Derek Acorah

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Derek Acorah is the stage name of Derek Johnson (born January 27, 1950). He is a popular but controversial English cable and satellite television personality, who has come to fame as a purported "psychic medium" (a person who claims to be able to talk to the dead).

Contents

[edit] Career

His early life was spent in Bootle, Liverpool, England, where, according to his several books, he first discovered his psychic abilities and became interested in Spiritualism. He claims that in this period, he first contacted his spirit guide, 'Sam', said to be an Ethiopian from approximately 1,500 years ago, with whom Derek was friends in a previous life (some of Derek's beliefs appear to reflect Kardecism as well as Spiritualism).

He pursued a career as a footballer for many years, playing for Liverpool F.C. Reserves and Glentoran, before emigrating to Australia to continue to pursue his footballing career.

On his return to Liverpool, Derek Acorah began to practise as a medium, and soon gained a popular local following. His first book 'The Psychic World of Derek Acorah' was co-written with his then manager John G. Sutton. Sutton took Derek to the USA, where he was ISPR-tested in the field and allowed to join the International Society for Paranormal Research (ISPR) headed by Parapsychologist Dr. Larry Montz. As one of the psychic investigators of the ISPR team, Derek participated in six field investigations in England for the 1999 award-winning documentaries, ISPR INVESTIGATES GHOSTS OF ENGLAND and ISPR INVESTIGATES GHOSTS OF BELGRAVE HALL, created and produced by Dr. Larry Montz and Daena Smoller. During the filming of the ISPR Investigates series, Derek accompanied Dr. Montz and Ms. Smoller as they pitched a new investigative team reality series. Derek Acorah remained an ISPR investigator until 2006 when the ISPR released two DVDs of uncut and raw footage of Dr. Montz testing Derek Acorah along with U.S. psychics Linda Mackenzie and Peter James, in Hollywood, from January 1999. He then appeared on Psychic Livetime on a local Manchester station, Granada Breeze, and went on to host his own show, Predictions with Derek Acorah. Following the closure of that station, he was chosen by LivingTV as the resident medium on their 2002 series Most Haunted, which shot him to national fame. His theatre tours of purported mediumship have resulted in shows across the UK.

Another Living TV series, The Antiques Ghost Show, lasted one series. LivingTV announced in 2005 that there would be two new commissions featuring Derek Acorah, including one named Ghost Towns.

He appeared for one line in the 2006 Doctor Who episode Army of Ghosts: "Well, no one needs me anymore." In the episode, strange fluorescent, immaterial figures appeared regularly worldwide, and Derek Acorah's line was one of several short clips of fictional TV from the episode.

[edit] Criticism

Acorah's claims of mediumship were challenged when he claimed to be in contact with the spirits of fictional and fictitious characters. In one case he became possessed by a fictitious character, 'Kreed Kafer', (an anagram of 'Derek faker'. He also was "in touch" with the spirits of 'Rik Eedles' (an anagram of 'Derek lies'), and 'Ged Harken' ('hang Derek').

Dr Ciarán O'Keeffe, Most Haunted's resident parapsychologist, claims that these names were given to Acorah just before the cameras rolled, or mentioned in his earshot by other crew members before the shoot. The names were subsequently incorporated into Acorah's "possession", shown in the programme, throwing doubt on the reliability of his claims. [1] Dr O'Keefe stresses on his website that Acorah may have innocently, subliminally or mistakenly produced the names in response to the prompts he had received, and that the results of this one 'test' do not prove that Acorah's claimed abilities are false. Mentioning other occasions on which Acorah had provided correct information, O'Keeffe also claims that the Mirror newspaper took much of what he said out of context, and suggests that until solid proof is found, people should neither believe nor disbelieve in the claims of psychics, mediums and observers. [1]

The show's presenter, Yvette Fielding, is quoted as opposing O'Keeffe's view, saying that Acorah was dropped from the show because the incidents above demonstrated that "he was a fake". She is also quoted as saying that his "violent behaviour" when he was "supposedly possessed" was becoming too dangerous.[2]

[edit] Books

Acorah has written numerous books explaining his experiences and detailing his life.

  • The Psychic World of Derek Acorah: Discover How to Develop Your Hidden Powers - Derek Acorah with John G. Sutton, Paitkus Books, 2003
  • 'The Psychic Adventures of Derek Acorah: Star of TV's "Most Haunted", Element Books 2004
  • Ghost Hunting with Derek Acorah - Derek Acorah, Element Books, 2005
  • Most Haunted: The Official Behind-the-Scenes Guide - Yvette Fielding, Derek Acorah, 2005
  • Haunted Britain - Derek Acorah, Harper Element, 2006
  • Haunted Britain and Ireland - by Derek Acorah
  • Ghost Towns - Derek Acorah, Harper Element, 2006
  • Derek Acorah's Amazing Psychic Stories - by Derek Acorah


[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "The original Kreed Kafer exposé", The Mirror web site
  2. ^ Interview in Metro, Oct 31, 2006, p.10

[edit] External links


Persondata
NAME Derek Acorah
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Derek Francis Johnson (birth name)
SHORT DESCRIPTION English television personality
DATE OF BIRTH January 27, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Bootle, Liverpool, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../d/e/r/Derek_Acorah_229d.html"
In other languages