The Chair of Death

Kittamaru

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Adieu, Sciforums.
Valued Senior Member
http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Chair_of_Death
http://www.bustle.com/articles/4070...&utm_medium=fijifrost&utm_campaign=CMfacebook
#5 THOMAS BUSBY’S STOOP CHAIR

Thomas Busby of Thirsk, North Yorkshire was not a nice man. In 1702, he came one day to discover his father-in-law, Daniel Auty (sometimes spelled Awety — isn’t unregulated spelling fun?) sitting in his favorite chair; this sparked an argument resulting in Auty threatening to take back his daughter (women as property… sigh), before Busby threw him out of the house. That night, Busby went up to Auty’s home, bludgeoned him to death with a hammer, and hid the body in the woods. The body, of course, was found; Busby was tried and convicted; and he was subsequently hanged, tarred, and left in a gibbet by the side of the road opposite the coaching inn. It’s said that on the way to the gallows, Busby requested a drink of ale at his favorite pub before his sentence was enacted. As he finished, he said, “May sudden death come to anyone who dare sit in my chair.”

The chair currently occupies a spot in the Thirsk Museum. Terrible fates have befallen many who have sat in it, from brain tumors to car crashes; accordingly, the decision was made in 1972 to hang it from the ceiling, preventing anyone from sitting in it ever again. A wise move, I feel.

First I'd heard of this... but pretty interesting.

CaseEdit
History: The 'Chair of Death' was the favorite chair of a striper named Thomas Busby, who was convicted in 1702 for the murder of his father-in-law, Daniel Auty, whom he supposedly strangled for sitting in his favourite chair after an argument about Thomas' wife, Auty's daughter Elizabeth. On his way to the gallows in 1702, he asked to stop by the pub and put a curse on his chair, claiming that anyone who sat in it would be haunted and soon die. It remained in the pub for centuries, and people were dared to sit in it. During World War II, airmen from an nearby base made the pub a hot spot, and the chair became a "hot seat" and people noticed that the ones who sat in it would never come back from war. In 1967, two Royal air force pilots sat in it, and while driving back, they crashed into a tree and died. A few years later, two brick layers decided to try it, and that afternoon, the one who sat in it fell to his death. The cursed chair has apparently "killed" every person who sat in it, no matter what. Some instances include a roofer who sat in it died after the roof he was working on collapsed, and a cleaning woman stumbled into it while mopping, and was later killed by a brain tumor. Eventually, the pub owner moved it into the basement, hoping that nobody would sit in it. However, one day a delivery man was in the basement and sat in it. An hour later, he crashed his truck and died. After that death, the landlord asked the local museum to take it. to ensure nobody sat in it again, they hung the chair five feet from the ground. Recently, the current owner of the pub heard of another death. During World War II, a truck driver picked up two airmen, and they wanted him to stop at the pub, and while they were in the bathroom the driver unknowingly sat in the chair. When the airmen didn't return, he left, and when one of them later found him he killed him. It seemed, that because the museum had made it nearly impossible to be able to sit in it, its "killing" days were over however the museum closed and auctioned off all of its belongings in 2010. The location of the chair is now unknown, but it is believed that the chair has since been refurbished. It is said that for some time prior to death (time varies in all cases) the person who sat in the chair experiences haunting experiences, including extreme itching, paranoia, hearing things, confusion, items being moved and written warnings on mirrors and walls about the persons imminent death in addition to many other strange happenings.
Background: In 1702, convicted murderer Thomas Busby was on his way to the gallows in Thirsk when he desired a drink of ale at his favorite pub in his favorite chair as his last request. When he finished, he said "May sudden death come to anyone who dare sit in my chair."
Investigations: None
Extra Notes: The case first aired on the May 22, 1998 episode. The chair was also featured in an episode of the Anime, "Hetalia: Axis Powers." In the episode, England switches another America's chair with this one, but Russia sits in it. It is outmatched by the evil aura of Russia sitting in it and breaks stating that it won't work on him.
Results: Unsolved
Links:

I'd chalk it up to interesting coincidences myself but still kinda interesting
 
Bad things happens to some people. Bad things don't happen to other people. Certainly both kinds of people would sit in the chair. But only the people who sat in the chair which bad things happened to would be noticed. It's called observer bias.
 
How about the thousands of people who sat in it and never had any problems? Also how did they keep up with all those people that sat in the chair to find out what happened to them.
 
Indeed cosmic - did they keep record of people that didn't die after sitting in it I wonder :)

This is where the paranormal falls apart - the mundane is never really documented, and only the "extraordinary" is mentioned, a clear observational bias :)
 
On his way to the gallows in 1702, he asked to stop by the pub and put a curse on his chair, claiming that anyone who sat in it would be haunted and soon die.

Busby: The route to the gallows passes the pub. Any chance of making a detour so I can curse my old chair?
Gaoler: What purpose is there in that?
Busby: Well, it would mean that anyone who sat in it would soon die a ghastly death.
Gaoler: That sounds reasonable.
 
The pub near my house had such a chair.
It ended up that no-one would sit there, so they replaced it with a slot machine.
 
The pub near my house had such a chair.
It ended up that no-one would sit there, so they replaced it with a slot machine.
A slot machine of Death!? :tongue:

Zoltron-1.jpg
 
umm to OP, if a person did not know about the so called chair of death and was not hinted by others of it even subtly, than no one would die in it.
 
Surely the chair of death would make no difference at all.
It is a superstition.

thing is if people believe this superstition than their actions indirectly will make that very superstition come true, even though the reasons might have nothing to do with the superstition in itself.
 
That point of view is also superstitious.
The chair will make no difference at all.
It is just a chair.
Find me such a chair and I will sit in it for 50 pence.
 
That point of view is also superstitious.
The chair will make no difference at all.
It is just a chair.
Find me such a chair and I will sit in it for 50 pence.

Thats the whole point, it is not about the chair.

It is about the action of sitting on a chair and "sudden death" linked in minds of those who believe in it.

A belief by itself influences the probability of something happening.

http://www-physics.lbl.gov/~stapp/Luc07PP.ppt

"The freedom of experimentation... corresponds to the free choice of experimental arrangement for which the mathematical structure of the quantum mechanical formalism offers the appropriate latitude." (Bohr, 1958, p.73)

In essence the "sit on chair, get sudden death" is a modified Quantum Zeno Effect:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Zeno_effect
 
Back
Top