by Hans Holzer
Most helpful in a more serious vein was the Women’s Editor of the Wilmington Star-News, Theresa Thomas, who has for years taken an interest in the psychic and probably is somewhat sensitive herself. On April 8, 1964, she asked her readers:
Have You Ever Seen the Maco Light?
Have you ever seen Old Joe Baldwin? Or his light, that is? As far as we know, nobody has actually seen Joe himself.
But if you have seen his lantern swinging along the railroad track at Maco, you can be of great help to Hans Holzer, Ghost Hunter, who will be in Wilmington April 29th.
Either write out your experience and send it to us, or call and tell us about it.
Then Miss Thomas’ point of view added another angle:
His [Mr. Holzer’s] wife is just as fascinating as he. She is a painter and great-great-great-granddaughter of Catherine The Great of Russia. Mrs. Holzer was born Countess Catherine Buxhoeveden in a haunted castle in Meran, the Tyrol, in the Italian Alps. And she paints—haven’t you guessed?—haunted houses.
My visit was still three weeks away, but the wheels of publicity where already spinning fast and furiously in Wilmington.
Theresa Thomas’ appeal for actual witnesses to the ghostly phenomena brought immediate results. For the first time people of standing took the matter seriously, and those who had seen the light, opened up. Miss Thomas did not disguise her enthusiasm. On April 12, she wrote:
It seems a great many people have seen Old Joe Baldwin’s light at Maco and most of them are willing—even eager—to talk about it.
Among the first to call was Mrs. Larry Moore, 211 Orange Street, who said she had seen the light three or four times at different seasons of the year.
The first time it was a cloudy, misty winter night and again in summer, misty again. Her description of the light was “like a bluish yellow flame.” She and her companions walked down the track and the light came closer as they approached the trestle. When they reached the center of the trestle with the light apparently about 10 feet away, it disappeared.
Mrs. Thelma Daughtry, 6 Shearwater Drive, Wrightsville Beach, says she saw it on a misty spring night. It was about 7 or 8 o’clock in the evening and the reddish light appeared to swing along at about knee height.
Mrs. Margaret Jackson, of 172 Colonial Circle, a native of Vienna, Austria, saw it about seven years ago on a hazy night. She was with several other people and they all saw the light, a “glary shine” steady and far away but always the same distance ahead of them.
Dixie Rambeau, 220 Pfeiffer Avenue, saw it about 1 A.M. Friday morning. She says it was “real dark” and the light appeared as a red pinpoint at a distance up the track, as it neared it became yellowish white, then closer still it was a mixed red and white.
She recalls that she and her companions watched it come closer to the left side of the track and that as it came close the reflection on the rail almost reached them. At about 10 feet away it reversed its process and as they walked toward it, it disappeared. Once it appeared to cross over. They watched it five or six times, she said.
Mrs. Marvin Clark, 406 Grace Street, a practical nurse, states that she and her husband saw the light 15 years ago. It was about midnight on a cloudy, rainy night. They were standing in the middle of the track and “it looked like a light on a train coming at full speed.”
Mrs. Clark described the light as “the color of a train light.”
“We picked up our little girl and ran. All of us have always seen reflections of automobiles but beyond a doubt it was the Maco Light.”
Mrs. Lase V. Dail of Carolina Beach also has a story to tell. It seems she and her husband came home late one night from Fayetteville.
She writes: “As we left the cut off and headed into 74-76 highway, I shall never forget the experience we had….” She goes on, “All at once a bright light came down the road toward us, first I figured it was a car. But decided if so it had only one light. On it came steadily toward us.
“Then I figured it was a train, yet I heard nothing, and as suddenly as it appeared it vanished. I can say it was quite a weird feeling. I have often thought of it. I have heard many versions, but never one like this.”
Three days later, Miss Thomas devoted still another full column to people who had witnessed the ghost light.
Mrs. Marjorie H. Rizer of Sneads Ferry writes: “I have seen the light three times. The last and most significant time was about a year and a half ago. My husband, three young sons and a corpsman from the United States Naval Hospital at Camp Lejeune were with me and we saw the same thing. It was about 10:30 P.M. and we were returning from a ball game. We decided to go to Maco since we were so near and the young man with us didn’t believe there was anything to our story.
“The sky was cloudy and a light mist was falling. We parked the car beside the track and sure enough, there was the light down the track. I stayed in the car with my sons, and my husband and the corpsman walked down the track toward the light.
“The light would alternately dim and then become very bright. The two men walked perhaps a quarter of a mile down the track before they returned. They said the light stayed ahead of them, but my sons and I saw the light between them and us.
The haunted railway crossing—Wilmington, North Carolina
“It looked as if the light would come almost to where we were parked and then it would wobble off down the track and disappear. In a moment it would reappear and do the same time after time.
“When we had been there for about an hour and started to leave, a train approached going toward Wilmington. The light was a short distance away from us. As the train passed the light, it rose and hovered over the train. We could clearly see the top of the train as the light became very bright.
“It stayed over the train until it had passed then disappeared back down near the track and finally it looked as if someone had thrown it off into the woods.
“As we pulled away from the track the light came back on the track and weaved backward and forward down the track as it had been doing.”
And still the letters poured in. On April 22, after half a column devoted to my imminent arrival in the area, Miss Thomas printed a letter from a young man who had taken some interesting pictures:
He is J. Everett Huggins, home address 412 Market Street, Wilmington. The letter is addressed to Bill Mitcham and reads in part: “I read with interest the articles on your ‘ghost survey,’ especially since I saw the Maco light less than two weeks ago and was actually able to catch Old Joe on film.
“On the nights of April 1 and 2 a schoolmate of mine and I went to Maco Station in the hopes of seeing the light. We saw nothing on Friday, April 1, but we had more success on Saturday, when it was a littler darker. Around 10:30 we saw a yellow light about 100 yards down the track from us (this distance is only a guess). It seemed to be about 10 feet above the tracks and looked as if it were moving slowly toward us for a while, then it went back and died out.
“The light appeared maybe three times in succession for periods up to what I would estimate to be about thirty seconds.
“I attempted to take two time exposures with my camera. Unfortunately I did not have a tripod, and so I had to hold the camera in my hands, which made clear results impossible. The pictures are not spectacular—just a small spot on each of the color transparencies—but they are pictures. If you are interested I will have some copies made.
“My friends had kidded me about the light, so I noted some details to try to end their skepticism. The headlights of cars traveling west on Highway 74 could be seen in the distance, and no doubt many who think they see Old Joe only see these lights. Old Joe could be distinguished in several ways, however. First, the light had a yellower tone than did the auto headlights.
“Secondly, unlike the headlights which grow brighter and brighter and then suddenly disappear, the Maco light would gradually grow brighter and then gradually fade out. Thirdly, the Maco light produced a reflection on the rails that was not characteristic of the
headlights.
“More interesting was the fact that the reflection on the rails was seen only on a relatively short stretch of track. By observing the reflection, we could tell that the light moved backward and forward on the rails. It always remained directly above the tracks.
“I had seen the light once before, in 1956. It was on a cold winter night, and the light was brighter.”
As the day of our arrival grew nearer, the tempo of the press became more hectic. On April 26, Arnold Kirk wrote in the Wilmington Star-News:
This tiny Brunswick County village, nestled in a small clearing a few miles west of Wilmington off U.S. Highway 74, is rapidly gaining acclaim as the “Ghost Capital” of North Carolina.
Its few dozen inhabitants, mostly farmers of moderate means, have suddenly found their once-peaceful nights disturbed by scores of vehicles sparring for vantage points from which to view the famous “Maco Light.”
While the legend of the light and old Joe Baldwin, the “ghost” of Maco, has long been known, its popularity has become intense only in recent months.
Elaborate plans have already been made to welcome Holzer to the Port City. The mayors of all the towns in New Hanover and Brunswick counties, in addition to county commissioners from both counties, have agreed to be at the New Hanover County Airport Wednesday at 7:43 P.M. when the “ghost hunter’s” plane arrives.
Lanterns at Airport—Also on hand to greet the noted parapsychologist will be 1,000 high-school students, carrying, appropriately enough, lighted lanterns! The lanterns were purchased by the city years ago to offer warmth to trees and plants during blustery winter months.
Adding to the fanfare of the event will be the first public offering of “The Ballad of Old Joe Baldwin,” written by the senior English class of New Hanover High School.
The reception was a bash that would have made Old Joe Baldwin feel honored. A little later, we tried to sneak out to Maco and have a first glance at the haunted spot. The results were disappointing.
It was not so much that the ghost did not show, but what did show up was most disturbing. The Wilmington Star summed it up like this:
An unwilling Old Joe Baldwin exercised his ghostly prerogative Wednesday night by refusing to perform before what may have been his largest audience.
Huddled in small clusters along the railroad tracks near the center of this tiny Brunswick County village, an estimated 250 persons stared into the gloomy darkness in hopes of catching a glimpse of the famous “Maco Light.”
But the light would not offer the slightest flicker.
Holzer’s announced visit to the scene of Baldwin’s ghastly demise gave no comfort to the few dozen residents of Maco. By 10 o’clock, dozens of cars lined both sides of the narrow Maco road and scores of thrill-seeking teenagers had spilled onto the railroad track.
If Joe Baldwin had decided to make an appearance, his performance no doubt would have been engulfed in the dozens of flashlights and battery-powered lanterns searching through the darkness for at least a mile down the track.
Several times, the flashlights and lanterns were mistaken for the “Maco Light,” giving hope that the mysterious glow would soon appear.
A large portion of the track was illuminated by the headlights of a jeep and small foreign car scurrying back and forth along both sides of the track. A young girl created an anxious moment when she mistook a firefly as the “Maco Light” and released a penetrating scream that sliced through the pitch-darkness.
Holzer’s visit to Maco on Wednesday night was mostly for the benefit of photographers and reporters who met the noted parapsychologist at the New Hanover County airport earlier that night.
His second visit to the crossing will be kept a closely guarded secret in hopes the “ghost hunter” will be able to conduct his investigation of the light without being interrupted by pranksters and playful teenagers.
Soon I realized that it would impossible for us to go out to the tracks alone. Crowds followed us around and crowds were ever present at the spot, giving rise to a suspicion in my mind that these people were not in a working mood while we were visiting their area. Evidently we were the most exciting thing that had happened to them for some time.
Finally, the day of a scheduled press conference arrived, and at 10 o’clock in the morning, before a battery of kleig lights and microphones set up at the magnificent new Blockade Runner Hotel on the beach, I started to talk in person to those who had come to tell me about their encounters with Joe Baldwin’s ghost.
In addition to those who had written to Miss Thomas and reaffirmed their original stories, others came forward who had not done so previously. There was William McGirt, an insurance executive, who called the light “buoyant,” flicking itself on and off, as it were, and fully reflected on the iron rails. But you cannot see it looking east, he told me, only when you look towards Maco Station.
Margaret Bremer added to her previously told story by saying the light looked to her “like a kerosene lantern swaying back and forth.”
Her husband, Mr. Bremer, had not planned on saying anything, but I coaxed him. He admitted finally that twelve years ago, when his car was standing straddled across the track, he saw a light coming towards him. It flickered like a lamp and when it came closer, it flared up. As an afterthought, he added, “Something strange—suddenly there seemed to be a rush of air, as if a train were coming from Wilmington.”
“Was there?” I inquired cautiously.
“No, of course not. We wouldn’t have had the car across the track if a train were expected.”
Mrs. Laura Collins stepped forward and told me of the time she was at the trestle with a boy who did not believe in ghosts, not even Joe Baldwin’s. When the light appeared, he sneered at it and tried to explain it as a reflection. Six feet away from the boy, the light suddenly disappeared and reappeared in back of him—as if to show him up! Mrs. Collins, along with others, observed that misty weather made the light appear clearer.
Next in the parade of witnesses came Mrs. Elizabeth Finch of Wilmington, who had offered her original testimony only the day before.
“It appeared to me many times,” she said of the light, “looked like a lantern to me. Two years ago, we were parked across the tracks in our car—we were watching for a train of course, too—when I saw two dazzling lights from both sides. It was a winter evening, but I suddenly felt very hot. There was a red streak in front of the car, and then I saw what was a dim outline of a man walking with a lantern and swinging it. Mind you, it was a bare outline,” Mrs. Finch added in emphasis, “and it did have a head…just kept going, then suddenly he disappeared inside the tracks.”
“Did you ever have psychic experiences before, Mrs. Finch?” I wanted to know.
“Yes, when we lived in a house in Masonborough, I used to hear noises, steps, even voices out of nowhere—later, I was told it was haunted.”
I thanked Mrs. Finch, wondering if the local legend had impressed her unconscious to the point where she did see what everyone had said was there—or whether she really saw the outline of a man.
I really have no reason to doubt her story. She struck me as a calm, intelligent person who would not easily make up a story just to be sensational. No, I decided, Mrs. Finch might very well have been one of the very few who saw more than just the light.
“I tell you why it can’t be anything ordinary,” Mr. Trussle, my next informant, said. “Seven years ago, when I saw the light on a damp night about a mile away from where I was standing, I noticed its very rapid approach. It disappeared fast, went back and forth as if to attract attention to something. It was three foot above the track, about the height of where a man’s arm might be.
“At first, it seemed yellowish white; when I came closer, it looked kind of pinkish. Now an ordinary car headlight wouldn’t go back and forth like that, would it?”
I agreed it was most unlikely for an automobile headlight to behave in such an unusual manner.
Mrs. Miriam Moore saw it three ti
mes, always on misty, humid nights. “I had a funny ringing in my ears when I reached the spot,” she said. She was sure what she saw was a lamp swinging in a slow motion. Suddenly, she broke into a cold sweat for no reason at all. I established that she was a psychic person, and had on occasion foretold the death of several members of her family.
E. S. Skipper is a dapper little man in the golden years of life, but peppery and very much alert. He used to be a freight shipper on the Atlantic Coast Line and grew up with the Maco Light the way Niagara kids grow up with the sight of the Falls.
“I’ve seen it hundreds of times,” he volunteered. “I’ve seen it flag trains down—it moved just like a railroad lantern would. On one occasion I took my shotgun and walked towards it. As I got nearer, the light became so bright I could hardly look. Suddenly, it disappeared into the old Catholic cemetery on the right side of the tracks.”
“Cemetery?” I asked, for I had not heard of a cemetery in this area.
Mr. Skipper was quite certain that there was one. I promised to look into this immediately. “Since you came so close to the light, Mr. Skipper,” I said, “perhaps you can tell me what it looked like close up.”
“Oh, I got even closer than that—back in 1929, I remember it well. It was 2 o’clock in the morning. I got to within six foot from it.”
“What did you see?”
“I saw a flame. I mean, in the middle of the light, there was, unmistakably, a flame burning.”
“Like a lantern?”
“Like a lantern.”
I thanked Mr. Skipper and was ready to turn to my last witness, none other than Editor Thomas herself, when Mrs. E. R. Rich, who had already given her account in the newspaper, asked for another minute, which I gladly gave her.
“Ten years ago,” Mrs. Rich said, “we were at the track one evening. My son Robert was in the car with me, and my older son went down the track to watch for the light. Suddenly not one but two lights appeared at the car. They were round and seemed to radiate, and sparkle—for a moment, they hung around, then one left, the other stayed. My feet went ice cold at this moment and I felt very strange.”