You may be familiar with the name Barrie John; to those interested in the paranormal world, his name is highly respected. He was once one of Most Haunted’s leading Mediums on the popular TV reality show, and has also been a regular contributor to the magazine Fate & Fortune.
He has been continuing his spiritual work over recent years and has been running psychic workshops. I wanted to learn more about the man and his work, and he kindly agreed to be interviewed for GhostMag.
How has life been for you over recent years, Barrie?
We have ventured on many new pathways! We set up an events company called Pure Spirit Events and we work in partnership with many other national Well Being and Mind, Body & Spirit companies.
How have the spiritual workshops been going?
We have been running Spiritual Development Workshops for in excess of 25 years now and we have helped budding Psychics to be able to reach there goals and aims.
Mediumship demonstrations are still going well and we tend to have a few big events each month, mostly local now as I am trying to slow down and semi-retire from travelling and flying around the world.
After all these years, does working with spirit still have the capacity to surprise you?
Every Mediumship/Clairvoyant event holds a surprise for me, I still come out with information which shocks the sitter and also myself.
Have family and friends always been supportive of your Mediumship?
My family and friends have always been supportive of my ability and they love it! Most of them come along to events and shows now and often help out.
What would you say present the biggest challenges in Mediumship?
I have been doing this for some 35 – 40 years now and for the past 25 years professionally in terms of TV, Media and Magazines. Therefore I am now looking at other pathways and also trying to support others to move along on the spiritual pathway.
How and when did you discover you had the gift of mediumship and psychic abilities?
I have always known since being a child some 45 years ago now. I seemed to sense and know things from an early age, I used to be fascinated by stories of the afterlife and I would watch programmes and get that feeling of ‘Deja Vu’ etc.
Based on your own experiences as a psychic medium, what is your opinion on hauntings and the after-life? Do you believe in the typical ideas of heaven and hell, or are these misconceptions of the after-life?
I have strong views here, I believe that we ALL go to an afterlife place, a place of rest, beauty and also out of pain. However, I do believe that your ‘spirit’ will remain the same, if you were happy here you would be a happy spirit and vice versa. I don’t believe in evil, I believe that this is a man-made creation or imagination which forces people to follow others in terms of religions etc.
You worked on the Most Haunted TV show. Can you tell fans what your experience of working with the MH crew was like? Did you enjoy your time in the show?
The team are and were amazing, I still hear from them now. As much as my parts were serious, we also had some laughs behind the scenes!
I would also say that we had some ‘scary’ happenings off screen too, which spooked the pants off me!
You have to remember that these shows are filmed over long periods, and to only show 45-60 mins doesn’t really show the locations at there full credit.
What is your opinion of those who seek to discredit psychics and mediums? Do you feel frustrated by those who are closed minded, or does this inspire you to keep striving to prove there is an after life?
I have no issues with anyone trying to discredit mediums etc, I just know that I have feelings and I know things that don’t make sense to me however they do make sense to others.
It really does make me want to carry on, and to prove ‘more’ to people. People try to confuse mediumship with science, this just makes it hard to understand at times. I go with an open heart, and I know that spirit are always close to us all.
Do you think everybody has a certain ability to sense spirits, or is this something only a select few are born with?
I believe that everyone has a psychic ability and that they can sense and detect things happening around them, but I don’t believe that everyone can be a medium. I believe that you develop your mediumistic qualities from ‘pains’ that you experience in this life.
This teaches you about dealing with emotions and also life’s experiences which are thrown at you. Remember ALL of life’s lessons are there to teach you something. Learn from them and don’t repeat the same mistakes twice.
During your paranormal investigations, have you ever felt afraid or unnerved by any entity you have come across?
Gosh, yes too right I have! Spirit will often surprise me or call out my name to get my attention. I would never do a lone vigil, sorry…. it would freak me out too much because I know what spirits are capable of doing.
Out of all the places you have attended, which has been the most haunted or active?
This is always a tough one for me to answer, I have done around 6000 events now, and I have some great stories and also experiences of certain locations, such as Margam Castle – Wales, Galleries of Justice – Nottingham, Oxford Castle – Oxford (my first Most Haunted location), Skirrid Inn – Wales, the list is endless.
However, one recent location really does stand out for me lately and that would be Newsham Park Hospital in Liverpool.
To learn more about Barrie John, please visit his website: http://www.barriejohn.com
