Your Experiences
Haunted Portrait
A reader recently wrote in to share with me a strange experience she had at Hampton Court in 1987. I find this a fascinating occurrence as I've never heard of an experience quite like it. Here is her story in her own words:
"I will share with you a true experience that happened to me at Hampton Court in 1987. I came upon a portrait of Anne Boleyn (but instead of the traditional pose), she had a big grin on her face - I thought it was a caricature of the famous portrait we all know. I went close up to it and could not repress grinning myself. Then I went back for a minute or two to find my friend who was lagging behind - I told her she had to see this portrait of Anne Boleyn because it was so different. When we returned, the portrait had no grin - it was the traditional portrait! I read in a book later that one thing Anne enjoyed doing was hiding in the hallways of Hampton Court and jumping out at her friends with a big grin. If you think about it, that is what she did to me."
Is it possible that Anne Boleyn attempted to communicate with Lynda through her portrait? Although it's difficult to answer this in any definite terms, I do strongly believe that ancient buildings like Hampton Court house the imprints of events that transpired long ago and record the feelings and emotions of the people that played out their lives within its walls. And once in a while, I think they reveal their past to those of us sensitive enough to ‘see’ it. In this case, for Lynda, it was through the transformation of a well-known portrait but these revelations come in many guises.
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