Friday July 11,2008- The White Lady

We all know and love her.
She goes by many names and has just as many death scenes

A White Lady is a type of female ghost who is supposed to have died tragically or suffered trauma in life. White Lady legends are found around the world. Common to many of them is the theme of losing or being betrayed by a husband or fiancé. They are often associated with an individual family line, as a harbinger of death. When one of these ghosts is seen it indicates that someone in the family is going to die

United States
The gold rush ghost town of Bodie, California, is home to many ghost stories. One involves "The White Lady," a woman who was affianced to a miner from Bodie. On his way to trade his gold for cash, he rented room #19 at the Bridgeport Inn in nearby Bridgeport and left his fiancée in the safety of the inn, as he felt it too dangerous for her to accompany him on his journey. Unfortunately, the miner was robbed and killed on his way to claim his fortune. Upon hearing of his demise, distraught and unsure of what to do next, the White Lady hung herself in her room. An apparition of a woman dressed in white (possibly in a wedding dress) is said to walk the halls of the Bridgeport Inn to this day, waiting for her lover’s return.

Great Britain
Castle Huntly, Scotland, is said to be haunted by a young woman dressed in flowing white robes. There are various stories concerning her history, one of which is that she was a daughter of the Lyon family who occupied the castle in the 17th century. When her affair with a manservant was discovered, she was banished to a high tower overlooking the battlements. Unable to endure her suffering, she threw herself to her death from the tower. The ghost of the White Lady has been seen a number of times over the years, often on the grounds surrounding the castle. She has also been seen in the room in which she was imprisoned.

Ireland
Charles Fort, a former British military station near Kinsale, is said to be haunted by a White Lady:
Colonel Warrender, the governor appointed to the fort shortly after its completion, had a daughter named "Willful" who married Sir Trevor Ashurst. On their wedding night, as they walked along the battlements of the fort, the bride desired some of the flowers that grew on the rocks beneath the wall. The nearby sentry offered to fetch the flowers if Sir Trevor would take his place while he did so.
Sir Trevor agreed, taking the sentry’s greatcoat and musket and standing at his post. While waiting for the sentry to return, Sir Trevor, exhausted by the day’s excitement and the alcohol he had consumed at the wedding, fell asleep. When the governor made his round of the sentries, he became angry and shot Sir Trevor for sleeping on duty.
After inspecting the body, he realized his mistake. When his daughter learned what had happened, she flung herself off the battlements, later reappearing as the White Lady of Charles Fort.
The ghost has been sighted on several occasions. Major Black, who served in the fort in the early 1800s, reported seeing her figure passing up and down the stairs. In 1880, Captain Marvell Hull and Lieutenant Hartland reported being confronted by a woman in a white dress. When she turned towards them, they saw that her face, while beautiful, was entirely colorless. She then passed through a locked door. Other officers of the fort once reported being flung down the stairs by an invisible source.[8]

Brazil
Called Dama Branca or Mulher de Branco in Portuguese, the Brazilian Lady in White is the ghost of a young woman who died of childbirth or violent causes. She appears as pale woman in a long white dress or a sleeping gown. Though usually speechless, the Lady in White will occasionally, in a sad voice, recount to witnesses her misfortunes. The origins of the myth are not clear, Luís da Câmara Cascudo's Dicionário do Folclore Brasileiro (Brazilian Folklore Dictionary) proposes that the ghost is related to the violent deaths of young white women who were killed by their fathers or husbands out of honour revenge. The most frequent reasons for these honor killings were adultery (actual or suspected), denial of sex, or abuse. Monteiro Lobato in his book Urupês describes a young woman starved to death by her husband because he suspected she was in love with a slave and only gave her for food the stewed meat of his corpse.
The Lady in White usually haunts houses, but sometimes is found around them as well.

The Czech Republic
The best-known White Lady of the Czech Republic is the ghost of Perchta of Rožmberk at Rožmberk Castle. Perchta of Rožmberk was a daughter of an important Czech nobleman, Oldřich II of Rožmberk. She married another nobleman, Jan of Lichtenštejn (John of Liechtenstein). The matrimony was quite unhappy. One of the reasons might have been the fact that Perchta’s father had been quite reluctant in paying the agreed upon dowry. During the married life Perchta had written many letters to her father and brothers with colourful descriptions of her unhappy family life. Some 32 of these letters had been handed down.

Philippines
The White Lady of Balete Drive, in Quezon City, is a ghost who appears as a long-haired woman in a white dress. According to legend, she was raped and killed by Japanese soldiers during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in World War II. Most of the stories that have come out about her were told by taxi drivers doing the graveyard shift. In other instances it is said that when solitary people drive by Balete Drive in the wee hours of the morning, they tend to see the face of a woman in white in the rear view mirror for a split second before the apparition disappears. Some accidents on this road are blamed on the White Lady.[citation needed] ⅜

Finland
There's also a white lady in Finland. The story goes that once upon a time there was a lady whose man was fighting in the Second World War. The lady was anxiously waiting at home in her mansion in Maalahti for her man to come home, alive. She waited for days, weeks and several months for her husband to come home. A year later the man finally came home. But the lady had heard that her man was cheating on her. She became so angry that when the man came home, she stood on the balcony railing and stabbed herself in her heart and fell down in the arms of her man. After that, many many years later when people have tried to sleep in that house, they've seen the shape of a lady standing behind the curtains singing. They've also heard female voices so nobody never dare to sleep in that house ever again.