Classic Ghost Photographs - The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall

This is the first part of a series I'm going to be posting about old ghost photographs.

What is the oldest ghost photo floating out there on the internet? Honestly, its quite difficult to find anything that isn't "vortex's" or "orbs". If you have or know of a picture from before 1990 I'd love to see it.

This picture is what peaked my interest in the paranormal. When I was in grade four my school's library had a book on ghosts. This picture was a full page and has stayed with me all these years.

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The story of the photograph is this:
The picture was taken in 1936 at Raynham Hall in Norfolk, England. The photographers - Captain Provand and Indre Shira were taking photographs of the 17th century staircase for the magazine Country Life.

While taking pictures of the staircase Indre Shira saw something coming down the stairs towards them. He yelled out to Captain Provand to take the picture. He did and this was the result. What looks like the form of a woman in the middle of the stairs.



Convincing I know, but whats a ghost photo without the skepticism. I came across a feature article written in September 2006; 70 years after the original Brown lady photo was taken. In in this article Alan Murdie details not only the origins of this photo but also the investigations into its authenticity.

A report by Mr CVC Herbert states that the photo could have been the result of faulty equipment. From his report:

"Anomalies in the picture become apparent when a light and uncropped copy of the Brown Lady photograph is examined. The anomalies do not centre upon the figure – upon which the eye naturally concentrates – but what is going on in the foreground and background. On the left hand side as the viewer sees the picture, (i.e. on the Brown Lady’s right hand side) hangs a framed picture on the wall. Immediately beneath, seemingly hovering in the air, is a duplicate image of this picture. Equally, when one looks at the length of the banisters, they do not connect, and the angles suggest that the camera has been shaken and the staircase accidentally photographed twice."

I'd hate to admit it, but I see it.
Look a the banisters. Start at the top and slowly follow the banister down. When you reach the dark spot near the middle you can see that when it becomes light again they no longer line up.To me this shows the camera was shaken or moved during exposure.

What do you think?

I think that is the hardest part of investigating making sure what you have can't be bedunked immediately