The Black Monk of Pontefract: Difference between revisions
Content deleted Content added
LuckyLouie (talk | contribs) →Popular culture: beter ref |
Undid revision 1264050583 by Dreadnought1906 (talk)RV: WP:PROFRINGE coatrack. |
||
| (13 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
#REDIRECT [[When the Lights Went Out#Background]] |
|||
{{refimprove|date=September 2012}} |
|||
'''The Black Monk of Pontefract''' (also referred to as '''The Pontefract Poltergeist''') is an alleged [[poltergeist]] haunting that occurred in the late 1960s and early 1970s in the home of Joe and Jean Pritchard on 30 East Drive Chequerfield Estate in [[Pontefract]]. |
|||
== Claims == |
|||
Disturbances allegedly began after the Pritchard family moved into their home in the town of Pontefract. Sarah Scholes said she felt a cold gust of wind. Phillip Scholes says he saw white powder falling from mid-air in the living room floor. According to paranormal book author Colin Wilson, puddles of water began appearing on the kitchen floor and a plumber could not offer an explanation. Wilson writes that Mrs. Scholes and her son Phillip left the home to sleep at a neighbour's out of fear when a heavy chest of drawers reportedly began swaying. According to Wilson, the disturbances stopped for two years, but began again. The family claimed to hear loud crashing sounds and see objects moving or dematerializing. |
|||
Wilson writes that Pritchard's daughter Diane was often thrown from her bed and once dragged up the stairs by "an invisible hand that left lacerations on her neck." There were also claims that after holy water was sprinkled throughout the home, the poltergeist "responded" by painting upside-down crosses on the living room walls and doors and destroying crucifixes. Joe and Jean Pritchard claimed that a black-cloaked figure with a cowl over its head appeared over their bed.<ref name=Poltergeist!>{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=Colin|title=Poltergeist! A study in destructive haunting|year=1981|publisher=New English Library|location=London|isbn=0450054527}}</ref> |
|||
== Paranormal investigators == |
|||
[[Paranormal investigator]] Tom Cuniff visited the Pritchard home after the alleged disturbances ceased and speculated that the [[ghost]] of a Cluniac monk who lived during [[Henry VIII]]'s reign and was hanged for the rape and murder of a young girl had haunted the Pritchards.<ref name="Poltergeists Attack!">{{cite web|last=Proud|first=Louis|title=Poltergeists Attack!|url=http://www.fatemag.com/subjects/ghosts/poltergeists-attack/|publisher=Fate Magazine|accessdate=31 July 2012}}</ref> |
|||
Paranormal book author Colin Wilson proposed that poltergeists find their energy in unhappy households and that tensions between Phillip and Mr. Pritchard made the home susceptible. The area surrounding the Chequerfield Estate, according to Wilson, favoured "manifestations" because they retained "particular spiritual force" from their religious histories. |
|||
== Popular culture == |
|||
*The 2012 film ''[[When the Lights Went Out]]'' was reportedly fashioned after the story of the Black Monk of Pontefract.<ref name=BBC1>{{cite web|last1=Youngs|first1=Ian|title=When the Lights Went Out revives 1970s ghost story|url=http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-19541877|website=BBC News|publisher=BBC|accessdate=2 December 2014}}</ref> |
|||
== References == |
|||
{{Reflist}} |
|||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Monk of Pontefract}} |
|||
[[Category:English ghosts]] |
|||
[[Category:Parapsychology]] |
|||
[[Category:Paranormal terminology]] |
|||
[[Category:Psychokinesis]] |
|||
[[Category:Pontefract]] |
|||
Latest revision as of 13:26, 20 December 2024
Redirect to: