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Back in 1867 when Joe Baldwin was a conductor,one of the regular jobs he did was coupling and uncoupling the cars at raolroad
junctions.
Baldwin then lost his life doing just that in Maco, North Carolina.
His train had just became uncoupled and he went down to the tracks, carrying a lantern, to fix it. Somehow,he was decapitated.
From that night on, witnesses reported seeing a mysterious light in the vicinity on some dark nights. The popular explanation
was that the conductor, Baldwin, was taking nocturnal walks in search of his head. In 1873, a second light appeared and each
shining with the intensity of a 25 wattt lightbulb. People speculated that it was Joe's head in search of his body.
The ghost light story gained enough credence to cause a Washington,DC investigator to visit Maco, NC. He wasn't satisfied
that there was no practical explanation but did state, '...that it wasn't a jack o' lantern as expected.' A detachment from
Fort Bragg encamped at Maco to see if they could solve the mystery, but to no success.
Unbelivers have all sorts of ways to explain Joe Baldwins ghost. Weather,seasons, headlights-but once you have witnessed
the lights for yourself, you realize...it is really an Unsolved Mystery.
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