Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

My Good Babushka

(2,710 posts)
Mon Apr 6, 2015, 07:29 AM Apr 2015

Where is Owen Parfitt?



June 1768 a former tailor, now bedridden, named Owen Parfitt, was put into a chair outside his Shepton Mallet, Somerset, cottage by his sister. She returned to the cottage to make his bed. When she came to fetch him, his chair was empty. The village was searched but no trace of him was ever found.
7 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Where is Owen Parfitt? (Original Post) My Good Babushka Apr 2015 OP
the Original Waldo !! Tuesday Afternoon Apr 2015 #1
Two major hypotheses seem to be (1) that Parfitt was carried off by demons or (2) that struggle4progress Apr 2015 #2
There seems to be some confusion about whether he disappeared in 1763 or 1768. struggle4progress Apr 2015 #3
From a book review in The Tablet 6 April 1872 struggle4progress Apr 2015 #4
Doesn't anyone think it was probably Parfitt's sister who killed him? My Good Babushka Apr 2015 #5
or had someone haul him off to parts unknown, or paid someone to do the deed for her. Tuesday Afternoon Apr 2015 #6
He's on Facebook! frogmarch Apr 2015 #7

struggle4progress

(118,034 posts)
2. Two major hypotheses seem to be (1) that Parfitt was carried off by demons or (2) that
Mon Apr 6, 2015, 08:51 AM
Apr 2015

Thomas Strode, when digging his garden in 1813, about 150 yards from the cottage in which Parfitt had once lived, had found Parfitt's skeleton buried about two feet deep

Strode's view was not favored by Dr Butler who examined the bones in 1814 and considered them those of a young woman (probably a suicide, in light of the curious name "Board Cross" of that place, where the Lockyer woman had lived at the time of Parfitt 's disappearance)

Parfitt's sister reportedly favored the first hypothesis, on the grounds that Parfitt was a thief, a bandit, a smuggler, and a pimp who had practiced black magic in the West Indies. She reported hearing a loud noise before she discovered him missing

struggle4progress

(118,034 posts)
3. There seems to be some confusion about whether he disappeared in 1763 or 1768.
Mon Apr 6, 2015, 09:11 AM
Apr 2015

When investigating cases of missing persons, it can be useful to clarify such discrepancies

Perhaps Parfitt's disappearance was first noticed in 1768, at which time people realized he had not actually been seen since 1763

struggle4progress

(118,034 posts)
4. From a book review in The Tablet 6 April 1872
Mon Apr 6, 2015, 09:34 AM
Apr 2015
... Odds and Ends. London : James Toovey. 1872 ...

ODDS AND ENDS. UNDER this modest title, Mr. William Maskell has published a description of the small seaport called Bude Haven, along with six short stories ... We are waiting, indeed, for the appearance of a more serious work by Mr. Maskell which is in print and ought to be ready for issue, a descriptive account of the ivories in the collection at South Kensington; but as half of a loaf is better than no bread at all, we shall proceed to discuss the morsel that has been set afloat already this year on the waters of the literary sea ... "Owen Parfitt" is the history of one of those unexplained events that occur from time to time, and leave a long and deep impression from the utter absence of any clue to interpret their strangeness. Owen Parfitt, a poor man, absolutely a cripple, left for a quarter of an hour at the side of a road on the entrance to the town of Shepton Mallett, disappeared, and the most diligent research, and an interval of a hundred years, have failed to find a thread of any kind to guide the curious neighbourhood out of the mystery ...


http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/6th-april-1872/14/books-c

My Good Babushka

(2,710 posts)
5. Doesn't anyone think it was probably Parfitt's sister who killed him?
Mon Apr 6, 2015, 11:45 AM
Apr 2015

She was the one taking care of the invalid after his life of dissipation. A pretty thankless task.

frogmarch

(12,145 posts)
7. He's on Facebook!
Tue Apr 7, 2015, 09:50 PM
Apr 2015
https://www.facebook.com/owen.parfitt


Seriously, though, this is a fascinating mystery...once you discount the likelihood that he was abducted by ALIENS!
Latest Discussions»The DU Lounge»Where is Owen Parfitt?