Former Whitby vicar turned best-selling author speaks of passion for supernatural

The former police officer is also a New York Times best-selling novelist who has written 20 books and a couple of films.

Apart from his worldly success as a writer, Graham also has a passion for the supernatural having studied it since he was a teenager.

So-much-so, that he was asked to make a TV series called GP Taylor’s Uninvited Guests where over six episodes, he investigated paranormal incidents throughout the country.

As a priest – he was Curate of Whitby - Graham was regularly called in to help people who thought they were being haunted, especially around Hallowe’en.

He said: “It is amazing how many people think they have a ghost in their house and it’s not just old spooky buildings that are affected.

"Modern houses too can have unwanted house guests, but luckily, any priest can be called in to help get rid of them.

"Sixty nine per cent of the population believe in ghosts and half of them believe they have seen one.”

However, according to Graham, getting rid of spooks isn’t as easy as it sounds.

“One Saturday afternoon I got a call from a man who said he was having a problem with a troublesome spirit throwing things around his house.

"I told him to put his phone on loudspeaker and I said the prayers over the phone.

"Thankfully, it calmed things down until I could get the local vicar to call in and finish the job.”

As a retired policeman and natural sceptic who demands solid evidence, Graham says that some cases have left him very troubled.

“I can explain away 90% of all hauntings as natural occurrences that we humans think are supernatural,” he said.

"One woman said she was being haunted, but it turned out to be a noisy and very faulty central heating system.

"Strangely, while making some programmes for ITV, I stayed in an old country house.

"As I was just getting ready for bed, my bathroom door opened and translucent figure walked into the bedroom and vanished.

"As it did, a cold shudder ran down my spine. To this day, I cannot explain what I saw.

“I have studied the paranormal for 50 years and firmly believe that on the weight of evidence, there is life beyond the grave.

"Hallowe’en is a fascinating time of year where the veil between the two worlds seems to be at its thinnest.

"However, dabbling in the paranormal is a dangerous thing unless you know what you are doing.”

Graham has given up writing best-selling children’s books to concentrate on adult crime fiction where he combines his fascination with the supernatural and his careers as a police officer and a priest, both jobs he did at the same time.

Pig in the Pulpit is a crime novel centred around the life of The Rev Peter Barnes who is also a full-time copper.

The worlds of police officer and priest soon collide and those long dead, reach out from the grave.

Hauntings, funerals and a moribund congregation, clash with burglaries, thefts and murder on his rural police beat.

Superiors in the police suspicious of his faith and a congregation hiding a long-held secret, bring challenges at every turn.

It is out now.