Saturday had arrived, all the equipment was charged, all accountable history researched, fully focused on trying to contact Sir Edward Pellew, What will the night hold? Who will come forward and talk to us? 

We arrived at Bitton House, the cream colour building, standing at the edge of the dimly lit carpark. The large wooden door, now the only thing between us and the spirits of the past. Greeted by the stain glassed arched window of Sir Edward Pellew in the reception area we placed our equipment in the room to the right and explored the refurbished and redesigned rooms. 

 

Entering the Mayors Lounge, original artwork of Thomas Luny, a local artist, who also lived in Teignmouth, the original fireplace, the servants corridor, and orignal chairs all line the four walls of the room. An uneasy feeling, felt by many of the team, came from the servants corridor, connecting the Mayors Lounge to Chamber One. Instead of leaving the room via the door we came through, we walked through the corridor and entered into Chamber One, a large open room divided now by a sliding door into Chamber Two. These two rooms, unknown to us at the time would cause unknown feelings after the investigation had ended, but we will get to that later on.

Entering back into the reception area, the main staircase is to the left of the main door but on this investigation the upstairs were of limits to us, which could strengthen the paranormal activity we witnessed. It was now time to get ready for the nights investigation. With Carmen showing the rest of the team the grounds of Bitton House, it left me (Oli), alone, uneasy, in the house setting up cameras and trigger objects. 

 

I had to enter the Mayors Lounge, again on my own to place a locked off camera, constantly feeling like someone was watching me from the servants corridor. This is the time it hit me, that I was alone in someone’s house, someone’s house that I have never been in before, uninvited. I rushed through the corridor, placing a cat ball on the floor in the process and entered Chamber 1. The feeling of being watched subsided and I made my way back to get the rest of the cameras, placing one in Chamber 1, one facing up the main staircase, and one facing the large wooden entrance. 

 

Thankfully I could hear footsteps, Carmen returning with the rest of the team?, that what I naturally thought, but soon realised the footsteps were coming from upstairs. Upstairs that we have no accessed to. Who was up there? Shortly after, the rest of the team entered back into the building and I explained what I had just heard and felt. This was just the start of one of our best investigations to date. 

 

We made our way to the Mayors Lounge, all sat around the table, placed in the middle of the room and introduced ourselves, in respect to who was listening. The room was feeling still and not much being heard until……..the footsteps…….walking from upstairs. Oli ran to the base of the staircase, knowing full well the whole team were in one room, knowing that we were the only ones in the building, no one…….no one in the building apart from us. Who was walking around upstairs?

 

We made our way into Chamber 1, with the team spreading themselves around the room. We placed cat balls around the room, in the hope of some kind of interaction. Still on edge and a little excited about what we all just heard coming from upstairs, this room became more of a resting place to regroup our thoughts. We moved through the dividing wall and investigated Chamber 2……well, what was to follow, left us with more questions. It was time to introduce a new experiment to the team, glass divination.

 We placed a half pint glass, upside down, in the middle of the table, four pieces of paper, each with their own word, Yes, No, Maybe, Goodbye, at each edge of the table. Only four people of the the team took to the table and placed one finger, lightly upon the glass. Upon calling out to Sir Edward Pellew, the glass remained still, no movement as you would expect. Carmen had heard reports of a young boy residing at the property and decided to try and communicate…….she was answered! 

 

From somewhere the name Benjamin came to her, so she went with her feelings and asked, ‘Benjamin, are you here with us?’ Surprised, the four people all agreed that the glass, that hadn’t moved when asking other questions previously,  started to rotate, very slowly, but it was rotating. Did this motion increase the energy? Did Benjamin want to talk? Oh we get the response we wanted.

 

Throughout the experiment the glass, believed to be the spirit of Benjamin, kept moving faster and faster in response to our questions, we established that he was a farmhand in Teignmouth, supplying food for the house. Sadly, alongside his mother, they ended up in the isolation hospital, where they both passed away. We can not find any record of a Benjamin linked to the hospital or the house due to the lack of records during that time. 

 

The team, those around the table and those around the room, clearly all in a state of shock and wonderment, left the room to recoup and take in what we all witnessed. In all the years of investigating, we have never had any movement using a glass or a Ouija board. Throughout the night the constant walking heard from upstairs became background noise, the feeling of being watched from the servants corridor became the norm. After a few more hours investigating the mood of the team changed, nothing negative or oppressive, just the feeling drained of energy. 

 

We ended the night’s investigation, closed ourselves down and thanked the spirits of Bitton House for welcoming us and communicating. We walked through the large wooden door, back into the present, locked the door to the past, thinking that was the end…….

 

Over the next few days a few of us felt strange, a feeling of not wanting to review our recordings, footage etc. Days passed before I, for one, started to review the locked off cameras and audio. Starting with the camera facing the staircase, a bright orange flash of light was seen and then disappeared. The same flash of light was also captured on a member’s mobile phone when recording the servants corridor. We then started to review the second  third and fourth cameras in remaining rooms, but nothing of interest was captured. 

 

A few days later, the audio was reviewed and just like we heard on the night, unexplained walking from upstairs was captured. To this day we are none the wiser who is still residing upstairs. 

 

Overall, Bitton House has a lot of untold history still to be told. Sir Edward Pellew, and rightly so, needs to be remembered for what he did in the Navy, but we need to remember those who also resided in this house, to remember the servants, who ran the house, and those who were admitted and likely passed away in the isolation hospital. To this day, this location has to be one of our most active investigations and one that has, and still is, drawing us back for future investigations.