North Carolina’s history goes back farther than our history as a country. As such, the majority of ghost sightings and creepy happenings is attributed to events from long ago. There are, however, ghost stories from a more modern age.
Along the Pamlico River near the town of Washington, NC there is a pier which houses a creepy tale to rival that of “The Flaming Ship of Ocracoke“. It is there on that pier on the first full moon of May, that Mrs. Mish takes a long walk off of the pier and into the darkness; her feet never touching the water below.
The river front of the Pamlico, south of Washington is littered with homes of well off people that indeed can be called ‘mansion’. Each of these luxurious homes has a long green yard that stretches to the river where a pier awaits to help them into a equal luxurious boat. It was on one of these piers in May of 1981 at around 10pm that a wealthy and respected business man saw something that he didn’t believe in. Something that a man of his stature would not lie about. The ghost of Mrs. Mish.
As he sat on his pier overlooking the water, enjoying the night air, he heard what seemed to be sounds of a party coming from a house not far away. A young lady appeared near the pier. She, like him seemed be enjoying the evening and was taking a stroll along the pier. He was near enough to see she was barefoot. Maybe she’s going to dip her feet in the river he thought. However, she did not stop at the edge of the pier, she kept going. Her feet never touched the water and the man could see no means of holding her up. After a few seconds of walking on thin air, the lady vanished into the mist.
The man watching was horrified. Fearing he had just witnessed something terrible, he ran to the other pier and out to the edge. All he saw was blackness staring back at him. No sounds of the woman could be heard, only the sounds of the water sloshing against the timbers. The man turned and ran up to the house in front of the pier. Earlier, he would’ve swore he heard music coming from the house, but now the windows were dark.
The man banged on the door to the house until a light came on inside. An older woman open the door with a frighten look on her face. When the man explained what he’d seen, the woman sighed in relief and said “That’s just Mrs. Mish. She comes every year and never harms a soul.” With that the lady went back inside, closed the door and turned the light out.
The next day, the man investigated the mysterious lady and found that almost everyone in town knew her. it seems that Mrs. Mish lived in that house long ago and was a gentle and well like woman. She was an amateur historian in the area especially when it came to the local Native Americans. She became convinced that there was a burial ground near where the pier was to be built and had decided to conduct a dig.
On the eve of the dig, which was also the first full moon in May, she threw a party to announce to her friends what her plans were. After a while, she left the party to get some air… and never came back. The party guests went looking for her, but all they ever found was a pair of shoes by the waters edge.
No one is sure what happened to Mrs. Mish that night. Some believe that Native American spirits took her because she knew too much about their burial ground. It’s impossible to know for sure. Mrs. Mish has never said anything during her annual appearances. And to my knowledge, no one has ever said anything to her.
