Derek wants to be spooken to

IF all goes to plan - and even Britain's most prolific psychic cannot predict these things - conclusive proof of an afterlife will be captured on camera this weekend. Right here in York.

After thousands of years of speculation, mankind will know for certain that death is not the end. Evidence collated on our ancient streets will prove the existence of a spiritual realm. Which should put all our pension worries into perspective.

It sounds like a joke. But Derek Acorah, spiritual medium and star of Ghost Towns Live, is in earnest.

"The whole top and bottom of it is to try and prove survival after physical death. That's the goal of every medium," he tells me in those soft Liverpudlian tones known to every paranormal buff.

"I want to be part of the investigation when a full manifestation is caught on camera and heard on sound. And after everything I have been saying over the years, I wouldn't have to speak any more. My truth is my truth."

This could all happen on our doorstep? "Out of all the places across the world, I firmly believe it could be York, that it's going to happen soon. Hopefully," he adds, "on Friday, Saturday and Sunday."

These are the days he will host Ghost Towns Live from York on Living TV, with co-presenters Danniella Westbrook and Angus Purden.

And if any ghosts are reading this, he would really prefer them to turn up tomorrow. "Friday's my birthday. It couldn't be a better present." He will be 56.

The materialisation of York's cemetery dwellers would give a new twist to Residents First weekend. But if the existence of ghosts is not proved here and now, Derek is convinced it will happen soon.

"I do honestly. I really, really do. I firmly believe that the spirit world has got us to this point. This is why my driving force is still as strong today as it was all those years ago."

Derek can date his spiritual emergence to the night when, aged six-and-a-half, he became aware of an intruder in his room. Later he was told that the man was his grandfather, who had died before Derek was born.

"He was so tangible. I was scared out of my wits, because I thought there was a big stranger in my gran's house," he tells me on the line from his Southport mansion, after shutting his noisy poodle and German shepherd in another room.

It was his grandmother who explained all. She was one of a long line of psychics in the family and at that point it became clear to her that Derek was the first man in the family to be so blessed. Or cursed.

Certainly the knowledge set him apart from his peers when he was growing up. "For my schooling I virtually didn't utter anything before my senior levels.

"They thought I was a weirdo, a strange one."

When he did speak up, he didn't help himself. After a vivid vision during art class he informed his teacher that he had "seen" his wife writing a letter then carrying suitcases. The teacher went home to discover that his wife had left him, and Derek was suspended by the headmaster, only being reinstated after an intervention from his mother and grandmother. (The teacher later asked him whether his wife would return; Derek foresaw no such happy ending).

For years he tried to all but ignore the spirit world, concentrating on his football talents; he was signed by legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly.

Once his sporting career ended, however, he returned to what his gran told him was his destiny. Gradually he learned how to speak with ghosts through Sam, his 2,000-year-old Ethiopian spirit guide.

He won't listen to their infernal chatter 24 hours a day, however.

"When I finish or close and go home, I am a family man, a husband, a dad or grandfather," he said. "I have a life to live as well."

Having left Anfield far behind, he still plays to the crowd. Quite a small one at first, on a now obsolete satellite channel, and then, thanks to his exuberant on-camera performances while "possessed", to a higher profile spot on Living TV's Most Haunted. The programme's unabashed melodrama brought it national renown and two million viewers, a massive hit in digital telly terms. It also made him a celebrity in New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the US.

But he left that show, with rumours of a rift between him and host Yvette Fielding, ex of Blue Peter. That's when Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns was born, leading to this first live experiment from York.

Isn't it hard to channel the spirit world on live TV?

"I have felt that pressure, but there's something about my personality, I suppose, which thrives on that, on the unexpected, when something spontaneous happens. There's something about the live element that I absolutely love."

He wants his connection to the "spiritual realm" to be considered scientifically (although his critics, among them other psychics, are far from convinced). All his showbiz hoo-hah tends to undermine that quest for scientific credibility, but he feels that the benefits of reaching a wider audience are worth the sacrifice. His TV shows have freed ordinary people to talk about their experience of ghosts and psychic phenomena, he says.

Derek hopes that will happen again during his York TV extravaganza. "It is the real people that have asked for help that will lead the investigation as we discover new and exciting phenomena," says the publicity blurb for the programme. "The evenings will start with interviews at the venue and this paranormal fest will culminate in a massive platform reading for the live audience where Derek will try and connect with the locals."

He will be looking for both types of ghost: 99.9 per cent are "action replay" spirits whose energy remains in a place they were close to while alive, and who cannot see or interact with the living, he says. The remaining few make a full manifestation, like his grandad did, and can communicate with those they have chosen to visit.

As for the future, who knows? Not even Derek sees the whole picture.

But if it contains something horrible, he will not tell you. It goes against the psychics' code. "I do see negative things. But Derek Acorah would never ever utter anything negative or bad in a private reading."

Should he sense a person is doing something violent or dangerous, he contacts the authorities. Now he is well known they are more likely to take him seriously.

Derek insists his powers are positive. "Being a medium is like 30 roles in one: diplomat, helper, counsellor, stuff like that. I don't do any harm. I set out to alleviate pain."

Of course, if he does prove the existence of ghosts in the next three days, he will be a hero. Immortality beckons. For all of us.

Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns Live is on Living TV between 9pm and 1am, Friday to Sunday

STEPHEN LEWIS finds out how to be a ghost hunter

YOU'VE seen the ghost hunters on TV. So why not have a go at being one yourself?

Entrepreneur Richard Fitton can offer you a full Paranormal Investigation Kit, complete with impact-resistant aluminium carrying case, three EMF sensors, an infra-red motion detector, beam break alarm and laser-guided infra-red thermometer - all for £135.49.

The kit includes everything you need to set up as a spectral investigator, according to York-based Richard, even two aluminium torches.

Are torches good for spotting ghosts with then? "They're for running away!" chortles the 27-year-old building surveyor from Clifton Moor.

Richard has set up his own website - Supermeters - to sell "paranormal investigation equipment". He admits he's pretty good at the running bit himself. The only time he's been on a ghost-hunt he scarpered after a couple of hours. He was investigating some ghostly barns near Rochdale. "It was in the middle of the night. All my sensors went off and I made a hasty exit."

In his day job, he's a surveyor working for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) at RAF Kirton-in-Lindsay in Lincolnshire. It's his job to check on the base's buildings, some of which date from the Second World War.

So has he encountered any ghosts? The base has its fair share of stories - including a ghostly airman, he says. "I've never seen anything. But you do get feelings, the odd tingle down the spine."

Does he include reports of spectral activity in his building surveys? "I don't think the MoD is interested, to be fair."

So what are all the bits of equipment in his Paranormal Investigation Kit used for?

The Gauss Master EMF Meter picks up changes in electro-magnetic frequency, emitting a series of clicks when there is a disturbance.

That is believed to indicate a spectral presence, because ghosts are considered to be "bodies of energy" which can affect electrical fields, Richard says.

The infra-red motion detector is great for picking up poltergeist activity in the dark - and the beam break alarm is a good way of sealing off a room. That way, if the alarm hasn't gone off, you know no one has blundered into the room to cause any spooky results you are picking up.

And the laser-guided thermometer? It projects a red dot, like those laser-sighted rifles in action movies, and measures the temperature of whatever the dot is resting on. A drop in temperature might indicate the presence of a ghost.

Um, but - aren't ghosts insubstantial? Won't the red dot go straight through? In which case, all you'll be measuring is the temperature of the wall behind?

You aim the thermometer at the floor near where you believe the ghost to be standing, Richard explains kindly.

Of course.

Visit www.supermeters.co.uk to check Richard's range of ghostbusting equipment.

Updated: 08:57 Thursday, January 26, 2006