Tales and Items of Interest

AN APPARITION WALKED AND WEPT AT BINSTEAD HOUSE

What is the truth behind the happenings which supposedly occurred on a once gracious estate in Marshfield?

Its history dates from 1807 when acreage was leased by a James Robertson. In 1816 the lease was sold to a Charlottetown merchant, Ewen Cameron, who gave it the name of Fasfern Farm. In 1832 Fasfern Farm was sold to John Livett, a wealthy English gentleman who built a large handsome dwelling which he named Binstead House.

The estate was sold in 1842 to another wealthy Englishman, Charles Braddock. It was during Braddock’s ownership that things began to go badly for dwellers in Binstead House over the next thirty years. Folklore implies that Braddock used two of his wife’s maids as mistresses. A basis was laid for rumor and public condemnation. His fortune and reputa- tion declined to the extent he had to sell

his estate, that being Ph°t°bVBarbM°"-Ja" to Robert A. Fellowes, Esq.

Mr. Fellowes, who gave his occupation as “gentleman”, was inept as a farmer. In less than five years he was trying to sell or even lease the place. There were no offers until 1856 when Mr. Arthur Pennée (Penny) rented Binstead House.

It was Mrs. Pennée who first spoke openly of the haunting. She appealed to the Roman Catholic Bishop to have the house exorcised and give the wraith rest. (The rite of exorcism was not carried out until 1877.)

Robert Fellowes still had no buyer when the Pennées left. In 1859 he resumed residence. The 1861 Census taker found Mr. Fellowes depressed and in a contrary state of mind. In 1867 he managed to sell the property to a Mr. J .C. Binns at a reduced price. Mr. Binns lived in the house only three years before dying suddenly at age 62. A year later Robert Fellowes is reported to have..“died from the

Binstead House

0:7

ill effects of a dose of ..?..[illeg.] administered by himself. — Rev. D. FitzGerald, St. Paul’s Anglican Church, 13 Jan. 1871.”

In 1876 the Fasfern Farm was owned by William C. Carey. The following year the necessary exorcism was performed to bring tranquillity to the house and peace of mind to future occupants of Binstead House.

Following is a personal account of the haunting as recorded by Mrs. Pennée.

Additional information may be found in the Nov. 28, l8891ssue of The Daily Examiner and The

. ~ Island Magazine, No. 23, pages 9 - 15 at the RBI. Public Archives in Charlottetown and elsewhere.

A Real Ghost!

It was in the year 1856 that my husband took me to live at a house called Binstead, about five miles from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. It was a good sized house, and at the back had been considerably extended to allow of extra ofiices, since there were about two hundred acres of farm land around it, necessitating several resident farming men. Although forming part of the house these premises could only be entered through the inner kitchen, as no wall had ever been broken down to form a door or passage from upstairs. Thus the farming men’s sleeping rooms were adjacent to those occupied by the family and visitors, although there was no communication through the upstairs corridor.

It was always in or near the sleeping apartment immediately adjacent to the men ’s that the apparition was seen, and, as that was one of our spare bedrooms, it may have frequently been unperceived.

About ten days after we had established ourselves at Binstead we commenced hearing strange noises. For many weeks they were of very

The Island Magazine, Number 23