The Pactolus Light
Of the 'haunted railroad' stories in North Carolina, the Pactolus light has the distinction of being the only one with out a train wreck. What is does have, is a tale of love broken by greed and death that leaves a man spending eternity trying to get back to the woman he loves.
Pactolus is a small township in Pitt county near Greenville and ECU. The students there have taken to using the Pactolus light as a hazing ritual without any knowledge of it's heartbreaking origin. But while the light shines brightly, the details of the story have faded in the years.
We do know that in the early part of the 1900's a man enrolled in a teacher training program in Greenville. There he met the woman of his dreams. Unfortunately, when the semester ended she had to return to her home in Virginia. The man vowed to be there when her train arrived the next year.
As the next term approached, the man planned to propose to the girl and being anxious to do so, found out that her train would stop in Pactolus and decided to meet her there and ride back to Greenville with her.
The day arrived and so the man rode to Pactolus to meet his love and hoped to gain her hand in marriage. He got to the train station and waited all day. The train had been delayed. As dusk approached, he climbed aboard his horse, a beautiful steed, and began to head home.
He never made it. A group of thugs ambushed him, killing him and almost making off with his horse before it escaped. As the story goes the girl died broken hearted, never finding out her loves fate. It was shorty after this that the light appeared.
The students say that if you drove your car down 'Carl Morris' road, a dirt drive until you could go no farther and flashed your lights 3 times quickly, the light would appear. Whether you believe the story or not, there IS something that happens in Pactolus. Below is a video I found about the light. Enjoy!
Comments
even i can see that its a light stick.
Having been there, I can say for sure that there are at least two lights at this site. I don't think that the events are supernatural, but they are beautiful and unbelievable, even having seen them with my own eyes. Of the two glowing orbs, the white one moved silently, drifting above the old track bed, while the red one drifted in and out of the woods.
Wish I would have had my camera! Ever try to shoot video in pitch black darkness? The attached video is how it turns out. But, as one who has seen these things in person, I am a believer of the phenomenon. As to what the phenomenon is... who knows?
I have been there and seen the light myself. I went with three friends and we all saw the same thing.
We arrived at the site at around 2 am, we turned off our car and all electronic equipment and sat in silence, waiting. A few comments about not seeing anything and I decided to get out.
About the time I left the vehicle I looked up to see a blue orb hovering from the trees about 20 feet up. It drifted down between trees and circled around, hovering in our direction, then vanished behind some trees. It then hovered around the other side of the tree and circled around in front of the closest tree to me.
Now that was a little freaky, but then two more orbs appeared and began to follow a similar pattern of hovering behind and in front and around trees.
We watched the spectacle for a while before we all began to get the feeling of being watched. I tried to start my car and it refused to show any sign of starting. In the shadows we saw what looked like figures moving towards the light. About the time the figures reached the light they vanished like shadows.
The blue lights continued to swirl around and I tried again, this time successfully starting the car. We left quickly after that and decided to one day return with a video camera and the intention of making contact.
Still, really freaky experience.
I am a paranormal investigator and I have seen the lights. The light has appeared blue, white, yellow, and red. One unusual thing I have noticed while investigating this light is that it tends to move away from us when we try to follow it. Sometimes it flashes and sometimes it moves from side to side. Next investigation we plan on having a few investigators stand on one side of the path and a few on the opposite side to see if we can close in on it and get closer. For the best results it's probably best to try blinking your headlights on your car and if you see the light flash back, then walk down the path quietly, shut off your flashlight, sit and wait. It seems creepy, but having a whole group of people do it with you makes it easier and more fun. The key is patience. Once you open your mind most likely the light will appear more frequently. Good luck to all who try this!
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