Ghost Story

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The Brown Lady

~ michaelhvs ~ 1 Comment

The legend of The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall dates back centuries. Lady Dorothy Walpole (1686-1726), a distant relative of my daughter-in-law, was the second wife of Charles Townshend. Upon learning of her prior extra-marital affair with Lord Thomas Wharton, the temperamental Townshend had her locked into her room at the family estate and forbade her to see any of her seven children. She remained there until she died. Her cause of death is still debated. She either succumbed to smallpox or suffered a broken neck from being pushed down the Grand Staircase.

However she perished, the reports of her ghost appearing in the halls of her family home are well documented. The first sighting was in 1835 by Colonel Loftus, a Christmas guest of Viscount Townshend, who allegedly saw a female image clad in a brown brocade dress, as he was retiring for the evening. He recognized her from her portrait that hung in the hallway. He chose not to remain in the house.

The next year, Captain Fredrick Marryat, a friend of Charles Dickens and a popular author of sea novels, specifically requested to spend the night in the “haunted room.” He claims to have come face to face with The Brown Lady. Startled, he discharged his firearm point blank at the image which immediately vanished. His bullet lodged in the door across the corridor.

In 1936, a photographer for Country Life magazine was taking pictures for an article on Raynham Hall. He captured an image (pictured above) that some believe to be proof of the spectre. It has been largely discredited. There have been no further sightings since that time.

Michael Ondrasik and Home Video Studio specialize in family memories through the digialization of film, videotapes, audio recordings, photos, negatives, and slides. For more information, call 352-735-8550 or visit our website.

Ghostly Encounter

~ michaelhvs ~ Leave a comment

I love uncovering the stories that are embedded in the lives of our ancestors. This one comes from a history of the Webb family of White County, Tennessee written by Charles C. Webb. It involves Washington Webb (born 1813). He was the first cousin of my niece’s husband (6 times removed).

“Washington was not afraid of anything except ghosts. It seems that on most Saturday evenings, Washington would walk a few miles to visit with Wayman Webb. He would come after dark and would leave after midnight.

His grandchildren learned of his fear of ghosts. On one Saturday evening they took a white sheet and went down the road and scared him as he was passing by. The boys ran through the woods and were back in the house when Washington arrived out of breath. He began telling of how he could not get away from the ghost when the boys laughed. He knew what had happened and stated that the next time anyone tried to scare him that they would get bullets. The boys did not have the nerve to try the prank again.

Sometime later, Washington arrived on a Saturday evening and calmly stated that someone had tried to scare him and that they would find the body down the road in a fence row.

At first the boys were not impressed, then they decided to take a lantern and investigate. In a zig-zag rail fence on a neighbor’s farm, they found a white jersey cow with several bullet holes in her. She was only guilty of grazing in the moonlight and raising her head above the fence to look at Washington as he passed.

Washington paid for the cow, but no one ever tried to scare him after that.”

Michael Ondrasik and Home Video Studio specialize in the preservation of family memories through the digitalization of film, videotapes, audio recordings, photos, negatives, and slides. For more information, call 352-735-8550 or visit our website.

A Ghost Story

~ michaelhvs ~ Leave a comment

I’ve never been much interested in ghost stories. In fact, the fascination they bring to others is something of a mystery to me. Of course, that was before I found that I have an ancestor who is a central figure in one.

General “Mad” Anthony Wayne, the third great grandfather of the wife of my grand-uncle was a Revolutionary soldier. He was instrumental in keeping the Northwest Territory a part of the fast developing United States of America.

His ghost story comes as a result of his unfortunate demise. After winning decisive battles in the west and negotiating a treaty with the Indian natives, thus enabling Ohio to join the Union, Mad Anthony Wayne succumbed to an infection brought on by gout. He died at a fort in Erie Pennsylvania. Some thirteen years after his death, his son was sent to reclaim the body and bring it to the family home in Chester County.

Upon exhuming the remains, they were shocked to find the body in a far better condition than expected after spending thirteen years in the ground. Knowing that it would be unwise to try and transport a semi-decomposed body in the small cart they had, they rendered the corpse. This meant they boiled the flesh from the bones, a not uncommon occurrence in those days. They gathered the freshly cleansed bones, poured the rest back into the original burial site and set out for Chester County. But as the legend goes, the bones, being loosely packed, were jostled free along the bumpy journey. The result being that not all the bones made it to the final resting place.

Some locals swear that on every January 1st (Anthony Wayne’s birthday) he rises from his grave in Erie, not at all happy to have been strewn haphazardly throughout the countryside. He reportedly rides along Route 322 leading to Chester County astride his horse Nancy in search of his missing bones.  

Michael Ondrasik and Home Video Studio specialize in the preservation of family memories through the digitalization of film, videotapes, audio recordings, photos, negatives, and slides. For more information, call 352-735-8550 or visit our website.