# The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall -- debunk this ghost story!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brown-lady-of-raynham-hall-debunk-this-ghost-story/147815>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 10, 2003, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brown-lady-of-raynham-hall-debunk-this-ghost-story/147815 "2003-01-10T21:18:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brown-lady-of-raynham-hall-debunk-this-ghost-story/147815/1 "2003-01-10T21:18:04Z")

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Our local weekly newspaper, the [Mountain Xpress](http://www.mountainx.com/ae/2003/0108paranormal.html), recently ran a story about a local “ghost hunter.” In the story, they show an apparently infamous picture of the Brown Lady of Raynham Hall, declaring that the picture is “widely acknowledged as genuine.” (this picture and caption appear only in the print edition, not in the referenced online article).

I’m guessing that it’s also acknowledged as fake, but the closest i can find to a debunking of the photograph is a short paragraph at [The Museum of Hoaxes](http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/raynham.html), stating that

> [@](#):
>
> Skeptics, however, argue that the picture is a fake. The photo analyst Joe Nickell examined the photograph and concluded that it was nothing more than two images composited together.

Does anyone know of a more detailed analysis of the photograph than this? Is there a more interesting history of the photograph?

Thanks!  
Daniel

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**Author:** ![squid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@squid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squid)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brown-lady-of-raynham-hall-debunk-this-ghost-story/147815/2 "2003-01-10T21:23:26Z")

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I’m sure if i looked hard at all of my BAD photographs at home i could also find some ghosts.

“In many publications it is presented as actual photographic proof of the existence of ghosts.”

Give me a break.