Locals claim the light had been around since 1869, when a train conductor named Joe Baldwin was decapitated in a freak accident. Some say the luminscent ball is the spirit of Baldwin, swinging a lantern as he searches for his severed head. The president's experience was reported in the press. Soon, the Maco Station ghost light was the most famous ghost light in the South. Over the years, thousands of people have claimed to see the eerie phenomenon, bobbing and weaving alongside desolate stretches of tracks before disappearing as suddenly as it arrived.
Spook lights are nothing new to the folklore of the Deep South.
Since Indian times, stories about mysterious flashing lights and wispy halos of color floating on the night wind have entertained and terrified generations of Southerners. After Cleveland's encounter, hundreds of similar sightings were reported in the region. In 1925, two farm boys claimed that the light chased them several miles through the woods. In recent years critics have tried to debunk the Maco ghost light by claiming that it is merely a reflection from auto headlights on nearby roads or highways. But there were no cars in 1869 when Joe Baldwin lost his head and reports of the mysterious light were first recorded.