Creature Feature Friday: The Apparition of the 'Woman in White'
Today we are out exploring the beautiful and haunted Burn Brae Mansion in New York! Burn Brae Mansion holds tales of different ghosts and paranormal activity within its many rooms, from a man in turn-of-the-century clothing, to children’s voices, to creepy organ music. It is also home to one of the more famous figures of ghost lore - the “Woman in White.” The apparition of a pale lady in a white gown has become a common sighting over centuries of ghost stories, but remains no less chilling across history and culture. What do you know about the Woman in White?
1) The “Woman in White” or the “Lady in White” is a female apparition who appears wearing some kind of white dress, be it a bridal gown, burial shroud, or similar white garment. Most local legends featuring the Woman in White center around some kind of loss that the woman experienced in life, including but not limited to her murder or suicide, the death of her children, unrequited love or an engagement torn apart, or betrayal by her lover. Having endured such pain while living, the Woman in White now cannot rest in death and continues to roam the world in her ghostly white gown.
2) The archetype of the Woman in White bears several representations across different cultures. Medieval legend painted the Lady in White as a harbinger of death, often appearing within the house of a family member who would soon die. Other European tales present the White Lady as a guard who watches over some type of treasure. Specific to the Netherlands are tales of “white maidens” who can be either malevolent beings - abducting babies and women, and doling out punishments - or benevolent ones, offering advice or helping women in childbirth. Still other stories use the Woman in White as a cautionary tale to warn of danger, sometimes linked to locations where real tragedies occurred and became the inception for the Woman in White lore.
3) Sightings of the Woman in White are an international phenomenon with encounters and legends recorded in multiple regions, including Europe, North America, South America, Russia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia, making the Woman in White one of the most iconic ghost figures in history.
Some of these figures are recognized women said to haunt specific places, like the ghost of Perchta of Rožmberk, the White Lady of the Czech Republic. She is believed to haunt Rožmberk Castle in her white gown, as a result of being cursed by her husband on his deathbed when she refused to forgive him for their unhappy marriage. Or the ghost of a duchess named Jakobine in Germany, who haunts the last remaining tower of the castle of Düsseldorf ever since she and her lover were murdered by her jealous husband. In Russia, a young lady named Bulzhuuhai Duuhai is said to have hanged herself after being forced into an unhappy marriage and transformed into a spirit, where she joined with other spirit maidens - "the Maidens of Uley" - who haunt fiancés on their wedding days.
Still other Lady in White entities are figures of folklore, nameless but frightening as their legends continue to be passed down through the centuries. In Japan, spirits known as the yūrei and onryō are depicted as women with long hair wearing white dresses. In Wales, Y Ladi Wen (The White Lady) or Dynes Mewn Gwyn (Woman in white) is a figure of Celtic mythology often characterized as a terrifying ghost who asks passersby for help or as a means of warning children not to misbehave. The United States has numerous tales of Ladies in White across many states, typically seen haunting cemeteries or hitchhiking along dark roads. Brazil is home to the Dama Branca or Mulher de Branco, the legend of a young woman who presumably died during childbirth, and appears to people as a pale woman in a white sleeping gown.
These legends are only a sampling of the countless Woman in White stories reaching across the globe, and though some accounts may only be legends or traditions, it seems impossible that all these centuries of encounters with the White Lady could be nothing more than stories - the tales are just too numerous, widespread, and enduring!
4) Arguably one of the most infamous images of a Woman in White was taken in Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery near Chicago, a small desecrated graveyard that has come to be known as one of the most haunted places in America. On August 10, 1991, the Ghost Research Society (GRS), investigated the cemetery, and took black-and-white with a high-speed infrared camera at a spot where they had been experiencing anomalies. Though it was reported that no one else was present in the cemetery at the time this particular photo was taken, when it was developed it revealed the clear image of a young woman in a white gown sitting on top of a tombstone. The woman looks nearly human, but many have pointed out that her feet appear to fade into the grass beneath her and her face is eerily lacking facial features. There have been attempts since the haunting photo was taken to recreate it, but the Woman in White of Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery has not been photographed in the same location again.
Have you ever seen the Woman in White? Share your experiences with us in the comment section below, or email theconfessionals@theconfessionalspodcast.com. For additional stories of the White Lady, you can also check out our blog 8 Chilling Childhood Encounters With La Llorona, a figure of Hispanic American folklore with a tragic story!
