North Carolina is home to many legends and lore, including famous ghost lights like the Brown Mountain Lights, the Thomas Divide Lights, and the Vander Light. One ghost light that seemingly disappeared from paranormal radars over the years is the mystery of the Maco Light and the ghostly tale that led to the phenomenon.
Maco is a crossroads at U.S. Highway 74-76 and N.C. Highway 87 in Brunswick County, North Carolina, near Wilmington.
The Maco Light is said to be the ghostly lantern of Joe Baldwin, who worked as a brakeman on a train in the 1860s. Baldwin was tragically killed in a violent accident when the cars on his train uncoupled, sending Baldwin down the tracks into another fast-approaching train on the same tracks.
Legend says that Joe Baldwin began anxiously swinging his lantern to alert the engineer of the other train, but it was too late, as the collision decapitated Baldwin.
It is believed that Baldwin haunted the railroad tracks for a hundred years or more, swinging his lantern in the distance, still searching for his severed head in the afterlife, before the tracks were removed years ago.
While there is no known record for a Joe Baldwin, who was said to have been employed by the railroad company, there is a record of a Charles Baldwin, who died near Maco on January 4, 1856. Charles was not decapitated in the accident, but he did die from traumatic head injuries and was buried at St. James Cemetery in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Written By: John G. Clark Jr.
