The legend of a 17th-century 'cursed' chair in a UK pub that killed people who sat on it

The Busby Stoop Chair, cursed by Thomas Busby in 1702. (Image credit: thirskmuseum.org)

A small inn in the village of Thirsk in Yorkshire, UK, has earned its reputation as a haunted landmark due to a supposedly cursed chair associated with a 17th-century murderer. The ghost of Thomas Busby, executed in 1702, is believed to haunt the site, lending an eerie aura to the inn, that came to be known as the "Busby Stoop."

Though the inn has since been transformed into an Indian restaurant, and the chair he supposedly “haunted” taken away to a museum, the chilling legend continues to captivate visitors. Metro.co.uk recently explored this centuries-old story.

Thomas Busby was believed to have been entangled in a coin forgery scheme with his father-in-law, Daniel. The partnership soured, and in a fit of rage, Busby bludgeoned Daniel to death. Arrested at the very inn that would later bear his name, Busby was sentenced to death.

As he was dragged away, he issued a dire warning to the patrons: anyone who dared to sit in his chair would die. This ominous curse would fuel the hysteria that surrounded the Busby Stoop for centuries.

Over the years, tales of misfortune befalling those who sat in Busby’s chair grew. After many people allegedly died from the chair's "curse",  it was donated to the Thirsk Museum, with the strict condition that it be nailed to the wall, ensuring no one would try to sit on it again.

Fast forward to 2008, when a then 17-year-old ghost hunter named Wade Radford embarked on an investigation of the Busby Stoop. Armed with basic equipment—a few handheld camcorders from Argos—Wade, along with friends and a medium, sought to uncover the truth behind the ghostly legends. “It wasn’t your typical pub,” Wade told Metro.uk. “There was a sign hanging outside with the cursed chair and a noose, but that’s all gone now.”

During their investigation, Wade claims to have captured the voice of Thomas Busby himself—a chilling encounter that has stayed with him ever since. “We were doing automatic writing with the medium when one of the girls I was with screamed,” Wade remembers. “I listened back to the tape and heard a long drawn out ‘I’—it was eerie.”

Wade recently rediscovered the Busby Stoop has been converted into an Indian restaurant. To preserve this piece of local history, Wade then chronicled his ghost-hunting adventures in a self-published book. He is working on a second edition after the success of the first.

“I’ve been trying to restore the old videos, and I found an old sketch the clairvoyant did of Thomas Busby,” Wade shares. The discovery of the sketch, alongside newfound information from locals, including the grandson of a former pub landlord, has deepened his connection to the legend.

While skeptics may question the authenticity of his encounters, Wade remains unfazed. “It’s good to be skeptical,” he acknowledges. “But the great thing about the paranormal is it always gets people asking questions. When people watch the clip I restored of Thomas’s voice, they might say I edited it, but I didn’t.”