COFFIN IN THE RAFTERS: Henry Trigg’s Strange Final Wish
In 18th century England, Henry Trigg was so terrified of body snatchers that he devised an unusual plan to protect his corpse after death: mounting it high in his barn’s rafters. But he was unable to escape an even stranger fate than grave robbery.
(As heard on the #WeirdDarkness episode: “BEFORE THEY LOCKED THEIR DOORS: The True Story of the Shell Lake Murders”)
Doctors and scientists have examined human anatomy through dissection of human bodies for centuries. In the past, a reliable source of corpses was people who were executed, frequently for petty crimes. Executions were commonplace in medieval times, which meant plenty of bodies for medical students and surgeons to experiment on. But as laws changed and the number of executions declined, medical schools started to run short on cadavers. That shortage gave rise to “resurrectionists,” or grave robbers, who would dig up freshly buried corpses to sell to schools of anatomy.
To deter grave robbers, cemeteries began taking drastic measures. They hired guards to watch the graves, installed traps, and even put the graves in iron cages known as “mortsafes.” Others were “mort houses,” temporary storage buildings where corpses could rot until they were no longer of any use to thieves. Still, fear of body snatching was prevalent and one man, Henry Trigg, devised a unique solution to defend his own body.
Henry Trigg lived in early 18th century Stevenage, a small town in Hertfordshire, England. He was a prosperous grocer who owned a number of stores and properties in the neighborhood. He was well regarded in the community, serving as warden of St. Nicholas’ Church and overseer of the parish. But one night after a trip to the local tavern, Henry’s life changed forever.
Henry walked by the churchyard on his way home with friends. There they saw an alarming sight: grave robbers laboriously digging up a freshly buried corpse. These resurrectionists intended to sell the cadavers to medical students and surgeons. The gruesome scene left Henry jolted. He was determined that his body would not go the same way after he died.
Henry knew that he would have to take action himself. He made a peculiar request in his will, specifying that instead of being buried in the churchyard, his body should not be buried but instead placed in a coffin and kept in the rafters of his barn. He also stated that he wanted his body to stay there for a minimum of thirty years. Henry thought that he would die and after this he would resurrect and would take his property back. And to clarify his wishes, Henry requested the barn doors be locked from the inside with the key placed in the coffin so he could let himself out. But the plan raised an obvious question: If Henry’s body would be left alone inside, who would lock the barn door?
Henry died in 1724, a few years after he made his extraordinary will. Without a wife or children, he left his whole estate to his brother, Reverend Thomas Trigg. But Henry feared that Thomas wouldn’t comply with his unusual burial request. To guarantee compliance, Henry inserted a condition in his will that if his wishes were not followed by Thomas, Thomas would lose his inheritance. In that scenario, the estate would go to their other brother, George Trigg, and if George declined, it would go to their nephew, William Trigg.
Faced with these conditions, Thomas complied with Henry’s bizarre request. Henry’s corpse was encased in a lead-lined coffin and swung up into the rafters of his barn, roughly ten feet up. The unconventional “burial” soon attracted local attention. So the people came from far and wide to view the coffin in the barn and it proved to be something of a Stevenage tourist attraction. When the property was turned into an inn in 1774, known as the Old Castle Inn, the coffin stayed put. Even after Henry’s niece, Ann, requested that his remains be moved to a churchyard, the inn’s new owners refused. They viewed the coffin as a means to attract more visitors and keep the legend from dying.
Henry’s remains were beset by many challenges over the decades. Several fires raged through the barn and coffin, and people frequently pilfered souvenirs from the body. When the coffin was replaced in the early 1800s because of damage, a carpenter allegedly took one of Henry’s teeth and a lock of his hair. The inn’s landlord, Mr. Bellamy, opened the coffin in 1831, and noticed that Henry’s hair appeared in fair condition. But by the time the East Herts Archaeological Society studied the remains in 1906 they estimated that around a third of the skeleton was missing.
During World War I, soldiers based in Stevenage also reportedly removed more bones from the coffin and substituted them with horse bones. By 1999, National Westminster Bank bought the property, barn and all. The coffin was moved to an undertaker during the renovations. What happened next is under dispute. According to some reports the coffin was empty when it was removed; others say the undertaker discovered bones of both humans and other animals and so made arrangements for burial. Either way, Henry’s attempt to safeguard his remains apparently backfired.
The barn and workshop still exist today in Middle Row, Stevenage. Henry’s empty coffin still sits beneath the rafters, a still reminder of his unusual tale. Local legend has it that Henry’s ghost still roams the buildings in search of his lost bones. The last-known sighting of his spirit was reported in 1964, when an eyewitness said he saw the ghost walk through a brick wall feet first. There have been no new sightings, but the story of Henry Trigg still ignites interest among those who hear it.
SOURCES:Â https://www.ourstevenage.org.uk/content/place/old-town/buried-in-the-loft-the-legend-of-henry-trigg-and-the-old-castle-inn, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Trigg_%28testator%29, https://burialsandbeyond.com/2023/04/09/henry-trigg-and-the-coffin-in-the-rafters, https://www.hertsmemories.org.uk/content/herts-history/topics/supernatural-and-unexplained-phenomena/henry-triggs-house-buried-roof, https://www.readtheplaque.com/plaque/the-coffin-of-hentry-trigg, https://www.amusingplanet.com/2024/11/henry-trigg-and-coffin-in-roof.html,https://www.spookyisles.com/haunted-stevenage, https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101096090-triggs-barn-stevenage-old-town-ward, https://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/triggs-barn-coffin-in-the-rafters/view/google/,https://www.andrewgrantham.co.uk/thegranthams/paul/graves/trigg.html
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