"The Maco Light and the Legend of Joe Baldwin" 

My Uncle Woodly used to take us when we were kids. So much fun and really spooky.

i am 60 yrs. old now, but i and a group visit this in the early 70's. it is an experience i'll never forget. it was around midnite we had traveled pass the 2nd tressle. it turn very cold and you see the lite. some kids started cussing and a ball of lite fell between them.they were in front of me and some others. we all screamed and ran as fast as we could. it's 2018 now and i'll never forget.

My parents and uncle have witnessed the light. One night I went there to see it but the conditions were not favorable. I did walk into the woods to see the trestle and saw debris from an accident. I also met a young couple who lived on a dirt road nearby. They told me that on foggy nights you can still here a train, although the tracks have been removed. A caution sign on 74/76 reads heavy fog next ten miles. If you see the sign your in the area.

In the Fifties, our young people from church would go out to Maco to see the light. We saw the light several times always around midnight.

A great bit of old North Carolina folklore.

It's rough walking near or on tracks in the dark of the night, but amazingly as I approached the light, it speeded up its approach towards us. Even with it coming closer there was nothing visible but a light with a broad glow surrounding it .... it bobbed up, down, sideways a bit but not in an erratic way. Everyone with us that night saw it, knew it was real, but none of us had any clue what it was .. there was no sound from the light, not even as the young man and I got closer and closer.

The light in your video does look spectacular, and just as I heard it described. We crossed the tracks twice a year on the way to and from my aunt's cottage at Long Beach in the 1960s and 70s, and we never saw the light, as much as I wanted to! My aunt and uncle saw it dozens of times. She said, as did author John Harden, that it always faced east, and was always over the left rail. It was more likely to appear on days after it had rained. Sometimes it was very bright, other times less so, and they sometimes saw the secondary light. My uncle tried to take pictures of the light from time to time with no success.

The true storie is that Baldwin is not looking for his head he was try to help people so they can not suffer like what happen to him he shine the light to the person so the notice so they can get off the track before the train came! and balwin was just trying to help other he is a friendly ghost!

Oh my gosh! Back in 1971 I was down there. It was told you could only see the macro light on a light rain night. So, we went down there. We walked down the track towards the trestle! As we walked back towards the road crossing, we heard someone yell “There it is, it’s there”! As I turned around, I saw the light, but was too close to it, far from the crossing in the road where the car was. Needless to say, when I turned and saw it, I passed out! 😬

This what the most scariest thing in that book!

I read the book of Magic Tree House {TRACKERS}

The Vander Light, which I have observed three times, sounds like the exact same phenomenon as the Maco Light. Right down to the storyline (some guy died on the tracks). The light came out of nowhere, stuck to the tracks, and came in our direction. It started out bright, flickered, then dimmed. It moved in one direction like it had a mind of its own. It did this for about five minutes. We ran at first, but we stopped and watched it for about four minutes or so. Finally, it flickered and dimmed for the last time. We were amazed. We took uncle Bob once, an engineer from a Florida power plant. He brought his VHS camcorder with full charge. As soon as we pulled up, the light was already doing its normal thing. My uncle broke out the camera and started to film... a moment too late. It ceased its activities as soon as we got there. This was in the early nineties, the last time we would see it. That area was forested over ten years ago. Never have we seen the light again. I believe it is something natural because of this. But it was really something to see. It was something all the elders in my family, who are from this area, had seen since the 1950's. Thanks for sharing Mr. Davis.

My siblings and I saw the Maco Light in the late 60's.......eerie....

I was born and raised in Wilmington, NC. I saw the Maco light when I was a teenager. Some friends and I rode down there one late night and when we got to the road that the trail to the track is off of, the car kept cutting off. Then we saw it. The light in the distance. I'll never forget it. Still gets me to this day when I think about it.

I used to teach this urban legend when i was at Auburn. The kids loved it...I still do! Bravo students you did an excellent job. Dr. Cheyenne Foxe

Thanks for this! I'm new to the Maco light and found this very interesting. The picture at 3:16 was a great catch

Thanks for the footage!

This light is not fake. I saw the light a couple of times myself. To this day, I still can't explain it.

My mother first told me about the Maco Light .. she'd moved from Rocky Mt, to Wilmington, been to the light when she was a young woman .. had seen nothing. In 1970 a 3 car group of young men and women including newlyweds, my husband and myself, drove from Fort Fisher Air Force Station to the tracks where we'd been told the Maco Light was sometimes seen. I remember parking the vehicles near the railroad tracks, getting out, standing around talking, some on the tracks, most standing back a ways.

Thank you again. It meant so much to me, to be a part of that story.

Heard of this story but didn't know it was from my home state.

I HAVE BEEN THERE 1 K TIMES I COUKLDNT GET ENOUGHT....BUT I HAVE SOOOOOO MANY STORY'S...it is so true ,,,only took 5 minutes for Joe to show him self all you have to talk to him

Have investigated the area in the past. Very interesting story and place...

Thanks Will for putting out this video of The MACO Light. I really enjoyed being in the film. Eddie ( NC HAGS ) Good Job!

i actually went to RBA, when i was in elementary school we found a piece of a train track on the play ground. my mom used to be one of the day care workers and we’d have to be at school before the sun was even up, and people would often see shadows in the woods behind the grave yard.

My elementary school I was built on top of the trail, really gives you an idea of the state of that school.

Thank you so much for coming down from Raleigh to be in our film, Eddie. You did a great job!

The thing is everyone has it wrong. It was not Joe Baldwin but the mans real name was Charles Baldwin. He was not decapitated. He was supposed to be waiting for the engine to return after repairs in Wilmington. Charles was slow getting up with his lantern (red) to the end of the train. The engine struck the stationary cars and Charles was thrown off, hitting his head. He died several days later in a Wilmington hospital. This was all on record in the newspaper.

Nice job!!

I had one of Nancy Roberts's books "Appalachian Ghosts" when I was 13 and I misplaced it.

cool video, i got into ghost hunting after going to pactolus light near greenville. I heard the maco light hadn't been seen since they tore up the tracks many years ago so i never went. I also had a friend who went and saw the light, but he turned on a spotlight he brought and saw 3-4 guys run away who were making the light

I am quite impressed with your film work

You all did a nice job with the project!

My Grandmother saw the light herself she had a bunch of friends carpooling in the back of a pickup truck and they were trying to play around and scare each other and my Great Grandfather seen the light as he waited in the truck while they played and he called the kids and the jumped in the truck and took off

Interesting. I live in Leland and never knew about this

i would’ve been so scared if my car broke down !😬😬😬

I read somewhere (I can’t remember where) that Baldwin’s head took the form of a “pale, creamy green” glowing orb that floated around the nearby woods.

who's here from kyla's video?

Luv the story of 'Maco Joe"

Very interesting how you filmed that...

There is a story about a light in Missouri not far from Oklahoma. It's been on tv. It's scary if you see it. When you're see it. August

You're very lucky. I got here after the tracks had been torn up, but have still been out there many times, hoping to see the light.

I read about this is a book about Carolina Ghosts. The story is titled, Joe Baldwin's Lantern.

one of the most scariest stories i ever told to a group of teenagers they listen so closely i spooked them at the end i really got into this story i hope i will be able to tell the story without being sued lol

I remember my dad telling me his science class at East Carolina University went down there in the 50's and they saw it.

Thank you! I was adamant that we re-create the Maco Light. We suspended 100' of wire about three feet above a rail that was very close to where the light used to be seen (the tracks at the actual location are gone), then hung a kerosene lantern from the wire, and pulled it along the track with black string. I wanted the light to reflect off of the rail, so we wrapped 100' of rail with aluminum foil. When editing, we decided the light looked better going away, so we ran the film in reverse.

Thanks. I thought the light going down the track looked spectacular.

Suddenly all chaos broke loose with a blood chilling scream from behind us. It was my husband as he ran towards the young man, and me, snatching my arm and dragging me back down the tracks, back to our vehicle. He screamed at the soldier with me to get back to the cars, and for everyone else to get in the cars and leave, fast! We didn't have much choice but to obey him. I don't know what my husband felt, sensed, or possibly saw, he refused to ever speak of the incident again until the 1990's.

I live super close too it and it’s scary

What are the GPS coordinates for the area where the Maco Light was most frequently seen? Where is the location of the small cemetery that appears 3 minutes and 46 seconds into the short? Would love to know more since my parents saw the light while double dating around 1939-1940.

I've seen this light, but the light was different than described in this vid, also the story was different as well...

the maco light is right behind my great great grandma's house

It was only a matter of minutes before a bobbing glow appeared far down the tracks .. it seemed to come towards us, then recede, doing so 3 or 4 times. I decided to walk towards the light for a better view, hoping to get as close as I possibly could. Only one of the Fort Fisher soldiers was brave enough to walk with me, one of my husband's troop and I think he was merely doing so as I was the "boss's wife" and no one else would accept my challenge ..

My Dad ran trains up and down that line every day when he was a conductor with the Atlantic coast line, and his opinion was that everybody was so drunk they had been drinking and swamp gas coupled with moonshine was causing them to see things, he never saw it, but the two engineers in the lead engine were so drunk that they had empty bottles of moonshine laying in the cab when they finally pulled in to Riegelwood. I imagine two drunk Engineers driving a 10 million ton Train 60 miles per hour and seeing spectral lights RU-vid

I went to the charter day school where the wreck was we even went back to where the tracks were and the train caboose it

When that person turned that was my school I’m scared

i love this story i know it from word from word jackie torrence the storylady told it in her own words from North Carolina many many many years ago.

Not sure about this, but I have looked on the internet and so far I have found no pictures of Joe Baldwin. Does anyone know any?

The maco light was really trains people saw. Until the tracks were torn up.

I directed this film, the first ever on The Maco Light. I am working on a Maco Light website, which will have the film, the story of the Maco Light in my own words, and Maco Light T--Shirts for sale.

Madelynn Rumsey I read those too !

I have seen the light many times before the tracks were removed.

This happened in Columbus County, my home town

When and where did you see it? Tell me about this.

My Dad grew up in Currie NC, He told me that when he was a kid a bunch of them went to find the light. They saw it, surrounded it but it then disappeared. The state police also at some point checked to see if it could be headlights but the answer was …….. NOOOO

Yes, it's very fun going out there at night.

Good job, so short of time. If you like spook light tales listen to count beetle, Roy Cecil and the fireball here. The photo for the video is also where a train track was

You're welcome, Bob.

Same story for saratoga lights"ghost rd/ghost lights in hardin county but saratoga texas.

Does anyone know if the light is still able to be seen today? Or not?

I learned this from the magic tree house series

my cousin saw it when she was four i told her the story a week later and she then told me that she saw it

Where is the trestle crossing exactly?

When was the tracks taken out?after the tracks were gone did any light ever appear again?

Good old nc whole damn state is haunted from the tip of cape fear to the great dismal swamp there is some old spirits here

Will can you tell this ghost story in your owned words?

i did not go to this area but the same story the comment below is what happen in fremont n.c.

Me to

I have been

Ppl he was drunk and said he could stop the train with his head! How are y’all from the area and not know the story behind the light. Come the hell on.

I live in maco something ain't right about that plac

I like 10 min away from that and I wanna go

its true though i saw it on 2003 with her it was freaky! i then found this and decided to make a account :)

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