Maco Light: The legend of Joe Baldwin

Joe Baldwin was a conductor on the Wilmington-Manchester-Augusta railroad line before it became part of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. On one fateful night in 1867 near the Farmer’s Turnout station, later named Maco Station, Baldwin’s caboose suffered a terrible mishap that led to a horrific train wreck. His caboose had become uncoupled with the rest of his train, leaving him stranded in the middle of the track, right in line of an oncoming train. Frantic to warn the oncoming train, Baldwin began swinging a lantern to warn the oncoming train of its obstacle, but to no success. Eyewitnesses supposedly claim that Baldwin continuously swung the lantern right up to the collision, which caused his lantern to fly and land in a near by swamp. The light of the lantern never faltered. Baldwin’s body was found mangled and decapitated. Hid head was never found and Baldwin had to be buried without it. Since the accident, sightings of a swinging light around the area of the track where the accident occurred have been numerous. Trainmen traveling the track would become misled by the light, believing it to be a distress signal only to stop and find no other train on the track that could have sent the signal. The legend says that it is Baldwin with his lantern, searching for the head that he lost during the fatal crash. So many sightings had been claimed, that it became known as the Maco Light and the story has been passed down through generations. Garrett Owen, sophomore in horticulture, said he was told the story by his father. So, one late summer night, him and his friend decided to ride out to the tracks to see the legendary Maco Light. He said he saw a faint light in the distance around the sight of the crash.

Garrett Owen

Sophomore in horticulture

It all happened one day in downtown Mooresville….

“A friend of mine’s dad owned an apartment complex in the area and he asked me if his dad paid us, would I be willing to come and help them load a bunch of boxes into a truck for about $10 an hour. Apparently, everything we were moving was already packed up so all we had to do was show. That afternoon my friend and his dad came and picked me up in their pickup truck. They didn’t tell me anything about where we were going or why they were moving, but I wasn’t really much inclined to ask since his dad was kind of intimidating. When we showed up, it looked like any old apartment. There were four rooms to each building with a walkway connecting the top two and a stairwell coming down to the bottom two. The apartment was on the left at the bottom. We went into the apartment and the boxes were all over the place. All of the rooms were empty except one directly down the hall. There was nothing in their but an armchair that looked old like it should belong in my grandmother’s house. My friend told me that we were moving everything out of the house, but said that I absolutely should not touch the chair. I asked him why and he just said ‘Don’t do it.’ I ignored it, and took my keys and wallet out of my pockets and put them on the counter as we started moving things. About an hour into working, I swore I heard some footsteps go across the walkway on the top floor. I asked my friend if anyone was living in any of these apartments. He said no and that all of them were still open for sale. I tried to think nothing of it. We continued on for about 30 minutes or so before I heard the footsteps again, but they sounded like they were coming down the stairs. I figured it was him or his dad so I just kept going about my work. However, my friend seemed like something was bothering him. Once we finished, I ran inside to grab my keys. However, when I went in with him, my keys were gone. We looked everywhere for them until I spotted them down the hallway in the room with the armchair. They were sitting on the center cushion. By now I knew my friend and his dad were messing with me. I turned to my friend and gave him a nasty look but he seemed a bit shaken. He said to not worry about the keys and that we would come back and get them later. I told him to forget that and walked down the hall. Just when I reached the room I picked up my keys off the cushion and almost instantly the door shut behind me. When I went to go to the door and open it, it was locked. I tried yelling for my friend saying it wasn’t funny that they were messing with me and he just kept yelling back saying they were trying to get it open. I eventually took a seat in the armchair while I waited for them to open the door. However, it wasn’t but five seconds of sitting in that chair that I felt a tap on the back of my head. I stood up looking around expecting to see my friend but saw nothing. Ignoring it again I sat back down. This time I felt a swift knock to the back of my head that knocked me completely out of the seat. Right as I felt it, the door opened. I was freaking out, my heart was racing and my friend looked at me and just said run. We ran down the hallway and just a foot behind me I could hear the footsteps I heard before running after me. Once we got outside it was silent, nothing. It was the scariest moment in my life.

My friend and his dad then told me that they are never able to keep anyone in the apartment for longer then about three months. Apparently there used to be an elderly couple that lived there that enjoyed their silence. One day the man’s wife died and the next day he did as well — of unknown causes. He had an armchair that he always stayed in. They don’t think his spirit ever left the building. Last I knew, the apartment was taken by a man who also had a story about a party he threw. Apparently someone fell asleep in the chair and woke up with a busted lip and missing a tooth. He also said sometimes the cupboards would creak open or close shut on their own. All I know is no amount of money would ever bring me back to that place again.”

Robert Steinberg

Freshman, First Year College

The devil’s staircase of Ashe County

The Devil’s Staircase rests along Highway 88 in Ashe county. It’s a series of rock formations located near a small creek and accompanied by a small bridge. Since the early 1900s, it has been the site of strange phenomena. It is said that a miner lost his life due to a bizarre dynamite explosion that occurred when the mountainside was being cleared to make way for the highway. Also, it is rumored that a woman killed her newborn baby by throwing it off the bridge and into the creek. Over the years, several reports had been made claiming that an unknown rider would accompany horseback riders as they traveled through the area. The most widely known phenomenon is the wailing cries of a baby that are said to be heard late at night. Michael Jimenez, who is in his second year of study in the agriculture institute, spent a weekend near the site with a friend. He said his friend insisted on visiting the site late in the night. Jimenez described that everything around the site was dead and the water seemed to have a dark green color to it. Though neither Jimenez or his friend heard any of the wailing that the site has claimed, he still believes that there is a certain presence that haunts the site.

Michael Jimenez

Second-year at Agriculture Institute