The Busby's stoop chair or the Dead Man's Chair is an oak chair that was supposedly cursed by the murderer Thomas Busby before his execution by

hanging Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...

in 1702 in

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, in the United Kingdom. The chair is said to have remained in use for centuries at the Busby Stoop inn, near

Thirsk Thirsk is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England; it is known for its racecourse and depiction as local author James Herriot's fictional Darrowby. History Archeological finds indicate there was a settlement in Thirsk aro ...

. Due to the many deaths later attributed to people sitting in the chair, the landlord donated it to Thirsk Museum in 1978. A furniture historian examined the chair and found it to have machine-turned spindles, whereas 18th-century chairs were made using a

pole lathe A pole lathe, also known as a springpole lathe, is a wood-turning lathe that uses the resilience of a long pole as a return spring for a treadle. Pressing the treadle pulls on a cord that is wrapped around the piece of wood or billet being turned. ...

. He dated the chair to 1840, 138 years after Busby's execution.

Background

Thomas Busby was arrested, tried and condemned to death after he murdered his father-in-law Daniel Auty (or Autie) in 1702. Auty and Busby were running a coin counterfeiting business (as well as other criminal enterprises) and they argued about the business which ended with Busby killing Auty. One variation of the story has Busby cursing the chair whilst on his way to his execution, whereas another says that he was drunk in the chair when he was arrested and cursed it then. Busby was gibbeted at

Sandhutton Sandhutton is a small village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It lies about west of Thirsk on the A167. It has been referred to as Hutton, Hutton (Sand), and Sand Hutton. The name derives from Old English which translates as ...

crossroads, beside an inn, which later had its name changed to the ''Busby Stoop Inn''. The site of the execution, opposite the pub on the A61 and A167 crossroads (now a roundabout), was said to be haunted by Busby's ghost.

Deaths

Locals claimed that during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

airmen from the nearby base at Skipton-on-Swale went to the pub and those who sat in the chair never returned from bombing missions over mainland

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. In the 1970s some fatal accidents were linked with the chair. In 1978 the chair was ultimately hung from the ceiling of

Museum to prevent occupancy, even by maintenance.

Cultural references

In the Japanese

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or ...

'' Hetalia: Axis Powers'', "Busby's Chair" is depicted as an artefact which kills anyone who sits in it, and which causes them to be "dragged straight down to hell". Busby's chair was mentioned in an episode of the television programme ''

Unsolved Mysteries ''Unsolved Mysteries'' is an American mystery documentary television series, created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. Documenting cold cases and paranormal phenomena, it began as a series of seven specials, presented by Raymond Burr, Kar ...

'', and a similar story about a cursed chair was included in an episode of '' Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction''.

References

Sources

* {{coord, 54.233, -1.344, display=title Curses Chairs History of North Yorkshire Individual chairs English furniture