In 1910, a young teaching student, Edwin Cox, who was enrolled at the East Carolina Teachers Training School today's East Carolina University, traveled by horseback to the small town of Pactolus.He wanted to surprise the young lady he'd met at school by meeting her at the train station and proposing to her.
The train was very late, and as dusk approached, he left to return to Greenville.
On the way, some local toughs wanted to rob him of his horse.
They ambushed and murdered Cox, but the horse escaped and fled riderless back to his home.
The young mans family feared the worst. Edwin's body was never found, and according to some versions of the story, his young love died of a broken heart.
Soon after, a ghostly light began to appear near the tracks in Pactolus.
Legend has it that it's the ghost of Edwin Cox, still out there in the dark trying to signal his lost love, even though the tracks are long gone.
And, according to local lore, if you drive your car down the old dirt road where the tracks used to be and flash your headlamps 3 times, you'll see the light appear in reply.