That original playhouse entertained both locals and visitors alike for 96 years before meeting the misfortune of burning to the ground during a storm in 1983. Quickly rebuilt by the community, the playhouse hardly missed a beat and remained one of the longest-running theatres in Canada. Throughout its history the theatre has staged dramatic performances, both professional and amateur, as well as musical performances of many types and styles.
One of the more unusual events held weekly at the playhouse is the
Ceilidh, a social gathering at which there is Scottish or Irish folk music and singing, traditional dancing, and storytelling. Exemplary of the heritage of the residents, the Ceilidh is a not uncommon element of local entertainment in the Maritimes.
Something
really unusual, though, is the fact that the theatre is believed to be haunted by one Major Temple William Faber McDonald, a native of Georgetown who was born there on June 27, 1875. The Major was a merchant, business person, and military officer, as well as a politician, elected to the Legislative Assembly in the general election of 1912. On the outbreak of World War I he enlisted in the army, being killed in action in France on 2 April 1918, and was buried at Aubigny Communal Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France. Why he should choose to haunt King's Playhouse escapes us, but then that's the nature of ghosts.
In 2018 a CBC news crew who knew of the stories of the haunting of the theatre spent 2 days and 2 nights in the theatre, later posting the following story of their experience on May 12, 2018.
King's Playhouse 'hot spot' for paranormal activity, says Haunted crew
Director of photography happy to leave after spending 2 days and 2 nights in building
After spending a few days and nights in the King's Playhouse in Georgetown, P.E.I., the crew of the TV show Haunted say they were glad to get out of there. "I'm a little happy to not be in that space today or tonight," said director of photography, Dillon Garland.
The theatre has a rich history in the community and part of the history involves some ghostly legends, such as one about a little girl sitting in one of the theatre's seats. Those stories motivated the crew from Halifax to spend two days and two nights in the theatre in hopes of seeing paranormal activity for themselves. Their show, which airs on EastLink Television, tries to capture haunted locations in the Maritimes.
And Garland said they had results. That made things a bit unnerving but also exciting.
"We had movement with stuff, visual movement with a couple of things in the theatre area of the King's Playhouse," he said. "Very heavy stuff that shouldn't have been moving."
"Mainly what got me the most was in the back area of the King's Playhouse, a park area ... we heard footsteps we cannot explain."
Garland said inside the theatre, one of the large light fixtures started swinging in an abnormal way.
"It was like somebody was somewhere with a fishing wire, they were hauling it one way just to get momentum and then letting go."
The Haunted crew checked with theatre staff who told them they had never seen any of the lights move before. Garland believes the theatre is a "hot spot for paranormal stories and paranormal and history."
"We were getting a bunch of stuff, like voices upstairs, the footsteps out in the park area, the light swinging," he said.
From CBC News