Acorah's spurious spiritualism

THE SPURIOUS SPIRITUALISM OF DEREK ACORAH by Thomas Alder

This article was written for this site by a practising Spiritualist medium whose opinion is based on decades of experience.

November 2005

According to his website Derek Acorah is ‘Britain’s finest professional spirit-medium’. In his stage presentation he talks about spiritualism and the love of God. But it is as part of Living TV’s ‘Most Haunted’ show that he is best known to the general public. His apparent ability to channel spirits almost at will has brought him the kind of fame usually restricted to pop stars.

Recently there have been a number of features in the national UK press dealing with the television phenomena that is Derek Acorah. These features have, generally, ridiculed his claims to communicate with discarnate spirits and one article in The Daily Mirror actually provided evidence that he was a fraud. Some have poked gentle fun at his camp style, nonsensical gibberings and effeminate mannerisms. But despite this all are agreed that Derek Acorah is entertaining. But this is entertainment with a hidden cost, that cost is the reputation of Spiritualism.

Acorah is self-billed as a ‘spirit-medium’ that is he claims to be able to communicate with discarnate entities. In The Independent it was reported that Acorah once ‘communicated’ with a fictional character called Viviane Radclyffe who was invented by the novelist Harrison Ainsworth(1805-1882).

When asked about this Acorah replied that he genuinely gave what was coming through to him. If Acorah truly believes that then he is deluding himself. The more probable explanation is that he’s lying to cover up the fact that he faked the communication having found the name Viviane Radclyffe through faulty research.

In The Daily Mirror 28^th October Dr. Ciaran O’Keeffe, the resident parapsychologist of the TV series Most Haunted, explained how he invented names and had these passed to Derek Acorah who then pretended to ‘communicate’ with them. One of these fictional characters was Kreed Kafer, an anagram of Derek Faker and Derek even became ‘possessed’ by this imaginary spirit.

Another was Rik Eedles a fictional highwayman, this phoney name is another anagram of Derek Lies. Again Acorah ‘communicated’ with this fake character. In setting up this test, planting the false names and information, Dr. O’Keeffe proved that Acorah was a fraud, beyond all reasonable doubt.

When asked about these anagrams Derek said that he was hurt by the accusations that he was anything other than a genuine spirit medium. Yet he knew all along that he was play acting and consciously pretending to be channelling a spirit entity. He had to know because there never was a Kreed Kafer or a Rik Eedles so channelling them is an impossibility for anyone, including ‘Britain’s Finest Professional Spirit Medium’.

In The Guardian the journalist Charles Nevin asked Acorah about the origin of his stage name, his real name being Johnson. Derek replied that his grandmother had married a Dutch sailor named Acorah and that was where he had got the name from. However when Nevin checked on this he found that there was no such name listed in the Netherlands.

Emma Gee the webmaster of internet site doublexposure.co.uk conducted extensive research at the register of births and deaths where she discovered that the name of Acorah was not linked in any way to either of Derek’s grandmothers. The fact is that Mr. Johnson invented the story about his grandmother’s husband’s name and when questioned about this told lies.

In the TV pages of The Guardian 29^th October Acorah’s new TV series ‘Ghost Towns’ is previewed and he is reported as saying ‘we are taking the spiritual to the people… Doorstep Divinations’.

It seems that Acorah, accompanied by a camera crew and presenters etc. will be knocking on people’s doors offering psychic insights and ‘communication’ with discarnate entities. Rather like Avon Calling with a message from beyond instead of perfume. But there is a more than a whiff of charlatanism about all this. The Guardian states ‘it’s difficult not to admire Derek Acorah, even if that admiration comes gift wrapped in paper decorated in large fluorescent question marks and is directed almost entirely at the vast stores of chutzpah needed to convince the world-and possibly himself-that what he is doing is genuine. If it’s guff, it’s guff at its most entertaining’. And that seems to be the criteria, the entertainment value. Spiritualist beliefs and Acorah’s enigmatic inventions on the theme of discarnate communications are totally at odds with one another. But who cares? The answer is Spiritualists.

The Spiritualist religion teaches that the communion of departed spirits through mediums proves the truth of eternal life. All religions hold as a basic tenet of their faith that life is continuous after physical death, only Spiritualism offers proof through the communion of spirits. To reduce this to a form of popular television entertainment programme and worse, to falsify and fake communication is an absolute insult to the religious beliefs of all Spiritualists. Acorah, with his fabricated characters and blatant lies brings the entire process of communication into disrepute turning a religious practice into a Barnum and Bailey sideshow.

Personal responsibility is one of the seven principles of the Spiritualist religion and it effectively means that each individual is answerable for their own actions. The acceptance of responsibility for every aspect of our lives rests totally with each one of us. We may not disown our wrongdoings by blaming others nor can we avoid ultimate acceptance of misdeeds. No one can own our mistakes and malfeasance.

In the Spiritualist religion we believe that we are the sum total of all our undertakings, in thought as well as in deed. When the Daily Mirror journalist asked Acorah about his openly exposed fraudulent mediumship he did not own up to the deceit but simply evaded the point by stating that Dr. O’Keeffe was at liberty to say what he said. There will come a time for Acorah when those asking the questions require the truth and such slippery evasion will not be so easily accepted.

Within the Spiritualist religion is the belief in the absolute law of cause and effect. This is another of the seven principles and is known as Compensation and Retribution hereafter for all good and evil deeds done on earth. In other words we shall certainly reap as we sow. So that if we live lives that are dominated by greed, lies, avarice, lust, materialism and debauchery then we are creating a personal hell for ourselves that will eventually engulf us.

There is no escape from this, no saviour to accept our sins, we are all that we have become and we will bear the burden of all our personal misdeeds. We will also enjoy just rewards for a life lived well so those of us that have dedicated themselves to others will reap a just reward in the world hereafter. This makes total sense as it places upon the individual absolute and unavoidable responsibility for their actions, thoughts and deeds. How else can we progress and grow spiritually closer to the light and love of the divine kingdom of God?

The teachings of the Spiritualist religion have a great deal to offer the world. Some better known religions teach that sins can be forgiven; that is not true and if it were true would destroy the meaning of our lives. Removing us from responsibility for our wrongdoings removes us from spiritual progression. We must and can only learn by our mistakes and experiences.

One major mistake being made by Acorah when he fakes trance-mediumship and fabricates communion with spirits is that he offends against the truth. Innocent people accept what Acorah says and mistakenly believe in the chicanery practiced by him in the name of entertainment.

Acorah is not a Spiritualist, he knows nothing of the basic principles of the religion and his claims to be a spirit-medium have been exposed in the national press as fraudulent. Yet he continues, for now. But when the clapping stops there will be an account to settle and Derek Acorah owns that bill as surely as God made little green apples.

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