1...On a night in 1867, at a small Brunswick County station of Maco fifteen miles west of Wilmington, a slow freight train was puffing down the track. In the caboose was Joe Baldwin, the flagman. A jerking noise startled him, and he was aware that his caboose had become uncoupled from the rest of the train, which went heedlessly on its way. As the caboose slackened speed, Joe looked up and saw the beaming light of a fast passenger train bearing down upon him. Grabbing his lantern, he waved it frantically to warn the oncoming engineer of the ominent danger. It was too late. At at a trestle over the swamp, the passenger train plowed into the caboose. Joe was decapitated: his head flew into the swamp on one side of the track, his lantern the other. It was days before the destruction caused by the wreck was cleared away. And when Joe's head could not be found, his body was buried without it. Thereafter on misty nights, Joe's headless ghost appeared at Maco, a lantern in its hand.
2... For those of you swamp gas enthusiasts, I can tell you one thing, gases do not behave in specific patterns when unconfined.
3... Hans Holzer came to Wilmington, conducted a public lecture and investigated the tracks. He took a medium with him and his report only partially supported the legend. Yes, it was Joe, but Joe was still signaling the train, not searching for his head. There were some infrared photographs taken of the light that showed a body holding the light (yes Virginia, he did have a head). I do not know who the photographer was, or who the photos were for (Wilmington College, (now UNCW), or the Star News??). If these photographs still exist, it would be fascinating to see them published again. Stephen (http://www.ghosts.org/ghostlights/maco-story.html)
4.... No one has been able to figure out what causes the light, as just about every explanation has been discussed and tossed aside, from automobile headlights (seen before cars existed) to swamp gas. During one investigation, all traffic was routed away from Maco and no cars were allowed to approach the area.... and yet the unearthly light still appeared.
5... . Some say the luminscent ball is the spirit of Baldwin, swinging a lantern as he searches for his severed head. Others maintained it was the ghost of an Indian warrior killed in battle, while another old legend said it was the phantom of a black ``witch-woman.''
6... In 1977, railroad workers replaced the worn out tracks near Maco Station. The ghostly light was never seen there again.
Copyright (C) 2001
Dr. Sten Odenwald