Ballads of the Legendary Maco Light
North Carolina has a rich tradition of ghost stories throughout its history. Strangely, however, there do not seem to have been many ghostly ballads recorded about the state’s hauntings. One exception involves the legendary Maco Station Light.
The legend of the light has already been told in another Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem post. Briefly, in 1867 conductor Joe Baldwin was supposedly decapitated in an accident involving a train collision that he attempted to prevent. Thereafter, his ghost appeared on the stretch of the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad in the form of a spectral light or lights at night, supposedly as he searched for his missing head. Many people saw the light over the years until the abandoned set of tracks was removed in 1977, at which time the sightings ended. Numerous natural explanations for the phenomenon have been given over the years. There is no historical evidence to corroborate the story of Baldwin and the accident, although the tale is probably derived from a documented case in 1856 involving the death of railroad employee Charles Baldwin.
In 1965, Grant Turner, the long-time “Voice of the Grand Ole Opry,” recorded the song “Maco Light” for Chart Records in Nashville. Written by Hugh King, the song was a straightforward retelling of the legend. It was released as a single but failed to place on the charts.
Country rock pioneer Gram Parsons recorded a song about the Maco Light early in his career. Information about this recording, including its date, is scant, and it was apparently not released until 2011, years after his death. Hilariously, Parsons apparently confused Maco, North Carolina with Macon, Georgia, as he transplanted the events to that state (and moved the date of the accident up to 1949), although Joe Baldwin is still the central figure.
More recently, the musical trio The Carolina Cohorts (Bland Simpson, Jim Wann, and Don Dixon) recorded “Maco Light” for their play King Mackerel and the Blues are Running: Songs and Stories of the Carolina Coast (original cast recording released in 1996):
While whatever phenomenon behind the story of Joe (or was it Charles?) Baldwin and the Maco Station Light may be over now, the story remains a popular ghostly tale, and may continue to inspire new musical retelling in the years ahead.
