Mixed Spirits
Welcome to Mixed Spirits, the podcast where high-proof cocktails meet the low-down details of the strange stories we are fascinated by.
Every week, neighbors Stephanie and Annie mix up a drink and dive headfirst into the weird, strange, and spooky world we live in. Whether it’s a spine-chilling true crime case, a deeply unsettling ghost story, or a legendary cryptid sighting, we’ve got a story to tell and a drink to go with it. Every episode kicks off with a unique, curated cocktail designed to fuel our descent into the strange and horrifying.
Grab a glass, lock your doors, and join us for a round of unsettling tales and killer drinks. Cheers!
Mixed Spirits
06- The Black Monk of Pontefract
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Dim the lights and pour yourself a drink—this week on Mixed Spirits, Stephanie and Annie are diving into one of the most famous, violent, and unsettling hauntings in British history: The Poltergeist of 30 East Drive in Pontefract, Yorkshire!
From mysterious white dust and self-dispensing tea to floating candlesticks, taunting white gloves, and physical assaults by the infamous entity known as "Fred", this 1966 case redefines what we know about poltergeists.
To go with this dark historical lore, we’re sipping on "The Black Monk" cocktail—a deep, complex drink inspired by the 11th-century monks of Pontefract Priory. Featuring Oude Genever, Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth, and a rich, bitter-sweet licorice-treacle syrup, it’s the ultimate brew for a haunting night in.
Sip, listen, and let us know: would you stay a night at 30 East Drive? 🕯️🍸
Hi everyone. Welcome to, and I keep forgetting to do this, mixed spirits podcast. I'm Stephanie. I'm Annie. And we are two neighbors that like to do research. No, we don't. No, we don't. I like doing the research. Um, we're just two neighbors that like to sit around uh by the proverbial bonfire and just have conversations about the weird and crazy stuff in the world. And we make a drink to go with the stories that we tell provided by our lovely mixologist Boomer. For those who have listened in the past, y'all have probably heard us talk a lot about him. For those who know us personally, y'all know who Boomer is. He is definitely he looks like a boomer. So. So today's drink for my story comes out of England. This is a Boomer original.
SPEAKER_02Oh.
SPEAKER_01Oh, do you want to?
SPEAKER_02Wait, how did it come out of England, but it's Boomer original?
SPEAKER_01My story is from England, and so this has a lot to do with the town in which this took place. Gotcha. Okay. But Boomer created the drink. Boomer created the drink. Okay. There was a lot, a lot of research that went into this. And surprisingly, I was nervous at first, but it it turned out okay. Do you want to say? Do you have anything to say, Annie, for yourself? As I push my glass closer and closer to the bottle. So this is oh, I'll get into the story about uh what Boomeris and I forgot these things. So fun fact that y'all can't see me, but or see us, but this there's medical tape on the bottle that says monk, and that will come into play in a little bit.
SPEAKER_02I just love the bottle. It looks like an apothecary, you know, apocalypse. It looks like that. Yeah, he this is a uh whoo! High boomer.
SPEAKER_01This is an old bottle from like a blood orange drink that he made. He kept the bottle and he just uses it too. But it's very fitting for for this story. Okay. So you've taken a drink.
SPEAKER_00Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01What are your initial other than the high boomer drinks? What is your initial thought? It's bitter. Okay. Is there any flavor notes that are coming forward? Like orange pill bitter. Like Okay. Oh yeah. That's me shaking the bottle. Oh goodness. Yeah, that's what that's supposed to taste like. Okay. So the first time I ever had this drink, I likened it to a Manhattan. Which I think is rye and some other stuff. It's mostly like a straight drink. Boomer's grandfather, who had the speakeasy, made a Manhattan. Did I say Manhattan? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Okay. He had him, he had, it was called Norm's Manhattan. And Boomer's made it for me before. It's very good. It's very sweet. This has those notes to me of that without the super super sweetness. And I think that might be because of the Luxardo cherries that go into the Manhattan, which you've had. Right, yes. I think that's what adds the sweetness to it.
SPEAKER_02I have to say, I would not hate it if there was sweetness added to this. Okay. I would not hate it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I understand. Yeah, it's um, like I said, there was a lot of research going into this drink for reasons, and there there is something in the drink that if you drink too much of it, it could kill you.
SPEAKER_02That's a bad drink for me.
SPEAKER_01You have to drink a lot. Or you have to eat this one thing a lot. Okay. Like, you'd be pumping your stomach first before you probably would die. Okay. Okay. I've already gotten that far. No, no. Well, and when Boomer made the drink and he bought the thing to mix into it, he had like a two o'clock, he called it the 2 a.m. terror, where he woke up and he was like, fuck, how much of this have I put into these drinks? Am I going to kill people? What is going on? And then come to find out, like, the amount of mixture of the powder in the drink is not enough. It's like 168th. Or what arsenic? And no. No. So um, yeah, it was like trace amounts to be able to like hurt anything. Now he did like stick his finger in this powder to taste it to see what it tasted like, and he said that was probably not a good idea to do just the straight. Did his mouth go numb? I don't think so. He's still alive. So that's good.
SPEAKER_02But he said it wasn't a good idea, so I'm wondering what uh effects he had.
SPEAKER_01I don't think he had any.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01I don't think he had any.
SPEAKER_02So he was just saying that out of common sense.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Yeah. I was hoping for a good story.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well and then try again. Then all of a sudden his head spun in circles, and he's soup. It was fucking odd. So, okay, my story comes out of, like I said, England. Wait, what now?
SPEAKER_02What did Boomer name the drink?
SPEAKER_01So this uh drink name is called the Black Monk. Oh shit, that's right. Cheers. Cheers. Nice. So this is the backstory of the Black Monk drink, or aka the devil's tea, which when he first wrote this, it was like, yeah, it's like a devil's wink. And I was like, that's what you call my butthole, though.
SPEAKER_02TMI. Just a little.
SPEAKER_00We talk about the buttons all the time with Boomer. Question mark, and then got you some question mark. Because we weren't gonna be concerned that Boomer's gonna wring my butthole when it's not a stable eat.
SPEAKER_01Oh, oh Demi, it was a stabin. That was awesome. Okay. So back in the 11th century, the monks of Pontyfrac Priory started growing licorice root for medicine and penance. But since monks back then were also downing several pints of ale a week, combining booze and licorice is actually pretty faithful to their daily routine. And that was the powder he bought, was the licorice powder. Oh, yeah. What makes this drink so fun is that it's literally every single spirit used to be treated like medicine. Jennifer started out in the 1500s as a juniper-based health tonic, and vermouth was originally an herbal wine uh tinture used to settle stomach issues. The Nolly Pratt Vermouth even has a cool seafaring history. It's aged outdoors by the sea in France to mimic how sailors realized wine tasted richer after getting baked by the sun and salt air on long voyages. Instead of seeping licorice and warm ale like old school monks did, this drink used dark, bitter, sweet licorice root syrup to tie in the whole thing together. And then Boomer named it the Black Monk because when you combine monastery medicine, a Dutch health tonic, and a sea-aged French vermouth, you end up with something that feels half holy and half sinful. Basically every ingredient in this glass once required a doctor's note, but we're serving it as a cocktail.
SPEAKER_02Nice. I love a good story that comes with your drink.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's like I said, there was a lot of uh research that went into it. It went into this whole like like snake oil salesman with the licorice, where he was like, You remember when people would go and they would be like, It helps grow your hair, it helps with stomach issues. That was their big thing with this drink, especially with like the licorice powder. I think there's also traco. Traco? Have you ever had trachal before? No. It's like a dark maple syrup, basically. It's very good. They use it a lot of times in like gingerbreads. Um, but it it it for us in the States, it's likened to like just a dark maple syrup. So, um, my story obviously is about the black monk of Pontyfrac. This is the most well-documented poltergeist case in history. And it's very the story itself is very short, I want to say. It kind of like, to me it ends abruptly. It's like what happened after is kind of more interesting in my mind. But yeah, when I was looking to see like what I could what story I could talk about, I was like, oh, this this is kind of like a right up my alley, right at my devil's wink. Um through your asshole, are we? Always. Don't you know any better? Alright, so you're ready for the story? I am ready. So this is the uh black monk of Pontyfrac, or also known as the most violent poltergeist in Britain. If you know anything about me, I love gloomy weather, a nice pub, and some delicious fish and chips. And you wonder, why don't I move someplace like London? Or maybe specifically 30 East Drive in Yorkshire. Well, this story will have you thinking, how did the Pritchard family stay in this home sharing their space with a violent poltergeist by name Mr. Nobody by the local press?
SPEAKER_02So Mr. Nobody, that sounds familiar. Like, have I heard it probably from TV.
SPEAKER_01You probably there's there's movies based on all of this. Before we get into the story, I wanted to talk about the word poltergeist and how it got its start. The word poltergeist comes from the German roots to mean noisy ghost. And we've talked about this a little bit on the past past stories of the difference between a haunting and a police. Haunting a poltergeist, yeah. Uh it combines poltern to make noise or disturb, and geist, uh, or ghost or spirit. Google says the term was likely coined in 16th century Germany by Martin Luther around 1530-1540, and it first appeared in print on a German dictionary by Erasimus Alberus in 1540. Try to say that three times fast. Try to say any German word three times fast. Coming from the German woman. It entered the English language later appearing around 1848 through the writings of paranormal researcher Catherine Crowe. As research shows, poltergeist activity typically stems from a young person in distress. Hi, Jovi. Trickster-like activity from psychokinesis. So with this understanding. Please don't knock. Hey, you're gonna go have to go around, sweet girl. Go this way. Come over here. Come over here. Dog interrupt us. That's that's her German name. Go see. Oh goodness. Now Finn's jealous.
SPEAKER_02Yep, she's involved. Oh no, now they're gonna start playing around us.
SPEAKER_01As research shows, poltergeist activity typically stems from a young person in distress, trickster-like activity from psychokinesis. So, with this understanding, poltergeist are not of the violent type. So that's what makes this case so odd because we definitely have violence.
SPEAKER_02See, I actually thought they were. So in all the movies I watch, you know, they tend to be a little bit more violent. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I'm sure that's just so what do you call a violent ghost?
SPEAKER_02Is there a name for them?
SPEAKER_01Is it just not a haunting?
SPEAKER_02Well, hauntings are more like you see them, their presence is there, they follow you around, they're watching you, something like that, right? Yeah. Poltergeist is more like when they throw things, they make noise, they maybe involved. So if we've got if the poltergeist aren't known for being violent, then there's gotta be yet another level, mm-hmm, another term violence.
SPEAKER_01Because I just assumed that with poltergeist activity that I don't think they mean to harm, but if they do throw something and you happen to be in the way. And that's kind of the s with the case with this story, is like there are things that happened to the family members that it was like, well, you could have gotten hurt. You didn't. It's embarrassing some of the stuff that happened, but I don't think they meant to I don't think they meant to harm. I think they just meant to scare. I'm just gonna keep saying it and make you really uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_02Give me more drink, I'll be fine.
SPEAKER_01It's coming. Oh, these dogs. Oh goodness. Are you okay, F? You can't hear me. Jovi. Okay, go sit. Go lay down. I see you're smiling, you're all happy. I see this. Okay. Um, so our story begins in August of 1966. Joe and Jean Pritchard and their two children, Philip and Diane, moved into their 910 square foot home. That's a tiny home, yeah. The downstairs part of the home was cramped. A small entryway led to a small living area, and then an even smaller kitchen and dining room, sort of in the back.
SPEAKER_02Didn't have room for entryways.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_02Like just walk right into the bedroom.
SPEAKER_01That's pretty much it, yeah. Uh a staircase. So there's a there's a staircase apart to this, yeah. Uh leads up to the main family bathroom and three bedrooms. Now I mention this about the size of the house because it adds the terrifying experiences that the family had, and there was very little room to escape the disturbances. Yeah, there's nowhere to go. Nowhere to go. As soon as the Pritchards moved in, they immediately started to have experiences. Now, a couple of reports I read, if this was me and I had experienced what the son and his grandmother experienced on the first day, I'd say fuck this and never look back. Just like the dogs.
SPEAKER_02So today's podcast has a lot of dog activity in the background.
SPEAKER_01Enjoy. Yeah. I know how much everybody feels about puppies. Jovine, I swear to God. Okay. So Sarah Scholes, the grandmother, was watching her 15-year-old grandson Philip while his parents and sister were away on holiday. Philip walked into the living room and noticed that there was a fine white dust falling all around the room, but not from the ceiling like some would think. Between the two of them, they were confused, and grandma decided to call Philip's Aunt Marie over from where she lived across the street. Marie also had no answer about the dust, but knew that the family was coming home soon, and Marie decided to help with the cleanup. Marie goes into the kitchen to get a rag and whoop she slipped in the puddle of water. You said puddle easily I filled it in with blood. No, not yet. Uh she slips in the puddle of water that wasn't there moments before. She mopped up the puddle only to have another appear. And after she cleaned that up, another puddle appeared, puddle after puddle. At this point, they called out a plumber, and they also couldn't find the cause of the puddles. Marie leaves the house about seven o'clock, and Philip, who is in the kitchen, yells out, Grandma, it's happening again. I'm not going to do a British accent because that would just really bad, really, really bad. Loose leaf tea and sugar is all over the counter. The button on the tea dispenser clicked and then pushed down, splashing tea all over the mess. This continued to happen each time more liquid ran out, faster and faster, and grandma yells out, Stop, stop it, and then crash. Something in the hall has fallen over. So would you go and look, or would you No, I I think I'd have to look yet.
SPEAKER_02You'd have to go look. I'm not high-tailing it just yet. Just yet?
SPEAKER_01Okay. I mean to see a uh water dispenser or tea dispenser be pressed on its own. Malfunctions.
SPEAKER_00Okay. I see.
SPEAKER_02Somebody's throwing ice cubes on the floor, and now the now the tea dispenser's malfunctioning. The 15-year-old's probably playing some pranks while my back was turned. Yeah, okay. That's fair.
SPEAKER_01Um, so after they stumble up to see what it was, the hall was empty and dark. Neither Sarah nor Philip spoke. And out of nowhere, a light clicked on, startling them both, and the two fled out of the house to sleep with the neighbors. Now, remember this was the first day. After that, the poltergeist activity escalated considerably. Green handprints appeared on the walls, furniture shifted in a large grandmother clock comes aggressively falling down the stairs. Even the poor dog was repeatedly being terrorized and even disappeared on one occasion. And at this point, they started to call the entity Fred. So Mr. Nobody was a name given by the press. Right. And then Fred is the name that the family gave.
SPEAKER_02I wonder why the press didn't just stick with the name that was given it.
SPEAKER_01I think the press gave the name first because the activity was happening, and I think the people in the town were like obviously intrigued to see what the heck was going on. So they were aware. So they were aware, but when people were like, then there was a puddle that showed up, and this tea thing all of a sudden fucked up, and the grandfather grandmother clock comes tumbling down the stairs. Is it really happening? It's Mr. Nobody.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So I think in order to appease whatever this was, they were just like, let's give it a very basic name. Yeah. I think this is a way to help them normalize what was happening to them, yelling, Fred, stop making a mess. And then the activity stopped for a full two years. Wait, no. Yeah. So yeah, the activity just stopped happening.
SPEAKER_02Because they said stop making a mess, Fred?
SPEAKER_01Maybe. And they never could really, I guess, explain why the activity just stopped.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01So keep in mind poltergeist. And you have kids in the house. And kids typically are a cause around why poltergeist happened. Because of their energy levels? Yeah. Um. So may maybe one of the kids grew out of that phase, and but there's a young sister that's coming up. So after the 15-year-old, there is a baby sister. There's a sister, she's 12.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01When all of this starts to happen.
SPEAKER_02And that makes sense because when you're teens, your angst is you've got all that energy.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Mm-hmm. So uh the activity did eventually pick up again, and then this time it really focused its attention on the sister, on Diane. There were times where she would go to bed only to be woken up on the floor with her mattress on top of her. Bruises and scratches would appear, and the scariest thing is Diane's hair stood up on end, and she was dragged up the stairs by her throat living vis leaving visible finger marks around her throat. And there are witnesses to this. Right. Yeah. To me, that's I I would have gotten out the first day, but th hands on my throat, I'm moving. Yeah, this is not okay. Um the family also experienced things, objects flying across the room, photographs on the walls were slashed, furniture moved on its own, family members and neighbors all witnessed some sort of activity, and one report said an aunt had a full bottle of milk dumped onto her head. They called a local vicar to come out, and he saw two candlesticks slide off the mantelpiece, and apparently this noisy ghost came with jokes. After the vicar tried to explain away the candlesticks, the sticks floated in front of him, seeming to taunt him, and when a visiting aunt decided that she was going to sing a Christian hymn, a pair of white gloves appeared to conduct the singing, mocking her as well.
SPEAKER_02Dang Yeah. So clearly angry about something this one, this Fred. Yeah. But also, yes, that is quite the sense of humor. It goes with jokes.
SPEAKER_01So then it says the disturbances were so common that the family ended up naming the ghost Fred. And then I say it must have been a family name. Um so the Pritchards were not gonna move out just because of a poltergeist. This was their house after all. So they decided to try exorcisms only to have the walls weeping with holy water, people getting slapped and shoved down the stairs, upside down crosses. You know, everything scary movies about ghosts tells us happens. And I believe that this case is still open to this day. Really? Yeah, they have not been able to figure it out.
SPEAKER_02Is Fred still active to this day?
SPEAKER_01Well, okay, let's go. Yeah. Um spoiler alert, yes. Okay. But there's a reason why. Uh this is a good thing. Another teenager moved in. No. It's it's something completely like you wouldn't even When I read it, I was like, get the fuck out of here. Are you I love a good get the fuck out of here? Okay, what are we doing? Um, so you know, everything scary that movies about ghosts tells us, and I believe that this case is still open to this day. A lot of the tropes we know and love stem from this family's experience. Then one night, Mr. and Mrs. Pritchard woke to find a tall, dark figure hovering over their bed. He quickly disappeared, but later other people started seeing him around the house too, though they never saw his face. And uh, as the kids became adults, the activity stopped. Just like that.
SPEAKER_02So once they started seeing his dark figure, I started to wonder, is he getting stronger? Like now he's able to present his physical form.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Instead of just being able to move things, he's now able to become visible. Yeah. Is that a sign of growing? Like maturing as a poltergeist?
SPEAKER_01Maybe. Uh or maybe it was just never really a poltergeist to begin with, and it was always just a haunting. But I think the throwing of things um gave the gave the term the poltergeist for this house, but maybe there's something maybe they're buying into it and um it's allowing the ghost to show himself, but if it's using the family's energy because they have obviously had all had experiences, maybe that's a reason why he's like, still around, and here I am. Maybe it's something that they've formed in their own minds to make it make sense.
SPEAKER_02I don't know. Maybe it's like the Greek gods where they need you to believe in them in order to have any strength or power. There you go. Yeah. It could be like that. Sometimes it could be like that. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes how is it? Still bitter. Still bitter. You know what it makes me think of is the drink Mamawana. Mamawana? Is that what it's called? Mama Wana. Yeah, mama wana. Yeah. What the hell is mama wana? It's this woodsy flavored drink that tastes bitter and woodsy and where have you had this before? So uh. Well, Eric's mom brought it and I can't remember where she was. She brought it with her from one of her travels. Okay. And she's all, you've got to try this drink. And she gives us all the components to make it. So we make it and we try the drink, and we're like, uh oh. Yes. And with us yet. So no. So then a week later, she calls us and she goes, Hey, did you make the drink? And we said, Yes. And she goes, Well, what'd you think that it? Taste like shit. And she goes, Oh, then you made it right. I'm like, oh, why did you do that to us?
SPEAKER_01So it was a here you throw this away sort of situation. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_02No, it's it doesn't taste like a mama wana. I mean it didn't make me spit it out or anything, but it has that same woodsy flavor.
SPEAKER_01That woodsy flavor to it. Yeah, like the earthy peatness or whatever they call.
SPEAKER_02Mm-hmm. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01With the bit of bitter. Uh-huh. When they talk about the peat flavor or the poop or whatever how long it sits. The poop? Yeah, isn't there a drink that like I don't know. I thought that when they talk about like earth and peat, that it has some maybe it's moss. And I my brain goes someplace else and To poop. To poop. I everything ends in poop for me. Lucky me.
SPEAKER_02Mrs. Devil's Wink. You keep saying it. I think that's the drinking game. Devil's Wink is the drinking word.
SPEAKER_01Uh the activities stopped after the kids became adults. So I bet you're thinking, why is this story about a faceless monk in black robes?
SPEAKER_02Good point. Good question. I'm glad I asked.
SPEAKER_01Glad you asked it. So the press, catching wind of the story, dubbed it the black monk of Pontyfrac. So this was obviously from them and not from the family. A paranal investigator named Tom Cuniff later offered a chilling historical theory. The land beneath the house may have once been the site of a clunaic monastery gallows where the 16th century monk was executed for the rape and murder of a young girl. This theory seemed to help the family make sense of what was happening. There was a major medieval monastery in Pontyfrac, which is exactly where the poltergeist legend got its inspiration. Pontyfrac was home to the Pontyfrac Priory, also known as the Priory of St. John the Evangelist, a prominent Clunaic monastery founded around 1090 by the Norman nobleman Robert Dulacy. The monastery was inhabited by French monks from the Clunaic Order, and these monks famously wore black robes, which is why they're universally known as the Black Monks.
SPEAKER_02I can't believe you got all those words out.
SPEAKER_01That was a lot of big words. That's a lot of big words. I'm turning into my husband, it seems. The monastery did not stand on Checkerfield, where 30 East Drive is located. Okay. So But they said that's where he was hung. That's where he was hung, is what this one paranormal researcher says.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_01So it's not necessarily where he lived, just where he died. Supposedly. Supposedly. Yeah. Okay. Allegedly. Instead, it was built just northeast of Pontyfrat Castle. Asking the question about distance from the actual monastery to the house is 1.1 miles. Today the buildings are entirely destroyed, but the historic site is still explicitly marked by local landmark, monk hill. Okay? So in 1540, during the reign of King Henry VIII, the monastery was closed down and dissolved. The monks were not executed or hanged. Records show that the last priory was simply sent away with a sizable financial pension.
SPEAKER_02Oh, how very generous.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So as a historical bonus, the Pontifrac also hosted a second medieval monastic monastic monastic. I know, I got I got I got brave. So the second medieval uh monastic site, monistic, monistic. There we go. Pontifrac also hosted a second medieval monastic site, the house of Dominican friars known as the Pontifac Black Friars, founded in 1256. Because Dominican friars also wore black cloaks, the town had two distinct groups of black robed religious figures walking in its streets for centuries. So it makes sense that there is this black monk or this person in robes in this house.
SPEAKER_02Well we did. Now we saw that he was like a shadow, right? Yeah, so they never know. If he wore robes or if he wore a business suit or if he wore overalls.
SPEAKER_01They said he they they could tell he was in robes. Oh, okay. They could see that he was in robes they couldn't see his face.
SPEAKER_02Oh. Okay. So we're lining up.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Being that the monastery was so close to their house, it make it makes sense that there is a potential monk in the home. Why this family specifically was being targeted, I don't know. It again, it's a poltergeist, it could have been from the kids. But I know in my research the family had no idea that monks lived in and around the area.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_01So when everything kind of lined up for them, it was like, oh. Um, but that when the guy came through and was like, well, they were hung from raping this young child, and that's why he's so mad, and that's why he's attacking the the sister now, because of reasons, but it was like that there is no historical evidence of that actually happening.
SPEAKER_00Hmm.
SPEAKER_02But there is historical evidence of the monks, which they uh saw. I I mean, if you describe somebody in robes to me, I would think monk. Monk as well. Immediately. Yeah, yeah. Now, not necessarily a rapist or anything like that, but a monk. And so and they were in that territory.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02Close enough that this could have been where one of them wandered off to do his prayers each day. Yeah, maybe. But why the anger? What did he do to piss the devil off? Right. Or to please the devil.
SPEAKER_01Right. That that's it's just it's so it's so odd to think that um, you know, this family's having these experiences and they all line up with history, but like you said, why why the violence? What's the point of picking up?
SPEAKER_02He said I did nothing but good all my life, now I want to do nothing but bad in my in my death.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Or maybe maybe it's something with the land and the energy, and the monks being fully, you know, there and that energy still existing, and so whatever this polterge guy says, what's the easiest thing that I can take energy from? And the land being holy, potentially.
SPEAKER_02Maybe that was something that he was able to take the energy from because people pray and or what if the monk was separate from the from the activity? What if the activity was the poltergeist and that was Fred, and then the monk had come to visit them to offer them strength?
SPEAKER_01Oh. And they just put the two together.
SPEAKER_02Yes, what if they weren't the same?
SPEAKER_01Oh, that's a good point. Wow. Mmm.
SPEAKER_02That kind of makes sense. It does, because you just don't I mean, a monk in all of his life would not have had those experiences.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02Huh.
SPEAKER_01Well, and like I said, the case is still open. And uh maybe they've gone through I didn't actually look into the case files to see like what questions they've asked or what answers have been had. Um just it just to know that this case is so out of the ordinary and and also being one of the very first well-documented poltergeist cases that um, you know, how much how much have they looked into it? I'm sure that's probably a going theory. I mean who who do you ask?
SPEAKER_02No, that's an anti-original. Okay. Yes. Okay, we've got a question. Yes. So this house, were they the original occupants or were they just the first to experience this? They were the first to experience. So this is not a brand new build?
SPEAKER_01No. Okay. No. I uh I'm not quite sure I the the land in which the house was built on had is fairly recent, but by fairly recent I mean like within the last 20 years. I know there was a family that lived there before that did not have experiences. I do also know that when the Pritchards moved into the house, it didn't it started it with their house and it with their family, but there were people that were neighbors of this family that were also having some sort of experiences. Not to the violence in which they had had, but there was probably there was some stuff that was happening that families couldn't explain it away.
SPEAKER_02So the polterdyce reach extended out past the house.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yep.
SPEAKER_02Hmm.
SPEAKER_01Okay. But then like like the story says, it stopped altogether. Once the kids became adults and whatnot, the the whole thing just So the family stayed there even after the kids grew up and moved out. Yeah. Like I said, the family does not own the house any longer.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01So fast forward to 2026, which is now. What is going on in the house and does it still exist? And is there still activity in the house? So Pat Holden, a Pontyfract native and a film director, took interest in the house when he heard the story. He's also related to Jean Pritchard, the mom, by marriage. Holden was so excited about Cuniff, the that's the paranormal researcher that gave the gallows theory. Holden was so excited about Cuniff, the man who said the monk was hung in the gallows. I should just read my shit and not actually skip forward. And uh and what he'd heard about the haunting, he decided to make a movie. So Pat Holden, director, makes movie. So in 2012, when the lights went out, an indie film received mixed reviews. However, the movie reignited the imagination of the public, which turned to reigniting the haunting. Producer Bill Bungay of the movie found the actual house where the events took place was up for sale so cheaply. It was on the market for years, and he bought it as a marketing stunt to host the film's red carpet premiere right in front of the garden. Worth it. Worth it, yeah. Bungay bought the house for 80,000 pounds in 2012. He bought the house for the equivalent to 127,000 USD. He bought it so he could have his movie premiere in style. Bungay was a self-proclaimed rabid skeptic regarding the uh regarding the paranormal, so even though his phone behaved oddly in the house and there were reports of strange lights and noises, he didn't think much of it. He dismissed the warnings of the neighbors who had seen Fred around again. He shrugged off the psychic who said during the premiere that she could see Fred watching them from his favorite place on the stairs. She could see Fred. She could see Fred watching the movie premiere.
SPEAKER_02Well, that's gonna ruin my whole theory. Because if she could see Fred, did she see a ghost with robes?
SPEAKER_01I don't think she actually specified what he looked like. She just knew that there was something that was not alive in the house watching the movie premiere. So, like you said, is Fred the black monk and not the poltergeist? Right.
SPEAKER_02And was the one watching in any way violent?
SPEAKER_01No, I guess not.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Because right now what Fred's doing is fucking with people's phones and um uh stran like f floating lights around the house and stuff like that. Not not throwing clocks down the stairs, not dragging people up the stairs by their throats.
SPEAKER_02When you say he was fucking with their phones, what was he doing?
SPEAKER_01It just says that his phone would behave oddly in the house.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01I would assume maybe not be able to like make a call. Maybe you try and take a photo, it doesn't work. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02Hmm. Okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So after having unexplained experiences of his own, he has changed his tune and is now more respectful to Fred. He has admitted that now he is too scared, I'm doing air quotes, too scared, uh, to even spend a single night in the house. He only visits during the bright hours of the daytime because of what he has witnessed, because of what he he has witnessed. Recent visitors, neighbors, and ghost hunting teams report a wide array of phenomenon.
SPEAKER_02But what he's witnessed has been so tame. He's he's going to be a wuss when that family stayed there with their children. Yeah. All those years. And he's gonna wuss out over tame stuff. Yeah. I don't know, how embarrassing.
SPEAKER_01Well, I mean, then yeah, I don't think you're a very rabid skeptic if that's the case. Right. I mean, I'm not gonna poo-poo those guys.
SPEAKER_02And if my phone doesn't make phone calls, I'm thinking, well, thick walls or or overcast or whatever. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Something else.
SPEAKER_02I mean, if I'm a rabid skeptic. Right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, maybe he has he's he is not telling the whole story of everything that he's seen to not let on, because like I said, he still um he still owns the house.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Well, he could sell tours and make money off that. Well.
SPEAKER_01Oh That's exactly what he's doing. All right. Yeah. So the property has not been legally lived in since 2001. Bungay intentionally maintains the house with its original dreary 1970s interior wallpaper and decor to preserve the atmospheric dread of the era. Bungay has opened the house to paranormal investigators and tourists, though he actively discourages overnight stays, warning that this is no ordinary tourist attraction. Guests must sign waivers before entering, and experienced Wakefield warns, that is, I think a publication, there is no traditional insurance covering the accommodation you'd be sharing with the black monk. The activity is still very much prominent in the home, and you can go online and see and read uh about the occurrences at 30eastdrive.com. Shameless plug. You can rent the home for three to four hundred pounds, which is four hundred and five to five hundred and forty dollars a night, or for free if you are a theoretical physicist.
SPEAKER_02Okay. You have to bring your degree? I I guess. That's where you're trying to prove theories, right? Sure. Look at us showing off on that wonderful high school educations.
SPEAKER_01I went to higher school in Texas, so it's not looking good for me. So uh that's the story of the black monk of Pontifrac. And you said this happened in the 70s. This happened in the this happened to the family in the 70s. Okay. Yeah. But the like I said, the guy still owns the house and he allows people to come and do their investigations if they want.
SPEAKER_02Because that is about when all the movie tropes came about, so yeah, they'd would you stay not once somebody touched my throat. Okay.
SPEAKER_01But what if that's not happening any longer? What if it's just standard old haunting, no poltergeist activity?
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01Because I I didn't actually like go into the website and read what people were saying. I know that just fro from what I can recall in my in my research that it was, you know, lights and stuff like that, but not anything weird like puddles on the ground or white gloves showing up to conduct you singing a Christian hymn.
SPEAKER_02So to all ghosts out there, I am okay with you playing with my lights. Okay. I'm okay with you maybe opening apps on my phone, maybe, maybe. Yeah. I mean, if you get a little excessive, I mean my battery life matters to me.
SPEAKER_01What if they buy something? Run up your Amazon.
SPEAKER_02Um cancel, cancel, return, return. Okay. I'm not okay with them opening the doors. Really? No. You're okay with lights, but not doors? I don't want strangers coming in my house. I don't want to know that they unlocked my door. I see. So I'm not okay with them messing with the doors. Okay. Okay. Um, I'm really not cool with them throwing ice puddles onto the ground because I have to clean that shit up.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_02I'm just not I'm not big on that. Okay. Yeah, so there's that. Um, absolutely no touching of my throat.
SPEAKER_01Sure.
SPEAKER_02That's just off limits. At that point, one of us has to go.
SPEAKER_01Would you would you would you try to do anything to like resolve the issue? Would you call in somebody to come and like remove whatever the problem is, or would you just say fuck it and get out?
SPEAKER_02My curiosity would make me want to call somebody in because I need I need to know, first of all, that I'm not crazy. And second of all, I'm just a little bit nosy. I mean, when we talk about our neighbor as we often do, I have I I I just there's something in my blood that just gets pumping a little faster because I'm like, this is new information. Yeah, you're you want to know. I want new information. I want something I never even imagined was gonna happen. So I want to know. I want to know what's what they what they think is happening. Okay. And you want the good gossip. Yeah, I want the good gossip. And if they're able to tame it, great. Then I get to keep my space and not have to reduce the I would not reduce the cell of my house though. I would not. I would I would do the tours.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I would so I would lean into it is what I would do.
SPEAKER_01Kind of like what this guy's doing. Just saying, hey, I've I mean, I'm sure he's made his money ten times over. Yeah. With with uh if it's five four hundred and five to five hundred and forty dollars a night.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean that oof.
SPEAKER_02I mean that was such a peasley amount. 126,000, you said? Something like that? 127,000. 127,000, yeah.
SPEAKER_01American dollars, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. A 30-year loan. He's already had it paid off. Really, I don't know what that would break it out into a month, but still.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I don't know. I um growing up at my at my parents' house, um, my mom always had some strange occurrences happen. And it was sort of the same kind of thing. It wasn't aggressive, but there would be times where like um if you left a cabinet door open, something would close it.
SPEAKER_02See, that's my kind of ghost. Thank you. Clean up after me.
SPEAKER_01But my my mom tells me that my grandmother was very like, if you're gonna open the door, gotta close it behind you. So he she always said that it was my grandmother, the one that was doing it. I know that my dad, before he passed away, had experiences in that home. There are moments where um I remember like I I'm a I'm a night owl by nature, and so during the summertime I would stay up two, three, four, five o'clock in the morning. The way my parents' house is laid out is one half of the house is dining room, living room, kitchen, and then the other half is hallway, and then all three bedrooms. So my bedroom, when I first um, before I got my the other big bedroom, it was in the middle of both my brother and my mom. How old were you? Probably like seven or eight. Seven or eight.
SPEAKER_02Oh, so too young to really activate a polterdice.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, I no, no, I we but says we never had poltergeist activity when I was a teenager. I just was angsty all the time.
SPEAKER_02So here's my definition of a ghost versus a polterdice. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_02Is a ghost can watch you and see you and you know, interact visually, maybe, maybe even audibly, but not physically. Whereas a polterice has gained the ability to maneuver it's manipulate the physical world.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yes. So if it's able to close the cabinets, to me that's a poltergeist. That's a poltergeist. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I remember just like when I was little and like trying to get into my bedroom after staying up all night, I always felt there was something in the hallway watching me. And I'd get into my bedroom and I would throw a blanket over my head, and then in my little fast-spinning brain thought that if I uncover my face from this blanket, there's gonna be something peering down at me because that's what it felt like. That was never ever the case, and I would eventually just fall asleep because I was exhausted, but I just I I don't know. I think maybe every house might come with a little bit of a I remember having that same fear as a child. Really?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Is it just a child thing? But there was no there was no activity in my house. If I had a polter dice, it was my stepfather. Uh yes. That was and he was living. Oh not not a dead stepfather.
SPEAKER_01So he was the one that was the one that was causing all the ruckus.
SPEAKER_02If there was a hole in the wall, it's because he put it there.
unknownOh.
SPEAKER_02So no polter dice. No poltergeist. Not at this point. And no ghost that I had ever witnessed.
SPEAKER_00Hmm.
SPEAKER_02I mean, as a child, I had witnessed a ghost in somebody else's house. Oh. Or maybe I just m witnessed a prank. Yeah. It could have been either one. Oh man. It could have been teenagers playing with us. But I was about seven or eight and they were telling us, watch that rocking chair. And the rocking chair would start rocking.
SPEAKER_01Oh man.
SPEAKER_02And just weird little things were happening in that house.
SPEAKER_01Did you get out then or did you stay and stay at your friend's house?
SPEAKER_02I didn't get out. I didn't start running for the door until they all started going, Oh my god, it's coming, it's coming! Oh and then they they started running, and so of course I ran with them. Yeah. So Okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I think kids are just also up there. Because we would always play like Bloody Mary. I don't know if you ever did that when you were a child in the bathroom.
SPEAKER_02No.
SPEAKER_01No. You it's it's one of those like stupid games that you would play out of sleepover.
SPEAKER_02I think I've heard of this. You're supposed to say your name three times.
SPEAKER_01Say your name three times with the bathroom light off, and then you turn the light on and she's supposed to be behind you in the mirror.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So of course, you know, I would never do it because I was always a chicken shit. Um, but the friends that I ha that I would go when I would get invited to slumber parties, um, they would go and do it and they would scream, holy hell, but I don't know what they saw.
SPEAKER_02I never asked because I just But she doesn't follow you around in life or anything, right? So it's just a matter of seeing her first split second. She might. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01If you're calling upon these things.
SPEAKER_02Well, I'm just I'm just curious because you know, if if all I'm gonna do is see her behind me for a second, I'm like, I can do that. That's fun.
SPEAKER_01You can figure that out.
SPEAKER_02I can do that.
SPEAKER_01You can you can stick with that.
SPEAKER_02Okay. I just want to know she's not gonna be following me through life. She might. She might. I don't know. I don't know. She's a busy girl. People are calling all over the place.
SPEAKER_01Well now we have cell phones. I just text her. Hey Mary, what are you doing? You bloody? Uh so yeah. That's uh that was the black monk of Pontyfrac. The most recorded polterdy. Or the first, yeah, the the first one. I'm sure there's probably other I know that they're like the ghost. I mean Amity Amneville. Amiville. Amneville, yeah. That was it's funny that you say that because this happened, like I said, in the 1970s, um, and then the Amdeville horror thing happened. Pretty much like right after. Same same decade. But that was what they likened the story too, is it's like this was the Amityville of England. With the experiences that we were having and whatnot. That whole story with the Amityville is crazy. Alright, well, that's it for my story. Well, that was pretty good. I, like always, will post the ingredients to this. I I we are drinking it in a rocks glass, but I think you can drink it in a um what are those glasses called? That have the wide they're like these with tiny tiny stamps. Uh martini glass. Martini glasses. So, without anything further, thanks.
SPEAKER_02Trying to imagine this in a martini glass. That would change everything.
SPEAKER_01Really? No. Oh, damn. So why why would we want to put it in a martini glass? To make it look fancy.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01Fancy people. So all right. Well, thanks y'all for listening. Uh, this is mixed spirits and hearing a ghost on the other side of the wall. I think it was Joey. Kill Joey. I'm sorry. It's my other nickname. We'll see you in uh in a little while. We'll aim for next week. Aim for next week. We always aim. We aim. We aim. We have a very crooked arrow. So without further ado, I think we should always drink. Oh, there we go. Yeah, drink responsibly. And haunt. Existentially. Yes. Teamwork. Teamwork. Woo! Bye.