Pod Insights So Supernatural HAUNTED: The Black Monk of Pontefract About this episode In August of 1966, the Pritchard family began to experience bizarre phenomena in their West Yorkshire, England home. Unexplained pools of water, green foam oozing from taps, and violent shoves were just a few of the things the family suffered. And when they discovered the source of the haunting was once a man of God, things got a lot more complicated…
Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Speaker 00 The real cost of a break-in isn't your valuables. It's the feeling that your home stopped being safe. SimpliSafe keeps danger away from your family with three layers of protection. One, smart AI cameras and live US-based agents help stop intruders before they break in. Two, we sound the alarm at points of entry. Three, our agents request emergency response. Plans starting around $1 a day. Right now, get 60% off your new system with professional monitoring at simplisafe.com/truecrime. Outdoor deterrence plans start at $49.99 a month. Visit simplisafe.com/licenses for alarm license information.
0:32 Yvette Gentile? We've covered a lot of hauntings on this show. Spirits lingering around bars. Bobby Mackey's music world, right, Rasha? We talked about that. Demonic possessions at prisons. Clarita Villanueva. Poltergeist activity at a family's beloved home in San Pedro. And there's one commonality we see in a lot of these cases. When it comes to dealing with unknown forces, some people turn to their faith for answers. It's that trust in a higher power that gets through the moments we simply just can't control ourselves.
1:14 Yvette Gentile? Which is why many people go to priests or other religious leaders for answers in these situations. And I gotta say, that makes total sense to me, because I am a person who is deeply rooted in my faith. If you believe religious leaders really do have a connection to the spiritual realm, or even if you don't, desperate times call for desperate measures, right? But let me just ask you this. What happens when the spirit you're trying to exercise was once a man of faith himself?
1:54 Rasha Pecoraro? Well, that's what the Pritchard family was dealing with in England back in 1966. Following some pretty intense paranormal activity, they began seeing a figure lurking in their home. One they could only describe as a monk in a black hood. The events were so unsettling, it was deemed one of the most haunted houses in Britain. And the history behind the monk who was possessing it seemed to be equally as disturbing. I'm Rasha Pecoraro.
2:28 Yvette Gentile? And I'm Yvette Gentile. This is So Supernatural.
3:05 Yvette Gentile? Today's story takes us to England's West Yorkshire County. In the northern part of the country, there's a little town there called Pontefract. And for hundreds of years, this community was known for the Catholic monastery that stood there. It was called the Pontefract Priory, and it was built in or around 1090 CE. Though it's hard to nail down an exact date when you're going that far back in history. And for the next five centuries, the priory was very active. Monks from all over the world came there to work, live, and study. And the building was expanded over the years to support the growing number of residents.
3:51 Yvette Gentile? But that came to a complete stop in the 1530s. That's when King Henry VIII severed ties with Rome and announced that Catholic churches and monasteries weren't allowed to operate in England anymore.
4:07 Yvette Gentile? In 1534, Henry appointed himself head of the Church of England, and two years after that, began the actual dissolution of the monasteries. So in 1540, the priory shut its doors for good. But, the town of Pontefract still remained. And by that point, people had been living and working there for hundreds of years, including noble families who owned centuries-old castles in town. They weren't just going to move just because the church closed. Cut to a few centuries later, after World War II,
4:45 Yvette Gentile? there was a big push to build more low-income housing throughout the UK, including in Pontefract. So in the 1950s, a council house went up at 30 East Drive. And that's a British term for government-subsidized housing, or, like I just said, low-income housing.
5:06 Rasha Pecoraro? Council houses were a game changer for families like the Pritchards. In 1966, they were in the market for a new home, but could really use the financial assistance from the government. The parents were Jean and Jo Pritchard. And they had two children, 15-year-old Philip and 12-year-old Diane. In August of that year, they bought the vacant council house at 30 East Drive and settled right in. A few days or weeks later that month, the family takes a vacation. Well, most of them do. 15-year-old Philip is at the age where he feels too old to go on family trips. So he wants to stay home and, you know, hang out with his friends, watch TV, and have some time to himself.
5:51 Rasha Pecoraro? His parents agree to let him stay home, but they say he needs a chaperone since they'll be gone for an entire week. So Jean asks her mother, Philip's grandmother Sarah, to stay with him. But as soon as Sarah and Philip are alone together, they notice something's off. It's really, really cold inside the house. Plus, the doors keep shaking and the windows are rattling, almost like it's super windy outside, except it's not.
6:23 Yvette Gentile? Sarah and Philip don't think much of it at first, but it only gets weirder from there. So one morning, either Sarah or Philip goes to turn the sink on, but instead of clean, clear water coming out, a steady stream of green foam oozes out of the tap. And around the same time, they also notice puddles of water on the kitchen floor. It must mean something is leaking, but neither of them can figure out where the water's coming from. And after searching the kitchen floor, checking the drains and everywhere inside the cabinet under the sink, they decide to call the local water department to take a look. A representative comes over that same day,
7:07 Yvette Gentile? but they also couldn't find anything wrong. And later that evening, around bedtime, there's another strange event. As soon as Sarah lays her head down on the pillow, she hears a crash in the next room over. She gets up and she sees Philip in the hallway, who's heard it too. So they head in the direction of the noise. And about halfway down the staircase, they see a broken pot. And the plant that was in it looks like it's been thrown down the stairs, even though nobody else is in the house. And then suddenly, they hear a cabinet of dishes rattling loudly in the kitchen, almost like there's an earthquake,
7:50 Yvette Gentile? except nothing else is shaking in the house. So Raja, what do you think they're gonna do?
7:57 Rasha Pecoraro? I mean, I know what I would do. I would get the H-E-L-L out of there.
8:05 Yvette Gentile? Right, same. But most people just can't up and leave. So they figure there's gotta be some reasonable explanation for all of this. So they just shake it off.
8:17 Rasha Pecoraro? I couldn't shake it off.
8:18 Yvette Gentile? But eventually, Sarah tells Philip to go to bed. She's gonna stay up for a while and call her other daughter, Philip's Auntie Marie, who lives across the street, to come over. Later that night, Sarah peeks into Philip's room to check on him. And in the darkness, she sees movement, but it's not Philip. Sarah turns the light on, and she and Philip both suddenly see the wardrobe scooting across the floor on its own. They get out of there immediately. Marie didn't see it happen, but she can tell by the look on their faces that they aren't messing around. And that's when they've had enough.
9:01 Yvette Gentile? They can't spend another minute in this place tonight. So all three of them go over to Marie's. Once they get there, they called the police to report what happened. Since Philip and Sarah are too scared to go back, Marie and her husband go to the house instead. They unlock the doors and let the investigators in at around midnight. But the officers don't see anything out of the ordinary and no signs that anyone broke in. The police think it's all just in their heads. Well, once the sun is up, Sarah and Philip are ready to go back to the house. And they're fully prepared for things to get weird again. Except, everything is calm and totally normal.
9:46 Yvette Gentile? Another quiet night passes, and finally, the rest of the family comes home, you know, from their vacation. And Philip and Sarah tell them everything. Jean and Joe, they're just not buying this story. Even though Sarah and Philip are going into great detail, down to describing these loud knocks they heard. So sarcastically, Joe asks, "What kind of knocks?" And that's when everyone hears three loud bangs coming from the next room over. Well, then, a frigid burst of wind blows through the room, powerful enough to make the windows rattle. And that's when everyone stops in their tracks.
10:31 Yvette Gentile? Their jaws literally drop to the floor.
10:36 Rasha Pecoraro? But that's it for the night. Days turn into weeks, then months, with no strange activity at all. In fact, two full years pass with no more green goo in the sink or inexplicable gusts of wind or moving furniture. Nothing weird at all happens. It's the sort of thing that would almost make you wonder, did all of those strange things even really happen in the summer of 1966? Or was it all a weird dream? The family pretty much tries to forget about it. If anything, it's an interesting story to tell at cocktail parties. But in August of 1968, almost two years to the day
11:21 Rasha Pecoraro? after the strange activity stopped, it comes back. And this time, the ghost reveals itself.
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13:20 Yvette Gentile? In August of 1966, the Pritchard family moved into a new house in Pontefract, England. Almost right away, strange things started happening. But then it suddenly stopped. And two years passed without incident. Until one night in August 1968, their daughter Diane, who's now 15 years old, wakes up to see her bedroom lights are turning off and on. Even though nobody's standing near the switch, and every time the lights change, she hears banging in the other room. This happens again the next night and the night after that. And when Diane complains to her parents,
14:05 Yvette Gentile? of course, they remember this happened before. The inexplicable pounds and gusts of winds. I mean, this is more than just a house settling, you know, creaky floors or a wiring issue. The Pritchard family's only explanation is their house is haunted.
14:25 Rasha Pecoraro? And they need help, so they call a local Anglican priest to come look around. His name is Reverend Davy. He comes over one night at about 7 o'clock. Jean lets him get settled in and serves him some tea and sandwiches. Then she, Joe, and the kids describe everything that's been going on. While they're talking, Reverend Davy notices something: movement on the mantle. He looks up in time to see a candlestick fall to the ground, even though nobody touched it. Then, while he's staring in astonishment, a second candlestick rises from the mantle.
15:05 Rasha Pecoraro? It floats through the air, like somebody invisible is actually carrying it. Then, it travels across the room and drops to the ground right at his feet. It's the sort of thing you just can't explain away. In fact, the whole family gets excited. As Jean points out, this proves they are telling the truth. So, right away Reverend Davy's like, "Yep, this house is definitely haunted." Unfortunately, he isn't allowed to perform an exorcism right then and there. The Anglican Church has a lot of rules, and Reverend Davy needs to go through a very
15:48 Rasha Pecoraro? long bureaucratic process to get approval to do the ritual. Otherwise, he could get into trouble. The reverend warns the family that it could take a long time for all of the higher-ups to sign off on an exorcism. And there's no guarantee that his boss's boss will even agree to do one. It might not be worth jumping through all of those hoops. Instead, he tells the Pritchards to move out and forget all about this house.
16:17 Yvette Gentile? That definitely sounds like good advice to me. But as we've mentioned on this show before, it's not always easy to just pack up and leave without any warning, especially when your finances are tight like the Pritchards. At this point, they don't have anywhere else to go, so they ignore Reverend Davy's advice and just stay put. And unlike the last time, this thing doesn't go away after a few days. Instead, it just seems to be getting worse.
16:52 Rasha Pecoraro? Over time, all of their possessions start moving around or getting broken during the night. The family regularly wakes up in the morning to find that framed photos on the wall are shattered, or the things from their drawers and closets are now all over the floor. One day, a visitor comes to the house and sees the lovely grandmother clock they keep upstairs, complimenting on how nice it is. But that very night, an unseen force pushes that clock down the stairs, and it splinters into a million pieces.
17:29 Yvette Gentile? Can you imagine? I mean, that has to be a huge piece of furniture, right? When you think of to move.
17:36 Rasha Pecoraro? Absolutely. And hard to break, I would think.
17:39 Yvette Gentile? That's right. I mean, so the Pritchards reach out to everyone that they can think of for help. So they have a friend who claims to be a psychic who can talk to ghosts. So of course, they invite her over, and she performs a ceremony to help negotiate with the spirit. But it's almost like the ritual makes things worse. The entity becomes even bolder, picking up objects and destroying them right in front of the family's eyes.
18:07 Rasha Pecoraro? Next, they call a Catholic priest, and it seems like his approval process for an exorcism is a whole lot easier, because he performs one soon after. But again, it's like the ghost just gets stronger and more active after they're done. In fact, it almost seems to be mocking the Pritchards for trying to use religion against it. Because after the priest's visit, something destroys all of the religious objects in their home. The Pritchards have crosses and pictures of Jesus hanging on their walls and bibles on their bookshelves. All of them get torn up or broken.
18:51 Rasha Pecoraro? The spirit even paints upside down crosses on all of their doors. I would be freaking out at this point.
18:59 Yvette Gentile? This is something worth unpacking because it is a big point of contention in the ghost hunting community. Some paranormal investigators, especially practicing Christians, think it's very effective to use religious symbols and rituals. Things like crosses, holy water, constant prayer, and exorcisms to get rid of unwanted spirits. Except, I gotta say, we've covered plenty of hauntings where people pray, they arrange exorcisms, or have priests bless the house, only for nothing to change. Which is why some spiritual investigators think religious imagery has no power whatsoever.
19:44 Yvette Gentile? Others say they can work, but only if you believe God can help you. Because ultimately, it's your faith that protects you. Now, the Pritchard family seems pretty devout, so it doesn't sound like their faith is an issue here. But maybe the spirit doesn't believe in God, so it can't be frightened off with prayers or crosses or exorcisms. Which sounds like a huge problem. Like, how are they going to get rid of this entity?
20:18 Rasha Pecoraro? Yeah, I have no idea. But the spirit tortures the Pritchards for literally years. There's not enough time here to cover everything the ghost does to this family in this home. But I'll give you the highlight reel. At some point, the Pritchards decide to give the ghost a name. They don't actually know what the spirit calls itself, or if it's a man, a woman, or even human at all. But they figure it'll be a lot less scary if it has an ordinary, everyday name. So they decide to call him Fred. I'll also note that as the years go by,
20:59 Rasha Pecoraro? Jean, Joe, Philip, and Diane start catching brief glimpses of something they can't identify. They'll be doing chores or relaxing just to spot movement out of the corner of their eye, or they'll see a shadow vanish as soon as they turn to get a better look. But the more this happens, the more solid the thing becomes, until eventually, they can actually see it more clearly. One night, Joe and Jean wake up in the middle of the night to see the figure of a man. He's standing at the foot of their bed, just staring at them. Or at least, they think he's staring.
21:41 Rasha Pecoraro? They can't make out his face because he's wearing a robe with a hood over his head. And not just any robe, but the robe of a monk. Which is so shocking, given this thing doesn't seem to believe in or even be threatened by God or religion.
22:02 Yvette Gentile? Well, Jean and Joe are chatting with their next-door neighbor one afternoon, a woman named May Mountain. And May tells them an eerie story that helps them start to piece a lot of things together. She says, "A few days ago, she was working in the kitchen at her home when she got the feeling someone was watching her, so she turned around. And there was a strange man standing behind her. He had on a black robe like a monk, with the hood pulled up so she couldn't see his face." In other words, she saw the exact same figure as Joe and Jean. Given the way he's dressed, the Pritchards start using a nickname for Fred: "The Black Monk of Pontefract."
22:47 Yvette Gentile? Except, he doesn't act like a gentle, holy man. If anything, he's becoming more violent as time goes on.
22:56 Yvette Gentile? For example, when a family member goes up or down the stairs, they feel a pair of hands pushing them. And whenever they have guessed over, some unseen entity creates tiny, round burn marks in the visitor's skin, almost like it's pressing an invisible cigarette against their bodies. Could you imagine going to somebody's house?
23:21 Rasha Pecoraro? And leaving with burns on your skin?
23:23 Yvette Gentile? Leaving with burn marks?
23:25 Rasha Pecoraro? Yeah, no.
23:26 Yvette Gentile? Again, that's like, that reminds me of Clarita Villanueva in prison, where she was getting those burn marks on her body.
23:32 Rasha Pecoraro? Yeah, it was insane. Well, these attacks end up coming to a head on one horrible night. Diane's getting a cup of coffee in the kitchen when she feels a tug against her scalp, almost like someone's pulling her hair. Before she has a chance to react, the invisible figure yanks on her hard enough to make her lose her balance. The next thing she knows, she's being dragged up the stairs by her hair. Philip and Jean witnessed this happen. They can't see the monk, but they can tell Diane's shirt and hair are stretched out like an invisible hand is pulling on them. Right away, they run to help her.
24:17 Rasha Pecoraro? They grab Diane by the legs and try to pull her back down to the ground floor. But the monk will not let go. For a few seconds, Diane feels like she's literally being ripped apart. Then, without warning, the invisible hands release her. Diane stumbles back down the stairs and into Philip and Jean's arms. That's when they see fingerprint-shaped bruises on her neck, as though the monk was trying to choke her. So by this point, the Pritchards feel they've got to do something to get rid of the monk once and for all. But what? Exorcisms and séances haven't worked.
25:01 Rasha Pecoraro? They try everything they can think of. More exorcisms, more prayers. They even try singing Christmas carols and hanging garlic around the home like it's a vampire. Nothing helps. But as time goes on, it's almost like the monk is getting bored with bothering the family. He'll still move stuff around from time to time and be pretty loud about it, but he at least stops physically attacking them and breaking their things. And by the early 1970s, he no longer acts like a threat. Which is great, because all the family wants is to be able to stay in their home, even if it means living peacefully with a spirit from another realm.
25:44 Rasha Pecoraro? But there's one thing that's eating at them. Who is the Black Monk of Pontefract? Who is Fred? Well, to get the answers they need, they'll have to look back into the history of Pontefract and a dark secret that's 500 years old.
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26:38 Rasha Pecoraro? Hi, I'm Ashley Flowers.
26:42 Speaker 04 And I'm Britt. And if you're on the edge of your seat listening to this show, Crime Junkie needs to be your next listen.
26:48 Rasha Pecoraro? Every Monday, I dive into a new true crime case that our reporting team has been on the ground looking into. From lesser-known disappearances to the most chilling cases hitting the headlines, and I'm gonna walk you through it the way I tell my best friend, because, well, that's what I'm doing.
27:03 Speaker 04 Yeah, that's me. And I'm right there with you. With you as we listen together, react to every wild detail, and of course, I ask all the questions. And I'm gonna have the answers because we have case files. We're talking to detectives and family members, and we're gonna stay focused on the facts. So if you're not already listening to Crime Junkie, what are you waiting for? There are over 300 episodes available right now. And you can listen to new episodes of Crime Junkie every Monday, wherever you get your podcasts.
27:37 Yvette Gentile? In the 1960s and early 70s, Jo, Jean, Philip, and Diane Pritchard lived in a house at 30 East Drive in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, in England. During that time, a mysterious entity they called Fred, or the Black Monk of Pontefract, terrorized the family. The spirit also appeared to their neighbors, guests, and various psychics and priests. Fast forward roughly 10 years later to the 1980s, the Pritchards are still living in the same house and presumably still at peace with the monk. And that's when an amateur local historian named Tom Cunliffe comes to Pontefract.
28:22 Yvette Gentile? He's very interested in learning about the priory and the monks who once lived there. But when he questions the locals, nobody wants to talk about old historic monks. They want to discuss the modern-day version, the Black Monk of Pontefract, aka Fred the Ghost. Tom is totally intrigued because he's never heard anything about this. He starts looking for accounts of monks who died violently in or near Pontefract. And he finds one local legend that perfectly fits the rumors. The records are very brief and vague, but here's what we do know.
29:05 Rasha Pecoraro? As we mentioned earlier, sometime during the reign of King Henry VIII, between 1509 and 1540, the Pontefract Priory closed. During that time, a monk was living there, but his name hasn't been recorded, so to keep things simple, we're just going to continue to call him Fred, just like the Pritchards did. Sadly, Fred did not take his clerical vows very seriously. Instead of serving God, loving thy neighbor, and caring for the less fortunate, he was a very bad dude. He also sexually assaulted someone. When the local authorities discovered the crime,
29:48 Rasha Pecoraro? they decided to sentence him to death by hanging. The gallows where he was executed stood right in the same neighborhood where the house at 30 East Drive was later built. Meaning, his soul appeared to be tied to the land where he died.
30:08 Yvette Gentile? And we talk about this all the time, right? All the time. What happens on the land. What happens on the land, on the Ina. So after Tom hears this story, he talks to the Pritchards to learn more about their experience. And he's stunned by how some details from their accounts line up with the legends about the monk. For example, how ironic is it that Fred attacked Diane by trying to strangle her after he died by hanging? It's compelling enough for Tom to get in contact with a paranormal investigator, who comes to Pontefract to look into the house himself. And after the investigator is done digging through the evidence,
30:52 Yvette Gentile? he publishes a book called Poltergeist in 1981. And y'all, don't be fooled by the title. It has nothing to do with the movie Poltergeist that ironically comes out a year later. Instead, the book is all about the haunting and the story of Fred the Monk. And with this publication, the house becomes famous. It earns the nickname we talked about earlier, "The Most Haunted House in Britain."
31:23 Rasha Pecoraro? All across the UK, people hear about the Black Monk of Pontefract and decide to visit the town themselves. Over the next four decades or so, more books come out along with TV specials and magazine articles. 30 East Drive even inspires a feature-length horror film called "When the Lights Went Out", which was released in 2012. It's a work of fiction, not a documentary, but the events in it closely mirror the true story. The director is a guy named Pat Holden, and he's actually Gene Pritchard's nephew, so the movie is very personal to him.
32:07 Rasha Pecoraro? Meanwhile, the producer is a man named Bill Bungie, and despite making this horror film, he doesn't really believe in ghosts. He's one of those guys, y'all.
32:17 Yvette Gentile? A skeptic.
32:18 Rasha Pecoraro? But he thinks, a skeptic. But he thinks, of course, the story is fascinating and will be a big step in his career, so he focuses on promoting the film once it's done.
32:30 Rasha Pecoraro? The movie was set to be released on September 7, 2012, and Bill wanted a big premiere event with a screening and a red carpet. So he researched different venues, and he ended up coming across a listing. The house at 30 East Drive was for sale. By that point, the Pritchards had moved out, a new family had bought it, then put it up for sale almost immediately because of all the strange things that happened to them. Then, the same thing happened to the new buyers, and even the ones after that. Over just 18 months, five separate buyers moved in, experienced the hauntings, and got the heck out of there.
33:15 Rasha Pecoraro? When Bill finds it, the house is sitting vacant because nobody is brave enough to live in it or apparently buy it. In fact, the owners are offering a smokin' deal because they are so eager to get rid of it. They're only asking for 80,000 pounds. Adjusted for inflation, that's about 150,000 US dollars today. But Bill thinks, hold on a minute, how cool would it be to screen my movie in the same haunted house that inspired the script? So he buys the home. He arranges the premiere and everything goes off without a hitch.
33:55 Yvette Gentile? But here's where things get weird in England. During an onsite press event for When the Lights Went Out, a woman shows up and introduces herself as Carol. She says that she lives next door. Then she describes all of the strange things she's experienced at her home. She tells Bill and the rest of the cast and crew that Fred the Monk is still around and very active. She's seen him with her very own eyes. But as we've mentioned, Bill doesn't believe in ghosts, so he dismisses her stories. I just gotta say, bad move, Bill.
34:36 Rasha Pecoraro? You don't know Bill.
34:37 Yvette Gentile? Bad move. Of course, strange things start happening that Bill can't ignore.
34:45 Rasha Pecoraro? Bill hires someone to take care of the property since Bill doesn't actually live there and is too busy to manage it himself. His employee is supposed to visit the house periodically, make sure the lawn is maintained, the door is still locked, nothing is broken or leaking, you know, normal things a caretaker does for a house. But every time this employee comes over, they end up calling Bill to report a new problem. One day, they see a blue light moving in the hallway. It almost looks like a glowing ball of energy, and they can't figure out what created it. Another time, they say the neighbors have been complaining about loud noises coming from the house at night. It sounds like pounding,
35:29 Rasha Pecoraro? and it always happens between the hours of 3 and 4 o'clock in the morning. But nobody knows what's making the sound because the home is supposed to be empty. They even say one time they went into the bedroom that used to belong to Philip and saw the shape of a man under the sheets. When the employee ripped the blankets off the bed, it was empty. Nothing was there.
35:55 Yvette Gentile? Okay, well, Bill's still not buying it. But he's glad so many people do, because this way, he can start a side business, charging paranormal investigators to come visit the house so he can make a little cash on the side. Which is why he lets a film crew come shoot a documentary on the property. And after the filming wraps, Bill and two of his employees drop by to make sure the house is clean, like, nothing was broken, and to lock up. His two staffers focus on clearing out the upstairs while Bill locks every door in the house, except for one. And then he tells the workers to go through that door when they leave. He heads outside to secure an old wrought iron gate on the property
36:39 Yvette Gentile? that's a bit rusty. And it takes a lot of force for Bill to even push it all the way closed and then latch it. In fact, Bill worries it might pop open on its own, even when it's locked. So he grabs a big, heavy cinder block and sets it behind the gate to hold it closed, so no one from the street can get in. Around this time, the workers come out the door and say they're done. So Bill sees them out, then reaches into his pocket for his keys to lock up. Except, they aren't there. He wonders if they fell out of his pocket. So he retraces his steps back to the wrought iron gate. And guess what?
37:23 Yvette Gentile? It's wide open, with the cinder block pushed to the side.
37:30 Rasha Pecoraro? After that, Bill keeps having these strange experiences. For example, at one point in 2016, he goes to the house to work on something. As soon as he walks inside, he sets his briefcase by the door and he sets his hat right on top of it. But later, he walks into the room to see his hat has been moved. Now his hat is on the couch, which definitely wasn't where he left it. Later that same day, he's washing dishes in the kitchen when he gets a sudden impulse to turn around. That's when he sees a wooden domino fly through the air a fraction of an inch from his face. It's almost like someone threw it, but Bill doesn't see anyone.
38:16 Rasha Pecoraro? Soon after, the same exact thing happens, but this time with a marble. Then again with a screw. Luckily, he's never seriously injured, but all of these events are starting to change his mind. Maybe he's not a skeptic and he's becoming a believer after all.
38:37 Yvette Gentile? Yeah, by this point, Bill can't deny it. There's something otherworldly in this house. And he's not the only one to realize this. Bill still regularly rents the home out to tourists, ghost hunters, and film crews. At the end of their visits, they all consistently say the same thing. They weren't alone. They saw and heard things that couldn't be explained away. And yes, they were terrified. Even ghost hunters, people who are used to hauntings, aren't easy to scare. They have fled the home in terror because of what they experienced there.
39:23 Yvette Gentile? I gotta say, y'all, if you're up for the challenge, Bill still owns the house as of this recording. And it's still available for tours and film shoots. So what do you say, Raj?
39:35 Rasha Pecoraro? Hell, no.
39:39 Rasha Pecoraro? Well, it's clear this spirit, Fred, the Black Monk, whatever you want to call him, isn't going anywhere. And whatever he once was, he carries something very dark now. Something wrong and deeply sinister. Maybe, long ago, he was a man of faith. But faith doesn't guarantee goodness. And any light he may have had inside of him, it's gone now. Extinguished. Lost to whatever he has become. But hopefully, one day, he will finally move on to the next realm and find the light
40:22 Rasha Pecoraro? in the darkness he may have been searching for all along. If the Black Monk of Pontefract teaches us anything, it's that sometimes, belief isn't about a higher power at all. Sometimes, it's about believing in ourselves. Trusting our judgment, our intuition, our stories, our truth. Even when others tell us our experiences aren't real. Because on this show, we believe in what we cannot see. Whether it's good or evil, we are capable of facing the unknown, whatever it is.
41:02 Rasha Pecoraro? And the only thing we can rely on to get us through that is our own courage, our own strength, and our own guiding light.
41:26 Yvette Gentile? This is So Supernatural, an AudioChuck original, produced by Crime House. You can connect with us on Instagram at So Supernatural Pod and visit our website at sosupernaturalpodcast.com. Join Rasha and me next Friday for an all-new episode.
41:47 Yvette Gentile? I think Chuck would approve.
41:52 Speaker 05 When the nights grow longer, the shadows start to stir, and that can only mean one thing: Full Body Chills is back. This season, step inside original tales where every doorway leads somewhere darker, every stranger carries a secret, and nothing is ever quite what it seems. Each story takes you somewhere new, but be careful, you never know what might follow you home. So gather round, listen close, and stream Full Body Chills wherever you get your podcasts.
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