Post by Spooky on Aug 21, 2007 14:20:58 GMT -5
According to legend, the Brown Lady of Raynham is the ghost of Lady Townshend who was married to Charles Townshend, a man known for his fiery temper. When Charles learned of his wife's infidelity, he punished her by imprisoning her in the family estate at Raynham Hall, located in Norfolk, England. He never allowed her to leave its premises, not even to see her children. She remained there until her death, when she was an old woman.
Over the next two centuries Lady Townshend's ghost was repeatedly sighted wandering through Raynham Hall, suggesting that she never left its premises even after her death
The brown lady continued to be sighted by various people over the next century. However, the most remarkable sighting of her occurred on September 19, 1936.
Two photographers, Captain Provand and Indre Shira, were on assignment at Raynham Hall for the magazine Country Life. According to Shira, this is what happened:
"Captain Provand took one photograph while I flashed the light. He was focusing for another exposure; I was standing by his side just behind the camera with the flashlight pistol in my hand, looking directly up the staircase. All at once I detected an ethereal veiled form coming slowly down the stairs. Rather excitedly, I called out sharply: 'Quick, quick, there's something.' I pressed the trigger of the flashlight pistol. After the flash and on closing the shutter, Captain Provand removed the focusing cloth from his head and turning to me said: 'What's all the excitement about?'"
When they developed the picture they found that they had captured the image of a ghostly woman, apparently the famous brown lady, drifting down the stairs. The picture was published in Country Life on December 16, 1936.
Skeptics, however, argue that the picture is a fake. The photo analyst Joe Nickell examined the photograph and concluded that it was nothing more than two images composited together.
While the picture of her might be a fake, there is nothing to prove that the brown lady of Raynham herself isn't real, although she has rarely been sighted since 1936 (although the late Marchioness of Townshend told Dennis Bardens in the 1960s that she had seen the figure several times).
The absence of Lady Townshend from Raynham Hall may be due to the fact that she reportedly also haunts Sandringham House, and so it could be that she is simply choosing to spend her time there instead. At Sandringham she appears as her young, happy self, whereas in Raynham she appears as the eerie, aged brown lady.
Raynham Hall
The Infamous Brown Lady
Over the next two centuries Lady Townshend's ghost was repeatedly sighted wandering through Raynham Hall, suggesting that she never left its premises even after her death
The brown lady continued to be sighted by various people over the next century. However, the most remarkable sighting of her occurred on September 19, 1936.
Two photographers, Captain Provand and Indre Shira, were on assignment at Raynham Hall for the magazine Country Life. According to Shira, this is what happened:
"Captain Provand took one photograph while I flashed the light. He was focusing for another exposure; I was standing by his side just behind the camera with the flashlight pistol in my hand, looking directly up the staircase. All at once I detected an ethereal veiled form coming slowly down the stairs. Rather excitedly, I called out sharply: 'Quick, quick, there's something.' I pressed the trigger of the flashlight pistol. After the flash and on closing the shutter, Captain Provand removed the focusing cloth from his head and turning to me said: 'What's all the excitement about?'"
When they developed the picture they found that they had captured the image of a ghostly woman, apparently the famous brown lady, drifting down the stairs. The picture was published in Country Life on December 16, 1936.
Skeptics, however, argue that the picture is a fake. The photo analyst Joe Nickell examined the photograph and concluded that it was nothing more than two images composited together.
While the picture of her might be a fake, there is nothing to prove that the brown lady of Raynham herself isn't real, although she has rarely been sighted since 1936 (although the late Marchioness of Townshend told Dennis Bardens in the 1960s that she had seen the figure several times).
The absence of Lady Townshend from Raynham Hall may be due to the fact that she reportedly also haunts Sandringham House, and so it could be that she is simply choosing to spend her time there instead. At Sandringham she appears as her young, happy self, whereas in Raynham she appears as the eerie, aged brown lady.
Raynham Hall
The Infamous Brown Lady
