What happened
Raynham Hall in Norfolk is the seat of the Townshend family. Tradition says it is haunted by Lady Dorothy Walpole (1686–1726), sister of Prime Minister Robert Walpole and wife of the 2nd Viscount Townshend, who was supposedly confined to her rooms by her husband and died there of smallpox. Her ghost – a woman in a brown brocade dress – was described as early as the 19th century: guests saw it at Christmas 1835, and a year later the naval officer and novelist Frederick Marryat reportedly fired a pistol at a figure in the corridor, according to his daughter. On 19 September 1936, Captain Hubert C. Provand and his assistant Indre Shira were photographing the great staircase for “Country Life.” Shira shouted that he could see a figure coming down, and at that moment the flash went off. The print shows a translucent, veiled shape. It was published on 26 December 1936 and went around the world.
Witnesses
Hubert C. Provand and Indre Shira (1936); earlier Colonel Loftus and a guest (1835) and Frederick Marryat (1836, according to his daughter Florence Marryat).
Explanations and hypotheses
The photograph was examined by Harry Price, who questioned both photographers and admitted he could not shake their story. Later analysts are skeptical: Joe Nickell and others point to signs of double exposure (including pale lines above the stair treads), and the magician John Booth produced a similar image by photographing a person in a sheet descending a staircase. Grease on the lens or movement during the exposure have also been suggested. The story of the imprisoned wife is itself uncertain – Lady Dorothy died of smallpox, and the tale of her confinement comes from period gossip.
Disputed A likely explanation exists, but some of the facts are still disputed.
Sources
- Country Life – The day a Country Life photographer captured an image of a ghost
- The Museum of Hoaxes – The Brown Lady of Raynham
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