Derek Acorah: Extreme Psychic

Derek Acorah: Extreme Psychic

Cover of Derek Acorah: Extreme Psychic (2007).

AUTHORDerek Acorah

PUBLISHERHarperElement

PUBLISHED5 March 2007

PAGES272

GENREParanormal memoir

Derek Acorah: Extreme Psychic is a 2007 memoir by medium Derek Acorah, published by HarperElement, an imprint of HarperCollins, under ISBN 978-0007233229. The book collects first-person accounts of what Acorah presents as some of the most intense encounters of his career, including claimed demonic possession, violent confrontations with hostile spirits, and encounters he associates with the spirits of dead serial killers.

Overview

The book follows Acorah's earlier title, The Psychic Adventures of Derek Acorah, and was published while he was fronting Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns on LivingTV. It is framed around first-person accounts of specific encounters Acorah presents as genuine paranormal experiences from his career as a medium, including a visit to Pearl Harbor and an account of an unwelcome supernatural presence encountered during a cruise, alongside stories set in and around his own hometown. As with much of Acorah's public persona, several accounts reference his claimed Ethiopian spirit guide, "Sam."

The book was later reissued in a large-print edition and as an ebook, the latter published in the US and Australia in 2008 under the extended title Derek Acorah: Extreme Psychic: A Supernatural Non-Fiction Memoir of Ghostly Encounters and the Occult.

At the time of publication, Acorah's publisher promoted the book with review blurbs from several mainstream outlets, including The Guardian, which described him as representative of a modern style of medium, and The Independent, which noted he was regarded by some as one of the UK's most prominent living mediums.

Reception

As with much of Acorah's published work, Extreme Psychic drew a mixed response from readers — holding roughly 3.8 out of 5 on Goodreads and 4.4 out of 5 across Amazon's listings, though from a relatively small number of ratings. Several sceptical reviewers pointed specifically to Acorah's 2005 exposure by Most Haunted parapsychologist Ciarán O'Keeffe as reason to doubt the book's claimed encounters; one widely-upvoted Goodreads review quoted Acorah's own introduction, in which he states he has "progressed to channelling" spirit energies rather than merely describing them, and argued that claim was difficult to take at face value from someone already publicly unmasked using a fabricated spirit identity during the Kreed Kafer incident. Other readers responded more positively, describing the book as an enjoyable, undemanding read for those already interested in mediumship and the paranormal.

Where to buy

• Buy on Amazon (Amazon Associates affiliate link — purchases made through this link help fund The EERIE Files)

WORK ASSESSMENT

TYPEParanormal memoir

IMPORTANCEMinor

SUBJECTDerek Acorah

SIGNIFICANCE

One of several first-person memoirs published by Acorah during his television career, illustrating how his on-screen persona was extended into print. Read alongside his other published work, it offers a useful primary-source window into how he presented and framed his own claimed abilities to the public.

ASSESSMENT

Of limited standalone significance as a text, but useful within the Vault as a documented example of Acorah's self-presentation, published two years after the Kreed Kafer exposure and reflecting no apparent change in how he framed his claimed abilities.

See also

• Derek Acorah
• Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns
• Most Haunted
• Ciarán O'Keeffe

External links

• Derek Acorah: Extreme Psychic on Goodreads
• Derek Acorah: Extreme Psychic — HarperCollins UK