Uncovering the Reason People Have Refused to Sit In This Chair For 300 Years

In a museum nestled in the countryside of North Yorkshire, England, a chair hangs ominously from the wall, evoking a sense of dread and foreboding. The chair appears to be a remnant of macabre days gone by.

The Thirsk Museum is located in a remote market town 225 miles north of London. Though it may not be as widely known as a grand institution such as the Science and Natural History museums, its walls carry a trove of artifacts and exhibits that document the town’s history and its inhabitants. 

In a dimly-lit corner of the museum, a wooden chair hangs silently on the wall. It was acquired under strict conditions. The museum made a promise to a local pub landlord that no one would be allowed to sit in it. 

The chair is a seemingly unremarkable piece of oak furniture, but it holds a dark and disturbing history. It is the reason why the chair hangs in a corner, high up on a wall. It not only honors the request made by the landlord who had it donated to the museum, but it is also the museum’s attempt to keep people safe.

A local man named Thomas Busby is inextricably linked with the chair; thus it is called the Busby Stoop Chair. It is also his story that gave the chair a sinister reputation.

The picturesque market town of Thirsk, nestled in the rolling hills of the Yorkshire Dales in the north of England, may seem like a charming destination for tourists visiting the region. The North York Moors, with its heather moorland and popular hiking trails, attract millions of visitors each year. 

The small market town of Thirsk is also known as the birthplace of professional cricketer Thomas Lord. He was born in the town in 1755. Although not highly noted as a player, Lord is immortalized in the sport due to his founding of the famous Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. 

Essentially, the small market town of Thirsk is indeed a charming destination. However, it does have a dark side to its history. At the turn of the 18th century, Thirsk was home to a man named Thomas Busby.

The small village of Kirby Wiske, located near Thirsk, is where much of the story unfolds. It is also where the sinister story started. As the legend goes, a man by the name of Daniel Awety, a known criminal, had relocated to the area from Leeds. 

Daniel Awety liked the place so much he decided to purchase a farm on a hillock as it provided a good view of the surrounding territory. The spot was chosen by Awety because it was completely isolated.

The farm was eventually renamed Danotty Hall. It did not function as a farm at all. Awety made sure he converted it to house his criminal activities. The hall became the base for his practice of forgery.

Though Daniel Awety was a known criminal, it was not well-known that he had a daughter named Elizabeth. She was a very beautiful woman, and Awety was very protective of her. However, Awety could not protect her from the beatings of her heart.

Despite Awety’s disapproval of his daughter Elizabeth’s relationship with Busby, the two eventually got married. Awety had no choice but to accept Busby in the family. As it turns out, Busby and Awety combined their respective businesses and turned it into a lucrative venture.

Though Busby and Awety’s business flourished, their personal relationship was floundering mainly because of Busby’s addiction to alcohol. His volatile temper also worsened. Essentially,  their relationship was constantly strained. 

Rumors say that Busby owned an inn on the outskirts of Sandhutton. Apparently, the inn was not merely a place where Busby conducted his business,it also served as the residence of Busby and his wife.

When Busby returned to the inn one night, he was met with the cold, steely gaze of Awety. The tension between the two men had reached a boiling point, and it was clear that Awety had come to put an end to Busby’s destructive ways.

Many speculate that the final confrontation between Awety and Busby had been brewing for some time. Their volatile relationship was well-known to the locals, and their frequent clashes were the stuff of legends. 

It is believed that Busby had been heavily intoxicated when he returned home on that fateful night. This, coupled with his already volatile state due to his altercation with Awety earlier in the day, made for a dangerous combination. 

According to the legend, as Awety waited for Busby’s return, he had the audacity to take a seat in Busby’s favorite armchair. This small act of disrespect was enough to send Busby into a frenzied uncontrolled fit of violence. 

After being thrown out of the inn, Awety retreated to Danotty Hall. He felt defeated in his attempt to take his daughter away from Busby. But Busby’s anger was far from subsiding. He remained at the inn stewing in his wrath.

When Busby reached Danotty Hall, it is said that he was consumed by a blind rage driven by his hatred for Awety. Eyewitnesses claim that he found Awety and then brutally attacked and murdered him with a hammer Awety used for counterfeiting.

As concerns for Awety’s safety grew, a search was organized to find him. Eventually, the searchers came across Awety’s bludgeoned body hidden deep in the woods. It was immediately clear to the villagers that this was no accident.

The court found Busby guilty of Awety’s murder. It was a heinous crime that carried the death penalty. He was sentenced to public execution by hanging. His body would then be displayed in an iron cage suspended from a gibbet.

Given that this story is based on folklore and not official accounts, there are variations on what might have happened next. However, both versions of the story agree on one thing: Busby’s last wish was to have one last drink at the inn he owned.

Still, one version of the story claims that after Busby had finished his final drink, he stood up and was ready to be escorted to his execution. However, Busby placed a curse on the chair, thus condemning anyone who dared to sit in it to an imminent death. 

An alternate version of the story deviates slightly from the previous accounts. According to this telling, Busby was drunk and shouted the curse while he was being escorted to his execution. Either way, he clearly did not want anyone to enjoy the chair.

Furthermore, the form of execution that Busby was subjected to, known as gibbeting, was considered to be even more terrifying than the hanging itself. The practice of displaying the criminal’s body in a cage was not only a form of punishment but also functioned as a warning to others. 

Busby’s pub was later renamed the Busby Stoop Inn to honor its notorious owner. The inn also featured Busby’s favorite chair. They made sure it remained untouched and was left precisely where it was even after centuries had passed.

Busby’s infamous stoop chair is now known by another name – the Dead Man’s Chair. Apparently, the item has been connected to many sudden deaths. It seemed sitting on it carries more danger than any natural or man-made calamity.

One of the chair’s alleged victims was a chimney sweep. In 1894 this man went to the pub to have a friendly drink with his friends. It was a routine gathering at the end of the work day as the group sat down to enjoy each other’s company.

The body of the chimney sweep was later seen hanging from a post that was located near the area where Busby was also hanged. Initially, many thought that the man had committed suicide. 

Situated a mere mile from the famous Busby’s Stoop Inn was the Skipton-on-Swale aerodrome. During the Second World War, the airfield was fully operational. It also saw a slew of Canadian pilots swarm the pub for drinks and relaxation.

It has been said that those pilots who accepted the challenge to sit in Busby’s chair were not able to return from their mission. Though some believe that such a detail was not at all unusual given the inherent dangers brought by the war, many attribute the deaths to the curse Busby placed on the chair.

As the 1970s dawned, the Busby Stoop Inn was owned by a former skeptic named Tony Earnshaw. The landlord hadn’t been at all bothered by the legend of the cursed chair and its ability to bring misfortune to anyone who sat in it.

A few years prior, Earnshaw had eavesdropped on a conversation between two RAF servicemen who were goading each other into taking a seat on the dreaded chair. After both of the men sat on the chair, they left the pub to back to their airfield. 

Though such situations can be considered coincidences, it is still disturbing. Earnshaw was somehow still doubtful of the supposed magical powers of the Busby chair, but the incidents he would witness in the coming days were about to change his mind.

Earnshaw was finally convinced of the chair’s powers when the cleaner of the pub accidentally landed on the notorious chair after she tripped. Shortly after, the cleaner fell ill and unfortunately passed away.

In 1978, Earnshaw finally decided to donate the creepy chair to the Thirsk Museum. Since then, it has been on display and away from people who might intentionally or unintentionally sit in it. 

We may never definitively know if the chair was indeed cursed or if the reported deaths were mere coincidences. For example, World War II pilots had a very high risk of dying in service, so the incidence of the two airmen who died may have been coincidental.