Derek Acorah - The Psychic Adventures of Derek Acorah: Star of TVs Most Haunted

Dedicated to the memory of my beloved dogs, Cara and
Bonnie, who have now passed on to the world of spirit.

Until we meet again, girlies!

As a small child I lived with my mother and my elder brother and sister at the home of my grandmother in Bootle, Liverpool. My father worked as a merchant seaman and was home for only very short periods of time. Grans was a large three-storey Victorian house on Brazenose Road, close to the then thriving port of Liverpool. After school each day we three children were sent up to the top floor to play whilst our evening meal was being prepared.

My first experience of spirit occurred one day just after Gran had called Colin, Barbara and me down for our tea. Being the youngest of the three, and with much the shortest legs, I was always the last to arrive downstairs. On this particular day, as I reached the first landing of the staircase, I saw a man I didnt recognize. Hello, young tyke, he said as he reached out towards me. It felt as though he had ruffled my hair. I was afraid because I thought that there was a stranger in Grans house. Never had I reached the bottom of the stairs more quickly. I ran panting into the kitchen, shouting to Gran and my mother that there was a strange man in the house.

My grandmother and my mother hurried up the stairs, only to return a few moments later with bemused expressions on their faces. Tell me what the man looked like, Gran said. On hearing my description, she reached for a tin in which old family photographs were kept. She took out a photograph and showed it to me.

Thats him! I shouted. Thats the man on the stairs!

Gran looked at my mother and said, Hes the next! Derek will be the next person in the family to work for spirit.

I looked from my grandmother to my mother, not understanding what they were talking about. Gran gently explained to me that the man I had seen on the stairs was not in fact a stranger but my grandfather, who had passed to the world of spirit as the result of an accident three years before I was born. His name was Richard. In time, when you are older, Derek, she said, you will see many people who have passed on to the next life. You will work with the people in the spirit world and will help many people on your lifes pathway.

I soon put all this to the back of my mind, but occasionally over the next few years I would recall the incident and question my grandmother about this world of spirit. Each time she would explain to me that it was my destiny to work with the spirit people one day. But I want to be a footballer, I would tell her. I dont want to be a gook! Gran would smile knowingly. All she would say was Well see!

At the age of 13 I began to realize my dream when I signed as a schoolboy player with Wrexham Football Club. I was happy. I lived, ate and breathed football. My bedfellow was not a teddy bear but a football, which I clutched to my chest as I fell asleep and dreamed of scoring goals for England.

At the age of 15 I signed as an apprentice-pro with Liverpool Football Club under the management of the great Bill Shankly, but sadly I didnt quite make the grade as a first-team player. After four years I moved back to Wrexham FC, then to Glentoran Football Club of Northern Ireland.

It was at this time that I met my first wife, Joan. After a season with Glentoran, I joined Stockport County FC, but didnt feel particularly happy with my footballing career. Joan had just given birth to our son, Carl, when I was asked by the players union in Manchester whether I would be interested in playing football abroad. The idea appealed to me and after a lengthy discussion with Joan, I agreed. We were Australia bound! I joined USC Lion of the South Australia Football League.

Unfortunately, although I was very happy living in Australia, Joan was not. She missed her friends and her family back home. The physical rigours of the game were also beginning to take their toll on me. Ultimately, we made the decision to return to England. By 1982 my footballing days were over.

Throughout my career as a professional footballer I had not lost my interest in the world of spirit. There had been many instances when spirit people had made their presence felt and impressed upon me proof of survival after this earthly life. With my return to English shores came the time for me to start working for spirit.

Sadly, my marriage to Joan had come to an end. Now living on my own, I began to do private readings for people in my home, but soon the demand became so great that I had to find office space. Although I was working as a full-time spirit medium, I had not yet developed the gift of clairaudience. This was about to change.

Ever since my grandmothers realization that I was the one who had inherited her mediumistic gifts, she had gently tutored me and explained to me the workings of the spirit world. She taught me that we all have spirit guides and that I was no exception. Throughout my lifetime many guides would come and go, she explained, but my main guide was a black man from the Ethiopian regions of Africa and he would never leave me. One day he would introduce himself to me.

One evening I was at home alone. I had just completed my evening meditation and was sitting listening to some music. Suddenly I heard a voice saying, Hello, Derek. This was repeated four times. Then the voice said, Im Sam.

Even though I was perfectly well aware that I was alone, I looked around, expecting to see somebody. There was nobody there. Realization dawnedat last my spirit guide had spoken to me! The words my grandmother had uttered all those years ago had come true.

It was during these early days that I met my second wife, Gwen, who had herself been through the sadness of a marriage break up. I knew immediately upon meeting her that she was somebody who would understand me; we had a bond which remains unbroken to this day.

We moved to a home just outside Southport on Merseyside and as well as my private readings I began to work as a regular guest on a number of radio stations. I was driving through to Liverpool one day when my mobile phone rang. It was Gwen ringing to tell me that the Granada Breeze television programme Livetime had been in touch to ask whether I would be interested in making a guest appearance. This was the first time that I had been offered a spot on a television programme. Nervously, I agreed.

The following Friday I arrived at the Manchester studios and was introduced to the presenter of Livetime, Becky Want. Hi, Derek, she said. Now what were looking for is somebody who can read tea leaves.

Tea leaves! It was National Tea Week and one of the producers of the programme had decided that it would be a good idea to get a psychic in to do a tea leaf reading for Becky. I was nervous. I had not conducted a reading using this method before, but as the introductory music began, Sam told me to relax, that everything would be fine and that he wouldnt let me down.

The time passed quickly. I conducted Beckys reading successfully and before I knew it she was thanking me and telling me that what I had told her was correct. The closing music was playing and it was the end of the programme. That was wonderful, Derek, Becky said.

On the Wednesday of the following week I received another telephone call from Granada Breeze, asking me whether I would like to join them again the next Friday. The public response to my initial appearance had been so great that the producer thought it would be a good idea if I were to appear weekly. I was delighted to accept. So began my career as a television psychic.

Since that day I have had many adventures. From the relative obscurity of local radio and appearing on a minor satellite television channel, I have been catapulted into the public eye on a much grander scaleall thanks to Karl Beattie and Yvette Fielding, who invited me to take part in LIVINGtvs celebrated