THE MYSTERIOUS MACO LIGHTS

What started as a ghost story in 1868 has evolved into a permanent mystery. Near Wilmington, North Carolina there is the village of Maco. It was Farmer's Turnout and an active train depot for engines to take on wood and water after the Civil War. A train conductor named Joe Baldwin was accidentally decapitated there in a train collision. The lantern which he was frantically waving at night was tossed out across the tracks. From that date there has appeared a mysterious light, sometimes two lights, that move ominously up the track or track bed. It was then the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad and later became the Atlantic Coast Line.