Maco light
The Maco Light was a legendary light along a section of railroad track near Maco, North Carolina that reportedly resembled the glow from a lantern.
[edit] Legend
Legend associates the story with Joe Baldwin, a train conductor who is said to have been decapitated in a collision between a runaway passenger car and a locomotive at Maco along the Wilmington-Manchester Railroad in the late 1800s.
According to legend, Joe Baldwin was the sole occupant of the rear car of a Wilmington-bound train on a rainy night in 1867. As the train neared Maco, Baldwin realized the car had become detached from the rest of the train. He knew another train was following, so he ran to the rear platform and frantically waved a lantern to signal the oncoming train. The engineer failed to see the stranded railroad car in time, and Baldwin supposedly was decapitated in the collision.[1] Shortly afterward, residents of Maco reported sightings of a light along the railroad track, and word spread that Joe Baldwin had returned to search for his missing head. The legend became widely known across the region, and the site was frequented by curiosity seekers. A 1965 investigation by paranormal investigator Hans Holzer concluded that Baldwin did not realize he was dead, and was still warning oncoming trains of disconnected rail cars.[2]
[edit] Modern times
Reported sightings of the light ended when the railroad removed the track in 1977 and a trestle bridge related to the legend was destroyed. A street in a nearby subdivision bears the name Joe Baldwin Drive.
