The Black Monk of Pontefract
In an ordinary council house in Yorkshire, a family heard thumps and crashes for years, found pools of water on the floor, and saw a tall figure in a black habit.
What was reported
The case began in 1966 in a house on a modern estate in Pontefract. The family reported puddles appearing on the kitchen floor, a white powder falling, and loud drumming sounds. It quietened, then returned more violently two years later: crockery smashed, furniture moved, and loud bangs and thuds went on at night.
Family members said they saw a hooded figure dressed like a monk. A story grew that the house stood near the site of a gallows where a monk was hanged in Tudor times.
Explanations offered
Investigators couldn't find a cause, and sceptics suggest pranks and imagination within a stressful household. There's no historical evidence for the hanged monk. The case is one of Britain's best-known poltergeist stories and became a film in 2012.
- When
- 1966 and 1968–1969
- Where
- Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England
- Witnesses
- A family, their relatives and neighbours
- Status
- Disputed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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