On May 27, 1980, shortly after ten o'clock P.M., our businessman was sitting on a bench on one of those piers in the development known as River Acres. He was relaxing and enjoying the beauty of a fullmoon rising over the river.

As he gazed idly at the other piers, his attention was drawn by a burst of music and laughter just downstream from where he sat. There was another pier just to the east, and it was from there that the merriment seemed to come. Then, outlined against the rising moon, he saw the figure of a young woman dressed in a long, silver evening gown. She was quite alone, and he was close enough to see that she was barefoot.

The woman walked out along the pier at a leisurely pace as though she were taking an ordinary evening stroll. When she same to end of the structure, however, she did not stop or turn, but continued to walk out on thin air, still at the same leisurely pace, swinging her arms as she walked. To his amazement, our merchant was actually able to see the reflection of the moon on the water several feet under her figure. There was absolutely nothing there to support her weight. Further and further she went, until her figure disappeared out over the middle of the river. She did not fall or drop. She just faded away into the thin air and the river mist.

Fearing that a tragedy might have taken place, the businessman ran down the riverbank until he reached the house at the foot of the pier. All was dark there, but he beat on the door until lights came on in the house and the occupants came down and opened the door. Excitedly, he told them what he had just seen.

Smiling and patting him reassuringly on the shoulder, they said, "Don't worry about that. That's only Mrs. Mish and she will be back again next spring. She will never harm you, and she is free to come and so as she wished." So saying, they went back into the house, and in a short time the lights inside again went out.

Still not convinced, our businessman walked out to the end of the pier and looked carefully around. There was nothing, absolutely nothing except a beautiful spring night and a calm, moonlit river flowing serenely toward the sea. Out in the middle of the Pamlico, a fish, bent on some unknown business of his own, jumped clear of the surface of the river and fell back with a splash.

Still not satisfied, the businessman looked into the matter the next day and found that most of the residents of the waterfront knew and were not afraid of Mrs. Mish. She had lived there years ago, they told him, and had been a well-liked and respected member of the community. One of her hobbies had to do with the history of the Indians who once inhabited that part of the state, and she had become convinced that a certain portion of the riverfront near where the pier was later built had been an Indian burial ground and was sacred to the tribe. She had stated her intention to conduct a dig on the spot and see what she could find, although she well knew the taboos the Indians were supposed to have placed on such prying.

On the eve of the dig she had given a party and had announced her plans. A fullmoon was shining then as it was on May 27, 1980,--the first full moon in May--and the night was beautiful. After a time, Mrs. Mish left the party and walked down toward the water's edge. When she did not return, the merrymakers went out to look for her, and they found her shoes placed neatly side by side at the water's edge as though she had gone wading. There were no tracks, wither in or out of the water, and no sign of any struggle. Nothing except those two little shoes.

She was never seen again.