The Awesome Mediumship of Minnie Harrison -- Part II

 
Above:  The materialization of Aunt Agg

About to turn 90 on August 8, Tom Harrison, the author of Life After Death - Living Proof, first published in 2004 and recently revised with 35 additional pages and more photographs, graciously answered some questions I put to him by e-mail.  My last blog post discussed some of the contents of the book about the mediumship of his mother, Minnie Harrison, who developed over time from clairvoyant and trance voice into a materialization medium.  As he had just been interviewed by Susan Farrow of Psychic News for the February 9, 2008 issue of that publication, some of my questions had already been answered in that interview.  Thus, rather than have him repeat those answers, Psychic News kindly gave permission to extract from their interview.  Such extracts are indicated by a (PN) at the end of the response.

Tom, in your book you mentioned that your mother's physical mediumship was foretold by Albert, the spirit guide of Helen Duncan, another renowned medium.  For the benefit of the readers of this publication, would you mind relating that story?

      "It was in 1938, about a year before the start of the second world war.  My mother was acting as hostess for a friend who had arranged a Helen Duncan sitting in his home in Middlesbrough, and I was fortunate to obtain a ticket for the sitting.

      "I sat at the back of the average-sized room, which held about twenty sitters in four rows facing the cabinet, which was illuminated by a red light.  A number of materialized spirits came and were recognized by their relatives or friends before Albert announced that someone named Jack Bessant was coming.  He was my mother's brother and had been a strong trance medium before his passing in 1927.  He came out of the cabinet and turned to speak to my mother, who was sitting alongside the curtain.  I must admit I could not see him clearly, but my mother was satisfied that it was her brother.

      "As Jack returned to the cabinet, we heard him speaking to Albert, but did not hear his actual words.  Albert then spoke very clearly and told us that whoever this spirit person had come to meet, they had great physical energy around them which would be used in the future.  And so it came to pass some eight years later, when the Saturday Night Club started sittings with my mother as medium." (PN)

As I understand it, your mother was primarily a clairvoyant and clairaudient before the Saturday Night Club was formed?

      "Yes, but knowing that my mother had trance potential, we hoped when we sat on 6^th April 1946, that we might get trance phenomena in simple form - which is exactly what happened.  But when Aunt Agg controlled my mother, she told us that we should sit with a trumpet because we would get results as good as her own!  I'm afraid we just could not believe what she said that evening, but nevertheless, circle member Syd Shipman made two trumpets in time for the next sitting and we went on from there.  Oh ye of little faith!"  (PN)

You wrote that you saw some 1,500 different spirit people from 1946 on.  Are you including repeat visits by various spirits?

       "It does include repeat visits by people like Aunt Agg and Granny Lumsden who came every week.  I estimate that Aunt Agg came 300 or more times and Granny Lumsden 200 or more, so there were probably 900 to 1,000 different people who materialized."  

I assume then that the spirit visitors were not limited to the relatives and friends of the usual circle members.

        "[Correct].  Over the years we had scores of guest sitters, the majority of whom were hoping to meet a close loved one who had passed over a few months prior to the sitting.   They wanted to clear any lingering doubts they may have had about their loved one's contentment and happiness in their new surroundings." (PN)

Did the spirit visitors appear in different attire?

        "The attire of all our spirits who materialized was always the same - an ectoplasmic robe as seen in our photographs.  The one exception was when Sunrise (Minnie Harrison's spirit control) materialized during out 52^nd sitting.  He built (materialized) in his earthly-type clothing complete with splendid feathered head-dress - a most imposing figure who had become a very close friend and protector during the 12 months of our sittings."

I know that the cabinet used with the materialization phenomenon is designed to provide extra darkness to aid in the materialization, but skeptics see it as simply a "dressing room" for a fraudulent medium.   Why is this cabinet necessary if the room is dark in the first place?   Did you ever look into the cabinet to observe the materialization?

        "The spirits could materialize in the dark room without a cabinet.  We had seen nine of them build alongside my mother in the red light from sitting 32 to 36.  However, Sunrise explained to us that we could have a brighter light if my mother was ‘partitioned off,' sitting behind a curtain in a cabinet.  He also told us that the cabinet was a smaller space in which the energy could be concentrated  to help the spirits materialize and even stay longer.  Therefore, the cabinet was used for materializations from week 38.  We all knew that only my mother was seated in the cabinet, so there was no purpose in wanting to look inside."

You mentioned in the book that Dr. Jones took some samples of the ectoplasm.  What were his findings?

      "An ectoplasmic feather and one of the pieces of ectoplasm cut off by him were put into jars which had liquid in them - put there by the spirit chemists. The leader was a chemist called Swift who arranged to put the apported liquid in the jars for the pieces of ectoplasm.  He apologized for the unpleasant odour with the liquid he had put in the jar for the ectoplasmic feather.

      "The ectoplasm completely dissolved in a few days and Jones then took the jars with the dissolved ectoplasm to his laboratory in the hospital and examined the contents.  He told us the crystals which formed were ‘bleach like' in form but he could find nothing very special in them - which we all said was rather disappointing as we had expected something ‘different' but didn't know what."

Did the spirits ever talk about what they did when they weren't visiting you?

      "Yes, they talked about how they occupied themselves, in much the same way as they did here, but without the need to ‘earn money' to keep a physical body ‘alive.'  Their hobbies and other interests now took precedence - they could do anything they wanted so long as it did not conflict with others.  For example, my first wife, Doris, was trained as a nurse and was always very interested in children, so there was still lots for her to do, especially when children passed over.  Aunt Agg told us she occasionally acted as a medium for friends to contact spirits who had progressed to higher vibrations - not unlike how she used to help folks here to contact friends or relatives who were in the spirit world.  Libraries are available for keen readers and concerts for music lovers.  Gladys Hildred's sister, Mona, was the guardian for a spirit child named Prudence, who needed help, and she used to bring her to our sittings quite regularly.  The list of activities is endless."

Did you have any celebrities or otherwise famous people materialize?

       "We had no ‘historically known famous' people materializing but one man was ‘famous' as a leader and secretary in the Spiritualist movement.  Alfred Kitson, who lived in West Yorkshire and founded the Lyceum movement in UK, had visited Middlesbrough on 22^nd March 1924, 23 years ago to the day to open the new church and our two guest sitters that night (sitting 47, 22^nd March 1947) were Mr. and Mrs. Hudson, officers of the church, who officiated at the opening.  When they arrived home after the sitting they had to check their records regarding the date and found Alfred Kitson was exactly correct, but they certainly had not remembered such details as he had."       

Did you ever invite members of the Society for Psychical Research to observe the phenomena?

      "We never invited anyone from the SPR or any other research organization who would have made mother suffer the indignity and discomfort of their tests.  As a group we were completely satisfied as to the genuineness of the phenomena and simply enjoyed our weekly ‘get togethers' with our spirit friends and relatives.  That was the agreement we had made with Sunrise and his team when we started sitting, and it was always kept that way.  From time to time Sunrise reminded us of the agreement."

Did Sunrise ever explain why such an agreement was necessary?

     "The agreement as such was simply an understanding between the two worlds to really continue the friendly social Saturday evenings of the previous five years during the war at Syd and Gladys' home - but now also to reunite those who sat in the circle with their loved ones who were now in the Spirit world.  Like us, Sunrise did not want ‘his meedi' (as he called my mother) put to such unnecessary indignity and discomfort purely for the benefit of such arrogant people.  Over the years, we did have a number of skeptics who all left convinced of the genuineness of the phenomena they had witnessed.  As Dixon-Smith wrote in his book, any suggestion of fraud was preposterous under such conditions in the small room, and the most important aspect was that everyone enjoyed their evening with the spirit friends and relatives - all free of charge with supper included!"

    

It would appear that your mother was a much more powerful physical medium than Eusapia Paladino, the famous Italian medium of a half-century earlier, as she rarely produced full materializations - mostly just hands, touches, and table levitations.  Do you have any idea as to how to account for this?  Is the difference is in the power of the medium, the ability of the spirit scientists on the other side, the ability of the spirits to project themselves into the ectoplasm, or the harmony of the sitters, or some other factor?

     "I feel you have answered your own question, Mike.  I agree with all your ‘reasons,' particularly the importance of true harmony and the desire and ability of the team on the other side.  As much as some mediums would like to develop physical phenomena it is just not in their ‘make up' to enable the spirit workers to meet their wishes.  The medium we sit with now is very keen to have physical phenomena.  So far he is doing well with trance development and some transfiguration, but nothing ‘physical," much to his weekly disappointment."

Along the same line, Gladys Osborne Leonard, England's best known medium, and Leonora Piper, America's best known medium, never really advanced beyond the trance voice, although the direct voice occasionally manifested with Mrs. Leonard.  Certainly, there were no materializations reported with either of them.  Do you have thoughts as to why that was?

       "Apart from the last answer, I am sure we agree that there is also a great need for top quality ‘mental' and trance mediumship which can reach a much wider public audience - like Mrs. Leonard and my Aunt Agg (Agnes Abbott), who alone with others regularly filled many of the large halls in London." 
  

Have you witnessed any materialization phenomena since your mother passed over?

        "Yes, I have been privileged to witness materialization over the past four or five years whenever Ann and I have visited UK and sat with Stewart Alexander in Hull. Currently, it is always in the dark but the footsteps can be clearly heard walking around the room.  When Dr. Barnett stops in front of me for healing purposes, I feel the strength in his hands as he places them on my head, shoulders and down my back.  The medium, Stewart, is strapped in his chair and Dr. Barnett is clearly an independent spirit person.  Walter Stinson, the Circle leader in spirit, is working towards getting spirit lighting to illuminate the materializations.

       "Before moving to Spain in January 2000, we were regular members of Stewart's weekly home circle and witnessed much physical phenomena, including trumpet movements and spirit voices, but the materializations developed later, some four to five years ago." 

Have you heard from your mother, Aunt Agg, or others since your mother's transition?

     "Yes, I have had contact with my mother, father, my first wife Doris, Aunt Agg, Sunrise, Uncle Jack and others, including Mrs. Leonard, who is closely linked with Denise, a regular member of Stewart Alexander's circle."

Why do you think red lights are permitted by the spirits with some mediums and not with others?  You'd think that if they figured out how to use them with your mother, they could use them with today's mediums.  Either the spirit scientists on the other side are not sharing their knowledge with each other or it has something to do with the strength of the medium.  Any thoughts on that?

          "Regarding the red lights, I believe the main reason is linked to the 'strength' of the medium...Not the physical strength of course but the 'inner' strength and 'make up' of the individual which we are unable to describe or comprehend.   My mother was certainly not physically strong having suffered from cancer since 1940, but had that special inner strength for the spirits to work with and even allow the red light and photographs,

including infra red. And again we do have a red light some of the time in Stewart's circle to show the materialized hands and to see reports of this I suggest that you get the book about him from Amazon.com,  Experiences of Trance, Physical Mediumship and Associated Phenomena, Part 2 by Katie Halliwell."

You told Psychic News that your mother developed rapidly from clairvoyance to full materializations, about eight months, and that normal development usually calls for many years.  You further stated that you feel the absence of such quality mediumship today is a result of our fast-paced world and the lack of conditions and patience necessary to let the phenomena develop.   What exactly does the medium need to do to develop?  I infer from some of your comments that the spirit scientists are doing all the work. 

        "Again, this question is closely linked with some of your others.  It is true that the Spirit world is 'at the controls' but as you appreciate, mediums are different individuals  and there is nothing specific they can do to obtain physical phenomena, 'on tap.'   Only patience and dedication with a harmonious group of sitters - but even then, it may never

happen for them. The eight months was from us starting to sit regularly but the group had met almost every week for the previous 5 years, although not with the intention of it being a circle for development of the mediumship when our 'energy bank' was built and used when we started sitting. But who knows what the spirit-side was up to all that time. The spirit side may be 'in control' but we do not know what adjustments have to be made with the medium's make up for these things to be possible and what changes need to be made in the way the spirit-side can work, for each of us is a unique individual and what works for one may not for another."

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my questions, Tom.  Do you have any parting comments?

        "Just this:  As the spirits remind us quite often, it is the harmony, dedication and intent that enable them to work with us."

Tom Harrison's book is available at Amazon.com and Amazon.com.UK