Nothing excites the imagination and tickles the nerves like everything mystical and otherworldly. This is well understood by Anthony Earnshaw, the owner of a pub called Busby Stoop in Huddersfield, England. It is for this reason that for many years he did not want to part with the Busby chair. The most ordinary-looking piece of furniture helped the drinking establishment gain fame and fill the owner's pockets with money.
LAST WISH
A rare place in England is complete without its own legend. The city of Huddersfield, which is half way from London to Edinburgh, is no exception. According to an old legend, in 1702, Thomas Busby was sent to the gallows here. During a fight with the counterfeiter, Tom got so bad that he hit his opponent on the head with a hammer. As a result, he died on the spot. The court sentenced Busby to death by hanging. Before sending the accused to the next world, the jury agreed to grant his last wish. Tom asked for a glass of whiskey, which he could drain in the pub on his favorite chair. His request was granted. The convoy escorted Busby to a pub, where the offender was handed a hot drink and sat on a chair. The killer knocked over the glass and declared: "Anyone who dares to sit in my chair will follow me to heaven." Soon Busby went to hell. People in those days were superstitious and afraid to tempt fate. For decades, no one sat down on a charmed chair. But one day a chimney sweep dropped by the pub. In the drinking establishment, as luck would have it, there was not a single free space, and the chimney sweep sat down on Busby's chair. The next day, the unfortunate man climbed onto the highest rooftop in Huddersfield - and fell off. This was the first victim of the ill-fated chair and, alas, not the last.
I DO NOT BELIEVE
Since then, a lot of water has flown under the bridge. During this time, the pub managed to become famous throughout England. It wasn't the rare English ales, the superb cuisine, or the celebrity visits that made it popular, but that damned Busby chair. During this time, he managed to send a lot of people to the next world. Some sat on him by accident, others did not know anything about his magical abilities. The pub's owners changed many times, but each of them kept an antique item. Despite its sinister reputation, Thomas Busby's chair attracted many visitors to the pub. People wanted to look at the fatal thing with at least one eye.
In 1966, the then owner of the establishment thought it fair to name him after Thomas, and since then the pub is called "Busby Stoop" - "Stooped Busby". In 1967, two military pilots from America happened to be in Huddersfield by chance and first went to the famous pub. Foreigners knocked over several beers, cheered up and started an argument with local drinkers. The pilots argued that all the talk about the curse was nothing more than an invention of superstitious Englishmen. And to assure the British that they were right, each of them took turns sitting in the fatal chair. The next day, visitors to the pub opened a fresh newspaper and read the terrible news in the news column. After a night out in a pub, the friends got into the car and drove to the hotel, but on the slippery road the car skidded and he crashed into a tree. Both pilots died on the spot. Visited the pub came to the conclusion that the fault is alcohol, which the Americans are pretty pumped up. But deep down, everyone knew that the daredevils defied the curse and paid for it with their lives.
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IN SEQUENCE
In the same year, another unbeliever Thomas suffered from the chair of Tom Busby. It was a sergeant in the British army who believed neither in God nor in devil. In his opinion, to be afraid of a curse, which is more than two hundred and fifty years old, is stupid. To prove his case, the brave soldier sat down in an armchair and laughed at the superstitious regulars of the pub. And the next morning … he died at a local hospital. The doctors were shocked: the young man was healthy and never complained of ailments.
The next victim of the chair was a young builder - he sat down in the chair by mistake. A few days later, he fell from the woods and crashed. Then a waitress sat down on a chair: a woman stumbled while cleaning the hall and accidentally sat down on the edge. The result is cancer death. Unfortunately, the mournful list has multiplied. Everyone who had the imprudence to sit on the Busby chair, took their own lives, died under the wheels of a car, took a lethal dose of drugs, drowned or died from serious illnesses.
The British knew: you shouldn't approach the damned chair. But leisure tourists were not afraid to tempt fate. One of the most recent stories involves a 37-year-old American woman named Anne Connelather. From somewhere she found out about the damned chair and, traveling around England, decided to look into Huddersfield specifically in order to see this object. Once in the pub, an accountant from America began to tell visitors about an old dream - to sit in an armchair, so that later at home she would tell her friends-friends about her "feat". No matter how they tried to persuade the American not to do this, they could not prevent her. The woman even asked the pub clients to take a picture of her so she could show the picture at home. Satisfied, Anne left the establishment - to die in half an hour! An American woman crashed in an elevator car, whose cable burst.
PUNCHED IN THE HEAD
After this tragedy, the owner of the establishment put the Busby chair in the far corner and fenced it off with a rope. I placed an ad on the wall: they say, it is forbidden to sit in a chair. And then came the legend of Thomas Busby.
Even after such precautions, the case for the next victim did not become. The next time the American Melis Dolonnie sat on the chair. The girl came to the pub with the company to celebrate her own birthday. Apparently, alcohol played a cruel joke on her. She was so pumped up with beer and whiskey that she forgot all the warnings. In the midst of the amusement, Melis shouted that she despised prejudice, and rushed to the chair. She easily stepped over the rope and found herself on the chair. There was a deathly silence in the hall. And Melis, obviously pleased with her antics, burst out laughing and drained another beer. If not for this episode, one would consider that the party went off with a bang. The next morning, Melis Dolonni's friends remembered her trick with laughter. But after a week they had to shed tears on her grave. The girl was returning to her hostel on the outskirts of townwhen, on a dark and deserted street, she was attacked by a pack of hungry and angry dogs. Melis was torn to pieces by dogs.
MUSEUM EXHIBIT
The pub owners kept their mournful records: the damned chair killed sixty-five people. After the terrible death of Melis Dolonny, the new owner of the drinking establishment, Anthony Earnshaw, decided that this was enough. He invited the local priest Joseph Mainwoning-Taylor to the pub to consecrate the chair. The pastor did his job and suggested that the owner get rid of the cursed object. Tony replied: “This chair is a silent testimony to history, and I have no right to interfere with its course. I consider it my duty to warn clients about the danger posed by him, and this is their right - to believe me or not. There are signs near many water bodies warning against swimming in them, but despite this, there are those who still climb into the water. However, on reflection, the pub owner decided to donate the chair to the museum. Since then, Thomas Busby's cursed chair has been in the Huddersfield City Museum. Access to it is blocked by a glass wall, so no one has the opportunity to tempt their fate.
Oksana VOLKOVA