Derek Acorah’s Ghost Towns. Derek Acorah

‘It was a great opportunity for three mediums, of different levels, to work together.’

      Natalie

      Doorstep Divination

       ‘As soon as I opened the door, I thought it was a wind up.’

      Barry Hunt

      As we were on our way back from the Crouchs’ home to the Ghost Truck, I felt a sudden pull towards a property. As we carried on down the road, the feeling lessened. ‘Can we turn around?’ I asked.

      ‘You got a feeling, you gotta go with it!’ said Danniella.

      We got out and went up to the house. It was a former pub. This was our very first doorstep divination. Someone was about to get a big surprise!

       ‘With the doorstep divination what amazes me is people’s reactions. They have no idea we are coming and yet most of them are so calm – and they let us in. Why would you just let an unknown group of people into your house – with cameras?’

      Natalie

      A pleasant-looking middle-aged man opened the door. He was casually dressed and had probably been enjoying a quiet evening at home. Danniella quickly explained who we were and asked if I could do a reading. Looking rather shocked, the man said, ‘Hang on a minute,’ and motioned for us to stay on the doorstep while he stepped back into the house.

      After a brief pause he returned with his wife, a slender brown-haired lady. She was polite but not too keen to get involved. ‘Well, I’ll stay out of it but you can do it,’ she said to her husband. Rather cautiously, he agreed.

       ‘To start with I was not too sure, because I’m extremely sceptical. But I thought, well, it wasn’t going to hurt.’

      Barry

      Sitting on a sofa with Barry in the couple’s elegant home, with Danniella looking on, I had the very strong impression that Barry was entering a phase of redirection – not spiritually, but in his day-to-day life. ‘It could be in your business affairs,’ I told him. ‘I know it’s been very tiring and it seems as though you can’t find much time for relaxation.’

      Barry blinked at me from behind his round glasses, looking rather bemused.

      A man from the world of spirit was drawing close to us. Sam told me it was Barry’s uncle. This gentleman had suffered problems with his heart. But did any of it mean anything to Barry?

      ‘Alarmingly, quite a lot!’ He was smiling, but was obviously quite surprised at what was taking place. He shook his head in amazement.

       ‘He didn’t know anything about me, didn’t know what I do – and still doesn’t – but there were certain things there that only somebody who knows me and knows what I do should know.’

      Barry

      ‘Who’s Peter?’ I continued. ‘Not in spirit, I’m talking about business, people you know.’

      Barry thought for a minute. ‘There is a Peter I know,’ he confirmed.

      The spirits were telling me that Peter would have unbelievable news for Barry in the next couple of days. ‘Watch for the telephone connection!’ I told him. A little unsure, he smiled and nodded.

      A woman in spirit was making herself known, someone who had suffered a great loss of body weight before her passing. ‘There was somebody, yes,’ Barry agreed.

      This woman was pouring out feelings of affection and motherly love towards Barry. Along with the other souls gathered there, she had come because he had felt he had had the world on his shoulders and was battling on alone. Now I understood why I had been drawn to this house. I had to show Barry that there were people in the spirit world who were behind him, supporting him through this difficult time.

      The spirit people had been listening in on conversations about having to rearrange a youngster’s education. I had Barry’s full attention now. His bright brown eyes rarely left my face. He smiled rather ruefully as he accepted what I was saying. ‘Oh God!’ He ran his fingers through his hair.

      The spirit people were pleased with what he had done. ‘You’ve done very well there,’ I told him.

      ‘I hope so!’ he replied with a grin. Though he was smiling, I was aware that it had been a serious matter and of great concern to him.

       ‘Mentioning education was a bit of a sore point. We’re going through some interesting stages with my son and we’ve had some issues that we’ve had to deal with with his education – which are now dealt with. And that was the second lot of goosebumps, I think, because that was very recent.’

      Barry

      ‘Is there someone known to you called Susan?’ I asked.

      ‘Well, yes,’ Barry replied. ‘My wife’s name is Susan.’

      A lovely spirit lady had come to me, wanting to connect with Susan. She told me that she had been talking about getting involved in a course or some study linked with a course of some kind, but there had been hold-ups and she hadn’t been able to move forward with her plans. I was pleased to be able to say that the obstacle would soon be removed.

      Moving on to his home, the spirit people told me Barry had been having trouble with some pipework and had got quite frustrated with it – well, irate in fact!

      He chuckled. ‘There’s something I can’t find the source of,’ he said quietly.

      The spirits were telling me they could.

      ‘Can they tell me, because I need to know!’ Barry said, laughing.

      Then I was shown a picture of the source. I explained to Barry where to look. I knew things were soon going to fall into place for him and that he had support from a lovely group of people in the spirit world.

      ‘It’s amazing,’ he said as the reading came to an end. ‘I mean, there’s a lot there that I’ve been able to associate with. There was enough there to make the goosebumps rise!’

      ‘Was there?’ I was delighted that our first doorstep divination had been such a resounding success.

       ‘I’m very pleased he came and did it. It’s easy to say no to these things, but it was intriguing!’

      Barry

      Later I found out what happened next. Very soon after our visit Barry had gone on holiday to America for two weeks and when he returned, to his amazement, he had a water bill which ran into thousands of pounds. The pipework problem was proving no joke, but following the spirits’ directions Barry soon found the source of the problem and it even turned out to be the fault of the water board.

      ‘I’m even more pleased that Derek came now,’ he said, ‘because he’s saved me so much money!’

Via Mystica Shop

       ‘There’s been a dark energy that’s quite negative round there. We’re sort of… a bit frightened of it.’

      Carol Rogers

      Via Mystica is an alternative health shop that may once have been part of a medieval great hall. Mandy, Carol, Carol and Jean, a group of friendly mature women who all work there, told us about the Roman soldiers with no eyes who drifted through the wall, the shadowy figure that rushed by, the customers who had seen ghosts, the ley line that ran through the