Samlesbury Hall

Samlesbury Hall

The White Lady is thought to be the ghost of Lady Dorothy Southworth.

Lady Dorothy lived at the Hall during the seventeenth century. Her family were staunch Catholics but Dorothy fell in love with a neighbour who happened to be a Protestant.

Because of family conflict, the young lovers could only meet in secret, and eventually they decided they would elope. On the night of their escape, the young man made his way to the Hall, but before he could get to Dorothy, her brother crept up on him and killed both him and two of his accomplices with his sword.

Consequently, both families found out about the affair and Dorothy was sent to a convent abroad where she went insane and eventually died.

Some years ago three human skeletons were found near the walls of the Hall, and popular opinion has connected them with the tradition.