The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall
The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall is a ghost photo that has become famous over the years. The ghostly image was captured on the staircase in 1936 by photographers who were snapping pictures of the historic Raynham Hall for Country Life Magazine.
The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall is known as the world's most famous ghost photo. The two photographers saw the misty figure descending the staircase and managed to capture this amazing photograph. The full report appeared in Country Life Magazine.
The Brown Lady got her name from the brown brocade dress that the ghost has often been seen wearing while wandering the halls and staircase of Raynham Hall. She is believed to be the ghost of Lady Dorothy Walpole, who lived at Raynham Hall. Her husband learned that she had an affair with another man, so he kept locked in her apartments until she died of smallpox in 1726, at the age of 40.
Some people believe that she really died of a broken neck after being pushed down the grand staircase by her jealous husband. They say that her ghost still walks the staircase looking for her 5 children.
One night, in 1849, two men were on their way upstairs to sleep, when they were amazed to see a ghostly woman in old fashioned clothing drifting down the staircase. They noticed that her eye-sockets were completely empty. The incident resulted in several members of staff handing in their resignation. Local detectives were called and conducted a full investigation of Raynham Hall.
In 1926, a woman encountered the Brown Lady on the staircase. She had never heard the stories about the ghost and when she saw a portrait of Dorothy Walpole, she swore that the ghost looked exactly like her.
A well-known author at the time, Captain Marryat, asked to stay in the room in which the Brown Lady was believed to appear. He was walking along a corridor, with two guests, when they suddenly came face to face with a ghostly female figure. It was advancing towards them and carrying a lamp. Captain Marryat recognised the woman from the portrait that hung in his bedroom. As she passed by the three men, she looked straight at them and they became extremely frightened. Captain Marryat, pulled out his gun and fired a shot at The Brown Lady. The bullet passed right through the ghostly figure and was later found embedded in a door.
King George IV also had a ghostly encounter with the Brown Lady. He was staying in Raynham Hall and woke up in the middle of the night to find the ghost standing at the foot of his bed. He was frightened out of his wits and immediately left, saying, "I will not spend another hour in this accursed house, for tonight I have seen that which I hope to God I never see again".
To this day, nobody knows if it was a hoax or a real ghost picture. Supposedly, experts examined the negative and declared that it was genuine.
