Commonly known as "The Brown Lady", this photo is undoubtedly the most well known and familiar image of a spirit ever captured on camera.Taken in 1936, the photo shows the "Brown Lady" ghost at Raynham Hall in England.
She is called the "Brown Lady" due to the brown brocade dress that the ghost has often been seen wearing while wandering the halls and staircase of Raynham Hall.
As the story goes, two photographers, Captain Provand and his assistant Indre Shira, from Country Life magazine, were capturing the old Hall when one of the men caught sight of the ghost. A photograph was quickly taken just seconds before the figure disappeared.
When the snap was developed, it clearly showed a faint, vaporous figure gliding down a staircase.
Despite close examination by many experts, no signs of fraud have ever been detected.
Although some sceptics would probably argue that the photo appears to be a relatively easy double exposure trick, the question is still asked today: Why would two well-known photographers, with an extremely good reputation, decide to fake a ghost photo? Their reputation alone makes it highly improbable that they would do such a thing. The debate about The Brown Lady photograph still rages on even to this day.
The other unusual thing is that the ghost was seen before the photo was taken. Normally, most paranormal photos aren't discovered till after the film has been developed, so photographers do not usually get the opportunity to see a ghost, photograph it and have such a perfect image of it appear on film.
The ghost seen in the photo is reportedly that of Lady Dorothy Walpole, who once lived at Raynham Hall.Born in 1686, she "officially" died of smallpox in 1726.
She was the sister of Sir Robert Walpole, who was considered to be England's first Prime minister.
In addition to The Brown Lady, a number of other ghosts have been seen at Raynham Hall: The Duke of Monmouth, two ghostly children and a ghost of a cocker spaniel.