A local man, Wade Radford, has discovered the more than chilling legend behind a former pub in the village, the Busby Stoop, according to The Metro. The story goes that a convicted murderer by the name of Thomas Busby cursed a chair in the early part of the 18th century, which doomed the many people who sat in it subsequently.
It is purported that Busby had been a criminal involved in the business of coin forgery and is said to have murdered his father-in-law in the heat of an argument. He is said to have, while being taken from the inn to be executed and subsequently hanged, placed a curse on anyone who dares sit in his chair. After his execution and subsequent hanging, the pub took on his name and a reputation that sent chills down people's spines.
The chair was removed to Thirsk Museum after rumours of people who sat in it coming to some sort of misfortune. It is now securely attached to the wall. Intrigued by the story, Wade Radford, a then 17-year-old paranormal investigator, examined the Busby Stoop in 2008 and claimed to have captured audio evidence of Thomas Busby's ghost.
According to The Metro, Wade, now 32, moved to the north east earlier this year and suddenly realised his new home is only 40 minutes up the road from Thirsk.
Driven by nostalgia for his ghost-hunting teenage years, he went back to the village but realised when he arrived that the former Busby Stoop Inn had been converted into an Indian restaurant.
He said, "It wasn't your typical pub; there was a sign hanging outside with the cursed chair and a noose hanging outside, but that's all gone. I thought, I have all this stuff from nearly 20 years ago; it's such a great story, and so many cool things happened while I was there, I was compelled to have a trip down memory lane."
"The legend of how the chair came to be is such a fascinating tale and a real part of the Yorkshire legacy. My feeling of disappointment over how it looks now was so strong and unexpected, I felt compelled to do something about it. I got engulfed in writing the book about the history and what we found."
He aims to keep the legend of the locals alive by detailing all the mysterious events connected with the Busby Stoop.
