The Baby Mind Reader: Amazing Psychic Stories from the Man Who Can Read Babies’ Minds. Derek Ogilvie
of a local celebrity. People weren’t exactly stopping me in the street but my name was becoming well known. I started getting fan mail at Qfm, but not all of it was positive. There was the odd piece of hate mail, which was upsetting. Some people called me a fake, whilst the so-called religious ones claimed I was the Antichrist! Now, I’d be the first to admit that what I do may seem bizarre or downright spooky to the uninitiated, but I’m certainly no con man. I am totally and utterly genuine and my gift is God-given. I’d never dream of duping the public, especially those who’ve just lost a loved one or are in need of some spiritual guidance. Those who come to me aren’t stupid either. They may be looking for something that even I can’t give them, but the vast majority know when I’ve managed to tune in to the spirit of their loved one. They’d know if I was a liar, and I’d be a fool to think that I wouldn’t be found out if I wasn’t genuine.
So what can I be doing wrong? I’m only talking to people in spirit who are desperate to contact their loved ones, and to inform us in general of the realities of life. That’s all. I don’t connect with the dead. They connect with me. I would never dream of trying to unsettle a spirit who didn’t wish to communicate. If spirits wish to send messages they are more than welcome to use me as their messenger and I will always be available to them for that purpose.
My success on the radio brought me many admirers and I received hundreds of requests for private readings. I’d made it a rule from day one that I wouldn’t do consultations in my own home. It wasn’t that I didn’t want people to come over to the cottage; it’s just that my privacy was important to me. There was also another, more psychic, reason for my decision. I knew that if I gave any form of reading at home – especially one which led to a connection with the spirit world – my inner sanctum could possibly end up full of wayward spirits.
I could switch my abilities on and off. I knew the place in my head where I needed to go in order to switch myself on and connect with the spirit world. However, there was the odd spirit out there who knew how to get in touch with me when I least expected it!
I’m not really in the habit of switching on my abilities when I’m going about my usual daily business. I tend to go into psychic mode only when the time is right and not when I’m around the general public – that’s unless I’m bored or want to have some fun! I use the fruit shop in the village nearly every day, and within a few weeks of moving into the cottage I’d got to know the staff quite well. One morning, I was suddenly aware of a spirit standing in the corner of the shop. This took me by surprise because I hadn’t switched on and gone into psychic mode and I therefore wasn’t expecting any visitations from the spirit world. This man was adamant that I communicate with him. I was slightly taken aback by this because, being new to the village, I didn’t want to create problems for myself. Even at that early stage of my life as a psychic I understood that not everyone is fully appreciative of my abilities and how I use them. I knew I had to tread carefully.
‘Excuse me,’ I said. ‘I’m sorry to bother you.’ The lady who was serving looked over and acknowledged me.
‘Hello. What can I do for you today?’ Luckily the shop was empty at the time so I felt confident enough to be honest with her without either getting embarrassed or causing offence.
‘I’m Derek and I’m new to the village. I know that you don’t really know me but I’m a medium.’
‘Oh, that’s interesting. I don’t think we’ve had a medium in the shop before. By the way I’m Caroline. It’s nice to meet you.’
‘It’s nice to meet you too, Caroline. Some people think that psychic stuff is a load of nonsense but I get the impression that you may be a believer?’
‘Well, it interests me. Have you got something to tell me?’
‘What I’m going to say may upset or surprise you. There is a spirit standing over there beside that double socket and he keeps telling me that it’s dangerous and you’re not to use it.’
‘Really? Do you know who this man is?’
‘I’m certain that it’s your dad, Caroline. He is scared that you’ll get a shock from that double socket, the one that’s located just beside the onions.’
‘Well, that’s pretty amazing because one of the sockets on that wall doesn’t work and I’ve been told by Billy the owner never to use it. Is my dad telling you anything about himself?’
‘No, unfortunately he’s not, Caroline. He is okay and he’s watching over you but he’s really worried about you using any one of those sockets, not just the one that’s broken.’
‘Well, I’ll keep that in mind,’ answered Caroline, and that was that.
Two weeks later I was in the fruit shop when Billy Fullerton, the owner, was there.
‘Derek,’ he said. ‘I want to have a word with you. Did you tell Caroline not to use that socket over there because her dad’s spirit told you to warn her about it?’
‘Yes, I did, Billy.’ I was intrigued, but also slightly worried that I’d said something out of turn. I hoped Caroline hadn’t been giving her boss hassle about dodgy electrical fittings.
‘Well, Derek, she didn’t listen to you and decided to plug in the Hoover one night when she was tidying up. She thought it would be okay to use the other socket that was still working but for some reason it shorted out the Hoover and blew a fuse. She was lucky that she didn’t get a nasty one. She nearly electrocuted herself!’
After a few weeks on the radio, I started thinking about the possibility of doing theatre shows. I felt that if I could connect with the spirit world down a telephone line whilst dealing with the pressure of being live on radio, then I’d be able to handle a theatre audience. In the meantime, I continued to give private readings.
As I didn’t have a car, I used a local taxi company to take me from reading to reading. Matt was my main driver. He was a gentleman and very supportive of me and my abilities. Matt had just split up from his wife Lesley. He had three children and still saw his kids and Lesley regularly. ‘I’d like you to meet the wife,’ Matt said one night when we were driving back from one of my readings. ‘I’ve been telling her all about you and she’s really fascinated by what you do. Could you see her this week?’
‘No problem, Matt,’ I replied. ‘It’s the least I can do. You’ve been very good to me.’ I don’t like doing readings for people I know, but I couldn’t let Matt down.
Lesley had arranged for her sister and some of her friends to be at the reading so there were a few anxious women in her flat when I arrived. Matt introduced me to Lesley and then went off to work. I went to the loo to get some privacy and took a few moments to get into the zone, to go to the place in my head where I can connect with the spirit world. I change when this happens. I become aware of energy and I can sometimes get rather agitated and fidgety. I’ve just accepted these traits over the years. The methods I now use to connect with the spirit world have developed over time. The more experienced I’ve become, the more I’ve mastered them, so much so that I can now jump to and from my spiritual focal point with ease.
Almost immediately, I realized that I wasn’t comfortable with the energy in Lesley’s flat. I suddenly became aware that there was a presence there, and it was very strong. I could feel it clearly as I stood there, anxiously, in her bathroom. I knew that it was very close to me but was unsure where. I focused and tried to work out in my head where it was.
After a few seconds I connected with it. It was through the wall of the bathroom in her hallway, standing just a matter of feet away from me, and I felt very unsettled by it. I could sense that it was powerful, and when I focused on the energy surrounding it and emanating from it, it was very black and negative. I wasn’t sure if it was the spirit of a man or a woman but whatever it was, it was a presence that didn’t want to talk to me. It seemed to be the defiant spirit of someone stuck in some sort of middle ground who couldn’t, for whatever reason, fully cross over into the spirit world. It was angry about its predicament and it wanted me to understand that. I knew for sure that it also wanted me to know that