The ghost? The famous Lady in Brown. The shooter, well known novelist, Captain Frederick Marryat.

The Lady in Brown is believed to be Dorothy Townsend, wife of Lord Townsend and sister to Sir Robert Walpole, the man considered to be the first Prime Minister of England. Why is she still haunting Raynham Hall?

The legend says that Lord Townsend discovered his wife was having an affair and that he decided to punish her. In one version he kills her by pushing her down the stairs. In another version he locks her up in a room and keeps her there until her death. The “official” version is that she contracted small pox and died on the 29th of March 1726.

It is said that she now roams the hallways of Raynham House searching for her children. Her husband had kept them apart either due to her illness, or by locking her up and now she is left searching. Over the years she has been sited by numerous people including a famous account by King George the 4th who woke up to see the spectre standing over his bed.

The most famous sighting of all was in 1936. Country Life Magazine was doing a story about the house and sent over two photographers to take pictures. Captain Provand and Indre Shira were taking pictures when they saw something mysterious coming down the stairs. It looked like some kind of mist. They were able to get one picture, which is now one of the most famous photographs of a ghost ever captured.

What is on the film? No one knows for sure. But according to numerous sources the photo has not been altered or tampered with. Ghost….you decide.

Lady in Brown Ghost

Raynham Hall – History Documentry

In the stairway of the hall there appears to be the figure of a young girl. Nobody, saw this girl at the scene of the of the fire. And how was she able to get so close to such an intense fire? And if nobody saw her, how is it that she appeared on Tony’s film?

Many believe that this is the ghost of a young girl named Jane Churm. According to local accounts Jane Churm had accidentally started a fire in the town of Wem in the year 1677. It is said that she dropped a candle and that the thatched roof of her house caught. The fire then quickly spread to many of the town’s houses and buildings, many of which were made of wood.

Sources are sketchy about the actual fire and the damage done. One reference claims the fire caused 23 677 pounds worth of damage. It has also been said that the fire in the town burned so hot that the village church bells melted and had to be re-cast. Some claim that Jane herself was a victim of the fire and now haunts the town hall.

The photograph has been studied by many different sources. There has been no evidence of tampering or altering. Sceptics, however claim that the image is just a strange combination of light, shadows and smoke.
Is it all just a trick of the light? Or is it the ghost of Jane, come back to another fire?