This ghost is thought to be Lady Dorothy Walpole, sister of Sir Robert Walpole who was Britain’s first Prime Minister and resided at nearby Houghton Hall. She was Mistress of the Manor during the early eighteenth century.

Following her passing after a rather turbulent adulthood married to Charles, 2nd Viscount Townshend, Lady Walpole took to a very active afterlife, as the Brown Lady. Why, this name you ask? It’s because of the notorious brown silk brocade dress that she appears in.

Now, Lord Charles Townshend admitted to seeing the Brown Lady several times in his bedroom and the children of the family had asked who the Brown Lady was that came into their bedroom frequently. But, her usual haunts were the corridors and stairways of the Hall, and it is here, on the grand main staircase, that Lady Walpole made her most famous appearance.

In 1835, Major Loftus, a family friend - no relation to Mayor Loftus from our current spooky fave Widow’s Bay (on Apple TV) - was attending a party at the Hall when in the early hours encountered The Brown Lady - He stated ‘a handsome woman, dressed in brown – but to his horror, two empty eye sockets represented the place where her eyes should have been.’

Apparently, on hearing this tale, all the staff at Raynham Hall handed in their notice!

The next person to encounter The Brown Lady was Captain Frederick Marryat in 1836. In the words of his Daughter, Florence, The Brown Lady did not listen to his demands to stop, ‘but grinned in a malicious and diabolical manner at him. This act so infuriated her father that he discharged his revolver right in her face. The figure instantly disappeared and the bullet passed through the door and lodged into the panel of the door opposite. Her father never attempted again to interfere with The Brown Lady of Raynham’.

In 1936 the Brown Lady made her most famous appearance. On 19th September, two photographers, Captain Hubart Provand and Indre Shira, from Country Life magazine visited Raynham Hall to document its illustrious and unique architecture. While Provand prepared to take a photo or the grand staircase, with his head under the black cloth, Shira suddenly saw:

‘A vapoury form gradually assuming the appearance of a woman.’

Shira shouted the command to quickly take the photo, and seconds later the image that was published in Country Life on 26th December 1936 was captured.

You MUST check this article out for yourself.