Strange case of the ghost in the castle

From the Echo, first published Tuesday 6th May 2003.

IS it a reflection or could it, just possibly, be the face of the ghost of Mary Bonham Christie, the reclusive grand owner of Brownsea Castle who died on the very day she left the island?

The photo was taken through a window of Brownsea Castle by Mrs Ann Foote, of Sandringham Close, Bournemouth when she and her husband Mike attended a private viewing of the island castle, courtesy of the John Lewis Partnership, in aid of the Fiona Appleyard Appeal.

And she and her husband Mike vow that there was no double exposure or computer manipulation to explain the mysterious face of an old woman.

"We had a lovely time and our host, the manager, invited us to explore the castle," she wrote to the Echo.

"What a wonderful place it is and the view from the roof of Poole and the whole of Poole harbour is something we will never forget.

"Mike took a camera and on Sunday put the photographs up on our home computer.

"In one of the frames Mike took from a bedroom window we noticed the outline of a face and when he enhanced the image it turned out to be that of an old woman.

"We don't know whether there are any recorded ghosts in the castle and have to say that we were both completely unaware at the time the photograph was taken of anything cold or sinister in the room.

"We do not think that the image is a likeness of any of the four of us who were in the room at the time."

So could it be a spooky image of Mary Bonham Christie?

She was the eccentric lady who fell in love with Brownsea and bought the island in 1927 for £125,000, promptly giving notice to the 120 or so families who lived there to move out.

From then on only a handful of people were allowed on the island, leaving nature to manage itself.

As the years passssed she became more and more reclusive, living in one room in the second floor with an oil stove in the centre on which she would cook, usually rustling up some eggs.

Even when her health started failing she would not leave her castle and island, until, eventually, at the age of 98, family pressure prevailed.

On the very day she left Brownsea to be looked after on the mainland she died. She did not spend a single night away from her cherished home.

Her son passed the island to the Treasury in lieu of death duties. They handed it over to the National Trust who invited the public back.

Well, ok. It's just a bit of speculation, but the image does resemble our picture of Mary. What do you think?

"If there is any previous record of a sighting of this lady we would be most interested to hear about it," added Mrs Foote.

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