The Mysterious North Carolina Legend That's Terrified Generation After Generation

The story you're usually told is that of Joe Baldwin, a brakeman for the railroad. On a summer night in 1867 the train was nearing Maco, a rural area of northeastern Brunswick County. Joe was on the last car and in a strange turn of events, his train car became detached. Knowing another train would soon be approaching, Joe frantically swung a lantern left to right. But it was too late; it seemed as soon as the engineer saw Joe, he crashed into his train car and Joe died instantly. He was decapitated and his head rolled into the swamps. Since then, people have been seeing Joe's light still swinging by the tracks.

The Wilmington Railroad Museum dates the first sightings of the light to 1873. For years, those traveling on the railroad spotted the strange light. The Maco light even gained the interest of President Grover Cleveland, who stopped in the area and asked why the signalman used not one, but two lights. They said it was to distinguish between the actual light and Joe Baldwin's phantom lantern. Amused with the story, President Cleveland took the Maco legend all the way to DC. Some sources say President Cleveland actually saw the light, while others simply say he just shared the story and accounts of others.

The light continued for years, even chasing some unsuspecting witnesses into the woods. In 1957, when Life magazine ran a feature about the light, it garnered national attention. Paranormal investigators, psychics, even a "machine gun detachment" from Fort Bragg was sent to chase down the elusive light. I remember my mom telling me her own personal account when I was very young. She and a group of friends piled into a car and decided to take an overnight road trip to the beach, a common thing for college students at ECU. While passing the railroad tracks near where the light was seen, there was no glowing lantern, but the lights and sounds came on signaling an oncoming train. Looking left to right, there were no trains in sight nor trains running that night. It was a bizarre account that stayed with her, and like many who have witnessed or experienced the light, passed down as legend and folklore.

I guess Joe Baldwin couldn't stick around forever, though. Eventually, his soul had to go home. When the train tracks were removed in 1977, the light was never seen again. Today, the old path of the tracks lies hidden beneath dense brush. While some say the light was never witnessed after 1977, many dispute that, saying that they still have seen a strange light appear in the area. Whatever you believe - if it was a ghost, swamp gas, or even the strange weather phenomena of St. Elmo's Fire - one thing is true: Joe Baldwin and his light might just be North Carolina's most famous ghost.