A 1972 article in the "Wilmington Star-News" argued that "most investigators" had believed the light was traceable to refraction from car headlights on a nearby highway, U.S. Route 74. Reprinting a 1950 long-exposure photograph of the light, the newspaper stated that a bend on the highway was the cause of the phenomenon, noting both that amber and red lights had been seen close to the main light when viewed through a telescope (corresponding to truck turn and brake signals) and that the light had been rarely seen since highway widening in the late 1960s eliminated the bend. Refuting the stories of some locals, who claimed that the light had still appeared while the highway was closed for a period during World War II, the "Star-News" researcher noted that a thorough check of archives twenty years earlier to verify this part of the tale had failed to reveal any evidence of such a closure taking place. The newspaper was the scene of a good deal of discussion on the subject, with one resident writing that "the Maco Light is what "Star-News" says it is [...] all the Maco Light is now is just a lovers' lane and a place to start a lot of trouble". However, the light retained some supporters: in the mid 1970s a reporter for "The Robesonian" was eventually, after several failed attempts, able to see the light, which he described as "chilling" and "resembling the light thrown from a kerosene lantern as seen from a distance of about 50 feet [...] primarily white light with an ever so little reddish tint. It tended to travel down the center of the track, swinging to and fro with slight vertical undulations".