Wade Radford has written a book about his paranormal investigation into the chair.
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 metroThe story goes that in the early 18th century, a convicted murderer named Thomas Busby cursed a chair, causing the deaths of many people who subsequently sat on it.
It is alleged that Busby was a criminal involved in the counterfeiting trade and that he murdered his father-in-law in the heat of a row. He is said to have placed a curse on anyone who dared sit in his chair when he was taken from the inn to be executed and subsequently hanged. After his execution and subsequent hanging, the pub gained its name and a reputation that sent shivers down the spine.
The chair was moved to Thirsk Museum after rumours circulated that people sitting on it had suffered accidents. It is now securely mounted to the wall. Intrigued by the story, Wade Radford, a then 17-year-old paranormal investigator, investigated the Busby Stoop in 2008 and claimed to have recorded audio evidence of Thomas Busby's ghost.
According to The subway, Wade, now 32, moved to the North East earlier this year and suddenly realised his new home was just a 40-minute drive from Thirsk.
Driven by nostalgia for his teenage ghost hunting days, he returned to the village, only to find that the former Busby Stoop Inn had been converted into an Indian restaurant.
He said: “It wasn't your average pub; there was a sign outside with the cursed chair and there was a noose hanging outside, but that's all gone. I thought, I've got all this stuff from nearly 20 years ago; it's such a great story, and so many cool things happened when I was there, I felt compelled to take a trip down memory lane.”
“The legend of how the chair came to be is such a fascinating story and a real part of Yorkshire's heritage. My sense of disappointment at how it looks now was so strong and unexpected that I felt compelled to do something about it. I got caught up in writing the book about the history and what we found.”
He wants to keep the legend alive among the locals by describing all the mysterious events surrounding the Busby Stoop.
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