HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
A 1704 Cape Cod farmhouse on the Cutchogue Village Green, site of the 1854 axe murders of James and Frances Wickham by dismissed farmhand Nicholas Bain — now a museum where footsteps and a dark figure have been reported.
27320 Route 25, Cutchogue, NY 11935
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free to visit the Village Green exterior. Small museum admission may apply for interior tours. Open for tours June through early October, Friday–Sunday 1–4 PM.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Village Green flat lawn; historic farmhouse on original foundation
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1704 · Pre-Revolutionary Cape Cod farmhouse, c.1704 · Site of the 1854 Wickham axe murders — Nicholas Bain killed James and Frances Wickham · Case attracted national coverage; Dickens referenced it · Relocated to Village Green 1965; now museum with 19th-century artifacts
The building now known as the Wickham Farmhouse was constructed around 1704 on Route 25 (the King's Highway), the main road running the length of Long Island's North Fork. The structure is a pre-Revolutionary Cape Cod design: large central chimney, low roofline, and an expandable attic — a configuration typical of prosperous farming households in 18th-century Suffolk County.
In the early hours of June 3, 1854, Nicholas Bain, an Irish-born farmhand who had worked on the Wickham property for approximately two years, entered the house with an axe from the woodpile. He killed James Wickham and his wife Frances. A servant boy, Stephen Winston, was attacked but survived and raised the alarm. Bain had been dismissed from service for stealing $30 from a female servant, Ellen Holland, whom he had also attempted to court; his stated motive, per his later confession, was revenge. The murders attracted national attention, including a note from Charles Dickens, who referenced the case in his writing.
A 1,000-person search party drawn from towns across Suffolk County located Bain in the woods near Cutchogue on June 6. He confessed while receiving medical treatment. He was tried, convicted, and hanged on December 15, 1854.
In 1965 the Wickham family donated the farmhouse to the Cutchogue-New Suffolk Historical Council, which relocated it to the Village Green for preservation. The farmhouse now displays 19th-century artifacts reflecting everyday life in early Cutchogue. It shares the Village Green with the 1649 Old House, the 1840 Schoolhouse, and the Old Burying Ground.
Sources
The Wickham murder case has been part of North Fork ghost tradition since at least the early 20th century, sustained by the combination of an exceptionally violent documented event and the continued Wickham family presence in Cutchogue into the modern era.
The specific account most cited in paranormal sources concerns a 1988 incident. Anne and John Wickham, descendants of the original James and Frances Wickham, awoke in the early hours to find a dark figure standing over their bed. They sealed the room and — per multiple sources — have not entered it since. The figure's identity in the accounts is left unstated; the Bain connection is implied by the context rather than claimed explicitly.
Footsteps on the second floor attributed to Bain are the most consistently reported residual phenomenon. This type of claim — footfalls in a space associated with a violent historical event — appears in North Fork ghost guides and the New York Haunted Houses database for this location.
The case also generated a Southold Historical Society exhibit on the murders, documented by 27East, which provides the most detailed account of the crime in a mainstream outlet and confirms the case's continued local historical prominence.
Notable Entities
The Cutchogue Village Green preserves a cluster of historic structures including the 1704 Wickham Farmhouse and the 1649 Old House (Horton-Wickham-Landon House, the oldest house in New York). The farmhouse museum displays 19th-century artifacts from everyday Cutchogue life. The murders occurred at the original farm on Route 25, not at the current museum site.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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