Haunted: Scariest stories from the UK's no. 1 psychic. Derek Acorah

the physical health and emotional state of that being, and so a medium who is aware of it can gain information as to how a particular person or animal is feeling, whether there has been illness or emotional upset or, indeed, whether there is the imminent prospect of some ailment.

      I feel it is important to point out that although a medium may be very gifted, when they are not working and open to spiritual vibrations, they are only as psychic as everybody else. So they are just as likely as the next person to lose an item, to have an unexpected flat tyre, to forget something or to experience any one of life’s ups and downs. It is pointless making that hackneyed quip ‘You didn’t see that one coming, did you?’ when a mishap occurs in a medium’s daily life. If any of you have made this observation, no doubt you have received a wry smile from the medium in question. The point is that it is only when a medium has prepared themselves for psychic work and has opened themselves up to the vibrations and influences of the world of spirit that they are in a position to demonstrate their mediumistic gifts.

      By ‘opened themselves up’, I mean that they expand their consciousness – that part of the brain that houses our psychic side. (We all have it – we are all psychic to some degree.) They then become more keenly aware of the atmosphere around them, whether visiting a haunted location or giving a reading to an individual who has requested an insight into their life or an answer to a personal question.

      The preparation for such work involves offering up a prayer for self-protection. This request for protection is of paramount importance. When I pray to my guides and doorkeepers, I do so for both myself and any other person or persons present with me. I must stress, however, that it is important for each individual to ask for their own protection from negative spirits. If you knowingly enter an alleged haunted location, you cannot leave the responsibility for your protection to the medium alone. You have a duty to yourself.

      As well as asking for protection, I would also stress that it is absolutely necessary for mediums to practise the discipline of closing themselves down to spiritual influences when they are not working. To leave oneself open is foolhardy indeed. Not only will the medium become exhausted by the constant draining of their energies, but they won’t be living a true and proper life on the physical plane and will therefore lose that important grip on reality that day-to-day life gives.

      When I am working on a paranormal investigation, all my psychic and mediumistic senses come into play. I will watch for the slightest movement denoting spiritual activity. I will listen to make sure that I pick up any words spoken by a spirit being. My psychic senses are honed to the energies in a location so that I can glean any recordings contained in the fabric of a building, in the brickwork and wood or even in the ground upon which it stands. I am fully alert and concentrating on the job in hand.

      If it happens that a spirit entity appears, I evaluate the emotional state and temperament of that being. I will communicate vocally with it and hope that I will be allowed to hear any responses clairaudiently. If a spirit being does not wish to communicate I then rely upon the help of my spirit guide, Sam, who will act as a go-between conveying messages from the spirit person to me.

      At times I come across spirit beings who are behaving in an anti-social manner or causing concern to the current inhabitants of the building in some way. It is on these occasions that I sometimes choose to channel the spirit in an attempt to discover just why they are acting in this way. In order to do this I have to invite the spirit being to enter my aura, i.e. come very close to me and almost overshadow me. This means that the space in which I am standing is now almost occupied by the spirit person as well and I have absorbed that being into my own aura. It is then and only then that the personality of the being I am channelling will be demonstrated through my own physical body. If the spirit was a violent being in their physical life, then I will demonstrate violence. If they were erratic in behaviour, then I will become erratic for the brief time that I am channelling them. In other words, I will become the person that the spirit being was when they were living here on Earth.

      What I have found over the past two or three years is that my channelling has been described as me being ‘possessed’. This description was used, for example, by certain members of a production company, through their ignorance of the subject, during the making of Most Haunted. It didn’t matter how many times I requested that these people did not use that description of that aspect of my work, they still did. I suppose that was because it sounded more exciting and ‘paranormal’ to talk of possession. But I must stress that I have never been possessed.

      I have also heard that sometimes people have commented that I might be schizophrenic or psychotic. I am neither. I am a medium. I find it distasteful in the extreme that certain individuals demonstrate their ignorance of mental health conditions or, even worse, refuse to appreciate just how much heartache and trauma the families of people suffering from such conditions have to undergo. If I behaved in such a manner I would be thoroughly ashamed of myself.

      Channelling is something that I choose to do. It is an educated choice and I make it because I know that I am experienced enough to deal with the situation. I also have an exceedingly strong spirit guide, doorkeepers and spirit helpers who will assist me, and I make sure that I have at least one person with me – in most cases my good friend Ray Rodaway – who is experienced in dealing with the situation when I do choose to channel a spirit entity.

      I have found that by channelling a spirit entity I am more able to understand the personality of the person as they were both in their physical life and after their passing. It gives me a greater depth than merely communicating using the gifts of clairvoyance or clairaudience.

       CHAPTER TWO

       My Beloved Mother

      Over the Christmas period of 2006 my mother and her sister, my Aunt Eileen, came to stay with Gwen and me at our home in England. On 27 December we all travelled to Spain and stayed there for a week. During that week my mother was not herself at all, but I did not realize quite how ill she was.

      Prior to the Christmas period I had felt unsettled. My mother had kept coming into my mind and I had gained the distinct impression that all was not well, but I had pushed the thought away, as it wasn’t something I wished to contemplate. Something told me, though, that this would probably be the last Christmas I would spend in her physical presence, even though she appeared to be well and in good spirits at the time.

      Most people are under the impression that, as a medium, I am well aware of any events about to take place in my life, but this is just not the case. We mediums receive nothing for ourselves. We are deeply intuitive and get ‘feelings’ when unhappy or joyous events are about to take place, but we receive no definitive information from our guides and helpers. To acquire such detail would necessitate a visit to another medium.

      Despite my unease, my mother, my aunt, Gwen and I enjoyed the two-day Christmas holiday and all appeared to be well on our trip over to Spain. Within a couple of days, however, my mother was really not herself. Unlike her normal practice, she would stay in bed until quite late in the day and wasn’t at all keen on going out and about. Usually she would be enthusiastic about eating out in restaurants and taking trips to the shops, but not this time.

      Gwen had arranged our flights home for quite late in the day so that Mum could have what was now her usual lie-in. Lunch-time came and when my aunt went to rouse her, she found she couldn’t. She called me through to the bedroom. Then, gradually, Mum woke up properly. I was worried about what was going on, but did not want to take her to a Spanish hospital, as I was sure this would distress her. I urgently needed to get her home, where I knew she would be happier.

      When we finally arrived back at my mother’s house, I called the doctor. He came out to visit her and advised that she should go to hospital immediately. An ambulance was called and Mum was admitted to the hospital. She was suffering from a breathing complaint. She had been a heavy smoker all her life and now, at 80 years of age, she was suffering the consequences. Her poor body