30 East Drive, Pontefract: How you can spend a night in Yorkshire's most haunted house thanks to The Big Issue
Fear fans will be given the chance to stay in one of Yorkshire’s most haunted homes thanks to a competition being run by The Big Issue.
The owner of an ex-council home in Pontefract supposedly haunted by a poltergeist called the ‘Black Monk’ is giving brave horror enthusiasts the chance to spend a night in the property after partnering with the Big Issue.
30 East Drive in Pontefract, which has been called the ‘most haunted house in Britain’, has nearly a two-year wait for paying customers to experience a night’s stay, but now owner Bill Bungay has donated an experience to the Big Issue which four lucky horror enthusiasts can win for free.
Once a self-claimed sceptic, Bungay now claims he has witnessed countless unsettling happenings – strange growling sounds, a kettle superheating of its own volition and objects thrown at his head through thin air – mostly credited to a poltergeist known as the ‘Black Monk’.
Bungay says he has never stayed in the house because he is “absolutely terrified”.
Due to its supernatural reputation, the ex-council home had been on the market for four years and was relatively cheap at £80,000 when he bought it in 2012.
The family who lived at 30 East Drive in the 1960s, the Pritchards, were said to have experienced green foam appearing from the taps and toilet, lights turned off and off, plants leaping out of their pots, photographs slashed and levitating household items.
Their daughter was said to have been dragged up the stairs by an invisible force. They believed it was a ‘Black Monk’, who they named Fred.
A night at 30 East Drive will usually set guests back £350 (or £450 on Fridays, weekends and bank holidays), and there is a two-year waiting list to bag yourself a night in the property.
It is popular among ghost hunters with professional gear and simply those with a curiosity about the paranormal.
Those wanting to take part in the competition can enter for free via the Big Issue’s website. One winner will be randomly selected from all entries received and will be notified via email. The competition closes at midnight on November 5.