London - She is, without a shadow of doubt, the most famous ghost at one of Britain’s most haunted sites.
But does this murky photograph show the fabled Grey Lady of Dudley Castle, or something less spooky?
The image was taken by Amy Harper, 28, on her smartphone during a visit to the castle – which dates back to 1071 – with her husband Dean, 33, and their three children.
It was only when they were back home in Birmingham that Mrs Harper took a closer look.
She zoomed in on the picture, taken from the castle tower, of Sharington Range, a ruined Tudor building in the grounds.
Suddenly, she saw a hazy image of a woman in grey standing inside the arch.
“It is really creepy,” said Mrs Harper. “Dean had heard about the ghost of the Grey Lady and we think it must be her.”
The photo sparked speculation on social media that it was either the result of clever editing or had been achieved by using a special app that can implant ghoulish figures into images.
But Mrs Harper denied the suggestion, insisting: “To be honest I wouldn’t have a clue where to start.”
Barri Ghai, lead investigator at the Ghostfinder Paranormal Society, who call themselves the UK’s leading ghosthunters, said the figure is “too vague and grainy” to be a hoax.
He believes it may be the result of “matrixing”, a term increasingly used among paranormal investigators to describe the human mind’s natural tendency to find something familiar in complex shapes or colours. This can cause the brain to think it can see a specific person.
Mr Ghai, whose team have appeared in television shows in the UK, US and Japan, said that in the case of the Grey Lady, the shadows and light in the arch, combined with knowledge of the ghost’s fable, make us see what we want to see.
Matrixing may also help explain why people think they can see faces or symbols, for example, in clouds or burnt into a piece of toast. But Mr Ghai said there could also be the far simpler explanation for the Grey Lady’s appearance – that someone happened to be standing in the shadows when the photo was taken.
Whatever the explanation, the photograph, which was taken in August, is only now creating a stir among ghosthunters – just in time for the Halloween season.
HER DYING WISH DENIED
THE Grey Lady is said to be the ghost of Dorothy Beaumont, wife of Dudley Castle’s Royalist second-in-command during the English Civil War in 1642.
She gave birth to a daughter who died after only a few months. Mad with grief, she herself died several months later during the taking of the castle by Roundheads. She was denied her dying wish to be buried next to her daughter and is said to have haunted the place ever since, appearing to search for the child.
Other ghosts reputed to roam Dudley Castle include the Brown Maiden, the Green Man, a Mad Monk and a Drummer Boy. - Daily Mail