A Broken Key and a Locked Room: The Shropshire Sisters’ Unforgettable Adventure
The Night Everything Changed
Sandego.net – Jill Shropshire inserted her key into the lock and felt an unexpected snap. Standing frozen for a moment, she realized the key had fractured in her grip. “I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing, and I just pushed it in there,” she explained to CNN Travel. “I believe I placed it upside down and snapped it off inside the lock.” Her immediate reaction was one of dismay. “Oh no. This is definitely not good,” she thought.
Turning to share her misfortune with her sister Jan, Jill found that Jan had already climbed into one of the twin beds, removing her boots in the process. “I was quite intoxicated,” Jan admitted. “I was practically crawling toward the bed.” Jill waved the broken key to get her sister’s attention. “I’ve accidentally locked us in,” she announced. Jan, barely opening her eyes, dismissed the concern. “We’ll simply call down tomorrow. It will work out,” she mumbled, pulling the blankets over herself.
Jill surveyed their surroundings. The two young American women were lodging in a countryside bed and breakfast located in a converted historic house in England’s Midlands region. “There are no telephones,” Jill remembered. “This is 1997.” Neither sister possessed a mobile phone, and there was no landline in the room either. The situation did not look promising. However, both women were exhausted and had consumed several gin and tonics at a nearby pub that evening, so Jill also joined Jan in bed. “We will handle it in the morning,” she told her younger sister, who had already fallen asleep.
Trapped in the Third Floor
Throughout the night, Jill awakened repeatedly, her mind racing with worry about their predicament. “I was waking up with anxiety,” she recalled. Driven by a combination of jet lag and alcohol, the sisters slept until well past eleven o’clock in the morning. When they finally rose, the bed and breakfast was completely silent. They had hoped to attract the attention of other guests or perhaps the owner. “But everyone had already left for the day, so there was no one available to assist,” Jill remembered. “We were entirely by ourselves,” Jan added.
The room contained nothing to eat except a single jar of peanut butter. There was no bathroom either. Despite being trapped, the sisters remained calm and even found the situation somewhat entertaining. However, they did not wish to remain confined to their bedroom for an entire day. “So, we opened the window,” Jill explained. “The front door sits directly beneath us. But nobody was walking down the street, no one was entering or exiting at all. I mean, we stood at the window for what felt like forever, shouting. We were banging on the door and hanging our heads out the window.” No one responded. The sleepy English street appeared completely deserted.
A Personal Journey to Shropshire
Having grown up in the American South during the 1980s and 1990s, Jill and Jan had always harbored dreams of visiting England. Their destination of choice was Shropshire, a county situated in the West Midlands on the Welsh border. While not typically considered a premier tourist destination, this location held special significance for the sisters. “Our surname is Shropshire, so we wanted to visit Shropshire,” Jan clarified. In 1997, the sisters made the decision to take their first journey together: a backpacking expedition across the United Kingdom, with Shropshire as the centerpiece.
“We ended up in Shrewsbury,” Jill noted. This historic town in Shropshire features medieval architecture, charming streets, and a center dating back to the Tudor era. It represented the England the sisters had always envisioned. “And we found this lovely little bed and breakfast at the end of a cul-de-sac,” Jill recalled. “It was an old house. You walk inside and there is a small desk. Everything has a grandmotherly feel. I am not sure how many rooms they had downstairs, perhaps three or four? And then we were on the third floor.”
This top floor featured a soundproof glass door at the staircase’s summit, followed by a hallway leading to two compact rooms. The charming bed and breakfast served as an ideal base for exploration. Jan and Jill delighted in wandering the cobblestone streets, examining the medieval Shrewsbury Castle, and immersing themselves in English pub culture. On their second evening in the town, they settled into one of the pubs for an extended stay. “We ate,” Jill remembered. “Then a larger crowd arrived. We had a few drinks…” The sisters began by sharing pints with locals before switching to their preferred beverage—gin and tonics.
