Derek Acorah (born Derek Francis Johnson; 27 January 1950 – 4 January 2020) was a British spiritual medium, author, and television personality, best known as the guest medium on the paranormal reality series Most Haunted.[1]
Early life
Acorah was born in Bootle, Lancashire, and grew up in the north-west of England.[1] Before becoming a medium, he had a brief career as a footballer, on the books of Liverpool F.C. during the Bill Shankly era, but was released without playing a first-team game; he continued playing at other clubs before ending his football career in Australia.[2]
Career
Early television work
Acorah's first television appearances came in 1996 on the satellite channel Granada Breeze, where he presented Livetime and later Psychic Livetime, followed by Predictions with Derek Acorah; he remained with the channel for five years until it was folded into the main Granada network.[3] In January 1998 he travelled to Los Angeles to take part in paranormal investigations for the International Society for Paranormal Research, and returned to California in 2000 to record a pilot for a further show.[4]
Most Haunted
Acorah joined Most Haunted on Living TV in 2002 as the show's resident guest medium, working alongside presenter Yvette Fielding. The series followed a team investigating reportedly haunted locations across the UK, with Acorah's on-camera "readings" and reported spirit contacts becoming a central feature of the format.[1] His time on the show ended in 2005 amid the "Kreed Kafer" controversy (see Controversies, below).
Later career
After leaving Most Haunted, Acorah continued working across British television and live performance, including presenting Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns, which ran for three series in 2005 and 2006, and two series for Sky Real Lives in 2008.[3] In 2009, he attempted to contact Michael Jackson in a broadcast titled Derek Acorah's Michael Jackson: The Live Seance, which was widely panned by critics and viewers.[2]
He made a cameo appearance in the 2006 Doctor Who episode "Army of Ghosts", and in 2017 appeared on Celebrity Big Brother, finishing in fourth place.[1] He also toured with live stage shows and published several books recounting his experiences as a medium, including The Psychic Adventures of Derek Acorah (2004), Ghost Hunting with Derek Acorah (2005), and Derek Acorah: Extreme Psychic (2007).[5]
Controversies
The Kreed Kafer incident
Acorah's tenure on Most Haunted ended in 2005 following a widely reported test devised by the programme's on-set parapsychologist, Ciarán O'Keeffe. O'Keeffe invented a fictitious long-dead South African jailer named "Kreed Kafer" — an anagram of "Derek Faker" — and fed the fabricated backstory to Acorah ahead of an investigation at Bodmin Gaol. O'Keeffe said he was "stunned" when Acorah appeared to become possessed by the invented character on camera.[6] Yvette Fielding later said of the incident: "We tell people everything is real, then it turns out he was a fake, so he had to go."[6] The incident became one of the best-known controversies in British television mediumship and fuelled long-running scepticism about the authenticity of his on-screen readings.
The Madeleine McCann remark
In the period following his Most Haunted departure, Acorah drew significant criticism after being quoted suggesting missing child Madeleine McCann had died and "joined the spirit world," a claim that greatly upset the McCann family; Acorah later said he had been misquoted.[2]
Personal life
Acorah lived in Scarisbrick, near Southport, with his wife, Gwen, whom he married in 1995.[1] In 2014, he was banned from driving for 28 months, fined £1,000, and ordered to pay a £100 victim surcharge, after admitting careless driving and failing to provide a breath test following a car crash the previous year.[1]
Death
Acorah died on 4 January 2020, aged 69, following a short illness. His wife, Gwen, announced his death on his official Facebook page, writing: "Farewell my love! I will miss you forever!"[1]
Reception
Acorah remains one of the most recognisable figures in British television mediumship, largely through his long run on Most Haunted. His career was also persistently shadowed by scepticism, particularly following the 2005 Kreed Kafer incident, and he is frequently cited in discussions of the reliability of televised paranormal investigation.[6]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 "Derek Acorah, TV medium, dies aged 69."BBC News.4 January 2020.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "TV mystic Derek Acorah has died after 'very brief illness'."The Scotsman.4 January 2020.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Acorah, Derek."Occult World.
- ↑ "About Derek Acorah."derekacorah.com.
- ↑ "Derek Acorah (Author)."Goodreads.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "TV mystic Derek Acorah has died aged 69, his wife has said."ITV News.4 January 2020.