There’s an old wooden chair hanging high on a wall inside a small museum in North Yorkshire.
At first glance, there’s nothing particularly frightening about it.
It’s plain. Wooden. Worn with age.
The kind of chair you might expect to find beside a fireplace in an old English pub.
Except this one isn’t sitting on the floor.
It’s hanging safely out of reach.
Not because it’s too valuable to touch.
Not because it’s too fragile to hold someone’s weight.
It’s there because, according to legend, people who sit in Busby’s Stoop Chair die.
And after centuries of stories involving murder, wartime deaths, fatal accidents, and one condemned man’s final curse, apparently no one is willing to take the chance anymore.
So the chair stays exactly where it is.
High above the floor.
Where nobody can accidentally sit down.
The Legend of Busby’s Stoop Chair
The story begins in North Yorkshire, England, more than three hundred years ago.
Thomas Busby was not the sort of man you’d want to get on the wrong side of.
He was known as a heavy drinker and was involved in criminal activity, including counterfeiting coins. His father-in-law, Daniel Auty, was involved in the operation as well.
The two men didn’t always get along.
In 1702, whatever tension existed between them finally exploded.
Busby murdered Auty.
He was arrested, tried, and sentenced to death.
After his execution, Busby’s body was displayed in chains at a crossroads near an inn that would eventually become known as the Busby Stoop Inn. The name supposedly came from the post—or stoop—where his remains were displayed.
But according to legend, Busby left something behind.
A curse.
And it was attached to his favorite chair.
The Curse of Thomas Busby
There are different versions of exactly when Busby cursed the chair.
One says he was allowed a final drink at the inn before being taken to his execution.
He sat in his favorite chair one last time.
Then, before leaving, he supposedly warned that death would come to anyone who dared sit in his chair.
Another version says Busby placed the curse on the chair when he was arrested.
Either way, the warning remained long after Busby was gone.
And so did the chair.
For generations, it reportedly remained at the inn where customers could see it—and, if they were brave enough, sit in it.
At first, perhaps it was nothing more than a good story told over a pint.
A murderer.
A hanging.
A final curse.
Then people supposedly began dying.
And suddenly, sitting in Thomas Busby’s chair didn’t seem quite so funny.
The Dead Man’s Chair
Over time, Busby’s Stoop Chair acquired another name.
The Dead Man’s Chair.
Stories began circulating about people who had ignored the warning and sat down anyway.
Some supposedly died shortly afterward.
Others were killed in strange or sudden accidents.
Exactly how many deaths have been blamed on the chair depends on who’s telling the story, but its reputation grew dark enough that locals supposedly learned not to tempt it.
The chair didn’t need to move.
It didn’t need to shake.
Nobody claimed it reached out and grabbed the person sitting in it.
You simply sat down.
Then you waited.
And according to the legend, eventually the curse caught up with you.
The Airmen Who Sat in Busby’s Stoop Chair
One of the creepiest chapters in the legend comes from World War II.
Canadian airmen stationed at nearby Skipton-on-Swale reportedly visited the pub before flying missions over Europe.
The story says some of them sat in Busby’s chair.
Maybe they didn’t know about the curse.
Maybe they did.
Maybe someone dared them.
But according to local folklore, the men who sat in the chair never returned from their missions.
The story spread.
And you can understand why.
You’re a young airman about to climb into a bomber and fly over enemy territory.
Someone points toward an old chair in the corner.
They tell you a murderer cursed it before he was hanged.
Anyone who sits there dies.
Do you laugh?
Sit down just to prove you aren’t afraid?
Or do you decide that maybe tonight isn’t the night to test an old Yorkshire curse?
Wartime airmen believing the chair unlucky is part of the history Thirsk Museum itself preserves when telling visitors about its most infamous exhibit.
Whatever people believed before the war, afterward the chair’s reputation was even harder to ignore.
People Kept Sitting in It
You might think a chair rumored to kill people would eventually be roped off.
It wasn’t.
For years, the Busby Stoop Chair remained at the inn.
And people continued sitting in it.
Some probably did it because they didn’t believe the stories.
Others may have done it because of them.
After all, tell someone not to sit in a chair and sooner or later someone is going to sit in it just to see what happens.
More deaths became attached to the legend.
Stories told of people leaving the pub after sitting in the chair and dying in accidents.
One widely repeated account involves a delivery driver who supposedly sat in the chair while making a delivery to the inn. According to the story, he later died in a road accident.
Another tells of a worker who sat down during a break and later suffered a fatal accident.
The details shift depending on the telling.
But the pattern doesn’t.
Someone sits in the chair.
Something happens afterward.
And another story gets added to the curse.
By the 1970s, even the people responsible for the chair apparently had enough. Thirsk Museum records that fatal accidents during that decade were linked to it, and in 1978 the landlord asked the museum to take the chair away.
Why Busby’s Stoop Chair Hangs on the Wall
Today, visitors to Thirsk Museum can still see Busby’s Stoop Chair.
But they can’t sit in it.
The chair is displayed above the floor, safely out of reach. Thirsk Museum says it was hung “out of harm’s way” after arriving in 1978, and no one has sat in it since.
Think about that for a moment.
Museums are filled with objects people aren’t supposed to touch.
They sit behind ropes.
Inside cases.
Behind glass.
Busby’s chair is different.
They didn’t simply put up a sign saying:
DO NOT SIT.
They put the entire chair where sitting in it isn’t an option.
Maybe that’s simply the safest way to protect an unusual historical object.
But considering the stories attached to it, there’s something wonderfully creepy about seeing an ordinary wooden chair hanging above your head.
Especially when you know why it’s there.
Would You Sit in Busby’s Stoop Chair?
This is where cursed-object stories become interesting.
It’s easy to say you don’t believe in a curse when there’s no way to test it.
But suppose the chair were taken down.
Suppose someone placed it in front of you.
Nothing happens when you touch the wood.
Nothing happens when you put your hand on the back.
It’s just a chair.
All you have to do is sit.
Would you?
Maybe you’d laugh.
Maybe you’d lower yourself onto the seat for five seconds, stand back up, and announce that nothing happened.
And you’d be right.
Nothing happened.
Yet.
Then you’d drive home.
Every approaching car would suddenly seem a little too close.
Every strange pain would make you stop and think.
Every ladder, staircase, slippery patch of pavement, and unexpected noise would remind you of the chair.
Because that’s the worst part of Busby’s curse.
According to the stories, you don’t know when it’s coming.
Busby’s Ghost May Not Have Left Either
The chair isn’t the only part of the story said to have remained behind.
After Busby’s execution, the crossroads where his body was displayed developed its own reputation.
Stories claimed his ghost haunted the area near the inn.
Which means Busby supposedly left behind two things.
His spirit.
And his curse.
For generations, travelers passing through the area could hear the story of the murderer whose body once hung at the crossroads and the chair nobody should sit in.
The inn itself is gone now, but the chair survived.
And perhaps that’s fitting.
Buildings disappear.
Roads change.
People forget where the gallows once stood.
But put a cursed chair in a museum where nobody can sit in it, and the warning becomes much harder to forget.
Why the Busby’s Stoop Chair Legend Endures
There are cursed mirrors.
Haunted dolls.
Paintings people refuse to keep in their homes.
Objects supposedly carrying spirits, bad luck, or something much darker.
But Busby’s chair is unusually simple.
It doesn’t ask you to perform a ritual.
You don’t have to say someone’s name.
You don’t have to wait until midnight.
You don’t have to summon anything.
You just have to sit down.
That’s it.
Something people do dozens of times every day becomes the one thing you’re warned never to do.
And perhaps that’s why the story has lasted for so long.
Everyone understands the temptation.
The chair is right there.
It looks perfectly safe.
Surely one quick sit couldn’t hurt.
Except enough people apparently decided otherwise that the chair has now spent nearly half a century hanging where nobody can test the legend.
Other Haunted and Cursed Objects
The Screaming Skulls
Britain’s Screaming Skulls come with a warning similar to Busby’s chair: leave them alone.
These human skulls are associated with old houses where, according to folklore, attempts to bury or remove them can bring screams, strange disturbances, storms, or terrible luck.
Sometimes the safest thing you can do with a haunted object is exactly what people have been doing for generations.
Don’t touch it.
The Haunted Music Box
The Haunted Music Box associated with the Warren Occult Museum looks far less threatening than a cursed chair.
But stories surrounding the old music box include strange activity and reports of it playing when nobody touched it.
Like Busby’s chair, it doesn’t look particularly frightening.
And perhaps that’s what makes objects like these so unsettling.
You wouldn’t know there was anything wrong with them until someone told you the story.
The Tallman Bunk Beds
The Tallman Bunk Beds looked like ordinary secondhand furniture when a Wisconsin family brought them home.
But according to their story, strange activity soon followed—unexplained noises, objects moving on their own, and terrifying encounters with something they couldn’t explain.
Eventually, the family became convinced the bunk beds were at the center of it.
Like Busby’s Stoop Chair, they were just another ordinary piece of furniture.
Until they weren’t.
The Basano Vase
The Basano Vase is said to carry a curse of its own.
According to legend, the beautiful silver vase was given to an Italian bride shortly before her death. Afterward, it supposedly passed from owner to owner, leaving tragedy behind.
Eventually, the safest solution was said to be hiding it away where nobody could find it.
Some cursed objects are locked away.
Some are hidden.
And one old wooden chair was simply hung where nobody could ever sit in it again.
Final Thoughts
There’s something almost ridiculous about being afraid of a chair.
Until you’re standing in front of Busby’s Stoop Chair.
You know the story.
You know about Thomas Busby.
You know about the curse.
You know about the airmen and the accidents and all the people who supposedly sat down without realizing—or caring—what might happen next.
Then someone asks you the obvious question.
Would you sit in it?
Maybe you would.
Maybe you’d tell yourself it’s nothing more than an old story that’s grown darker with every retelling.
But luckily, you don’t have to decide.
The chair is still hanging safely above the floor at Thirsk Museum.
Nobody has sat in it since 1978.
And after everything supposedly connected to that simple wooden seat, perhaps it’s better to keep it that way.
Because if Thomas Busby’s curse really did follow the chair…
there’s no reason to give it another chance.
Frequently Asked Questions About Busby’s Stoop Chair
What is Busby’s Stoop Chair?
Busby’s Stoop Chair, sometimes called the Dead Man’s Chair, is a wooden chair associated with Thomas Busby, who was executed for murder in North Yorkshire in 1702. According to legend, Busby cursed the chair so that anyone who sat in it would die.
Who was Thomas Busby?
Thomas Busby was involved in counterfeiting and murdered his father-in-law, Daniel Auty, in 1702. He was convicted and executed, and his body was later displayed at a crossroads near the inn that became known as the Busby Stoop Inn.
What happens if you sit in Busby’s Stoop Chair?
According to the legend, anyone who sits in the chair risks an untimely death. Over the years, wartime deaths and fatal accidents became associated with people said to have sat in it.
Where is Busby’s Stoop Chair now?
Busby’s Stoop Chair is displayed at Thirsk Museum in North Yorkshire, England. The museum received it in 1978 and keeps it suspended above the floor so no one can sit in it.
Can visitors sit in Busby’s Stoop Chair?
No. The chair is kept out of reach, and according to Thirsk Museum, no one has sat in it since 1978.
About the Author
Karen Cody is the creator of Urban Legends, Mystery, and Myth, a blog exploring eerie folklore, strange history, and the mysteries behind the world’s most chilling stories. From haunted places and supernatural creatures to ghost stories, horror films, and modern myths, she examines the legends—both ancient and modern—that continue to fascinate and frighten us.
© 2026 Karen Cody. All rights reserved.