Raynham Hall

 The Marquess of Townshend's building has been haunted by a mysterious Brown Lady since around 1755. There are no leads, but it is believed that the Lady's ghost is Dorothy Walpole, wife of the second Marquess of Townshend and daughter of the first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole.

1712, at the age of 26, Dorothy married Lord Charles Townshend. The couple had known each other since their teenage years, but Dorothy's father, who was also Charles's legal guardian, was initially opposed to the marriage, fearing public perception that he would seek to profit from the union. Townshend married another woman, and Dorothy became the mistress of Lord Wharton, who later fled the country to escape his creditors.

After the death of Charles's then-wife in 1711, he took advantage of the situation and became involved with Dorothy, and in 1712, with her father's consent, they married. The young wife tried unsuccessfully to conceal her relationship with Lord Warton from her new husband, who, upon learning of the news, locked Dorothy Walpolehis wife within the walls of Raynham Hall.

Dorothy officially died in 1726 of smallpox, but unofficially it's said to have been a broken heart. Legend also circulates that her death was caused by a broken cervical spine after a rather mysterious fall down the main staircase. Her ghost has haunted the estate ever since.

Captain Marryat, a Victorian writer, went to the manor one night with two of his nephews. A mysterious figure, a Lady, appeared before them, and they hid behind a door. They managed to spot the woman's brown clothing because she was carrying a lamp. As she passed the hidden trio, she gave them a "diabolical look." Marryat, terrified, drew his pistol and shot the woman. To his surprise, the bullet passed through the figure, and the apparition vanished into thin air. The bullet was still lodged in the doorway before which the figure stood.

To take some photos of the house's interior in 1936, Lady Townshend hired photographer Indre Shir. When he and his assistant, Mr. Povand, attempted to take a photo of the main staircase, they were met with a "vague figure resembling a woman wearing a bridal veil." Povand, who saw nothing, followed his boss's instructions and activated the camera. Later, when the photo was developed, the outline of a human figure did indeed emerge.

The photo appeared in the December 1, 1936, issue of Country Life magazine and sparked much controversy, and after numerous expert tests, it was found to be false. Ghost researcher Robert Thurston described the photo as "the truest ghost photograph we possess, and it cannot be omitted from any well of supernatural phenomena."