As someone who has been investigating the paranormal for almost 26 years and having grown up in my very own haunted house, 30 East Drive became an iconic location not just for me but for many, many others too. A location I had been fascinated with ever since I heard my Mum make reference to our own house being like that ‘Yorkshire Ghost Place’ (Mum remembers the hype about the house), although I’m not fully convinced our spirit was anything like that of number 30.
I remember discovering that the house was available to hire and the excitement this brought, I couldn’t resist. I made our enquiries and booked our date. It felt like the longest 4 weeks waiting for that date to come. Finally the day arrived and off we went to Pontefract, to the Black Monk House, to 30 East Drive, finally. We collected the keys from Carol next door and then the house was ours for the next 18 hours. As I approached the door, my feelings changed and I can’t quite explain this, but nerves kicked in. As we opened the door and stepped inside, this feeling of dread came over us and the hairs on the back of our necks were prickly. Shivers down our spines! It felt exactly as I’d hoped!
After looking around the house, we got our equipment out of the car and set it up. Lights out time! We decided to initially stick together (there was only 2 of us). I remember we started off upstairs in the son’s bedroom, we had a KII meter, an EDI+ and a few cat balls. We had a few spikes on the KII and the EDI+ but nothing unsettling. We then started to investigate the other areas of the house, and there was no notable activity occurring. In the early hours of the morning, we were calling out in the parents room, when all of a sudden, a loud scream, a bang and panicked breathing…… Coming from my fellow investigator. Torches on and I asked what happened, he explained that it felt like hands were placed around his neck. This left him quite unsettled for the rest of our stay (Understandably). This was the highlight of our investigation. Quite a quiet night, but we didn’t feel disappointed, if anything it made us want to go back again!
Over the last 10 years, we have investigated 30 East Drive over 150 times and we still can’t get enough. Of course nowadays we have our amazing guests who investigate with us and wow, have we had some amazing experiences at the house. In fact, as many people who have been to our events will probably have heard me mention that I had my most scary moment ever at number 30, but that’s not for this blog! We’ve experienced some very strange and unnerving activity here including heavy banging and footsteps, doors opening and closing on their own, items being moved and on some occasions thrown (with the light on at times so all people can be seen). Shadows moving around the building, shadows appearing in doorways, water taps being turned on, a note being played on the piano and one of the strangest was the old tall clock at the top of the stairs when it started chiming even though it doesn’t work!
This is one location that keeps calling us and many others back to it time and time again. Is it a black monk? Is it the spirits of children? Is it the ghosts of former residents? Is it something else? There is a lot of speculation and suggestion about this house, but one thing I can say is that it’s not always a Casper type ghost (friendly) and the spirit(s) can make you feel quite unwelcome and uneasy. A location that anyone with the slightest interest in the paranormal should definitely experience at least once. I’ve even known many non believers leave as believers after spending a night here with us!
30 East Drive continues to be one of my favourite locations and one I always look forward to returning to time and time again. I hope you decide to join us here sometime very soon and see what or who you encounter!
