Brown Lady

One of the most famous ghosts in all of Great Britian. Photos of the spirit were even published in Country Life Magazine. She so given the name "Brown Lady" due to the brown brocade witnesses say she wears.

Her Story
Lady Dorothy Walpole was the sister of the first Prime Minister of Great Britian, Robert Walpole. She had become the second wife to the infamous Charles Townshed, who was quite well known for having a violent nature and a short temper. It has been said that Dorothy was caught committing adultery with Lord Wharton. Some say that Charles was enraged and punished his wife by locking her away in the rooms within the families home, which had been cristened Raynham Hall. However, an English aristocrat and writer, Lady Mary Whortley Montagu, goes against this little tid bit and states that Dorothy was in fact trapped by the Countess of Wharton instead. Further study would show that the countess invited her over to Raynham Hall and refused to allow her to leave. Not allowing the woman to see her children or husband again. It would be no suprise that Charles would allow this kind of thing to happen to his adulterous wife. Dorothy remained at the home the rest of her days. She finally passed away from smallpox in the year of 1726.

The Sightings
The first glimps of Dorothy's spirit was reported by Lucia C. Stone at Christmas time in 1835. Stone reported that Lord Townshed had invited several people to his Holiday festivities. They would see the spirit of his late wife a "brown lady" on their way to the bed chambers. The two men would note in particular the brown dress that she wore.

On the following evening, Colonel Loftus reported seeing the spirit again. He claimed that she wore a brown dress, had a dark but glowing face, and empty eye sockets. This report resulted in many staff members leaving for good. Not wishing to work in such a haunted place.

The next sighting was witnessed by a Fredrick Marryat, a good friend of the famous novelist Charles Dickens. Marryat went to Raynham Hall to spend the night in the haunted room in hopes of proving his theory that smugglers were responsible for what was happening. To his dissapointment the spirit appeared to him, gluiding over slowly. Marryat discharged his revolver in her face which meerly passed right through. Then the spirit vanished.

The most popular appearance was on September 19, 1936 when Captain Hubert C. Provand and his assistant Indre Shira, arrived as photographers for Country Life Magazine. The two men encountered the spirit on the main staircase. They snapped a picture and took it to be published. Further investigation of the photograph would prove that it was not tampered with and the photo is ligitamate proof. Today however, their are sceptics that say otherwise.

No other appearence of the ghost has been documented since. Only toime will tell if she desides to show herself once again to the public.