The Ghost Of Rayham Hall

Rayham Hall is an estate in Norfolk (England). For almost 400 years it was the seat of the Townshend family. The estate gave the name to the five villages known as The Raynhams, but the world fame thanks to a photo of the Ghost Lady brown. [7]

The story itself about the Ghost Rayham Hall (the"brown lady" or lady Browne) known for quite some time.

The first known cases of encounters with the Ghost is the story that happened in the early nineteenth century. George IV, who was then Regent of great Britain, spent the night in Rayham Hall. Waking up in the night, he saw standing beside the bed, a pale woman with disheveled hair.

Another famous case was the meeting with the same Ghost of a Colonel Loftus in 1835. He was met in the Lobby Christmas eve and suddenly the night has seen a Ghost. The military gave chase, but the Ghost ran up the stairs and disappeared. The next night took place a new meeting – Loftus met the "brown lady" on the stairs, the Ghost was carrying a lamp. The Colonel recalls that the woman was dressed in a gorgeous brocade, and her hair was hidden in a cap. The sockets were dark and empty. Loftus is so well remembered that meeting, which later drew the mysterious Ghost.

On the following well-known fact of the meeting with the Ghost, told the writer Frederick Marryat. One night he and two members of the family of Townshend's faced the "brown lady". The writer kept his head and shot her at close range, but, according to him, the bullet passed through the Ghost. Later she was found in doors for the place where was the Ghost. [1,2]

The most famous story about this Ghost made up once in 1936 during the filming of Rayham Hall he was captured on the photo. Lady Townshend invited the photographer Indra Shire to photograph the interior of Rayham Hall. The photographer's assistant decided to take some pictures of the stairs with a magnesium flash when the stairs appeared the Ghost of a woman dressed in white. He was visible only to the photographer. The Ghost went down, and Shire took a few pictures, which later became very famous. These photos were published in the magazine "Country Life" (country life) December 1, 1936.

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A scanned page of a magazine with a photograph of the brown lady Ghost [5]

It is assumed that lady in the brown classic dress – Dorothy, sister of Robert Walpole and the former wife of the Marquis Townshend's, 1686 birth. At the age of 26 she married a hero of his children's love, which by that time a widower. According to legend, Townshend learned that Dorothy was cheating on him with Lord Wharton, and locked her in their own rooms. In 1726 she died under mysterious circumstances. It is obvious that her death in some way was connected with this house. [2]

We will not consider the entire history of observations of the Ghost Lady Browne, and will focus only on pictures made by Indra for the Shire, as they are the only material evidence of the existence of this Ghost.

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In them we see a woman dressed in white, with covered head, leaning to one side, and different in brightness, the angle of the hem. We can assume that is a play of light or a defect in the shooting that occurred in error during developing or printing the image. Not be ruled out as a montage, i.e. a deliberate distortion of the image.

Because history says that in addition to the photographer no one else saw the Ghost, the latter hypothesis seems the most likely.

When we look at the features of the brown Lady in this picture is very reminiscent of the virgin Mary with a baby in her arms, in the position in which it is often depicted on statues of bowed to one side of the head, spacious robes with pleated ruffle skirt. Also clearly visible traits of the baby (head, shoulders, legs). These statues are very common: they are placed in Catholic churches, homes and sometimes even on the graves. If there was falsification, then find "the" statue is hardly possible, however, because of their similarity it is possible to consider any of these.

Compare consider the (increased contrast) photograph of the sculpture "Madonna and child" are in the Hermitage:

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Though this photograph of the Hermitage is taken from a different angle, common features are guessed.

Thus, this image of a Ghost, most likely, is the result of a montage, made by superimposing the translucent image of the statue of the virgin Mary with the baby in the original the empty stairs.

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»