Alexander Frederick Harris (1897–1974) was a Welsh

Spiritualist Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century The ''long nineteenth century'' i ...

medium.

Biography

Harris was born in Treherbert, Wales. As a young man he joined the army as World War I (1914–18) began. He married in 1928 and in the 1930s was introduced to Spiritualism. He attended séances with the medium

Helen Duncan Victoria Helen McCrae Duncan (née MacFarlane, 25 November 1897 – 6 December 1956) was a Scottish medium best known as the last person to be imprisoned under the Witchcraft Act 1735 for fraudulent claims. She was famous for producing ectopla ...

which he was convinced were genuine. After attending other séances he became a medium himself and claimed the ability to materialize spirit guides. Harris would only work in dark conditions with a cabinet in a curtained-off alcove from his audience where the spirits were reported to emerge. In the 1940s it was stated by spiritualists that he could materialize as many as 15 to 30 spirits in a single séance. He later moved to South Africa to resume a career as a medium. He conducted séances until his death in 1974. He died on 12 February 1974 in Johannesburg. His wife, Louie Harris, wrote a biography of him after his death.Louie Harris. ''They Walked Among Us''. London: Psychic Press, 1980.

Claims investigated

In January 1955,

Tony Cornell Anthony Donald Cornell (born 1924, died 10 April 2010, aged 86) was a British parapsychologist and prominent figure in the investigations of ghosts and other paranormal activity across the United Kingdom during the later part of the twentieth c ...

attended a séance to investigate the

mediumship Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or ghost, spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship o ...

of Harris. In the séance Harris sat behind a curtain cabinet and in total eleven "spirit" figures came out from behind the curtain at different times dressed in different clothing. They walked around the room and communicated with the sitters, and then disappeared behind the curtain. The room was in complete darkness apart from some dim light in the middle of the room.

. (2002). ''Investigating the Paranormal''. Helix Press New York. pp. 327-338. Cornell noted that all the figures had a similar stature, they dressed similarly but used different masks and hats. Only one figure came out from the curtain at a time and always minutes after the previous one. According to the sitters who had touched the figures, their skin felt coarse and rough even though some were supposed to be female. Cornell wrote that a stomach rumble,

nicotine Nicotine is a naturally produced alkaloid in the nightshade family of plants (most predominantly in tobacco and ''Duboisia hopwoodii'') and is widely used recreationally as a stimulant and anxiolytic. As a pharmaceutical drug, it is used fo ...

-smelling breath and a pulse gave away the fact that all the figures were in fact Harris and that he had dressed up as each one behind the cabinet. The cabinet was not examined before or after the sitting and Harris refused to be searched before or after the sitting. The spirit figures were also reported to creak and move floorboards as they walked on them, indicating that they were human.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Alec 1897 births 1974 deaths People from Treherbert Welsh spiritual mediums