|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
AN EVENING WITH |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
'An evening with Derek Acorah' Southport, took place on 23 February 2005 and this report is reproduced here by the kind permission of the authors.
|
|
Our neighbours were supposed to be seeing Derek Acorah, but a family
crisis meant my wife and I were given their tickets because we had seen a
couple of Most Haunted programs but weren't convinced, so would seeing him
in the flesh change our minds. The evening started with an American voice telling us to "allow the only modern day Merlin to impart information you did not think possible", and to welcome "world famous clairvoyant psychic, Derek Acorah". Derek said that he and Sam didn't like the dark, and asked for the theatre lights to be switched back on. Then we were told that our loved ones had been in and around our homes, listening to our conversations, and waiting for us to go to the theatre. The thought did not appeal to me at all. We couldn't understand why Derek had to keep running round the theatre. He said he was trying to find the person the "spirits" wanted to contact. Most times he came nearly up to the back before finding them somewhere else.
|
|
Strange that Acorah couldn't ask Sam for the grand-mother's nickname, when you consider the details Sam produced about other people and their future.
|
|
First off Derek asked did anyone know Tommy O'Grady who
died in his late 60s with heart seizure, who worked around water and
connected with Margaret who was known as Peggy. A girl said her aunt's mum's name was Margaret but she was called Maggy, and was it her. Derek asked if she knew Tommy O'Grady, but she didn't so he said it wasn't her. Then Derek said "Come on, where are you, you're only holding the show up." and people around him looked a bit embarrassed, then a man in a different part of the audience said his mum was called Marjory, and his dad worked on Preston docks as a crane driver, but he died in 1956. Derek went right up to the man, and asked if he knew Tom O'Grady and he said he didn't but his mum had told him he was a friend of his dad. Derek asked about Jimmy, and John and Jack and the man said they were family names. When Derek gave the name of his grandmother, the man asked what her nickname was, but Derek said he hadn't been told. Then Derek said to watch out when he went home because the family members would go home with the man, and he did some healing for the man's stomach ulcer.
|
|
So here we have two, or is it three, different spirits named Harry
Porter.
The one Acorah is looking for is 6 foot tall, from Kirby, and died in an accident in a factory, working with steel rods. The first claimant offers a Henry who drove a big steel wagon, but Acorah says it's not her. The second claimant is linked with St Helens, and says it's the name of her father-in-law's brother, but she doesn't know where he worked or how he died. The third claimant who has a flat in Southport says Harry Porter was a butcher, about 5'9" Mr and Mrs Sweet say there's a Southport undertaker named Harry Porter.
|
|
When Derek was back on he stage he said he had a man
called Harry Porter with him, from Kirby. He said he was strong,
about 6' with broad shoulders, and he died because of an accident in the
factory where he worked with steel rods, in very hot conditions. Someone said they knew a Henry who drove a big wagon with lots of steel on, but she didn't know his surname, and didn't know how he died. Derek said it wasn't for her. A woman near us said her father-in-law's brother was called Harold Porter, but didn't know where he worked or how he died. Derek asked who was Lynn, but she didn't know. Then he said it might be short for Linda, and she said there is a Linda Porter.
|
|
Why would a spirit child, now grown into a man, and who may or may not be related to someone's aunt, go snooping around the house of a person he never knew? |
|
Derek said there was a little boy who died as a baby, but the woman didn't know about that. Derek said it could have been her mum's mum who lost a baby, and the woman said she thought her mum's sister might have lost a twin. Derek said the child is grown up now and he's been going round to the woman's house and heard someone talking about not being happy at work, but the woman didn't know anything about it.
|
|
Miss.
The only person fitting the description given was not connected to
the woman's mother.
The woman tried hard to make things fit for Acorah. She interprets 'having an extension built' as 'wondering about putting a window in the extension', and 'getting rid of an old chair or settee' as 'wondering whether to change her dining table'.
|
|
Then Derek said he had a small lady who
wore glasses but her eyes went worse over the years. Then he asked
if the woman by us was linked with St Helens, and she said yes. He said
the lady had been in a coma before she died and she was connected to the
woman's mum. The lady asked if he meant recently, and he said it was
within the last five years. The woman said the only one she could
think of might be on the Porter side. Derek said there was something the woman wanted revamped, something like having an extension built, and the woman said she had wondered about putting a window in the extension. Then he said it was about time she got rid of an old chair or settee, and the woman said she had wondered whether to change her dining room table. Derek asked who Ann was, and the lady said there was an Ann Porter, and that her own name was Ann. He asked if she had been looking at a solicitor's letter, or one sent to someone around her. She said her son moved house a few months previously so a solicitor would have been involved. Derek said there was something still not finished with the solicitor, but the woman said there wasn't.
|
|
And so we move on
to Harry Porter number 2. Nothing previously said fits
apart from the name and that her mother's brother died in
infancy.
Miss. No, she wasn't linked to St Helens. Miss. No, her step-dad didn't have impetigo, although Acorah insisted he did. So Acorah resorts to 'calling out a pregnancy' - after all, everyone loves a baby, don't they? And not just one pregnancy, but two! The woman interprets 'the hole in something in the bathroom' for him, and offers the information that it's just been filled. Miss. No, she didn't know a Terry or Terance. Miss. No, she didn't have varicose veins. Miss. No, she didn't know someone moving to Formby.
|
|
Then there was a shout from below us in the stalls, and
someone gave a microphone to another woman. Derek asked if she had
just been looking at a solicitor's letter, and if she knew Harry Porter.
The woman in the stalls said yes, he was a butcher, about 5'9", and her
mother's brother died in infancy, but none of the other information
fitted. Derek asked if she had a link with St Helens, but she didn't. Then Derek asked who suffered with impetigo but it didn't mean anything to the woman. Derek asked who was Bob and she said it was her dad, the Derek asked if he was "on this side". The woman got confused and said "Yes. No. On the other side." Derek said he had impetigo, but the woman said she wasn't aware of it, but Derek insisted that he did. The woman shook her head, then said he was her step-father so it might have been before she knew him. He told her there is a baby boy coming, and pregnancy hadn't taken place yet. He said the spirits had looked on the "spiritual agenda" and said pregnancy would be "called out" in early April. Then he said that one of Steven's family members is also going to be "calling out pregnancy" and it would be another boy. Derek asked what connection she was to Jamie and she said he was just a friend and Derek said his family in spirit wants to protect him from a car accident.
|
|
|
|
Then he
said Sarah said
there's a hole in something in the bathroom, and the woman said there was a hole
in the bath but it had been filled in. Derek said it wasn't filled
properly and Sally had been poking her finger in the hole. Derek asked who Terence or Terry was but the woman didn't know him. Then Derek said to be careful with the varicose veins, and she said she didn't know she had any, so Derek said it might not be her then. He said that someone has moved up to Formby, but it didn't mean anything to her, so he said to watch out for someone moving there.
|
|
Joey, under
21, connected with a blue car killed in a motor accident?
No - but Zoe
knows a boy of 14 killed in a motor accident.
|
|
Derek pointed up to the left side of "the gods" and said
he had a young man, under 21, called Joey who wanted to speak to someone up there
about a blue car and another car. No one answered so he asked for someone called Zoe, and two answered, but
both of them were on the opposite side of the theatre he was pointing to.
He asked the first one if she knew a young lad killed in a motor
accident and she didn't, so he
asked the second one. She said she did know about it. Derek
asked if the car was blue, but she didn't know. He asked if she was close to his mother, but she said no. He asked her who Joe or Joey was but she didn't know. He asked if she had links with the Wirral, but she said no again. He asked if she was connected to the family, but she said no, she was a friend of his sister from school but they'd only got in touch again through Friends Reunited. Derek asked if the lad was younger than 21 and she said he was 14. He said he was tall, but she said no he was average. Derek said the mother's so grief-stricken she doesn't want to stay here, and he implied she wanted to kill herself. He said to tell her he's fine and he's with a man called William who received him into the spirit world. The woman said that he was with William in the car and he'd died at the same time as the boy.
|
|
Another 'calling out of pregnancy'. This time it would be a girl, 8lb 3oz, who would be born on a Friday before 11pm - but then there's not a lot of Friday left after 11pm, is there? |
|
After the interval Derek got a Liz and May
Brown and a woman near the front said they were connected to her
grandmother who died when she was at university. She was told that a
friend called Tony was going to win the lottery in the third week of March
but he only needed to spend £2. She was another one told she was going to have a baby soon, that it would be a girl, and would weigh 8lb 3oz and be born on a Friday before 11pm. She said her husband already had four girls by his first marriage, so Derek said they would have a boy after a gap. Derek asked if she knew a Betty or Elizabeth. The woman shook her head, and Derek said it was her dad's grandmother. Derek told her husband the socket by the television was in a mess, but the husband said it shouldn't be because it was new. Derek asked if he had a bad back, and the man said he got a stiff neck sometimes, so Derek did some healing on him. |
|
Someone
is asked to pass on a message that her friend's
grand-mother is going to die in her 90th year ??
To
soften this Acorah comes up with yet another pregnancy,
a baby daughter conceived in December. Could he
have seen the new engagement ring on the woman's finger
when standing by her?
|
|
The next one was Jack Kennedy who died of dementia, and a girl near the back thought it might be her friend's grandfather. Derek had come up to look for her and went over to her. He said a few things the girl wasn't sure about but said she would pass on, then he said to tell her friend that her grandfather said her gran was 74 and he wouldn't come for her until her 90th year. My wife dug her elbow in me and I could see from her face she was really angry. Afterwards she said she thought it was a terrible thing to say, but unfortunately it wasn't the only thing like that that happened. Then Derek asked if the girl had a daughter, and she said no she was only just engaged, and she showed her ring. So he said she was going to have a baby daughter and she would conceive in December.
|
|
Miss.
In the wrong part of the audience again.
So Acorah tells the woman 'not to be overly anxious' about a family member, then when he discovers she's terminally ill, says she'll die before Christmas?? Miss. A little girl wants to run to her mum, but because she's already dead, he changes it to her Gran.
|
|
Then Derek looked up at the back for someone
who knew Mrs Patterson, Nel, or Nelly, connected with George. When
someone near the front said she knew her, Derek asked if she should have
been sitting at the back but she said no. Derek told her Mrs Patterson had come to tell her not to be overly anxious about a family member on medication who might need to go into hospital. When the poor woman said that the person was terminally ill, Derek waffled about God's infinite wisdom, then said she would die before Christmas, only not quite so boldly. Then he said there was a little girl in spirit who wants to run to her mum, but the woman said her mum was already in spirit, so Derek changed it to her gran.
|
|
Now Sam gets in on the act, and says that this woman's sister won't die when the doctors say she will ! |
|
Then Derek asked if there were any questions
and one woman said her sister had breast cancer, and has been told she's
got between two to five years to live. Derek told her that Sam said
she would live longer than that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Then a woman was told that she should wait about four or
five months after a death before going to see a medium. |
|
|
|
To be honest we couldn't wait to get
out of the theatre. We didn't realise that being a Spiritualist medium was the
same as fortune telling, and we were both disgusted by some of the
messages Derek gave. . It doesn't matter how he much he wrapped it up in
"the utmost humility" telling people when their loved one was going to die
and also to someone who didn't even know the person, we thought was quite
wrong. We also thought if very strange for two people with the same name to have come, specially as it's the same name as a local undertaker. We don't know if Derek is a fraud or not but we weren't convinced he isn't and we wouldn't go to see him again if he paid us.
|
|
As Mr and Mrs Sweet point out, Derek Acorah is billed as a Spiritualist medium on Most Haunted, but here he was described as a clairvoyant psychic. I asked a practising medium to explain the difference, as well as comment on this report, and this is what he had to say.
Spiritualism is a religion and recognised in law as such, in the same way that the Church of England is recognised in law. Therefore a Spiritualist Medium is an individual who accepts the teachings and basic tenets of the Spiritualist religion and acts as a medium through which spirits speak and communicate with those alive in this material world.
A clairvoyant psychic uses slightly different methods to the Spiritualist medium as they are not, by strict definition, communicating with discarnate entities but 'seeing' visions and images through their developed and tuned sensitivity also termed psychic. In other words, you can 'see' clairvoyantly but that does not mean that you are receiving the visions from the world of spirit.
A prediction of pregnancy is not a message from the spirit world. Such a message is given on a psychic link basis and is received by the psychic from the aura vibration of the subject.
|
||
|
©2005 Don & Jean Sweet doublexposure.co.uk |
|
|
|
Most Haunted
Live
| Most Haunted
|
Derek Acorah
|
Colin Fry
| Simon Peters
|
Psychic
Phonelines
|
||
