Derek Acorah’s Ghost Towns

While we were still gazing at the swinging lamps, there was a sudden thud near the bookcase. Angus jumped and turned towards the noise. ‘Did you hear that?’ he said. ‘Like a thud on the floor.’ Everyone had heard it.

Danniella was still looking at the miner’s lamp, screwing her eyes up. ‘That really is moving, isn’t it? It’s not just me, is it?’

We could all see the base of the miner’s lamp moving slowly from side to side.

Then Trisha noticed something else. ‘That book, that’s just moved out as well.’

‘It has!’ I cried. ‘It has! You are right!’

A book on the top shelf had moved forward, just as if a hand had pulled it towards the edge of the shelf.

‘That was totally unexpected. You don’t expect books to move out of line when they’ve all been in a perfect line… Yeah, that was strange, very strange.’

Trisha

‘Thank you,’ I said. ‘Thank you for doing that.’ The old sailor was really showing us that he was still around!

All this time the lamps were still moving. The first lamp was now moving randomly round and back again rather than swinging from side to side.

‘I just had to smile. I knew that the old captain, as I call him, was going to show that he was still around.’

Honda

Danniella was curious. ‘Neil, how does that make you feel? You live here.’

Neil wasn’t bothered by it. ‘It’s fine,’ he said. He smiled and shrugged. ‘He’s never done anything to me.’

I knew he never would.

Having succeeded in communicating with the spirit, we decided to finish the séance. I thanked everyone for their participation and closed the circle down.

When we looked up again, the lamps had stopped moving.

I was thrilled. In all my years I had never been in an investigation where I had got three responses like that in a matter of minutes. And, as Danniella said, the fact that the phenomena stopped once the séance was over was also interesting, as it showed that the energy had just backed right away.

Neil was amazed at what had happened in his pub. ‘It was totally unexpected, because I’ve lived here for so long now and nothing’s ever happened like that, ever, and it was amazing. I couldn’t believe it.’

I found out afterwards that according to local legend, one Christmas Eve the captain of an old Dutch barge had been taken ill and had come banging on the door of the Shipwright’s Arms. The bar manager at the time had thought it was a punter trying to get back into the pub and hadn’t opened the door. When he did open it the following morning, he found the captain’s body lying there. He had frozen to death during the night.

‘We can tell them the real story now,’ Trisha said, laughing.

The parapsychologist’s view

Dr Simon Sherwood from the University of Northampton has been examining our results from a scientific perspective.

‘There was no question that the lantern was definitely moving from side to side. One possible explanation is that the wooden beam that the lantern was suspended on was contracting due to the temperature cooling down and this may have caused it to move from side to side. So that’s something that we would need to rule out. I actually measured the temperature along the beam that it was suspended on and found that there was indeed a temperature difference along it.’

‘As for the book, I spoke to the landlord earlier and he said that very often when he goes to bed at night and locks the place up everything’s in order and he comes down in the morning and finds that some of the books have been taken off the shelves and arranged in particular formations on the table. So it’s interesting that that happened on the same shelf. I don’t have a definite explanation.’

The local historian’s view

‘When we are doing our initial research into a town we will always come across the name of a noted local historian, and usually they are glad to help. We try to get the main local authority if we can, or if not, someone they have recommended. They come from a variety of backgrounds – they can be people who run museums, retired academics, and so on – but their local knowledge is always invaluable to us.’

Natalie

In the case of Faversham, the local historian was a gentleman called Dr Arthur Percival. He told us:

‘The building was opened by a shipwright who had a yard there building sailing barges and, partly for his workforce and partly for people living in the area, he decided to open a beer house. Undoubtedly he did a very good trade with seafarers of various kinds and therefore it’s possible that somebody, some seafarer, turned up and was turned away. You know, it’s a feasible thing, certainly.’

The Crouch Family Home

‘My name’s Jo and I live in Faversham. And I believe our house is haunted.’

Jo Crouch

Mother and daughter Janet and Jo Crouch are part of a local Spiritualist circle, so are familiar with spirits – they even have several at home! They told us their house was haunted by a little girl and three boys. ‘Tommy’s a bit mischievous,’ Janet explained, ‘and he runs up and down stairs and shakes stepladders.’

‘And their father’s there as well,’ Jo went on, ‘and there’s a lady in the bathroom. She’s rather strict sometimes.’ This definitely seemed a place worth investigating!

We met Janet and Jo in their dolls’ house shop and as they led Danniella and me through to their home, I was hit by the atmosphere. A whole congregation of energies was coming in! We went up the stairs to the first floor and as we paused outside the bathroom I was aware that a lot of psychic activity had been going on there.

As the ladies themselves were so sensitive to spirit, Danniella suggested that we went straight into a circle to see what we could pick up. I thought that was an excellent idea. There were so many spiritual energies there that someone was bound to communicate in one way or another.

Spirit communication

The spirit world is on a much faster vibration than ours – that’s why most people can’t pick spirits up. A medium has learned how to slow these vibrations down so that they can see and hear spirits more clearly. Spirits, too, have to learn how to slow down their vibrations in order to communicate. Those who have recently passed may not have learned how to do it yet and in these cases Sam passes their messages to me.

Spirits who are not able to communicate directly for one reason or another may be able to show their presence by a particular smell, perhaps a favourite perfume or the smell of something they were associated with – such as the tobacco and tar of Frederick Symes at the Shipwright’s Arms – or by sending a ‘psychic breeze’ swirling past.

Some spirits can only pass on odd phrases. These can sound like snatches of conversation and you have to try to piece them together. Others can’t express themselves in words at all, so they pass on emotions and sensations instead. Sometimes these can be highly unpleasant, especially if the spirit is showing how they died, but they all have a purpose, and that is to communicate with the living.

At the Crouchs’home, the first spirit that came through made himself known initially by a tight feeling across my chest. It was really painful. Then I saw him working with a hammer and metal. He was a proud and hardworking man, a strong man with thick-set arms.

‘I had a strong vision of barrels, so we’re pretty sure he must have worked in the brewery at some point.’

Janet

He had passed to spirit after a sudden heart attack at work. The pain I had felt was his way of showing me what had happened. I knew he was at the Crouchs’ home regularly but he was a spirit in visitation, not a grounded spirit.

Spirits in visitation

Some spirits aren’t in this world all the time but just pop in now and again for a visit. They often come to see loved ones or to visit places that were important to them in life.

Grounded spirits

Grounded or ‘earthbound’ spirits are those who stay on Earth after they have left their physical bodies rather than move on to the spirit realms.

There are many reasons why this can happen. Sometimes spirits don’t realize they have passed. They may have died very suddenly, perhaps in an accident, and not understand what has happened to them. They may be very young and confused and so they don’t go into the light. They remain here, often in a very bewildered state. They can’t understand why people aren’t taking any notice of them, so they make noises or move objects and try to draw attention to themselves.

Other spirits know they have passed over but are afraid to move on because they have performed wicked deeds and they know they will go to the lowest of the seven spirit realms. This isn’t a nice place. It isn’t the Christian idea of hell, with fire and brimstone, but it is a place where they will receive the justice they may have escaped on Earth. So they prefer to stay where they are.

Other spirits may have suffered some injustice in their lives and want to stay to see justice done. Sometimes justice has been done but they are not aware of it and they remain in a state of limbo.

Suicide is another reason why a spirit might not move on. Some people believe they will be punished if they take their own life, so again they are afraid to go into the light when they pass. In fact suicides are helped towards understanding and healing in the spirit realms – this may be a painful process, but it is not meant as a punishment.

Whatever reason has led to a spirit being grounded, if they wish to move on, I can help them to do so. This is a very important part of my work as a medium. During the Ghost Towns investigations, if I find that a spirit is trapped I will always help it to move on. The cameras may not always show this, but it is always done.

‘My name is Alice, my name is Alice.’ It was a quiet spirit voice in my ear.

‘Who are you, Alice?’ I asked.

‘Oh, I feel so weird,’ Janet said suddenly. ‘Really sad.’ She was breathing heavily, almost breaking into sobs.

‘Is it a lady?’ Danniella asked.

‘Yes, it’s a lady.’ After a while Janet gathered herself together and went on, ‘She can’t leave. In her life she couldn’t leave. She was confined here. She’s so sad…’

‘What’s the reason for her sadness?’Danniella was concerned.

‘They won’t let her out.’

‘Who?’we asked.

‘It’s her family.’

Then the spirit stepped back. That was all she could communicate for now.

The next moment we all heard a knock. Spirit activity was coming thick and fast now. Jo heard whispering in her ear and was aware of spirit energies swirling around her. She had talent as a medium and I encouraged her to develop this further in a safe and disciplined way. Janet assured me that that was what they had been doing.

We closed the circle, pleased with the results of our combined efforts. The effects of the energy were still being felt. Danniella felt as though she had a spider crawling down her neck, while Janet was really hot. She wiped her brow.

‘Your hands are really hot,’ Danniella told her.

She nodded. ‘The amount of energy that’s coming – it’s just enormous.’

‘The best part of the investigation for me was confirming things that we already felt and saw. Derek’s just confirmed what we already felt, but his energy was so strong and he came through with much more detail than we picked up before. So that was good.’

Janet

‘It was a great opportunity for three mediums, of different levels, to work together.’

Natalie

Doorstep Divination

‘As soon as I opened the door, I thought it was a wind up.’

Barry Hunt

As we were on our way back from the Crouchs’ home to the Ghost Truck, I felt a sudden pull towards a property. As we carried on down the road, the feeling lessened. ‘Can we turn around?’ I asked.

‘You got a feeling, you gotta go with it!’ said Danniella.

We got out and went up to the house. It was a former pub. This was our very first doorstep divination. Someone was about to get a big surprise!

‘With the doorstep divination what amazes me is people’s reactions. They have no idea we are coming and yet most of them are so calm – and they let us in. Why would you just let an unknown group of people into your house – with cameras?’

Natalie

A pleasant-looking middle-aged man opened the door. He was casually dressed and had probably been enjoying a quiet evening at home. Danniella quickly explained who we were and asked if I could do a reading. Looking rather shocked, the man said, ‘Hang on a minute,’ and motioned for us to stay on the doorstep while he stepped back into the house.

After a brief pause he returned with his wife, a slender brown-haired lady. She was polite but not too keen to get involved. ‘Well, I’ll stay out of it but you can do it,’ she said to her husband. Rather cautiously, he agreed.

‘To start with I was not too sure, because I’m extremely sceptical. But I thought, well, it wasn’t going to hurt.’

Barry

Sitting on a sofa with Barry in the couple’s elegant home, with Danniella looking on, I had the very strong impression that Barry was entering a phase of redirection – not spiritually, but in his day-to-day life. ‘It could be in your business affairs,’ I told him. ‘I know it’s been very tiring and it seems as though you can’t find much time for relaxation.’

Barry blinked at me from behind his round glasses, looking rather bemused.

A man from the world of spirit was drawing close to us. Sam told me it was Barry’s uncle. This gentleman had suffered problems with his heart. But did any of it mean anything to Barry?

‘Alarmingly, quite a lot!’ He was smiling, but was obviously quite surprised at what was taking place. He shook his head in amazement.

‘He didn’t know anything about me, didn’t know what I do – and still doesn’t – but there were certain things there that only somebody who knows me and knows what I do should know.’

Barry

‘Who’s Peter?’ I continued. ‘Not in spirit, I’m talking about business, people you know.’

Barry thought for a minute. ‘There is a Peter I know,’ he confirmed.

The spirits were telling me that Peter would have unbelievable news for Barry in the next couple of days. ‘Watch for the telephone connection!’ I told him. A little unsure, he smiled and nodded.

A woman in spirit was making herself known, someone who had suffered a great loss of body weight before her passing. ‘There was somebody, yes,’ Barry agreed.

This woman was pouring out feelings of affection and motherly love towards Barry. Along with the other souls gathered there, she had come because he had felt he had had the world on his shoulders and was battling on alone. Now I understood why I had been drawn to this house. I had to show Barry that there were people in the spirit world who were behind him, supporting him through this difficult time.

The spirit people had been listening in on conversations about having to rearrange a youngster’s education. I had Barry’s full attention now. His bright brown eyes rarely left my face. He smiled rather ruefully as he accepted what I was saying. ‘Oh God!’ He ran his fingers through his hair.

The spirit people were pleased with what he had done. ‘You’ve done very well there,’ I told him.

‘I hope so!’ he replied with a grin. Though he was smiling, I was aware that it had been a serious matter and of great concern to him.

‘Mentioning education was a bit of a sore point. We’re going through some interesting stages with my son and we’ve had some issues that we’ve had to deal with with his education – which are now dealt with. And that was the second lot of goosebumps, I think, because that was very recent.’

Barry

‘Is there someone known to you called Susan?’ I asked.

‘Well, yes,’ Barry replied. ‘My wife’s name is Susan.’

A lovely spirit lady had come to me, wanting to connect with Susan. She told me that she had been talking about getting involved in a course or some study linked with a course of some kind, but there had been hold-ups and she hadn’t been able to move forward with her plans. I was pleased to be able to say that the obstacle would soon be removed.

Moving on to his home, the spirit people told me Barry had been having trouble with some pipework and had got quite frustrated with it – well, irate in fact!

He chuckled. ‘There’s something I can’t find the source of,’ he said quietly.

The spirits were telling me they could.

‘Can they tell me, because I need to know!’ Barry said, laughing.

Then I was shown a picture of the source. I explained to Barry where to look. I knew things were soon going to fall into place for him and that he had support from a lovely group of people in the spirit world.

‘It’s amazing,’ he said as the reading came to an end. ‘I mean, there’s a lot there that I’ve been able to associate with. There was enough there to make the goosebumps rise!’

‘Was there?’ I was delighted that our first doorstep divination had been such a resounding success.

‘I’m very pleased he came and did it. It’s easy to say no to these things, but it was intriguing!’

Barry

Later I found out what happened next. Very soon after our visit Barry had gone on holiday to America for two weeks and when he returned, to his amazement, he had a water bill which ran into thousands of pounds. The pipework problem was proving no joke, but following the spirits’ directions Barry soon found the source of the problem and it even turned out to be the fault of the water board.

‘I’m even more pleased that Derek came now,’ he said, ‘because he’s saved me so much money!’

Via Mystica Shop

‘There’s been a dark energy that’s quite negative round there. We’re sort of… a bit frightened of it.’

Carol Rogers

Via Mystica is an alternative health shop that may once have been part of a medieval great hall. Mandy, Carol, Carol and Jean, a group of friendly mature women who all work there, told us about the Roman soldiers with no eyes who drifted through the wall, the shadowy figure that rushed by, the customers who had seen ghosts, the ley line that ran through the back of the shop to the toilet…

‘The experiences that people had in the shop were all quite different. There were Roman soldiers, there was a lady in white, there were dark forces. And we thought, “Well, how can all these things be in this one shop?”’

Natalie

Angus and I went to investigate.

In the shop we were welcomed by the staff. Straightaway Sam told me to go to the back of the shop, where there was a portal, a vortex. This is a place where spirits enter and exit this world. To us, it is a spot which can feel either hot or cold.

We went out of the back of the shop and down a corridor into a small room where stock and other items were stored on shelves. ‘This is it!’ I said excitedly. ‘This is the room where energy is coming in and going out. The vortex is so, so, so strong here.’

We were all standing packed together in the small room and I was picking up information about a spirit man who came in visitation. I explained that he would probably cause the sensation of a person rushing past as he went in and out of the portal. However, the stooped shadowy figure that had often been seen in the area, rushing by at speed, was a different spirit, one that went back to a different time frame.

‘Was this ever part of an inn?’ I asked. I was seeing wooden tables and stools and smelling ale. It was the 1400s. This was the period in which the shadowy figure had lived. She was a lady whose life had been taken from her in the cruellest way. I could see it all in front of me. I turned away in horror. ‘Take that picture, take it away from me!’ I said to Sam. I could see the woman being cut up, virtually dismembered, during a ceremony, while a group of people stood there chanting. I could also pick up on all her feelings as this despicable act was being carried out. It was horrific. I knew it had happened nearby and when her spirit had left her body it had rushed back to the spot where the shop now stood. Despite her traumatic death, the lady had moved on to the spiritual realms, but she still came back and relived her sadness, because she had never forgiven the perpetrators of that terrible deed and was still searching for them, seeking for justice.

‘Sam,’ I said, ‘try to explain to her that revenge is not the way! She’s tormented!’

Angus told me then that four witches had been killed publicly in Faversham in some kind of horrid ceremony.

I knew just how awful it had been. ‘They bled her,’ I explained’they slit her and bled her to death and then did despicable things afterwards to her physical body and she’s coming through wanting justice.’

I knew that by now the evil souls involved would have received their just reward, but their victim wouldn’t have been aware of this and wouldn’t have been able to find them in the spirit world because they wouldn’t be in the same realm. Such evil people would have gone straight to the lowest spirit realm and might still be there, because until they repented of their deeds they wouldn’t be able to progress. I asked that they would one day see the error of their ways and that this poor soul would be helped to let go of the past and find peace.

‘I was being prodded in the back all the time this was going on and I didn’t like to say anything, as I didn’t want to disturb Derek… I thought it was the cameraman, to tell me to move, then I realized that he was standing on the wrong side of me, so it couldn’t possibly have been him.’

Carol Rogers

This experience had been harrowing to me as a medium, but I left Via Mystica knowing that although terrible things had happened nearby in the past, the shop itself was a peaceful place. It will always have spirits there, moving in and out of the vortex, but most of them will be lovely souls just passing through.

‘When Derek came to the shop it was a wonderful experience… We were very, very impressed by what he found for us.’

Jean Webb

Faversham Brewery

‘The brewery is definitely haunted and from the stories I’ve been told and the feelings I get I think the ghosts are definitely malevolent. I think they’re quite nasty.’

Mark Stiff

Faversham Brewery is a important part of the town. Built on the site of a former monastery, over the years it has been a major employer, but many people came to the Ghost Truck to tell us that they would not set foot in it because of the dark spirits said to lurk there.