This portrait of "The Brown Lady" ghost is arguably the most famous and
well-regarded ghost photograph ever taken. The ghost is thought to be
that of Lady Dorothy Townshend, wife of Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount
of Raynham, residents of Raynham Hall in Norfolk, England in the early
1700s. It was rumored that Dorothy, before her marriage to Charles, had
been the mistress of Lord Wharton. Charles suspected Dorothy of
infidelity. Although according to legal records she died and was buried
in 1726, it was suspected that the funeral was a sham and that Charles
had locked his wife away in a remote corner of the house until her
death many years later.
Dorothy's ghost is said to haunt the oak staircase and other areas
of Raynham Hall. In the early 1800s, King George IV, while staying at
Raynham, saw the figure of a woman in a brown dress standing beside his
bed. She was seen again standing in the hall in 1835 by Colonel Loftus,
who was visiting for the Christmas holidays. He saw her again a week
later and described her as wearing a brown satin dress, her skin
glowing with a pale luminescence. It also seemed to him that her eyes
had been gouged out. A few years later, Captain Frederick Marryat and
two friends saw "the Brown Lady" gliding along an upstairs hallway,
carrying a lantern. As she passed, Marryat said, she grinned at the men
in a "diabolical manner." Marryat fired a pistol at the apparition, but
the bullet simply passed through.
This famous photo was taken in September, 1936 by Captain Provand
and Indre Shira, two photographers who were assigned to photograph
Raynham Hall for
Country Life magazine. This is what happened, according to Shira:
"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?'"Upon developing the film, the image of The Brown Lady ghost was seen
for the first time. It was published in the December 16, 1936 issue of
Country Life. The ghost has been seen occasionally since.
Calendar