The Brown Lady  - her original identity is still a subject of speculation - has apparently haunted 17th Century Raynham Hall for over 250 years. She appears as a stately figure, robed in brocade, though her eye sockets are empty. She may be an itinerant ghost. The near-by Houghton Hall - owned by Sir Robert Walpole - was where she first appeared. When Walpole's sister married into Raynham's Townshend Family the spectre relocated too.

In the 19th Century, Captain Marryat (the famous author of sea stories) saw the Brown Lady and fired a pistol at her. The ghost vanished and the bullet was later found lodged in a door which was located behind the spot where the Brown Lady had been standing.

In 1936, a photographer from Country Life magazine set up his camera before a staircase that was known to be frequented by the phantom. He had just taken a photograph when his assistant saw a blurred shape coming down the steps and urged him to take another - that exposure produced the famous image seen above.