Brown lady. The Black Lady of the Nesvizh Castle

Is it possible to see the spirits of dead people? A long-standing claim insists that an incorporeal spirit or ghost, as well as similar entities, can appear in our world. truth always under some exceptional conditions.

Often, ghosts or spirits of the dead move in our world while maintaining invisibility. But in rare cases, the inhabitants of the other world violate their incognito, and scare the spectators who happened nearby.

Of course, one can only guess by what means and possibilities such beings can acquire a visible form and materiality in our world. On the other hand, for many of us, things that the eye cannot see in the normal way can become visible using another method. First of all, this will entail the use of modern technology, which enhances our natural ability to perceive worlds beyond reality.

It has long been known that, during the photographic process, the presence of the invisible in environment creatures. Such a case of ghost capture by a film camera is said to have taken place on a large estate in Norfolk, UK, when a ghost now known as the Brown Lady of Raynham descended down the hall stairs.

The image of a ghost in a photograph.

Many paranormal researchers claim that the photograph shows a ghost descending the stairs, which is the best evidence for the existence of both the ghosts themselves and spirits in general. Nevertheless, despite the appearance of a frightening image in the image, assurances of the reliability of the photograph, how honest were the very circumstances under which the photographer managed to snatch the image of the ghost of the Brown Lady?

The story of Lady Brown began with a photographer, who was Captain Hubert C. Provand, who received a commission for several photographs from Life Magazine in 1936. Hubert's assignment was as simple as photographing a large house for an article to be published in a magazine. Surprisingly, during the visit of the captain and his assistant Endre Shire (apparently, this is a pseudonym) to the mansion, the camera aimed at the stairs snatched a frightening phenomenon - !

Seeing how something unreal, living in the other world, descends the stairs and gradually takes the form of a woman, Shira exclaimed, ... no, the man was not afraid and did not offer to run away, he advised the London photographer to move, and rather photograph the ghost, which by this time finally took shape female figure in a brown dress.

The famous researcher of ghosts and mystical formations, Harry Price, was convinced that the story told by the men really happened the way they imagine it. They do not lie and do not invent, the paranormal specialist assures, based on conversations held with eyewitnesses and the authors of the picture. In addition, numerous examinations have shown the authenticity of the photograph.

And yet, despite the hundreds of examinations arranged for the photograph, there are a number of things that can be seen in the photo, which, according to experts, are present in order to indicate that, despite the fact that the photograph is not “false”, it most likely displays an artificially created ghost image. Here's what they say about it:

In 2006, Alan Murdie wrote for The Fortean Times about what can be seen in the famous close-up shot: Anomalies in the painting become apparent when one examines the light in the original, uncropped photograph of Lady Brown. The anomalies lie not in the center of the image on the ghost - where the eye naturally concentrates - but in what is happening in the foreground and background. On the left side, from the viewer (that is, along right hand Brown Lady) there is a framed picture hanging on the wall. Directly below the painting, which seems to be hovering in the air, a duplicate image of this painting appears.
In the same way, when we look at the railing, they split in two, it seems that the camera was shaken and the staircase was photographed twice. The few glowing spots visible in the image also suggest doubling the image throughout.

In other words, the original 1936 photo of Provende and the Shire seems to have a number of significant flaws that cast doubt on the possibility that the "ghost" in the picture is indeed the spirit of the deceased Lady Dorothy Walpole, as many have believed over the years.

But what's even weirder about this photo, say paranormal experts, is not only the obvious "anomalies," but also the fact that the photograph was deliberately cropped so conveniently that the anomalies disappeared, as they could have done, knowing about the shortcomings of the original photograph. Does this mean that the incriminating flaws were removed in order to reveal to the world an inhabitant of the other world, to reveal the mystical side of our reality in the form of a ghost of Raynham Hall? Or were the imperfections removed for the reason that "Lady Brown" was visible in the image, thereby drawing attention to the mansion, ?

The absolute truth can never be known, much less in relation to the story of Lady Brown and her famous photograph. Those people who could clarify the situation reliably are no longer to be found. However, when looking at the body of information regarding this case, we see that there are a number of elements that speak to a specially crafted image of a ghost.

At the same time, this does not take away from us a number of questions such as: Does life have the right to exist after death? Indeed, it could be, and while the debut of the Brown Lady was not "proof" of life after death, we have no facts to destroy the version of the existence of the other world.

Some critics claim that Shira tampered with the image by applying lubricant or other substance to the lens in the form of a pattern, or that he himself drove down the stairs during the exposure. Others claim that the image is derived from the chance of a double exposure. Including the version that the ghostly vision was born in some cunning way by the light caught on the camera camera is not excluded.

Other critics point out that the image of the lady is very similar to the Virgin Mary, whose sculptures are found in almost every catholic church. The researchers considered in the ghost a strong resemblance to the Madonna - the tilt of the head, the hands folded in prayer, the square or rectangular stand on which it stands are also clearly visible. This suggests that the photo is a simple overlay of the Madonna statue on the empty staircase, and was later passed off as a ghostly appearance, thus showing rich history Raynham Hall mansion.

Ah yes, the ghost story of Lady Brown of Raynham Hall.

An old story tells that the “Brown Lady of Raynham Hall” is actually the spirit of Lady Dorothy Walpole, who went to the afterlife in torment (lived 1686-1726). Dorothy was the second wife of the English Lord Charles Townsend, who made a reputation for himself with an extremely violent temper.
According to the legend, one day Townsend finds out that his wife cheated on him with the Marquis Thomas Wharton, to which the angry Briton locks her in one of the rooms of the family mansion. According to Mary Montague Wortley, Dorothy never saw the children again until 1726, when the poor thing died of smallpox.

The ghost of a woman first appeared in secular society at the end of 1835, when Lord Charles Townsend arranged a reception for many guests at the mansion to celebrate Christmas. Among the guests was Colonel Loftus, who later said that when they, together with Hawkins, began to disperse to their bedrooms, they saw the ghost of Lady Brown.

The attention of men was immediately attracted by the woman's very old-fashioned attire in brown tones. The next evening, Loftus claimed that he saw the Brown Lady again, who surprised him with empty eye sockets in a radiant face. By the way, if Loftus himself was actually not at all afraid of the ghost, then his stories terribly frightened the servants, some of them left Raynham Hall forever, fleeing from the possible persecution of the ghost.

Captain Frederick Marryat, ghost hunter.

It would seem that they wentssip and forgot, which does not happen on Christmas, but it was not there, the ghost of the lady in a brown dress comes again the next year. As they say knowledgeable people, in 1836, Captain Frederick Marryat, author of several nautical novels and friend of the famous writer Charles Dickens, asks Lord Townsend for an overnight stay, asking him to give him shelter to observe the ghost. Captain Marryat, being a brave man, wanted to personally debunk and prove his theory that mystical rumors were invented by smugglers to scare away unwanted eyewitnesses and do their dark deeds in secret.

It is not known what the captain himself experienced, he never spoke about it, but in 1917, the captain's daughter, Florence Marryat, told about her father's investigation into the paranormal area. For the three days that he was going to spend in the mansion, the captain was placed in a room with a portrait of Dorothy Walpole. It is said that Dorothy liked to visit this room during her lifetime, and Marryat settled here, keeping a loaded revolver nearby.

In the first two days, there was no significant meeting, and Frederick began to be annoyed that the ghost would not come, especially since, on the fourth day, he would leave the mansion. However, to the joy of the daredevil (if I may say so), the meeting with the soul of Dorothy in the guise of a ghost took place on the third night. As soon as the man was about to go to bed, there was a knock on his room ... no, so far there were only the baronet's nephews. The young men invited the writer to come into their room and evaluate the merits of a new pistol just delivered from London.

Deciding that the hour is late and everyone in the castle has already gone to bed, Marryat goes to the room of the owner's nephews in a shirt and trousers. True, he does not forget to take a revolver with him, explaining to the young people with a smile: In case you run into the Brown Lady. Assessing the merits of the weapon, the young men under the same playful note, intending to escort Florence's father into the room, declare: In case you run into the Brown Lady. The three men went along a long corridor, not yet suspecting what they would meet on the way.

It was a long and dark corridor where the servants had put out all the lights for the night. However, when the men reached the middle of the corridor, it was suddenly illuminated by the flickering light of a lit lamp coming from the other end of the corridor. One of the women must be going to check the nursery,” young Townsend explained in a whisper. It is not clear what motivated the men, but they decided not to frighten the woman, and hide in the niche of the double doors of one of the rooms, while Marryat froze at the crack with a revolver in his hand.

The twinkling was getting closer and closer, - writes the memoirs of Father Florence, - until I finally recognized in this figure the colors and style that were told about when remembering the ghost of a lady. It was a replica of the woman in the portrait, Dorothy Walpole, aka the Brown Lady. He wanted to ask the woman what she needed here, finally explain her behavior, and already began to move forward, putting his finger on the trigger of the revolver.

Suddenly, a strange figure herself stopped at the door, raised a lit lamp and illuminated her features, she smiled demonically! The captain could not stand this, he was sure it was a ghost, so he jumped out into the corridor with one long jump and immediately fired.

The roar and smoke of the shot surrounded the captain, but he hit, only the figure instantly disappeared, as if it had not been there at all, but three sober men were watching it. The bullet pierced the door of the room on the other side of the corridor, and got stuck in the panel of the inner doors. Thereafter, my father never again sought out the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall,” Florence Marryat said in 1917.

England in all ages was considered a real hotbed of the most diverse evil spirits, starting with witches and sorcerers, and ending with nasty trolls and goblins living in dungeons. Not without ghosts and ghosts, of course, in the United Kingdom there are (if there are) more ghosts than in the rest of the world, despite the very modest size of the island.

Not far from the town of Fecknham, just a dozen miles to the west, there is a wonderful, huge mansion, which for four hundred served as the country residence of the Townshend family. In the early 1730s, the estate passed into the possession of the second Viscount, head of the House of Lords, Sir Charles Townshend, who lived here with his wife.

They say that a young and beautiful girl named Dorothy, the daughter of another of the noblest persons of the state of that time, fell in love with Charles to the point of madness, and even waited for the moment when he became a widower.

After simple ladies' tricks, Dorothy became the wife of the lord, but this marriage did not bring her happiness. People said all sorts of things. According to some, Charles turned out to be just a rake, unable to let a single skirt pass him by, from maids to the wives of his friends. Others said that he was just a sadist and a tyrant, and periodically tortured and beat his wife, and at the same time everyone who came to hand.

Be that as it may, but, not having stretched even ten years in marriage, the young woman, having never produced offspring, died untimely. The case of her death was also shrouded in mystery, the only thing known for sure is that she died in a country residence, where she spent most of her time. That is, it is in Rainham Hall.

Since then, amazing things began to appear in the house, and it all started with a portrait of the same Dorothy, who looked quite natural in daylight. An emaciated female face, quite pretty and pale in the English fashion of those times, a meek look from under thick dark eyelashes and hands folded over a snow-white apron, on a brown satin dress.

At night, the portrait was terrifying, sunken eye sockets looked at the world and his face just glowed with anger. I had to take the portrait out of the house, otherwise people were afraid to be in it, but then the ghost of a lady in brown began to appear, which in 1999 was even photographed. The house stands to this day, the stories about it also do not stop, and anyone can see for themselves where the truth is and where the lie is, visiting the estate is free.

In our world, studied, it would seem, far and wide, there are still inexplicable phenomena. And, although the existence of paranormal phenomena has not been scientifically proven, many still believe in them. Perhaps because people are naturally curious, and ghosts are an amazing chance to at least look behind the veil of the secrets of the other world. Here is a selection of the most famous ghosts in the world.

1. Ghost of the White Lady

The White Lady is the collective name for ghosts. As a rule, eyewitnesses describe long-haired women in a white dress, with dark sad eyes and a thin, pointed face. Sometimes they also talk about bloody hands and face, and Mikhail Rosenberg, during his trip to the Czech Republic, saw the Lady in black gloves.

This ghost is one of the most famous in the world. According to legend, the Czech White Lady- none other than Perkhta Rozhmberk, considered the guardian of the Rozhmberk family and families close to it. Her story could have happened to any noble young woman who lived in the Middle Ages: young Perkhta was forcibly married to a man much older than herself, the aristocrat Jan Liechtenstein. He turned out to be a villain, a pervert and a sadist, often raped and beat his young wife, and also, not embarrassed by her presence, arranged orgies in the castle. The unfortunate woman endured bullying for 20 years, because the mores of that era did not allow her to leave her despot spouse and return to her family, and the church would not give permission for a divorce.

They say that before his death, Count Liechtenstein asked his wife for forgiveness, but she could not forgive him. Then the count cursed his wife with the words: “May you have no peace after death!”

Since then, Perchta has appeared in the former possessions of the Rožmberks: the old Sovinec castle and the neighboring town of Cesky Krumlov. It does not bring harm to anyone, but for the descendants of the clan it can mean a warning about the imminent death of one of the relatives. Her portrait with a signature in an unknown language has survived to this day. There is a legend that the White Lady herself will appear to the one who can decipher the signature and tell where the huge treasure is hidden.

2. Anku

The word "Anku" itself is translated as "skeleton" or, in some interpretations, "herald of death." This ghost was seen on the roads of Brittany. It always spawns on old country roads and never near busy freeways or settlements. However, the ghost did not disdain small villages and, according to legend, visited there often.

Anku looks like a dead man or a skeleton with long white hair. He is wrapped in a dark cloak with a hood thrown over his face, hiding a greenish putrid light in sunken eye sockets, with a scythe on his shoulder. It is always followed by a funeral wagon drawn by a skeleton horse. His appearance was accompanied by the ringing of funeral bells, gusts of icy wind and the dull, loud thud of horse hooves.

It was believed that the one who was lucky enough to see the ankh would die in the next two years. Some sources say that an eyewitness, when meeting with a ghost, was certainly knocked down unknown force, and earth was stuffed into his mouth, perhaps the same one that would soon be thrown on his coffin. If a person came across an anku at midnight, then he certainly died within a month.

However, anku is not just one mysterious entity. The previous herald of death was succeeded every year by another unfortunate man who happened to die last of the year. There is another opinion: anku is none other than the biblical character Cain, the first person to commit murder.

The last time anka was allegedly seen was 50 years ago. It is possible that there is simply no place left for such ghosts in our enlightened age.

3. Trembling boy

There is a strange place in Ireland - Gripmain Castle. Now no one lives in the castle, but it is well preserved and open to tourists. And, of course, as in most respected European castles, it has its own ghost, known to the whole world as the “Trembling Boy”.

It is said that if you stay in the castle for the night, then around midnight, a pale, translucent silhouette of a child with dark, falling hair will appear next to your bed. The boy will whisper, "It's cold, I'm so cold," and may even touch your face with icy fingers. Eyewitnesses said that after they woke up, the boy did not leave, but continued to stand by the bed and complain about the cold. It was removed only after the unfortunate visitor of the ancient castle turned on the light. At the same time, the ghost did not leave the room, did not evaporate, no - it simply disappeared, as if it were not there, which, however, is quite possible.

According to legend, the boy was the heir to a rich old family of Northumbrian earls and received the castle from his father, who died when his son was only six years old. His uncle, the guardian, decided to get rid of the rightful owner and assign the castle to himself, so he took the child to the field on a winter night and left him there alone. By morning, the boy was cold, and the uncle got the same coveted castle. True, along with a ghost: some sources describe that the boy “returned” the very next night after his burial and harassed his uncle for the rest of his life.

The ghost of a child is still seen in the castle, and some impressionable tourists talked about his appearance in the daytime. In some cases, entire groups of people who have never met before and who visited Gripmein Castle for the first time in their lives repeat with one voice about his appearance.

4. Lady from Eht

The Lady of Echt can be found in Holland. The ghost is not tied to any particular place and can appear anywhere. The lady from Eht looks quite impressive: a tattered dark dress, a thin cloak thrown over her shoulders, her head lying in thin, exhausted hands, and blood oozing from the stump of her neck. However, this ghost is quite harmless to the casual traveler.

You can meet the Lady, as usual, only at night. In some cases, the headless female figure may simply walk by, and in some cases, it may stop in front of the person and speak to him. If for some reason a strange ghost likes you, then it will take you to the place where the treasure is buried, but ask you not to take a single coin for yourself, but to distribute everything to those in need. If the one who got the treasure does not fulfill this condition, then the gold coins found and appropriated by him will turn to dust.

One day the Lady of Eht met a young man returning home at night on the road. She pointed out to him the place where the treasure was buried, and said that he could take it for himself if he only dug up the treasure without making a sound. But the stupid young man, seeing a chest full of gold, could not help shouting with joy, after which both the chest and the ghost in literally fell through the ground. The headless ghost has not been seen since. Apparently, the Lady was completely disappointed in people and left for another world.

5. Black Lady of the Nesvizh Castle

The Black Lady is the ghost of Barbara Radziwill, a representative of one of the noblest families in Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Previously, she could be found in one of the rooms of her family nest - Nesvizh Castle. The ghost looked like a beautiful blond woman with sad brown eyes in a rich black dress and pearls on a slender neck.

It so happened that, while still alive, the young and beautiful princess met with the heir to the Polish crown, Sigismund August. As usual, passion arose between young people, they became lovers and, as a result, secretly got married. Shortly thereafter, Sigismund August's first wife died of epilepsy, and Barbara was presented to the court as the legitimate wife of the king. Unfortunately, the queen mother of Bona Sforza hated all the offspring of the Radziwill family, and therefore Barbara was soon poisoned by her order and died in terrible agony. She was not buried in the tomb of the Polish kings, but the body was taken to her native castle.

Oddly enough, but this is perhaps the only ghost whose origin can be explained by something other than the rich imagination of the people who saw it. Barbara, for example, was seen by many people during a seance arranged for the inconsolable king by the famous "magician and spellcaster" of that time, Pan Tvardovsky. He summoned the spirit the dead queen with the help of the so-called magic mirror, having previously agreed with the king that he would not try to touch his wife. Of course, the king could not stand it, tried to hug her, and she disappeared with a loud ringing. The secret of its appearance lies in the mirror, which Pan Tvardovsky, who left the Nesvizh castle in a hurry, left there. Behind a thin layer of amalgam, the image of Barbara is engraved, exactly as she was in life. If the light hits the mirror at a certain angle, then the ghost appears in the room.

Agree, this is an amazing trick in its execution, and explains quite a lot. It is quite possible that the rest of the ghosts seen by people in other parts of the world and under other circumstances appeared due to some understandable reasons. Another thing is that these reasons are still unknown.

6 Ghost Ship

Surprisingly, the most famous ghost in the world is not a man, but a ship - the Flying Dutchman. It is observed off the southern coast of Africa to this day, however, always at a great distance. It is described as an old shabby sailing ship. Previously, until the 20th century, sailors allegedly managed to get close to the ghost ship, and then it was possible to distinguish the ghostly silhouettes of emaciated men (according to another version, skeletons moving along the deck).

Fata Morgana

According to legend, the captain of the ship Philip van der Decken fell in love with a girl, but she did not reciprocate, and then a stern sailor killed her fiancé. The girl did not survive this and threw herself off a cliff into the sea, and Van der Decken had to flee. When trying to go around the Cape of Good Hope, his ship got into a strong storm, but the ambitious captain did not want to wait out the bad weather in some bay. Instead, he began to blaspheme and swore that none of his crew would go ashore until they rounded "that damn cape", which brought a curse on himself and his crew. Since then, the ship has been forced to sail the ocean, and none of the crew has been able to go ashore. There is a version that the captain can set foot ashore once every ten years for exactly one day, and if during this time he finds a girl who voluntarily agrees to become his wife, then the curse will disappear.

The appearance of the Flying Dutchman is often explained by the phenomenon of Fata Morgana - a mirage that occurs in the sea above the surface of the water.

7. The Ghost of Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn is another ghost not tied to a specific location. According to history, it can be found anywhere in the UK. Most often, eyewitnesses claim to have seen her wandering the corridors of the Tower of London, sitting near a window in Dean Convent in Windsor or on the estates of Blickling Hall. She is described as high beautiful woman dressed in white, carrying a severed head in her hands. Sometimes she was seen riding in a wagon drawn by headless horses, driven by a headless coachman.

The story of the ghost of Anne Boleyn originates in another legend of unrequited love. Anna was the second wife of the English King Henry VIII. For her he founded anglican church. It was necessary to divorce previous spouse: The Papal See at that time was categorically against divorce proceedings, especially when it came to monarchs. One way or another, the king married Anna, she bore him a daughter, but then the king's love ended, and he became interested in a new favorite. Heinrich accused the unfortunate Anna of high treason, took him into custody and subsequently executed him. Since then, Anna has been forced to roam the expanses of her native country, unable to find peace.

Interestingly, no one has ever seen the ghost of the treacherous Heinrich. At least, there is nothing about it in written sources. As for Anna, her frequent appearances are written in every guidebook of a more or less famous castle.

8. The Brown Lady of Ryman Hall

The Brown Lady is the ghost of Lady Dorothy Walpole, according to official sources, the wife of Viscount Townsend II, who died in 1726. Her father for a long time did not give consent to their marriage, and when Dorothy nevertheless married the viscount, she very soon fell in love with another person. Her angry husband locked her in one of the rooms in their castle, Ryman Hall. It is believed that she died of smallpox, but some historians tend to believe that the cause of death was depression from separation from her lover. There is also a version that a jealous husband pushed her down the stairs.

Since then, the Brown Lady has been seen in the corridors of the estate more than once. It is believed that she cannot leave Ryman Hall until she finds her children, whom she did not see until her death due to her husband's ban on dating them. She looks like a blurry female figure in a strict brown dress. It's a pretty "peaceful" ghost. The lady never tried to make contact with eyewitnesses, did not speak to them and did not even look in their direction - she simply wandered through the corridors of the house and disappeared as suddenly as she appeared.

Surprisingly, there is even one photograph of this ghost, taken in 1936 by respected photographers Captain Provand and his assistant Indre Shira. These people had an impeccable reputation, so most of the inhabitants of that time did not question the authenticity of the photo. It was published in the authoritative magazine Rural Life and served as an excellent advertisement for the old estate. However, it is impractical to talk about the authenticity of the photo today: firstly, even in the first half of the 20th century it was easy to make such a fake, and secondly, there is no more documentary evidence of the existence of a ghost.

9. Black dogs

Black dogs are traditionally described as shaggy dogs the size of a calf with glowing red eyes and a baring mouth with huge fangs. They were seen only in Great Britain and Ireland, most often near river and sea shores or in cemetery graveyards. Otherwise, the legends about the terrible black dogs vary greatly. According to some sources, a meeting with a dog means imminent death, either immediately from its fangs, or soon from an incurable disease. According to other beliefs, dogs were considered, despite their appearance, good messengers and could lead lonely girls walking home at night along the road or lead a lost child out of the forest, and they were dangerous only for sinners or criminals.

Some esotericists explain the appearance of black dogs by the fact that some magnetic parallels supposedly pass in these places (controversial version). Others believe that dogs are an energy imprint of dogs that lived in the past in these places, and their appearance is due to meteorological phenomena. Still others say that these are just ordinary dogs that have appeared at a distance from you, and fear, as you know, has large eyes.

It has never been possible to shoot a black dog on film, so there is no documentary evidence of their existence. Of course, a century and a half ago, corpses with obvious traces of fangs on the body were found in the vastness of Great Britain, but ordinary wolves could also do this to a lone traveler.

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The ghost of the Brown Lady is said to have haunted Raynham Hall, the family estate of the Marquesses of Townsend, a few miles southwest of Faiknham in Norfolk, England, for the past 250 years. The ghost got its nickname because of the brown brocade dress in which, according to eyewitnesses, it usually appears. The Brown Lady was once photographed, resulting in the most impressive perfume photograph available.

Raynham Hall estate

According to legend, the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall is the ghost of Lady Dorothy Walpole (1686-1726), sister of Sir Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. She was the second wife of the Marquis Charles Townsend, known for his violent temper. The story goes that when Townsend discovered that his wife had committed adultery with Lord Wharton, he punished her by locking her in her rooms at the family home at Raynham Hall. Dorothy remained there, deprived even of the opportunity to see her children, until her death from smallpox in 1726.

It is believed that the first appearance of a ghost took place during Christmas 1835, when Lord Charles Townsend invited many guests to the celebration at Raynham Hall. One of them, Colonel Loftus, said that, along with another guest named Hawkins, he saw the Brown Lady as they were heading to their bedrooms. They were immediately surprised by her old-fashioned brown dress. The next evening, Loftus claimed to have seen the Brown Lady again, this time occupied by the ghost's empty eye sockets darkening against a beaming face. Because of Loftus's stories, some of the servants left Raynham Hall forever.

The Adventures of Marryat

The next time the Brown Lady was seen in 1836 was Captain Frederick Marryat, a friend of the writer Charles Dickens, the author of a number of famous marine novels. It is said that Marryat himself asked to spend the night in a haunted room: he wanted to prove his theory that rumors about ghosts were spread by local smugglers to scare away unwanted witnesses. In 1917, Florence Marryat recounted her father's experience:

“He settled in the room in which the portrait of Lady Dorothy Walpole hung, and in which she was most often seen, and slept every night with a loaded revolver under his pillow. During the first two days he did not notice anything, and after the third night he had to leave. However, on the third night, just as he was about to undress and go to bed, two young men (nephews of the baronet) knocked on his door and asked him to come into their room (which was at the other end of the corridor) and evaluate the new pistol, just arrived from London.

My father was only in a shirt and trousers, but since the hour was late and everyone had already gone to rest, he decided to go to the young people as he was. As he left the room, he grabbed his revolver and said, laughing, "In case you run into the Brown Lady." After examining the new pistol, the young men, in the same joking spirit, announced that they would escort my father back to his room. "In case you run into the Brown Lady," they repeated, also laughing. So the gentlemen set out again, the three of them, down the corridor.

The corridor was long and dark, because the servants had already put out all the lamps, but when they reached the middle of it, they noticed the dim flickering of a lamp approaching them from the other end. “One of the ladies must have decided to check on the children,” young Townsend whispered to my father. The doors of the bedrooms in this corridor were located opposite each other, and each room had double doors with a vestibule between them, as was the custom in many old houses. My father, as I mentioned above, was only in a shirt and trousers, and because of his natural modesty, he felt awkward. So he slipped through one of the doors (his friends followed suit), deciding to wait in hiding until the lady passed by.

I remember him describing how he slitted her closer and closer as she approached, until she was close enough for him to make out the colors and style of her costume, and then he recognized the figure as a replica of the "Brown Lady" portrait. . He put his finger on trigger revolver, about to demand that the strange figure stop and give an explanation for his presence here, when she stopped of her own free will in front of the door behind which he was standing, raised a lighted lamp so that it illuminated the features of a ghostly face and grinned at him in the most malicious and diabolical way. This mockery enraged my father, who could be anything but a sheep, so he jumped out into the corridor in one jump and shot right in the face of the ghost. The figure instantly vanished - a figure that was observed for several minutes by three eyewitnesses - and the bullet went through the outer door of the room on the opposite side of the corridor, and got stuck in the inner panel. My father never tried to get in the way of the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall again.

In 1926, Lady Townsend said that her son and his friend saw a ghostly figure on the stairs, exactly the same as in the portrait of Lady Dorothy Walpole.

History of photography

September 19, 1936, London photographer Captain Hubert C. Provand (Hubert C. Provand) and his assistant Indre Shira (Indre Shira) took pictures of the Rainham Hall estate for an article in the magazine "Country life" ("Country life"). They had already photographed the main staircase of Raynham Hall and were adjusting their equipment to take a second shot when Shira saw "a hazy shape gradually taking on the shape of a woman" moving towards them down the stairs. Prompted by Shira, Provand quickly removed the cap from the lens while Shira fired the flash. And so the famous image of the Brown Lady was born.

However, some skeptics claim that Shira forged the image by applying some kind of fatty substance to the lens in the form of a female figure, or went down the stairs himself during the slow shutter speed of the camera. There are also versions that light somehow got into the camera, or that this image was obtained due to accidental double exposure. Researchers John Fairley and Simon Welfare wrote: "A very faint line is visible above each step of the stairs, which proves that one image was superimposed on another: so the highlight at the top of the railing on the right appears twice."

Other careful critics point out that the image of the Brown Lady in the photo is very reminiscent of the standard figurine of the Virgin Mary in a long robe, which can be found in any Catholic church. The covered head, hands folded as if in prayer, and even the square or rectangular pedestal on which it stands are clearly visible. This suggests that the photograph of the ghost is, in fact, a simple superimposition of the statue of the Madonna on the empty staircase.

Be that as it may, a well-known paranormal researcher studied the negative of the photograph and stated that he found absolutely no trace of a fake.

The Brown Lady is also said to appear at Houghton Hall, in Lady Dorothy's brother's house, built on the site of an old family home where the Walpoles lived for about 600 years. After all, Lady Walpole spent the happiest and most carefree years of her life outside the walls of the cruel estate of Raynham Hall.