Derek Acorah’s Ghost Towns. Derek Acorah

Roman soldiers, there was a lady in white, there were dark forces. And we thought, “Well, how can all these things be in this one shop?”’

      Natalie

      Angus and I went to investigate.

      In the shop we were welcomed by the staff. Straightaway Sam told me to go to the back of the shop, where there was a portal, a vortex. This is a place where spirits enter and exit this world. To us, it is a spot which can feel either hot or cold.

      We went out of the back of the shop and down a corridor into a small room where stock and other items were stored on shelves. ‘This is it!’ I said excitedly. ‘This is the room where energy is coming in and going out. The vortex is so, so, so strong here.’

      We were all standing packed together in the small room and I was picking up information about a spirit man who came in visitation. I explained that he would probably cause the sensation of a person rushing past as he went in and out of the portal. However, the stooped shadowy figure that had often been seen in the area, rushing by at speed, was a different spirit, one that went back to a different time frame.

      ‘Was this ever part of an inn?’ I asked. I was seeing wooden tables and stools and smelling ale. It was the 1400s. This was the period in which the shadowy figure had lived. She was a lady whose life had been taken from her in the cruellest way. I could see it all in front of me. I turned away in horror. ‘Take that picture, take it away from me!’ I said to Sam. I could see the woman being cut up, virtually dismembered, during a ceremony, while a group of people stood there chanting. I could also pick up on all her feelings as this despicable act was being carried out. It was horrific. I knew it had happened nearby and when her spirit had left her body it had rushed back to the spot where the shop now stood. Despite her traumatic death, the lady had moved on to the spiritual realms, but she still came back and relived her sadness, because she had never forgiven the perpetrators of that terrible deed and was still searching for them, seeking for justice.

      ‘Sam,’ I said, ‘try to explain to her that revenge is not the way! She’s tormented!’

      Angus told me then that four witches had been killed publicly in Faversham in some kind of horrid ceremony.

      I knew just how awful it had been. ‘They bled her,’ I explained’they slit her and bled her to death and then did despicable things afterwards to her physical body and she’s coming through wanting justice.’

      I knew that by now the evil souls involved would have received their just reward, but their victim wouldn’t have been aware of this and wouldn’t have been able to find them in the spirit world because they wouldn’t be in the same realm. Such evil people would have gone straight to the lowest spirit realm and might still be there, because until they repented of their deeds they wouldn’t be able to progress. I asked that they would one day see the error of their ways and that this poor soul would be helped to let go of the past and find peace.

       ‘I was being prodded in the back all the time this was going on and I didn’t like to say anything, as I didn’t want to disturb Derek… I thought it was the cameraman, to tell me to move, then I realized that he was standing on the wrong side of me, so it couldn’t possibly have been him.’

      Carol Rogers

      This experience had been harrowing to me as a medium, but I left Via Mystica knowing that although terrible things had happened nearby in the past, the shop itself was a peaceful place. It will always have spirits there, moving in and out of the vortex, but most of them will be lovely souls just passing through.

       ‘When Derek came to the shop it was a wonderful experience… We were very, very impressed by what he found for us.’

      Jean Webb

Faversham Brewery

       ‘The brewery is definitely haunted and from the stories I’ve been told and the feelings I get I think the ghosts are definitely malevolent. I think they’re quite nasty.’

      Mark Stiff

      Faversham Brewery is a important part of the town. Built on the site of a former monastery, over the years it has been a major employer, but many people came to the Ghost Truck to tell us that they would not set foot in it because of the dark spirits said to lurk there.

      One current employee, Mark, a down-to-earth man with flowing locks, offered to show us around. Danniella, Angus and I couldn’t wait.

       ‘Faversham’s famous for its brewery and loads of people coming to the truck were telling us about the experiences that they had had there, but they were too scared to go back and investigate, so we were thrilled when Mark said that he would.’

      Natalie

      As we were in the Ghost Car travelling towards the brewery, I started to get a feeling of apprehension. By the time we arrived, it had turned to dread.

      At the brewery we met up with Mark and as we made our way through the twisting brick corridors to the malt kiln, I was immediately aware of a group of monks walking four or five deep. Sam told me that they were Benedictines. These spirits were roaming all over the brewery, concerned about a lost soul.

      The local historian’s view

       ‘There was a Faversham Abbey, of course, which was a Benedictine abbey. He was spot on there.’

      Dr Arthur Percival

      At that point Danniella decided that as the brewery was so large it might be a good idea to leave Angus in the malt kiln and take me to a different part of the brewery to see if I could pick up the story better elsewhere.

      ‘Am I on my own here?’asked Angus nervously. ‘Just don’t close the door then!’

      We told him all he had to do was holler and we would come back to him. Danniella left him with a camera and we walked off.

       ‘I’m not very keen on being in the dark – which is something I wasn’t really that aware of until I started working with Derek. But in the dark I just lose my coordination. I suffer from claustrophobia too. And though the night-vision cameras show quite clearly what’s happening, we really can’t see at all.’

      Angus

       ‘The malt kiln room, the room we left Angus in, was horrible. It was dark, it was dense, it was wet, it was horrible – just a horrible room! Very, very dark-you couldn’t see a thing in front of you. It didn’t have a good feeling to it at all.’

      Danniella

      But it wasn’t long before Danniella was having her own problems. As we followed Mark through the brewery and across an area where bags of grain were piled up, she asked worriedly, ‘This isn’t the place with the rats, is it?’

      ‘No,’ he reassured her, ‘it’s just the place with the mice.’

      ‘Oh no, don’t say that!’

      As we carried on walking, I saw something. ‘Oh yes, there are a few of them here, a couple just ran across there, look!’

      ‘Shut up!’ Danniella wailed. She stood stock still.

      ‘Look, there were only a couple of them, Danniella, a couple of them just ran across.’

      ‘No! I’m goin’! I’m out of here!’

      ‘They were just running, they weren’t jumping.’

      ‘No, I’m out of here! Honestly!