‘I’d rather a haunted house than a dodgy landlord’: What’s it really like to live with ghosts?

Bill Bungay was a self-proclaimed sceptic when he bought 30 East Drive in Pontefract.

He had produced a film about the house, believed to be one of the most haunted in Britain, and thought it would be a good opportunity for promotional material. The ex-council home had been on the market for four years and was relatively cheap at £80,000 in 2012.

Now, Bungay 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 the poltergeist of a ‘Black Monk’.

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Bungay says he has never stayed in the house because he is “absolutely terrified”.

But it is popular with visitors. A night at 30 East Drive will 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.

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.

It is a history which put locals off buying the house, but should it have done?

More than two thirds of Brits would be willing to put an offer on a haunted house, Barclays Mortgages revealed in 2020, but almost two in five would knock off money from the asking price to compensate for the potential night terrors. The House Buyer Bureau found that sellers of haunted houses may have to reduce their asking price by 17%.

During a housing crisis in which safe, secure and affordable housing is increasingly difficult to find, Brits might be tempted to bag themselves a bargain with a haunted house. 

Would Bungay recommend it? “Well, the people who lived there had a horrid time. Joe Pritchard was broken after he was attacked by the poltergeist. He died from a heart attack in the bathroom. The kids now want nothing to do with it. They’re so traumatised by their experience. And of course, no one believes you. People think you’re mad. 

“Let’s say there’s a cheap house that is haunted. You move in and you are intrigued by these things but prepared to try to work with it, deal with it and understand it, then I think it could be quite interesting. But if you’re frightened by these things, then I definitely wouldn’t recommend it, because I think it will break you.”

But Brits face horrors in our homes even without paranormal activity. Millions have damp and mould. Councils are sending out pest control to hundreds of thousands of homes each year, and 45% of private renters have experienced illegal activity from their landlord, according to Shelter.

“Landlords can be worse than poltergeists. I would rather live in a haunted house than with a dodgy landlord,” Bungay adds.

He often jokes that Fred is his tenant living in the property for free, but he adds: “I really do respect the fact that it is his territory. I’m defensive of his space. If people go there and disrespect Fred or try to exorcise Fred, they will be banned.”

A fascination with haunted houses has been persistent in culture through centuries – ranging from renowned classic gothic literature to the fifth season of Celebrity Help! My House Is Haunted. The series is back on screens now, with the ghost hunters and psychics returning to investigate paranormal activity in British celebrities’ homes.

“I think more people live in haunted houses than they realise,” says Barri Ghai, the show’s paranormal investigator. “We have cases of normal everyday people who are experiencing things that are paranormal in origin, things that cannot be explained rationally.”

Unexplained sounds and disembodied voices, feelings of being watched, electrical disturbances, drops in temperature and unexplained moving objects are signs of paranormal activity, he explains.

Ian Lawman, a psychic on the show, says that when he walks into a property that is haunted, he experiences a chill if it is a “nicer entity” and warmth if it is a “demonic entity”. He hears voices and experiences itchy, tingling sensations. 

Lawman recently purchased a Tudor manor house which he believes is haunted. He claims his daughter has heard screaming. They have seen people walk down the staircase and in the garden. He says that local tradespeople are too frightened to work in the house.

Haunted houses will often sit on the market far longer than other properties, Lawman explains. “It’s almost like that entity doesn’t want the house to sell,” he says. “It wants the homeowners who have got it currently to stay.”

Both Lawman and Ghai believe people are simply “custodians of a house”, looking after it on behalf of previous tenants. Ghai says: “Theoretically, it’s a multi-dimensional universe and what’s happening now is happening in other dimensions. 

“You can never own the land that the house is built on. People say: ‘I bought the land.’ But the land belongs to the earth, the universe and all the laws that govern it. You’re just looking after this part. You’re occupying a space for a period of time and your emotional energy is absorbed in the fabric of that place that you’re in for that time.”

Both would recommend living in a haunted house – unless you feel particularly scared.

“If you feel quite uncomfortable as you’re walking around that house, there’s a reason for that,” Lawman says. “Maybe think about it before you purchase it. But nine times out of 10, the entities in properties are quite nice. It’s just the odd one that is a little bit darker, more sinister, and sometimes they just want to scare you. They see it as their house and they can’t understand why you’re trespassing.”

The new season Celebrity Help! My House Is Haunted is available to watch on Discovery+.

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