Hair-raising world of the psychic sleuth
He's on a 26-date clairvoyance tour which comes to Swindon and Salisbury next week, and Weston-super-Mare for two nights later in November – but tonight, "Fright Night", he's taking a mid-tour break.
And it's a mixed message he has for All Souls' Eve, the traditional time for the dead to return and walk the Earth.
"Sometimes it surprises me how people talk so much about Halloween around the world, when an equal time of great spiritual activity is the summer solstice, but it's not talked about as much," he says.
"Halloween has really been built up and developed as the time when ghosts, spirit people, come out in their masses.
"A question often asked is: is Halloween the most important time for spirit communication? It's asked all over the world, wherever I go. But the simple answer is, 'no, it's not'."
Derek draws a sharp distinction between his clairvoyant evenings in theatres and his investigative work with TV shows such as Most Haunted, and the kind of hair-raising encounters with the spirit world he describes in his latest book, Haunted.
"It appears that at Halloween, on investigations, you do happen to get a very high incidence of spiritual activity in these so-called haunted dwellings, buildings and castles. But the two types of thing I do are poles apart.
"On investigations, you don't know what you're going to encounter, as opposed to the evenings of clairvoyance which are more subtle, more emotional.
"These spirit communicators were generally good people when they were in life and are still going to be good people in the communications."
Derek goes out on the road twice a year. He already has another 45-dates starting in February next year. What drives him to undertake these lengthy tours?
"The major aspect is seeing the reaction of people who receive messages, these tender, emotional messages from their loved ones in the world of spirit. Secondly, I believe that people should have the opportunity to inquire about life and what happens to us.
I say, not flippantly but rather humbly, that I know there's life after here, this physical life, and I just know that, as a medium, I'm meant to go out and let people know this."
As Derek steps out into the spotlight, he immediately looks for that "spirit communicator" on the stage.
"Once I see or sense a spirit presence I relax and realise we're going to have an evening where I can help a person in the audience. The spirit communicator might give me their first or full name; they'll most definitely tell me how they passed; a lot of them remember right up to the moment of letting go, that time they call death.
"The messages should not only be meaningful but uplifting and help to deal with this very hard thing called bereavement. I often think to myself it's the hardest thing we face in our given lifetimes, coming to that point in time when we have to let go of our loved ones.
"Many people fear they are going to lose them forever and never see them again, and it's my role as a medium to say it's only a parting, it's only au revoir, it's not goodbye forever." Derek warmly welcomes the announcement last month of a three-year study, to be co-ordinated by Southampton University, of near-death experiences in cardiac arrest patients.
At 25 hospitals in the United States and the United Kingdom, including Swindon and Salisbury, scientists will study 1,500 survivors to see if people without heartbeat or brain activity can have "out of body" experiences.
"I think this is wonderful," Derek says. "I encourage it, I say, bring it on! We're going to get great results. Too many people for too long around the world have been report- ing out of the body and near-death experiences." Next, Derek hopes to make a TV series on mysterious and sacred places worldwide, including Pompeii, Ayres Rock in Australia, and ancient Mayan and Inca sites in Central and South America.
"These are things I dearly want to do and, once I have done them, they will be included in a very exciting book."
■ Derek Acorah appears at the Wyvern Theatre, Swindon, next Wednesday, November 5, City Hall, Salisbury, next Thursday, November 6, and the Playhouse Theatre, Weston-super-Mare, on November 18 and 19.
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