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Mary Elizabeth H. used to spend her summer vacations at her grandmother's house in Indiana. The house dated back to the 1830's, but it was very well kept up and considered quite beautiful.
One day Mary was walking down the stairs when she came across an attractive young lady coming up. One of the things that struck her the most was the beautiful pink evening gown the stranger wore. She had brown hair and brown, tear-filled eyes. As the two passed on the stair, close enough to touch, the strange woman smiled at Mary and kept going.
Mary Elizabeth was confused, for she didn't know of any other visitor in the house, so she turned to follow the woman up the stairs. The woman reached the top- and vanished.
Mary had never believed in the supernatural before, so she decided to get an explanation from her grandmother, who refused to discuss the matter. Mary let it drop out of respect. She instead went to the library to research the pink gown, for its design had struck her as unusual. To her surprise, she found that its style came from the late 1840s.
In the fall of the next year, Mary Elizabeth's grandmother decided to redecorate the house, mostly using old pieces of furniture that came from the attic. When Mary came to see the changes, her attention was caught by a portrait hung in the hall. It was a portrait of the lady on the stairs. She was wearing a different dress, but there was no question that it was the same woman.
This time Mary went to an aunt who specialized in the family history for help, and the lady on the stairs was identified. She was Mary Elizabeth's distant cousin, who apparently fallen in love with a less than savory character. He was killed in a fight, and in her despondency she had thrown herself down the stairs. She was killed by the fall.
There was a strong resemblance between Mary Elizabeth and the portrait, and the distant cousin's name had been nearly the same- Elizabeth Mary. Both women went by Libby as a nickname. These are the reasons Mary Elizabeth applied to the ghost's appearance to her. She feels that her relative reached out to her from across the years.
