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A White Lady is a type of female ghost dressed in all white reportedly seen in rural areas and associated with some local legend of tragedy. While White Lady legends are found in many countries around the world, they are most prominent in parts of the United States, Ireland and Great Britain. Most famous is the lady in white in Rochester New York. Common to many of these legends is the theme of loss of a daughter or betrayal of a husband, boyfriend or fiancé.
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United Kingdom
In popular medieval legend, a White Lady is fabled to appear by day as well as by night in a house in which a family member is soon to die. According to The Nuttall Encyclopedia, these spirits were regarded as the ghosts of deceased ancestresses.
The White Lady (also known as the 'Running Lady') of Beeford, East Yorkshire resides on the "Beeford Straight", a stretch of road between Beeford and Brandesburton. Motorists have reported her apparition running across the Beeford Straight toward the junction of North Frodingham. Anecdotal tales also report a motorcyclist picking up a female hitchhiker on the same stretch of road. A few miles later the motorcyclist, upon turning around, noticed the passenger had vanished. In one instance, a car crashed into a tree killing 6 people. It is rumored to be her curse.
Another legend tells of the White Lady jumping off the Portchester Castle while she was carrying a child she didn't want. Her spirit is said to haunt the castle to this day.
Another legend says that she died in an automobile accident in 1983. She hitchhikes along the road she died on and when the people in the car come near the crash spot blood appears on her face and she points and screams at the spot where she died. The car with her 'soul' in it will crash and kill everybody and everything inside it.
United States
A White Lady who is said to haunt Durand-Eastman Park in Rochester, New York. Also known as the Lady in the Lake, the 19th-century White Lady wanders the park area, obsessively looking for the body of her daughter, who was slain by a boyfriend or group of hoodlums, depending on the story you hear. Legend has it that the human White Lady either killed herself in grief, or died alone and heartbroken.
"The Lady in White" or the "White Lady of Avenel", is the most commonly reported apparition at Avenel (Bedford, Virginia). The apparition is thought to be Mary Frances "Fran" Burwell, of the Burwell family of Virginia. "The legend has it that she stayed on the front porch waiting for her husband to come home from the Civil War, but he never did." says Adam Stupin, founder of SouthWest Virginia Ghost Hunters.
"The Ghostly Sphinx of Metedeconk" by Stephen Crane recounts the tale of a White Lady whose lover was drowned in 1815.
Union Cemetery in Easton, Connecticut has reported sightings of a white lady since the late 1940s, said to haunt the nearby Stepney Cemetery in Monroe, Connecticut.
Tolamato Cemetery in St. Augustine, Florida, has been home to stories of a haunting by a "lady in white" since the 19th century. Legend states that the ghost is the spirit of a young woman who died suddenly on her way to be married, and who was buried in her wedding dress.
In Mukilteo, Washington, there have been many alleged reports of a Lady In White vanishing hitchhiker just off of Clearview Drive in the forest or on the road near the treeline.
In Madisonville, Louisiana there is a legend about a woman called "The Silk Lady". Her ghost is said to haunt Palmetto Flats by Highway 22. The story goes that back in the mid-1800s there was a woman who was riding back from town after seeing her lover off. She was riding down an old logging trail when a snake spooked her horse. She fell, hit her head, and died as a result of the injury. Several people have reported her as a woman dressed in a whispy, silky dress and that her feet don't touch the ground. When she sees someone she is said to cackle like a banshee.
In Altoona, Pennsylvania she is known as the White Lady of Whopsy. Her ghost is said to haunt Wopsononock Mountain and Buckhorn Mountain in the western part of Altoona. It's said that she and her husband had an ill-fated crash over what's known as Devil's Elbow as you head into the city itself where both of them tumbled over the side of the mountain. According to legend, she is seen looking for her husband on foggy nights, has been picked up as a hitch hiker, and her reflection is not seen in the mirror but she always disappears around Devil's Elbow.
In Fremont, California there are White Lady (called the White Witch) ghost sightings in Niles Canyon. A woman named Lowerey was one of the first people in the area killed in an automobile accident. People claim to have seen her in a cemetery in the area with strange lights and local legend says you can see her walking the ridge between the Niles Hollywood-style sign and the canyon.
In Hattiesburg, Mississippi a Woman in White is connected with the history of Burnt Bridge Road. In the 1970s a woman was killed in a car accident while crossing a wooden bridge over a small gully. The resulting fire destroyed the bridge, which was later rebuilt in concrete, and gave the road its new name. The charred and decaying remains of the original bridge can still be seen near the new bridge.
Germany
A White Lady was first reported to be seen in the Berliner Schloss in 1625 and sightings were reported up until 1790. This castle is the residence of the kings of Prussia, so the Lady has been linked to several historical figures:
There is a legend of a White Lady who was a prince's wife in the town of Rheda-Wiedenbrück, Westphalia. The prince was away, fighting in the Thirty Years' War, and his wife took a wandering minstrel as a lover. The prince returned unexpectedly, caught the two lovers, and drowned the minstrel in the moat. He then took his wife and encased her behind a wall in his manor with some food and water, so that she wouldn't cheat on him again as he returned to the fighting. The prince died in battle, the food and water ran out, and his wife died. Her spirit now haunts the manor. When the manor was renovated, the new owner had his builders tear down the wall behind which she was immured. The next day, the worker who tore down the wall, was working on the roof of the manor when he fell, broke his back, and died. The manor is called Haus Aussel.
Netherlands
Vrouwen in wit (plural of vrouw in wit), or "witte wieven" as these women are called in local dialects, are mythical creatures of Lower Saxon origin and so most known in the eastern and northern parts of the Netherlands. Sometimes referred to as witte joffers ('white maidens'), they can have both a benevolent as well as a malevolent nature. Often related with witches and/or ghosts, they show many similarities with the banshee, the fairy, and the elf. Understood as malevolent beings, they abduct or switch newborns, abduct women, and punish people who have treated them badly. As benevolent beings, they may aid in childbirth or offer good advice. Indeed, though the adjective wit means 'white', it may originally refer to the Germanic word wid, related to English 'wit' and 'wise', and so may be better understood as 'wise women', as they are known in Germany, where they are connected to the Völva.
They are believed to dwell in tumuli, the Hunebedden and on the moors. Wisps of mist and fog banks are sometimes called witte wieven.
In popular culture, two adventures of the Belgian comic book series Spike and Suzy are devoted to these white ladies: De Jolige Joffer and Het Witte Wief.
Slavic mythology
In Slavic Mythology, a white lady was the ghost of a girl or young woman that died violently, usually young women who committed suicide, were murdered or died while imprisoned. The ghost is usually bound to a specific location and is often identified as a specific person (i.e. Elizabeth Báthory).
Philippines
White Ladies are popular ghost story topics in the Philippines. White Ladies are often used to convey horror and mystery to young children for storytelling. Sightings of White Ladies are common around the country. The most prominent one is the White Lady of Balete Drive in Quezon City. It is said that it is the ghost of a long-haired woman in a white dress, who according to legend, died in a car accident while driving along Balete Drive. Most stories about her were told by taxi drivers doing the graveyard shift, such as the one where a taxi crosses Balete Drive, and a very beautiful woman is asking for a ride. The cabbie looks behind and sees the woman's face was full of blood and bruises, causing him to abandon his taxi in horror.
In other instances, it is said that when solitary people drive on that street in the early morning, they briefly see the face of a white-clad woman in the rear-view mirror before she quickly disappears. Some accidents on this road are blamed on apparitions of the White Lady.
Many sources have said this legend was actually manufactured by a reporter in the 1950s, and also a possible combination of multiple stories from the area.
Malta
The White Lady is the name of a female ghost that lives in Verdala Palace in the small forest of Buskett, Rabat, Malta.
Legend has it that many years ago, a woman was to be married to a man she did not love. Her father told her that she must always do as her fiancé said since he was soon to be her husband. On the day of her wedding, she committed suicide by jumping off a balcony. This is why she is to this day known as the White Lady, because she was wearing her wedding gown on the day of her death. It is said that she haunts the Verdala Palace and many people who attend the August moon ball confirm that she does indeed appear in the palace.
According to another Maltese legend, the White Lady of Mdina was killed by her lover after she was forced to marry another man. Many have claimed to see this spirit, always after eight o'clock in the evening. She usually appears to children under eight years old, heart-broken teenage boys, and elderly men. While she tells the children goodnight and bids them to return home, she advises the teenagers to "find another" or to join her and become a part of her "shadow" (her ghostly followers). She also attempts to lure elderly men into her "shadow."
Brazil
Called Dama Branca or Mulher de Branco in Portuguese, the Brazilian Lady in White is said to be the ghost of a young woman who died of childbirth or violent causes. According to legend, she appears as a pale woman in a long white dress or a sleeping gown, and although usually speechless, will occasionally recount her misfortunes. The origins of the myth are not clear, Luís da Câmara Cascudo's Dicionário do Folclore Brasileiro (Brazilian Folklore Dictionary) proposes that the ghost is related to the violent deaths of young white women who were murdered by their fathers or husbands in an "honor" killing. The most frequent reasons for these honor killings were adultery (actual or suspected), denial of sex, or abuse. Monteiro Lobato in his book Urupês describes a young woman starved to death by her husband because he suspected she was in love with a black slave and only gave her the stewed meat of his corpse for food.
Czech Republic
The best-known White Lady of the Czech Republic is the ghost of Perchta of Rožmberk at Rožmberk Castle. Perchta of Rožmberk (c. 1429–1476) was a daughter of an important Czech nobleman, Oldřich II of Rožmberk. She married another nobleman, Jan of Lichtenštejn (John of Liechtenstein) in 1449. The marriage was quite unhappy. One of the reasons might have been the fact that Perchta's father had been reluctant to pay the agreed dowry. Legend has it that as her husband was dying, he asked for her forgiveness for his treatment of her. Perchta refused, and her husband cursed her. This is why she haunts his holdings, which include Český Krumlov Castle, where she has been seen most often. During her married life, Perchta wrote many letters to her father and brothers with colourful descriptions of her unhappy family life. Some 32 of these letters had been handed down.
Estonia
The most famous white lady of Estonia resides in Haapsalu castle. She is said to be the woman who a canon fell in love with. She hid in the castle as a choir boy, and remained a secret for a long time. But when the Bishop of Ösel-Wiek visited Haapsalu she was discovered, and immured in the wall of the chapel for her crime. To this day she is said to look out of the Baptistery’s window and grieve for her beloved man. She can be seen on clear August full-moon nights.