May I say from the outset, I really like Derek Acorah.
I believe he is a truly genuine and kindly person at heart who wouldn't hurt a fly. But is he really the medium he professes to be or a play acting phony?
Much has been written in the popular press this week about Derek. One columnist boldly declared him to be an outright fake.
Harsh words? Well, as much as I like Derek and enjoy the excellent 'Most Haunted' on Living TV, I have to admit that I am not wholly convinced by his performances.
Particularly when he is apparently 'possessed' by supposed spirits who 'talk' to 'Most Haunted' presenter, Yvette Fielding, through Derek.
What we must remember is that although 'Most Haunted' does perform valid ghost hunts and experiments, the programme is, essentially, for entertainment. I do feel, therefore, that Derek is often times under a fair amount of pressure to produce the goods, so to speak.
And him being allegedly possessed by a spirit will certainly do that!
In my humble opinion, it's all too pat, too contrived. You can virtually predict now when Derek is about to 'go into one'.
In the early days of 'Most Haunted', Derek being possessed was an extremely rare occurrence, and was all the better for it.
Nowadays, it is such a regular feature of the show, it has become... dare I say it?... Boring and somewhat daft!
Particularly when a 'possessed' Derek is asked simple questions - regarding the person possessing him - that he then fails miserably to answer and instead prowls around shouting and being aggressive!
As for the spirits, I would love to hear an explanation from Derek or indeed 'Most Haunted' as to why, whenever they visit a haunted inn, house, hotel, night club etc., there appear to be no 20th century spirits visiting!
That said, I am not accusing Derek of faking his powers. Although we are all entitled to an opinion, no-one truly has the right to accuse him without factual evidence that he is.
I have watched Derek on 'The Antiques Ghost Show' where ordinairy folk bring in historic items/objects for Derek to touch and then use his powers of psychometry to tell the owners details of their ancestors etc. And I have to say that I was pretty impressed.
At first, however, I was quite sceptical since the lady presenter of 'The Antiques Ghost Show' would meet with the guests prior to Derek's arrival and gently question them about the history/origin of the items/objects the guest had brought with them.
Sceptical that is, until one particular guest point blank refused to give any information to the presenter relating to the object he had brought in. Even though the presenter pressed him.
I then watched as Derek astounded and confounded the guest, (and me), with accurate details about the object, it's original owner, what it was used for and even the name of the ship the object had once been transported on!
So, is Derek Acorah for real?
I don't really know and nor, I suspect, does anyone else.
What I do know is that real or fake, Derek is hurting absolutely no-one!
If anything he, Colin Fry and Tony Stockwell, (a.k.a. The Three Mediums), are undoubtedly a source of immense comfort to many who have been bereaved.
And that can't be a bad thing, can it!
6 comments:
I love MH. It's a great show. Often I wonder about Derek, though.
He seems very genuine and sincere, but sometimes it's hard to tell about him.
The fact that he as a background career in acting is somewhat disconcerting and really reminds me to take everything he says with a grain of salt.
I love MH too. Didn't realise Derek had a background in acting, hmmmm. I agree with you tho', Jenna. Grain of salt.
I have to agree with Philosiper Stone. I really like Derek irrelevant of whether he is real or fake. The fact of the matter is no one will ever really know and he does-just as other mediums like himself-bring peace of mind and happiness to a lot of people. Why ruin it for them? He isn't doing any harm at all. I myself am a skeptic and dont totally believe Derek really does what he says he does, but it doesnt matter to me, i think he is a great guy and truely believe he is out there to help people. Good on ya Degsi!
Ciaran, a lecturer in the paranormal at Liverpool's Hope University, knows speaking out will probably put an end to his media career... but he believes viewers should know the truth.
He says: "I think it's time to open the dialogue about what I've experienced on Most Haunted. There have been many incidents with the medium that have been brushed under the carpet.
"I was put in the show to give a professional slant to it, to give it an element of credibility, but the sceptical argument is just swept away.
"In my opinion, we're not dealing with genuine mediumship."
He says he isn't the only member of the crew who feels viewers are being cheated.
"Other crew members have been irked by Derek and what's going on, because it turns what should be a serious investigation into a laughing matter."
And our exclusive footage shows other members of the team occasionally forget they are on camera.
One of our clips, later edited out, shows Karl push an unwitting sound man in the dark and pretend it was a poltergeist attack.
In the remaining footage he says (after surreptitiously hitting the soundman): "S**t, did you feel that?"
Yvette: Are you all right? What's happened?
Karl: I felt something touch me on my shoulder.
Soundman: I felt something hit me.
And in another edited clip with medium Ian Lawman, Yvette is seen on camera making a deep sigh. In the scene that eventually went to air, Ian (after Yvette sighs) says: "What's that noise?
Yvette: What noise? Like a moan?
Ian: Breathing or something.
Yvette: I heard like an 'arrggh'.
Ciaran, who joined Most Haunted in April 2004 became suspicious of Acorah's antics on a shoot at Castle Leslie, Co Monaghan in Ireland where a 17th Century four-poster bed has been claimed to levitate.
Ciaran recalls: "As we walked into the bedroom, Derek touched the bed and came out with extremely accurate information.
"He insisted he got all the information just from touching the bed. But it was the wrong bed."
Antix Productions claims the mediums have no idea where they will be filming or know any details about the history of the locations.
But Ciaran says: "Derek must have had prior knowledge of the locations."
He devised a plan to see if Derek was deliberately deceiving the public.
While on a shoot at Bodmin gaol he invented a long-dead South African jailer called Kreed Kafer - an anagram of Derek Faker.
"I wrote the name down and asked another member of the crew to mention it to Derek before filming.
"I honestly didn't think Derek would take the bait. But during the filming he actually got possessed by my fictional character!"
On the next shoot at Prideaux Place, Cornwall, Ciaran made up another fictional character, highwayman Rik Eedles - an anagram of Derek Lies. Sure enough, Derek made contact with the dead outlaw.
Ciaran says: "In my professional opinion we're not dealing with a genuine medium.
"When Derek is possessed he is doing it consciously - all we are seeing is showmanship and dramatics."
Ciaran went a step further at Craigievar Castle, near Aberdeen.
"I made up stories about Richard the Lionheart, a witch, and Richard's apparition appearing to walk through a wardrobe - the lion, the witch and the wardrobe!" True to form, Derek mentioned all Ciaran's stories - even though Richard I reigned 500 years BEFORE Craigievar Castle was built.
The final straw came last month when Most Haunted presented a three-night special from Manchester.
On the second evening, the show claimed to be broadcasting live from the site of Cheadle's Victorian asylum, a place where - according to presenter David Bull - thousands died in torment. In fact they were in the derelict remains of Barnes Convalescence Home - where nobody died in torment.
Ciaran remembers: "Derek was communicating with spirits that sounded as if they'd been in an asylum, but it was never an asylum."
Yesterday the Mirror confronted Derek Acorah with Ciaran's allegations. He told us: "I've worked with Ciaran for many shows and he's got every right to say what he says.
"However, it does shock and surprise me. Not only do I believe that I am a genuine medium - I live my work 24 hours a day. If I thought that I wasn't a true medium, I wouldn't work as one."
A spokesman for LivingTV said: "Ciaran O'Keeffe has worked as the programme's official sceptic for 18 months and during this time has not brought any of his concerns to our attention.
"LivingTV has not seen any of your filmed evidence, but will fully investigate your claims."
check out Youtube and you will see him faking it and then laughing about it. He is defintely a fake.
I like the guy.. I think with human nature there will always be a mixture of impressions and what is actually happening. Anyone involved in this field should grow some backbone.. I am more disappointed with the production company for hanging Derek out to dry rather than just accepting that this is part of the game. These guys never produce ant actual hard evidence as it is.. not like the American "Scared Team" for instance. They are hard core scientists who use mediums and it is a very reportable show.
Just because Derek may have been prone to playing up the role.. does not mean that is is wholly and solely a fake. That is bollocks. I think he has very strong and genuine abilities in this area. I will not judge him.
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