conclusion one can say two things.  The first is that the stories of a well under the house is almost certainly not true.  

Following on from that the idea of a stream and small bridge is equally not true; the maps simply do not support the idea of a well ever being there.  

Furthermore, those that were executed and thrown down wells, were thrown down their own well, monks held their possessions in common which would have punished all the monks of the abbey, but as Boothroyd notes, the Cluniacs were not permitted to travel and so probably never left their grounds near the castle.  

That leaves the Dominicans, they did have a well located where they were living, but there are no records of one of their number committing a crime so terrible as to be hanged and then thrown down the well.  The second thing is that the alleged book that holds the secret as to who this monk is has never been clearly identified.  Originally it was supposed to have been found by builders in the wall adjoining two houses – Victorian houses in an area where the first houses were built in the 1940s.  

That leaves us with a few final observations.  Chequerfield rests between where a monument to a war once stood and where a battle once happened as a place to live for servicemen returning from war, but it is actually a very peaceful area with a great community spirit.  That suggests no reason why a poltergeist came to 30 East Drive.  Like many poltergeist cases, they just start for no obvious reason, and in this case, there is no evidence for a lost book, a well, or a terrible murder.  What Colin Wilson found was a normal family with all the hopes, troubles, and aspirations as any other family whose lives were interrupted by something nobody really understands.  

As a final word, having visited the house a number of times, something is still there.  On the first evening in 2012 a loud choking laughing was recorded at the top of the stairs; it was recorded again on the second visit when the area was cordoned off so freeing one of the problems of human contamination.  On two subsequent visits the word, ‘never’ was heard to interrupt our recorded conversations.  Both the weird unarticulated gargling, which we recorded four times in total and the voice, differ.  It was speculated to have been the voice of Joe Pritchard who died in the house in the late 1980s or early 1990s.  

Whether or not the poltergeist is, or was, a Black Monk is highly unlikely, but what is not doubted is that the house is haunted, and for a reason known only to the poltergeist.

Kester Lee

Ghosts of England 

2020

The ghosts that just won’t rest – an addendum

As we’ve written previously (The search for the answers...), we have an attachment to a mysterious location that is possibly far more than just an ancient redundant church in the wilds of Essex.

Whilst our ongoing research relating to the site is currently on hiatus, during an attempt to make sense of a pile of loose notes from Laura tucked away in a box recently, I came across a sketch with comments which, with hindsight, has clearly added to the puzzle surrounding the church.

However, before I discuss the sketch itself, it would be worth placing it in some form of context, to provide further insight.

Having moved away from the area following our initial visits to the church, we found ourselves living back in the area again, after a gap of seven years, although we had no motivation to revisit the location.

However, this was about to change.


The Missing Notes
In March of 2015, I was looking forward to the release of the updated Andrew Collins’ seminal work, The Black Alchemist, some 27 years after the original was first published. I had followed Collins’ work for more years than I care mention, so I was very interested in learning what new information had been included – had the Black Alchemist been identified? Was he still alive? Where did he live?

The ‘new’ book, retaining its striking cover, an image, heavily influenced by Salvador Dali’s 1951 work, Christ of Saint John of the Cross.

In anticipation of the impending arrival of the book, I put out an innocuous post on the Twitter social media platform, in an attempt to generate some discussion, as there appeared to be little discussion about the release floating around.

An innocuous little Tweet....

Sadly, the post generated little interest, other than a short reply from someone who we’d never came across before, Sam, who it turns out has become our very good friend and, subsequently invited us to Greenwich Park, which we wrote about HERE.

In discussion, we found that we both had a longstanding interest in the works of Andrew Collins and indeed psychic questing itself, with Sam being involved in the ‘movement’ himself in the 1990’s.

Despite this interest, he’d not had the opportunity so far to visit the well known locations that featured in many of Collins’ works, many which were now local to where Laura and I were based, so it naturally followed that we made plans with Sam for him to travel up to us for the day, where we could undertake a tour of the sites, such as the church and Griffin pub in Danbury, Rettendon Church, Runwell Church and, the Running Well itself.


The Essex Safari
Unfortunately, come the day, Laura was unable to make the journey with us, so it was left to just Sam and myself to take the tour on our own.

As we walked away from the Running Well, the final location of our tour, Sam turned and asked if Laura and I had any favourite locations of our own in the area?

Thinking about it, the only one that came to mind that was relatively close to where we were now was ‘the church’ so, agreeing that this was as good a site as any, we made our way east through the Essex countryside, until we found ourselves pulling up in the unofficial car park, next to the church.

At this point I did not know what was going to great us - when Laura and I had last visited the church seven years earlier, the conservation process had just commenced and the building was completely surrounded by a secure protective metal curtain and we’d not kept in touch with any progress or what we could expect now.

Looking across to the building, I breathed a sigh of relief – the protective curtain had obviously gone, but so had the surrounding scrub and desolation and the church looked quite serene in the afternoon sun.

I guided Sam around the church, following the steps that Laura and I had trod many times before.

It felt odd now actually being able to walk among the gravestones, which were previously heavily overgrown with brambles and nettles, but pleasing that the church was now in a far better state of repair from when we’d last seen it.

Walking to the main porch, I pushed at the heavy wooden door, but it wouldn’t budge, as expected.

The North Porch

It was a pity, as Laura and I’d never been inside the church and I was secretly hoping that it was unlocked so that Sam and I could go inside, now that the structure had been made safe.

Disappointed, we continued our walk around the church, stopping here and there to study the memorials, in particular the one that had always troubled Laura.







Having exhausted everything of note that there was to see, we made our way back to the car. As we passed the wooden, Tudor Bell Tower, I noticed that the door no longer had a metal clasp and padlock fitted.

I paused, looked at Sam and then walked over to the door and turned the door handle.

To my complete surprise it moved and the door slowly creaked open as I pushed the handle downwards.

After all these years I was finally going to be able to enter the church. I wondered what Laura would say when I broke the news to her later.

We examined the interior of the bell tower, its timbers exposed and, walked through an archway into the Nave itself.

Amongst the pews there was a small table, containing a selection of leaflets and brochures for visitors.

Something caught my attention.

Not quite believing what I was seeing, there, on the table was a leaflet advertising a concert, which had been held at another church a couple of weeks earlier.

Looks familiar..........

Admittedly, this in itself was not particularly remarkable, however, the background photograph for the leaflet most certainly drew both our attention.

The leaflet vs the book 

As can be seen from the photograph above, it was Dali’s Christ of Saint John of the Cross, the image used as the cover for Collins’ book, The Black Alchemist (and another variant for its follow up, The Second Coming), the very book that drew Sam and Laura and myself, complete strangers, together.

Synchronicity at work? A strong coincidence at the very least.


Departure
After exchanging a couple of words, we continued our exploration of the church for a while, then Sam and I drove back to my house to finally meet Laura, where we discussed how our tour had gone and, revealing the fact that the church was now open.

Laura was surprised and suggested that we should visit in the near future sometime (which we finally did some four weeks later) and the conversation soon turned to other matters.

And that, we thought, was that.


An eventful end to the day
In the late evening, as we were preparing to retire to bed, Laura unexpectedly received a vision.

She began to describe what she was seeing, as it unfolded and I quickly passed her a pen and paper so she could sketch the details, whilst it was still fresh in her mind.

This vision was particularly vivid and her hand moved quickly across the paper as she continued with her description, in an attempt to document the details.

As the scene began to fade, we discussed what it could mean.

As a reminder, at this point Laura had not been inside or even seen the interior of the church from photographs and, I was not that familiar, only having had a fleeting visit hours earlier.

It did not immediately strike us that the vision related to the church, so our discussion focused on other options that we had been working on at that time.

However, as things on a psychic level had been relatively quiet for Laura in the preceding months and, my first visit to the interior of the church having taken place only hours earlier, it was difficult to avoid the conclusion that it must relate to the church.

We would need to visit at the next convenient opportunity which, as it happened, took place four weeks later.


The Vision

Laura's notes, taken directly from her vision

Studying Laura’s notes, nothing appeared to be linked, no matter how much we tried. However, looking retrospectively, Laura has picked up some of the information on the few subsequent visits that she’s made to the location, so it will be worth discussing each point here.


“Someone lying on table people gathered around them. Not dead or sacrificial.”
Trying to make sense of this, Laura clarified that she had no idea why the ‘sacrificial’ element came up, but she felt that, a need, that this was important in the scheme of things to provide clarification that it wasn’t any such thing.


“Round tiny plaque on wall under beam?”
With what we know now about the location, there is now a small metal plaque attached to a beam in the bell tower, commemorating the District Council Conservation and Design Award for 2010, following the conservation work undertaken in 2009.

However, this is relatively modern and Laura stated that ‘her’ plaque is much older than this.

There are two other candidates that are still present in the building following preservation. As you leave the Tudor bell tower and enter the nave, there are two oval texts, or plaques, painted on the walls opposite each other, immediately to your right and left, above the North and South Doors.

Crucially, in the context of Laura’s vision, they are both directly below a roof beam.

The texts are taken from the Book of Isaiah and have been professionally dated to the 18th Century.

The text on the South Wall is Isaiah c55 v6:
Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near.

The text on the North Wall, also from Isaiah, c48 v17:
Thus saith the Lord thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord thy God with teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.


Profound, but Laura is against accepting either plaque as whilst they are in the context of the correct location, they could hardly be described as ‘tiny’, in spite of them fitting the location, due to the size.

Hopefully further research will identify the plaque or indeed a further search, in case we’ve overlooked anything during our visits to the church.


“Body hanging from a beam, with a distinctive archway behind”
We are comfortable with our identification of the archway and, where this alleged hanging took place.

As you enter the church via the bell tower walk through to the Nave, you have to walk through a double archway – a large archway with a ‘flattened’ top section and, right above it, a smaller archway, with a peaked top section.

Both archways, as seen from the Nave.

The upper archway, with the top of the flattened archway just visible below. 

Either side of the archway, i.e. in the Nave or the tower, there are timber beams that would prove suitable to secure a rope.

Having considered the possibilities, we feel that the scene took place on the bell tower side, with the rope being secured where the beams cross, thus ensuring that the rope didn't slip and placing the suspended body in the correct position, at the centre of the ‘flattened’ arch, when comparing to Laura’s sketch.


“Under floor, something, tight chest”
In retrospect, this was the first time that Laura had received information that there was something under the floor.

This information has been repeated during subsequent visits to the extent that the information has been expanded to include a small room or crypt, of which we now know did exist, although there is no longer access and, the possibility that it no longer exists.

As for the tight chest element, again, Laura has felt this during our visits but, for the moment, she is not aware what this relates to.



Epilogue
Our research relating to this location is ongoing, as ever, but, the re-discovery of Laura’s vision has provided fresh impetus for us after a period of inactivity, leaving us with the questions –

What was the event with the body on the table?
Who had been hanged and what were the events that had led up to this?
Was there another plaque and, is it still there to be discovered?

No doubt another visit could reveal more and open the lid of the box of secrets even wider.

The question remains, when?