I was discussing some stuff with some old East Carolina buds yesterday, and an old local legend came up, the Pactolus Light. I’d heard about it before, but had never been out that way. So, I went and tracked down some info on this myth (or is it?)
Sometime in the early 1900’s a young man from Greenville rode his horse out past Pactolus to meet the train his fiancee’ had taken down from Richmond; they had met and fallen in love while she was a student at the teacher training school in Greenville (that is today, of course, East Carolina University).
Unfortunately, the train was much later than expected, and he found himself out at dusk in unfamiliar countryside. He realized that soon enough it would be dark, and the young woman in question wouldn’t even know he had ridden out to meet her train. But his horse had drawn the attention of some ne’er do wells who were walking down the tracks that night, and they saw an opportunity to get a quick ride.
Hiding near the side of the tracks, they ambushed the young man as he rode past, killed him and stuffed his body in the thick undergrowth. But they spooked the horse in the process, and the animal showed up back in Greenville a few days later, exhausted and riderless.
The family had already realized that something was amiss, and now the horse confirmed their worst fears, but a search of the terrain turned up nothing. Today, they say you’ll see a light out where the tracks used to run to Pactolus, the light of the murdered young man trying to show his true love that he had, indeed, been there to meet her train.
I’ve know some people who state that they have seen the Pactolus Light, but, I and my other mates usually just chalked it up to to much Mezcal. Got that little worm in there, ye know. But, who knows? There is more on Heaven and Earth then we can understand.
