The Lady

The Lady is the third and final ghost from A Book of Ghosts and Goblins. She is not given a name in the original story, so is referred herein to simply as the Lady.

History
A girl runs away from a terrible home, and hides out at a haunted house. There, she finds a talking skull in the kitchen, which asks her to carry it with her. This she does over supper, only to be confronted by a horrifying headless cloaked skeleton which demands that she give him the skull. She refuses and runs away from him, evading him till sunrise the next morning, when she runs into a bedroom with the skull and collapses onto a bed. The next morning she finds the skull gone and a beautiful lady standing by the bed.

"Where is my skull?" she cries, and the lady says:

"l am the skull, darling. Years ago, a man asked for my hand in marriage, and when l refused, he cut off my head with his sword and was executed for that crime. My father destroyed his head in a fit of rage, so now every night he puts on my skull and goes out to wreak havoc. By keeping ahold of my skull, you've broken the curse and freed me forevermore, so our house and money are now yours. Farewell!"

Years later, when she'd grown up, the girl married a handsome prince and lived happily ever after.

Reference
The Book of Ghosts and Goblins (collection edited by Ruth manning Sanders), pages 60-70.