Thursday night, he didn’t make it out in time when a fire destroyed the house at 1621 Wiltshire Rd.

Around 7:50 p.m., Shackelford had activated a pager that calls Rowan Regional Medial Center. Hospital staff called the first person on a call list — a next-door neighbor, Salisbury Assistant Fire Chief Rick Fesperman said.

An electrical short had sparked a fire under the floor and spread through the crawlspace, a wall, the attic, den and other parts of the house. Investigators found no evidence of a smoke detector, Fesperman said.

Firefighters found Shackelford’s body lying in a hallway.

“It almost appeared he was coming out of his bedroom,” Fesperman said. “It probably had a jump on him before he realized the fire was in there.”

Firefighters carried his body out of the house. Authorities had not yet reached Shackelford’s next of kin early this morning.

Those who knew him say he had no immediate family in North Carolina.

Don Heidt, who lives around the corner on West Colonial Drive, was not home Thursday night when the fire happened.

Heidt, a carrier for the Salisbury Post, said this morning he had twice painted Shackelford’s home and often did yardwork there.

Shackelford had a daughter in Gulfport, Fla. and a grandson in Athens, Ala., Heidt said.

“(Shackelford) was pretty much a loner,” he said. “He kept very much to himself. He still managed to go out and get groceries weekly or so.”

Shackelford — a welder for the U.S.Coast Guard in a ship yard during World War II — was a salesman for a cast-iron pipe maker in Alabama. He studied law, but never practiced it, Heidt said.

“He was proud of his house. According to him it’s built of cypress, except for an addition,” he said.

Shackelford liked fishing, studying plants, collecting guns and local and national politics, Heidt said. He invested in the stock market and had poor eyesight in his last years.

Once, when Shackelford stayed in the Brian Center, Heidt watched his house and helped him pay bills.

“He thought I had pulled some things on him,” Heidt said. “I had not talked to him two years ... He became suspicious of everyone. He would often misplace something and think someone had taken it.”

Thursday night, firefighters took turns entering the house and coming out to remove equipment and get a drink in the 23-degree night.

“It’s tough on them,” Fesperman said. “You come out of a real hot environment to a real cold one.”

Spencer FireDepartment sent an engine, and Franklin and Granite Quarry firefighters stood by. Almost all of Salisbury’s trucks were at the scene.

They had the fire under control within two hours and completed their investigation around midnight.