Wednesday 16th February, 2005.

Initially Simon approached me to give me a full explanation of the events I had described in my recent article. We had several phone conversations over the next couple of weeks as Simon expanded a little on his career and life. Much of what Simon has told me is personal and therefore not something I am willing to publish, but rest assured his story is one well worth reading.

Eventually Simon offered me the chance of going along with him to one of his demonstrations, I would be able to record the show and ask him anything I liked. As the owner of a paranormal website I would have been mad to turn down a great opportunity like this, on a personal level I liked Simon, I found his manner polite and welcoming.

I accepted his offer and agreed to go along with Simon to his demonstration in Warrington, Wednesday, February 16. He would pick me up on the way and take me to his demonstration, along with his friends, who also help him setup and collect the entrance fee from the audience.

At around 3 in the afternoon Simon arrived to take me to his demonstration. This was the second time I had seen him in person, but the first time I would actually meet him. As he got out of the car I was amazed at how well I had remembered him. Simon stuck out his hand to shake mine, introducing himself to me. One thing that did surprise me was how small he was, in comparison to me at 6’ 3” he was positively tiny – I didn’t know whether I should shake his hand or pick him up and give him a cuddle, I decided on the hand shake.

Introductions over, it was time to get in the car and set off for the venue.

I jumped in the front with Simon, the best place to be if I was going to learn something about the man and his work. Sat in the back was one of his close friends, Colin. He introduced us and then set off for the venue.

What immediately struck me was how friendly they seemed, only a few weeks earlier I had written a damning article and here I was sat next to the guy and one of his close friends. If either of them had any bad feelings towards me I didn’t pick up on it, and let’s be honest, they would have been justified to have been at the very least, a touch angry.

First stop along the way was the petrol station. Both Simon and Colin got out of the car and left myself sat to on my own, wondering what the day would hold for me.

Once again we were all sat back in the car and began the journey to Warrington.

Something I noticed with Simon was how tense he can get, something that didn’t take too long to expose itself. The traffic was backing up badly so Simon decided on a scenic route, through the back roads. His concerns about being late were clearly evident from the minute he started the car. Later that day it became evident to me that this was all fueled by the enormous stress he puts himself under whilst demonstrating to audiences.

We were on our way to pick up another friend of Simons, Julie. Both Colin and Julie would pretty much handle the whole day for Simon, leaving him to concentrate on what he does best. They make sure the venue is set up for the audience, chairs and leaflets etc, they then sit at the door and greet Simon’s guests as they enter the room, taking their payments for the evening.

Before long we arrived to pick up Julie, at which point I was asked to sit in the back. He had a large car so I would be fine in the back. Julie was Simon’s navigator, a good driver he may well be, but when it comes to directions he is hopeless, I know he wouldn’t mind me saying that.

Once again Simon got the formalities of an introduction over and we were once again on our way.

Simon’s personality is something that strikes you almost immediately on meeting him - he loves to talk. Getting to know someone in such a short space of time is almost impossible, at the very best you may be able to get a general idea of what someone is like, what makes them tick. With Simon it was different, he was like an open book and with him being such an enthusiastic talker I had no doubts whatsoever that by the end of the day I would have a very clear picture of Simon Peters.

As we drove I was waiting for the sarcastic comments and little snide remarks about what I had written, they never came. At one point Simon told Julie I was the guy that had written the infamous article, she just gave a little grin and that was that. Now I knew that my article was not going to hinder the day I could relax a little and actually try and enjoy the day.

Something else that struck me almost immediately with Simon was his enthusiasm for the paranormal, particularly the afterlife. When he talks about the possibilities of an afterlife, a spirit world etc, he does so with incredible passion. At times he could hardly contain himself, I’m not sure if he notices it or indeed if his friends do, but I certainly did.

When Simon talked about his ability it wasn’t done so in the usual manner, at times he was almost trying to convince himself that what he does is real. I was quite surprised that I was sat in a car with a practicing medium who actually finds it hard to explain what it is he does. He doesn’t “big” it up, nor does he try to make himself look good in front of people. At times he almost comes across as embarrassed, as if what he does is as much of a surprise to him as it is to others. He openly admitted on several occasions that he still has doubts about exactly what it is he can do; explaining it to him-self is hard enough, explaining it to others even harder.

Simon’s approach to mediumship is unlike any other, you will not hear any huge claims of special powers, just a simple and definitive claim that he receives messages from spirit that are meant for people in the physical world. He doesn’t claim to hear voices in his head, merely that thoughts, feelings and emotions are channeled to him from the spirit world. He mentioned several times that he thinks skepticism is a good thing, and that people should never believe in something for believing sake. He himself still holds a healthy amount of skepticism in mediumship, just because he may be a psychic medium doesn’t mean he finds it any less amazing or confusing than we do.

As we continued our drive to Warrington it was clear the enthusiasm Colin shared for Simon’s gift. He chatted at length about his rather skeptical mind a few years back and how after going along to one of Simon’s shows he became totally convinced that Simon was indeed the real thing. He’d repeated a few messages Simon had given people at previous venues and that there was no possible way that he could have known such detail prior to the demonstration. Colin seems to be a very strong character, not the type of man to be swayed by suggestion, so it was difficult to see him believing in something unless he’d seen something to truly convince him.

At no time as we drove to the venue did I feel as if I were in the company of a medium, there were none of the usual offerings from the spirit world, no little messages for me to keep me satisfied. He was a perfectly normal person who chatted and joked as anyone else would. I had anticipated that being in the company of a practicing medium would have a certain feel to it, an atmosphere for want of a better word; again I was wrong with my assumption.

The closer we got to Warrington the tenser Simon became. It was clear that whatever his reasons for doing this, the strain was huge. Later that night I would learn that my article and subsequent comments had only added to what was already a daunting prospect for him, making him even more nervous than he already was.

Eventually we arrived at the venue and it was time to unload the car and setup the sound and recording equipment.

As Simon entered the room where he would later demonstrate his gift he became aware that the seating was far from complete, infact it was only half the seating capacity he required. It was quite obvious that he is a man that gets what he wants; he was paying for a venue with upwards of 300 seats, and 300 seats he would get. He made it clear to the guy in charge that they needed more seats, you could see his point, they knew for some time he was coming and had made no attempts to get the venue ready for him. Whilst this was happening it was clear that Simon was becoming far more nervous and at times extremely tense. I was actually nervous for him and I wasn’t about to chat with 300 people. Simon has his own way of preparing for the demonstration; this issue was preventing him from doing that.

Finally all the seating was sorted and the equipment was ready to roll.

About an hour before the doors were due to open Simon told me he was going to get himself ready for the demonstration. At this point he takes himself off to a quiet corner and prepares himself for the evening. This would not be a good time to approach him with any problems there may, this preparation was obviously very important to him. His preparation would involve some form of meditation, his way of tuning in to spirit and making him ready to channel to his visitors.

As Colin and Julie seemed to know what they were doing and Simon was getting himself ready I decided to take myself off to the bar and have a drink before people started to arrive for the demonstration.

I had been quite surprised by the number Simon was expecting that night, I thought that a good figure would have been around150, but there was going to be over 300 people there by the time the show started, this made all the more clearer by the queue that was starting to form at the entrance to the venue.

The bar itself was also starting to fill up, predominantly with women.

It’s no surprise that so many women go to demonstrations like this more than men, it’s generally accepted that women are far more prepared to believe in mediumship than men, although this doesn’t make them any more gullible, infact they are a hard audience to please. Most men that go along to an evening of this type do so with a highly skeptical eye, they take some serious persuading and are quick to shrug off a mediums claims if what they see doesn’t convince them – the same can be said for the women in the audience, the actual evening just seems to appeal more to women than it does men.

Now that I was sat in the bar amongst a lot of guests I thought to myself that now would be a good time for one of Simon’s team to pop in and have a walk about, maybe have a drink. A lot of people claim that mediums generally have people mingling with the audience in an attempt to pick up some interesting information that may help feed the medium in his demonstration. After being sat in the bar and watching Julie put up posters to tell people where the demonstration was and seeing Colin in the room making sure everything was setup at the door I am confident that this isn’t a practice Simon dabbles in. The only time I saw Simon outside of that room when guest were present was to come to me and ask if I wanted to take my drink in to the room. I decided not to, unbeknown to me it was something Simon actually encouraged in people; I guess it helps soften the atmosphere a little.

After a couple of drinks I decided to go back to the room and set my camera up – I would be recording the entire Demonstration.

By now the queue was huge; they were queuing from the entrance of the room, right down the hall and almost to the front door. I was quite surprised by the number of people that had turned out.

When I eventually managed to push my way through the gathering crowd I was surprised to see Simon sat at the back of the room with a glass of red wine. It was quite obvious just how nervous and pensive he was of the demonstration. To be honest if I had to get up in front of 300 people and make a speech, I’d need more than a glass of wine to settle my nerves.

The demonstration was now running late, primarily because the large crowd was taking some time to get seated. People were sitting down then getting back up again to go fetch some more drinks, another surprise to me; the audience was allowed to drink whilst the demonstration was in progress.

Finally the audience was all seated, I had my camera setup at the front of the room, to Simons left and Simon was now ready to begin his evening of clairvoyance.

There was to be no grand entrance, no showmanship or eye candy, he simply turned on some music and began to talk.

Something that never occurred to me was the effect my article had had on him. I wasn’t aware that a lot of his nerves and tension were purely down to me and the fact that I was now stood only feet away with a video camera glaring in to his face, every time he turned to his left he would know I was there. To be honest it would make anyone nervous, especially when the man recording you is the same man that brought you so much publicity, be it good or bad.

I won’t describe Simon’s messages to people in the demonstration; this will come later with audio and video footage, something I know a lot of people are looking forward to.

What I will describe is his mood, methodology and approach to people at his demonstrations.

I’m not an expert on mediumship; I have no ability in the field, just a simple passion to understand it more clearly. Even when you watch someone practice their gift you do so with no real understanding of what is going on. At times an evening of clairvoyance can seem to many people as plain boring. Simon doesn’t crack wild jokes or throw in a few party games to please the audience, they are there for one reason and one reason only, to see a medium channel messages from the spirit world and ultimately to be one of the lucky few to receive such a message.

So with this in mind it is obvious that a few people will be bored, especially the first timers. A lot of people come away from these demonstrations disappointed, as though they were expecting fireworks. A man proclaiming to be in contact with spirit and then passing on these messages is no great shakes to many people; the visual properties of this are minute. So to many people no matter how accurate Simon may or may not be on the night they leave with a sense of disappointment.

Then you get your skeptics, those who want to believe but need to see it happen. I personally think it’s healthy to have some amount of skepticism; you should always question things in a bid to learn what’s real and what isn’t.

For me the worst member of an audience is the cynic, trying to convince them of anything is impossible. Their minds are closed and no matter how much you try to impress on them a possibility of the paranormal they are never going to believe. Why they go to these demonstrations is beyond me. Why they would want to waste their money on something they have no intentions of trying to understand is something only they know. To me they come across as arrogant, chuckling to themselves as the medium goes about his work. Fortunately there wasn’t much of that to be seen at Simon’s demonstration.

Simon’s approach that night was one of mixed emotions, at times he seemed quite down at the reluctance of people to acknowledge the messages he was offering. It’s a basic human instinct to not stick your hand up in front of hundreds of people and draw their immediate attention to you. I know I would need some dutch courage before I would pop my hand up.

Another facet of Simon’s technique is his obvious attempts to stop people who he is with from giving him any more information. Once someone recognizes a message is for them Simon goes to great lengths to stop them blurting out their life story in ten seconds. He would comically gesture to them by tapping his leg and saying “ah ah, that’s enough”.

It may cut them short but it prevents the possibility of people claiming he is reading them like a book. This was a trait he used with everyone he spoke to that night.

Most of the time Simon spoke with an incredibly soft voice and showed a great deal of respect to people; even though some were obviously only there for the beer and a few laughs.

The show was made up of two halves, lasting about 80 minutes in all. At the end of the show he made his way to the back of the room and for the first time mingled with his audience. I didn’t pick up much in the way of bad feeling, just people wanting a picture of him and to shake his hand. From an audiences perspective I think the demonstration had been a success and they seemed to leave quite satisfied with what they had seen.

Now that the show was over it was time for us to have something to eat. Simon certainly wasn’t going to leave the room until he had eaten a dinner, even though the hotel staff were waiting to close things down for the night and get themselves home.

Simon ordered burger and chips for the four of us and sat down and began chatting about the demonstration.

I had nothing to base my opinion on with regards to how well the evening had gone for him. He seemed fairly happy with things if a little annoyed that people were so reluctant to put their hands up. This is not a problem associated with Simon only; all mediums are faced with this problem and always will be. The time to worry is when people put their hands up before you’ve had time to finish your sentence.

Personally I had enjoyed the evening and had seen and heard enough to encourage me further.

After we had finished eating Simon offered me the thick end of a tree disguised as a cigar. We sat for a while, had a smoke and chatted about the evening. It was obvious he had concerns as to how I had perceived it. I never realized just how much an effect my article had had on him. I know I’ve said it before but it was clear my being there had only helped add to his nerves.

Sometime after 11 pm we were all fed and watered and ready to make the journey home.

The drive home had involved me listening to Simon as he expressed his theories on mediumship and the possibilities of there being another dimension, a non-physical plain if you like. He certainly gets enthusiastic about things, putting his points across with a lot of passion. He did ask a few miles out of York if I had any questions; to be honest he had pretty much answered any questions I could possibly have thought of.

A lot of what Simon told me in the company of his friends was personal and not something he would want to share with others. As he has always said to me, his personal life is just that and not something he would want published for all to see. His wife and children are not the issue of the day, nor should they ever be.

I enjoyed listening to him chat, he has an awful lot to say about life and death and it’s clear that spirituality plays a huge part in his life.

Trying to summarize the day I spent with Simon in a few pages would be impossible, there’s simply too much to say. I hope that this gives you a little insight in to Simon’s life and what he is about.

For me to get a true picture of Simon I would most definitely need to see him again, several more times in fact. What I will say is that I saw enough that night to convince me that Simon has some ‘gift’ or ‘ability’ in mediumship. To what degree I honestly don’t know.

I certainly learnt a lot about him as a medium and as a human being. I found him to be incredibly polite when the pressures of the demonstration were off him. He can be a little ‘blunt’, for want of a better word. When your show is only a couple of hours away and your missing over 150 chairs it’s no surprise he got a little tense. All in all he is a generous man and very approachable if shown a modicum of respect.

I will of course be backing this article up with a feature of the night’s demonstration, so keep your eyes peeled in the coming weeks.

I would like to offer my thanks to Simon for allowing me to go along with him to the show and record it, not to mention the generosity he showed me. We are all entitled to debate our opinions about what may or may not be, but if I learnt one thing from this night and from meeting Simon it’s that the individual deserves respect, and simply because you don’t believe in them doesn’t give you the right to have such a massive effect on their work and ultimately their family.

Article copyright © Brendan Kilmartin & The Supernatural World, 2005.