his family good-bye at the dock in Wilmington and headed for Smithville. That 

 afternoon, with some time on their hands, the musicians took a sail around Bald 

 Head Island. The weather was nice and the boat was in good shape, so there was 

 no explanation for what happened: The boat sank, and Tony drowned. 



That should have been the end of the story, but it was just the beginning. 

 Local lore says that Tony returned, perhaps because he was only 19 when he died 

 or because of his attachment to the harp that he played so beautifully. For as long 

 as anyone can remember, he has played his harp in the inn where he worked. 



People who have lived there report hearing music and footsteps throughout 

 the house. One resident, Mary Stuart Callari, describes the music as "melodic in a 

 strange way. It sounds like a tune, though nothing you could hum. It is rather 

 metallic. When you hear it and follow the sound to where you think it is — it is 

 no longer there. It always sounds off in the distance." 



Tony doesn't show himself, but he makes his presence known through his 

 actions. Callari, whose family bought the property in 1949, says her first experi- 

 ence with Tony was in the 1950s when she was in high school. As she ap- 

 proached the dark house alone one night, the lights began to turn on room by 

 room even though no one was home. Tony has also closed windows during 

 storms and covered sleeping children with blankets. 



— Haunted Wilmington and the Cape Fear Coast 



I 



North Carolina, it's hard not to have heard of the Maco light. The 130- 

 year-old legend says that the ghost of a train conductor walks the rails at the old 

 Maco Station just 14 miles west of Wilmington. 



The Maco Station ghost light goes back to 1867, when Joe Baldwin was a 

 train conductor. He was riding one night in a rear coach when it uncoupled from 

 the train. Another locomotive was following, and Joe feared that it would plow 

 into the free car. So he hurried to the rear platform, grabbed a signal lantern and 

 waved it frantically. The approaching engineer never saw the light or the coach, 

 colliding with such a force that the car was destroyed. Joe was decapitated. 



A witness said that Joe's lantern waved until the last second and was hurled 

 away from the tracks into a swamp. There, it continued to burn until it was 

 moved. 



Shortly after this fatal accident, a mysterious light showed up along the 

 tracks, and it has been appearing there over the years. Legend holds that it's Joe 

 looking for his head. Folks who visit the tracks say the light materializes about a 

 mile away as a flicker over the left rail. Then it grows brighter and creeps up the 

 track. As it gets closer, it gains momentum and dashes at a great speed at the 

 same time swinging faster from side to side. 



Then, it stops about 75 yards away, glows, speeds backward and vanishes. □ 



— Tar Heel Ghosts 



COASTWATCH 11 



