In 1936 Country Life magazine photographer Captain Hubert C. Provand and his assistant Indre Shira were taking photographs of Raynham Hall, Norfolk for a Country Life article when Indre Shira noticed "a vapoury form gradually assuming the appearance of a woman" moving down the stairs towards them.
Although Captain Provand saw nothing he took an exposure under Shira's direction which when developed showed a ghostly image of the "Brown Lady", catapulting the ghost of Lady Dorothy Walpole or at least her alleged photograph to fame.
Lady Dorothy Walpole was the sister of Britain's first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole of Houghton Hall, she was the second wife of Charles Marquiss of Townsend, known as Turnip Townsend. It was not a happy marriage, the couple became estranged to one another possible due to Dorothy's frivolous and extravagant ways and Charles discovering that his wife had an affair with Lord Wharton.
Whatever the cause of the estrangement Charles Townsend deprived Dorothy of the care of their children and had her locked in her rooms in Raynham Hall where she died in 1726 at the age of 40. Rumour had it that she was starved to death, or was pushed down the stairs but the official cause of death was given as smallpox.
Over 100 years after the death of Lady Dorothy Walpole sightings of the Brown Lady were being recorded by house guests such as Major Loftus who was horrified to see that the ghost had no eyes, only empty sockets. And Captain Marryat who actually fired a shot at the apparition when it "grinned in a malicious and diabolical manner at him." The bullet went straight through the ghost which then vanished.
The Brown Lady even had the audacity to haunt the Prince Regent who declared, "I will not pass another hour in this accursed house for I have seen that what I hope to God I may never see again" after "a little lady all dressed in brown, with dishevelled hair and a face of ashy paleness" disturbed his Highness.
The photograph of the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall is one of the most famous photographs of a ghost ever to have been taken. But is it real? Some investigators including Harry Price believed so, however a file compiled by Mr CVC Herbert investigations officer for the Society for Psychical Research suggests that the ghostly image may have been caused by equipment failure others have suggested that it was faked using old spirit photography techniques. There's an interesting article by Tom Ruffles exploring some these ideas to be found here on nthposition.com
The Brown Lady photograph itself, which is apparently owned by Time-Life and Getty Images, can be viewed here on Wikipedia or by searching Google Images
Incidentally the ghost of Lady Dorothy Walpole is also said to haunt Houghton Hall and Sandringham House.
Although Captain Provand saw nothing he took an exposure under Shira's direction which when developed showed a ghostly image of the "Brown Lady", catapulting the ghost of Lady Dorothy Walpole or at least her alleged photograph to fame.
Lady Dorothy Walpole (1686–1726)
(Image: via Wiki Commons)
Lady Dorothy Walpole was the sister of Britain's first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole of Houghton Hall, she was the second wife of Charles Marquiss of Townsend, known as Turnip Townsend. It was not a happy marriage, the couple became estranged to one another possible due to Dorothy's frivolous and extravagant ways and Charles discovering that his wife had an affair with Lord Wharton.
Whatever the cause of the estrangement Charles Townsend deprived Dorothy of the care of their children and had her locked in her rooms in Raynham Hall where she died in 1726 at the age of 40. Rumour had it that she was starved to death, or was pushed down the stairs but the official cause of death was given as smallpox.
Over 100 years after the death of Lady Dorothy Walpole sightings of the Brown Lady were being recorded by house guests such as Major Loftus who was horrified to see that the ghost had no eyes, only empty sockets. And Captain Marryat who actually fired a shot at the apparition when it "grinned in a malicious and diabolical manner at him." The bullet went straight through the ghost which then vanished.
The Brown Lady even had the audacity to haunt the Prince Regent who declared, "I will not pass another hour in this accursed house for I have seen that what I hope to God I may never see again" after "a little lady all dressed in brown, with dishevelled hair and a face of ashy paleness" disturbed his Highness.
The photograph of the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall is one of the most famous photographs of a ghost ever to have been taken. But is it real? Some investigators including Harry Price believed so, however a file compiled by Mr CVC Herbert investigations officer for the Society for Psychical Research suggests that the ghostly image may have been caused by equipment failure others have suggested that it was faked using old spirit photography techniques. There's an interesting article by Tom Ruffles exploring some these ideas to be found here on nthposition.com
The Brown Lady photograph itself, which is apparently owned by Time-Life and Getty Images, can be viewed here on Wikipedia or by searching Google Images
Incidentally the ghost of Lady Dorothy Walpole is also said to haunt Houghton Hall and Sandringham House.
Comments
Post a Comment