Speaker 1: And you're here. Thanks for choosing the I Heart Radio
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Speaker 1: for podcasts of the paranormal, supernatural, and the unexplained ends here.
Speaker 1: Invite you to enjoy all our shows we have on
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Speaker 1: Sandra sham Plain. Welcome to our podcast. Please be aware
Speaker 1: the thoughts and opinions expressed by the host are their
Speaker 1: thoughts and opinions only and do not reflect those of
Speaker 1: I Heart Media, I Heart Radio, Coast to Coast, am
Speaker 1: employees of premier networks, or their sponsors and associates. We
Speaker 1: would like to encourage you to do your own research
Speaker 1: and discover the subject matter for yourself. Hi. I'm Sanders Shamplain.
Speaker 1: For almost twenty five years, I been on a journey
Speaker 1: to prove the existence of life after death. On each episode,
Speaker 1: will discuss the reasons we now know that our loved
Speaker 1: ones have survived physical death and so will we Welcome
Speaker 1: to Shades of the Afterlife. I've got a big smile
Speaker 1: on my face and I was laughing just now. We
Speaker 1: all have people in our life that love us and
Speaker 1: support us. But when we start talking about life after death.
Speaker 1: Sometimes one eyebrow goes up and they think we're a
Speaker 1: little crazy. Well I was one of those people beginning
Speaker 1: my journey, thinking anybody who spoke about this was a
Speaker 1: little crazy. So picture this. I'm here in my mom's
Speaker 1: house right now, and she asked me, oh, what are
Speaker 1: you going to do for your next episode? Of course,
Speaker 1: she loves and supports me, so I thought i'd tell her. Well,
Speaker 1: I thought i'd call it story time with Sandra, and
Speaker 1: I've got three books in front of me, which i'll
Speaker 1: tell you about in just a second. But I told
Speaker 1: her about physical mediumship some of the stories, and when
Speaker 1: I do, she thinks I'm a little bit out there.
Speaker 1: So when I described what I want to do this
Speaker 1: show about today, I got one of those looks. Yes,
Speaker 1: I certainly did. And I know she loves and supports me,
Speaker 1: she wants me to be happy. But I just turned
Speaker 1: around and left her room with a smile. Unless you
Speaker 1: experience things for yourself, it is so difficult to believe
Speaker 1: things are real. So I understand it. You know, I
Speaker 1: follow some people and what they're up to, and some
Speaker 1: of it just seems so far out there that I
Speaker 1: don't give it any credibility. But then there's other stories
Speaker 1: that I think, you know what, I've got to investigate this.
Speaker 1: So today the three books I have in front of me.
Speaker 1: One is on the Edge of the Etheric and it
Speaker 1: was written in one by Arthur Finlay. And Arthur Finley
Speaker 1: is someone you may have heard of, the Arthur Finley
Speaker 1: College in the UK. It's a place where mediums go
Speaker 1: to be trained and it's got a really big history,
Speaker 1: really beautiful old property. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who
Speaker 1: gave up writing Sherlock Holmes, got involved and was at
Speaker 1: this wonderful place and stand stead UK to participate in
Speaker 1: these physical medium seances is the word now. Seance means meeting,
Speaker 1: but a lot of us have a spooky connotation with it.
Speaker 1: People gathered around in a circle holding hands in the
Speaker 1: dark and voices come out of nowhere. Well some of
Speaker 1: that is actually true, believe it or not, and it's
Speaker 1: not as spooky as it sounds though. Another book I
Speaker 1: have in front of me is Alec Harris and the
Speaker 1: full story of his remarkable physical mediumship, and it was
Speaker 1: written by his wife, Louie Harris. And Alec Harris is
Speaker 1: some who never ever believed in mediumship and those sort
Speaker 1: of things, and his wife would go to these meetings,
Speaker 1: church meetings. You know, she made light of him and
Speaker 1: he started wondering, you know, what is she really doing.
Speaker 1: I don't know if he questioned an affair or not,
Speaker 1: but he was curious as to what really happens at
Speaker 1: these meetings. So he tagged along once and he found
Speaker 1: out it was mediumship. Well, Alec Harris ended up becoming
Speaker 1: one of the most famous, most well known mediums in
Speaker 1: the day and probably in history for some of the
Speaker 1: things that would happen. The third book I have is
Speaker 1: called A History of Ghosts, The True Story of Seances, Mediums,
Speaker 1: Ghosts and Ghostbusters, and it was written by Peter Ackroyd,
Speaker 1: who is the father of Dan Ackroyd, who wrote the
Speaker 1: movie Ghostbusters. Now, Peter's grandfather would hold these meetings and
Speaker 1: I don't know how aware he was as a boy,
Speaker 1: and so I want to read to you a little
Speaker 1: bit from the beginning. But in it, people would become
Speaker 1: alive again, people would have their voices heard, and so
Speaker 1: the ackroid family completely believes in spiritualism, which is a
Speaker 1: religion based on the survival of the afterlife and with
Speaker 1: that in their household. There were plenty of stories told
Speaker 1: of these seances and people becoming alive again, and this
Speaker 1: substance that was a vapor like substance that would exude
Speaker 1: from a medium's body and the deceased people could step
Speaker 1: into it with their etheric body and become real again,
Speaker 1: while the substance was called ectoplasm. So with that, young
Speaker 1: Dan had those seeds planted and ended up making the
Speaker 1: comedy Ghostbusters. Now. As hard as it is for people
Speaker 1: to get their mind on some of these things, the
Speaker 1: basics of mediumship that we know now, which is called
Speaker 1: evidential mediumship, all started because of this physical mediumship back
Speaker 1: in the day, back in the late eighteen hundreds. I
Speaker 1: believe it started maybe mid to late eighteen hundreds and
Speaker 1: into the nineteen hundreds. On one of the earlier episodes,
Speaker 1: I've got a clip of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle talking
Speaker 1: about what he experienced. We've also talked to physical medium
Speaker 1: Scott Milligan and although the clips I have for you
Speaker 1: as part of Shades of the Afterlife are on his
Speaker 1: trans mediumship, he is one of the top physical mediums
Speaker 1: in the world. Trans medium ship is when someone quiets
Speaker 1: their mind and allows someone from the spirit world to
Speaker 1: speak through them. And we witness that every Friday online
Speaker 1: and you're always welcome to join. You don't have to
Speaker 1: pay a penny. You can come and be my guest
Speaker 1: as good to we Don't Die dot com and look
Speaker 1: at the store. You'll find all the details there. I've
Speaker 1: witnessed physical mediumship myself probably two dozen times. I would
Speaker 1: say Scott Milligan is the main medium that I have
Speaker 1: sat with. Also Stuart Alexander, who's always says he's about
Speaker 1: to retire and never quite does. And another fellow I
Speaker 1: sat with a couple of times. His name is David Thompson.
Speaker 1: But Scott is the one that I know the most about.
Speaker 1: I've heard so many of his stories and they're really wonderful.
Speaker 1: And while I myself have not witnessed people with my
Speaker 1: eyes speaking from the afterlife, I have heard their voices,
Speaker 1: I have felt their touch, and there's no way somebody's
Speaker 1: going to convince me that there was trickery going on.
Speaker 1: So I know, a skeptical mind can say, oh, this
Speaker 1: is so hard to believe, and a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: I agree. When it seems to good to be true,
Speaker 1: it probably is so I know in this episode, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to convince you of anything, nor am I trying,
Speaker 1: But I want you to sit back, relax, and just
Speaker 1: enjoy some of these stories. So we're going to start
Speaker 1: out with Peter Ackroyd's book A History of Ghosts, The
Speaker 1: True Story of Seances, Medium's Ghosts, and Ghostbusters. We're going
Speaker 1: to start by the foreword by Dan Ackroyd. People often
Speaker 1: ask me how I came to write Ghostbusters. The truth
Speaker 1: is that in the early nineteen hundreds, my family was
Speaker 1: part of a worldwide cultural and social phenomena driven by
Speaker 1: a wish to make contact with spirits of the dead,
Speaker 1: whether the dead wanted it or not. My great grandfather,
Speaker 1: Samuel Augustus Ackroyd, presided over his home circle, and the
Speaker 1: sitters had their very own medium, Walter Ashurst, who may
Speaker 1: believed acted as a conduit to many and varied afterworld personalities.
Speaker 1: Whether one believes in this kind of thing or not,
Speaker 1: my family was then and is now not alone in
Speaker 1: such pursuits. Thousands of people in Western society regularly hold
Speaker 1: seances and support mediums. Around the beginning of the twentieth century,
Speaker 1: mediums and their subsequent investigators became big stars, and spiritualism
Speaker 1: took on a distinct show business aspect. Were they fakes hoaxes?
Speaker 1: Many to be sure, and some would say they were
Speaker 1: all tricks. But Baron Albert Vaughan shrink not sing. The
Speaker 1: German ectoplasm Hunter, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, writer of the
Speaker 1: Sherlock Holmes detective series, and Sir Oliver Lodge, eminent scientist
Speaker 1: and philosopher, were men who held the hope that someday
Speaker 1: natural science might rationally encompassed the supernatural as a proven fact. Levitations, apports, apparitions,
Speaker 1: limbs complete with hair, skin, and bones instantly growing out
Speaker 1: of living people, plasmic material molded into real tissue, impressions
Speaker 1: of faces and bodies. These were things seen by witnesses, skeptics,
Speaker 1: and believers alike. Were these mere spectacles achieved by artificial devices?
Speaker 1: Or some of them simply part of a reality that
Speaker 1: exists beyond our sensible understanding. Part of Ghostbusters appeal derives
Speaker 1: from the cold rational acceptance of the phantasmic as routine
Speaker 1: tone that Bill Murray, Harold Ramos, director Ivan Rittman, and
Speaker 1: I were able to sustain in the movie. This element
Speaker 1: originated from my great grandfather's interest in the subject and
Speaker 1: from the books he collected. He bequeathed these to his son,
Speaker 1: My grandfather Maurice, the Bell telephone engineer, who actually queried
Speaker 1: his colleagues about the possibility of constructing a high vibration
Speaker 1: crystal radio as a mechanical method for contacting the spirit world.
Speaker 1: His son, my father, as a child, witnessed seances and
Speaker 1: kept the family books on the subject. My brother Peter
Speaker 1: and I read them avidly and became lifelong supporters of
Speaker 1: the American Society for Psychical Research. And from all of
Speaker 1: this ghostbusters got made. My daughters are now up on
Speaker 1: the subject, and one of them, we have found, seems
Speaker 1: to affect photographs, glops of light and other shapes surround
Speaker 1: her when pictures are taken in and around the old
Speaker 1: family farmhouse. The children will have to make their own
Speaker 1: decisions about the verity and value of psychic studies. Their
Speaker 1: grandfather's book, A History of Ghosts will surely assist them.
Speaker 1: It is an objective, as any serious seeker of the
Speaker 1: truth about alleged paranormal activities could wish. Both believers and
Speaker 1: nonbelievers will first be highly entertained and then surprisingly enlightened
Speaker 1: by these stories of real empiricists chasing ghosts. And that's
Speaker 1: written by dan Ackroyd. Before I go into reading the
Speaker 1: next part, I just want to tell you something. These
Speaker 1: stories come from people that have been long dead, and
Speaker 1: it's very easy for us living in the two thousands
Speaker 1: to think, will it happened long ago? These things must
Speaker 1: be fake or didn't really happen. Here's the thing. The
Speaker 1: people that got involved in this were doctors, scientists, some
Speaker 1: of the smartest minds at the time, so there was
Speaker 1: a lot of investigation to make sure that all this
Speaker 1: is real. So let's take our break and then we'll
Speaker 1: be back. You're listening to Shades of the Afterlife on
Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio and Coast to Coast a m
Speaker 1: Paranormal podcast Network. Don't go anywhere. There's more Shades of
Speaker 1: the Afterlife coming right up. The art Bell Vault never
Speaker 1: disappoints classic audio at your fingertips. Go now to Coast
Speaker 1: to Coast a UM dot com for full details the
Speaker 1: best afterlife information you can get. Well your own Shades
Speaker 1: of the Afterlife with Sander Champlaine. Welcome to Shades of
Speaker 1: the Afterlife. I'm Sandra Champlain, and we are doing story
Speaker 1: time with Sandra. Our first is going to be from
Speaker 1: a History of Ghosts, The True story of Seances, Mediums,
Speaker 1: ghosts and Ghostbusters. Now, this first part is the prologue,
Speaker 1: written by Peter Ackroyd from what he remembered being young,
Speaker 1: May twelve nine, Sydenham, Ontario, Canada. Four cars, all black,
Speaker 1: all polished for their trip from town, rolled down the
Speaker 1: long lane to the farmhouse, the crunch of gravel beneath
Speaker 1: the tires momentarily silencing the birds. Dust settles on the
Speaker 1: gleaming finishes of the automobiles and they pull up beside
Speaker 1: the farmhouse, parking randomly on the grass. There are four
Speaker 1: men in three piece suits with well shined shoes. The
Speaker 1: women four of them as well, all in black with
Speaker 1: stylish hats. The faces are familiar. I have seen them
Speaker 1: before at church or in town. These people always have
Speaker 1: something friendly to say to me. But from here, in
Speaker 1: my hiding place, among the newly budding lilac bushes, they
Speaker 1: appear unapproachable. Their minds are on something else. I slipped unobserved,
Speaker 1: across the lawn to the back of the house and
Speaker 1: toward the outside cellar entrance. The cellar stairs are damp,
Speaker 1: and as I pull open one side of the heavy
Speaker 1: horizontal doors, I smell the rich, loamy scent of ripened apples.
Speaker 1: The rest of the family is puzzled by my motive entry,
Speaker 1: but I am quite content entering the house this way.
Speaker 1: It gives me access to the experiences I might otherwise
Speaker 1: miss at a young age. I am curious as they come.
Speaker 1: I crossed the cellar, which is dimly lit by the
Speaker 1: slanting sunlight. Entering through the outside door, I climb up
Speaker 1: the inside cellar stairs and kneel patiently on the top, waiting.
Speaker 1: The cellar door is open a crack. From here, I
Speaker 1: can see the kitchen in one direction, and in the other,
Speaker 1: the fireplace and the table in the parlor. I can
Speaker 1: hear the voice emanating from the radio. It is crisp
Speaker 1: and clear as it delivers the news. I lean forward.
Speaker 1: I can see the front door and the verandah. I
Speaker 1: shift my position to see if anyone has entered yet.
Speaker 1: But apparently the people in the driveway are enjoying the
Speaker 1: last rays of the spring sun, the scent of lilacs,
Speaker 1: and the sounds of bird song. My grandfather is sitting
Speaker 1: in his usual chair by the fireplace a tent. Upon
Speaker 1: hearing every last word the newscaster has to say on
Speaker 1: the radio, Grandpa grunts and snaps the radio dial, silencing it.
Speaker 1: People these days can't seem to tolerate one moment without entertainment,
Speaker 1: he mutters. Moving towards the square table in the center
Speaker 1: of the room, he adjusts the silk cloth in his center,
Speaker 1: says something to one of the young, ark haired men,
Speaker 1: and says, it is time, my dear. He turns and
Speaker 1: walks out the front door and stands on the veranda,
Speaker 1: his hands clasped loosely behind his back. The mantle clock
Speaker 1: is ticking. I can hear the young man soft rhythmic
Speaker 1: breathing as the grown up scent of cigarettes drifts towards me.
Speaker 1: The group with Grandpa bringing up the rear, enters the farmhouse.
Speaker 1: They are chatting quietly. Once in the parlor, they are
Speaker 1: greeted by Grandma, a plump, smiling lady. I see that
Speaker 1: she is also dressed in black, as if for a funeral.
Speaker 1: As the fresh breeze waffs through the house, it brings
Speaker 1: another scent to me, the distinct aroma of freshly baked
Speaker 1: bread and sure enough, through the crack of the door knob,
Speaker 1: I can see two pans of buns glistening, and the
Speaker 1: homemade butter warming at the back of the wood stove.
Speaker 1: My mouth begins to water, but my attention is drawn
Speaker 1: away from my already full stomach. Grandpa has invited the
Speaker 1: guests to be seated, and I must alter my position
Speaker 1: for a better view. I sense that it is important
Speaker 1: for me to see, but remain unseen, for I am
Speaker 1: supposed to be in my bedroom preparing for bed. The
Speaker 1: unlit coil lamp stands on the sideboard, waiting to do
Speaker 1: its part. When dusk turns to dark, I wedge myself
Speaker 1: carefully between the wall and the inside of the cellar door,
Speaker 1: sliding silently to a seated position. Comfort will be crucial.
Speaker 1: It will be a long night. The drapes are drawn,
Speaker 1: but there is still a faint light in the room.
Speaker 1: As the guests file into the parlor, they nod significantly
Speaker 1: to the seated man and take their places, leaving vacant
Speaker 1: the chairs on either side of the young man. Once
Speaker 1: the guests are seated, Grandma takes to the chair to
Speaker 1: the young man's left. Grandpa follows and occupies the last
Speaker 1: chair to the young man's right. For the first time
Speaker 1: I noticed that the young man is dressed differently from
Speaker 1: the others. His attire is far more casual, an open
Speaker 1: collar workshirt and a cardigan. Grandpa begins to speak. Please
Speaker 1: hold hands around the table, try to think positive thoughts.
Speaker 1: Pray silently if you wish. The young man stubs out
Speaker 1: his cigarette. He leans back, closes his eyes, and slips
Speaker 1: into a trance, and the deafening pin drop silence. It
Speaker 1: is as if some curtain is about to rise. But
Speaker 1: the show is an unusual one. These guests have not
Speaker 1: traveled from town to see a play or concert. This
Speaker 1: is a meeting of dr Ackroyd's circle. A seance is
Speaker 1: about to begin, and the people present are here to
Speaker 1: engage in an unusual form of communication. They have come
Speaker 1: from town to talk to the dead. Just as we're
Speaker 1: at the edge of our seat, Peter Ackroyd starts chapter one.
Speaker 1: It's called Ghosts set Home the Home Circle. I'll just
Speaker 1: read a couple of pages. The sights and sounds of
Speaker 1: that afternoon scene came tumbling back to me one mild
Speaker 1: winter afternoon. More than fifty years later, my sister Judy
Speaker 1: and I had taken on the task of clearing out
Speaker 1: the family home in Toronto, the place where my grandfather,
Speaker 1: Samuel Ackroyd DDS had spent the last days of his life.
Speaker 1: The house at nine Garfield Avenue had been sold, and
Speaker 1: Judy and I had taken a weekend out of our
Speaker 1: own busy schedules to decide who would get what, what
Speaker 1: would go to auction, and what would be donated to
Speaker 1: the Salvation Army. The rest would go to the dump.
Speaker 1: We had kept the dark basement for the last Several
Speaker 1: items that were seen as childhood treasures had been located upstairs,
Speaker 1: memorabilia and photos, ancient jewelry, original artworks, and a few
Speaker 1: rare books. We were not terribly excited about what could
Speaker 1: possibly be lurking in the dark wasteland below stairs. With
Speaker 1: the last drops of a Manhattan made from bonded stock
Speaker 1: rye warming our insides, we had already made several trips
Speaker 1: up and down the stairs. Next to the furnace. In
Speaker 1: a corner of what was once the coal storage bin,
Speaker 1: we came upon our last load. Most of what we
Speaker 1: found was destined for the landfill. Old suitcases with jagged
Speaker 1: zippers and broken handles, that proved they had been to
Speaker 1: more places than most people. Empty cardboard boxes, a stained
Speaker 1: mattress from a twin bed, and in the back against
Speaker 1: a wall, an old blue metal trunk with a dedication
Speaker 1: of two people who felt duty bound to thoroughly examine
Speaker 1: everything in their care. Judy and I pride open the
Speaker 1: rusted metal clasp with a screwdriver. We had expected to
Speaker 1: find either junk or emptiness. Instead we found history. Inside
Speaker 1: were a photo album of black and white prints attached
Speaker 1: with triangular corner mounts, and yellowed newspapers from decades back,
Speaker 1: saved for articles Germaine to the family. There was a
Speaker 1: scrap book of recipes and our father's sheepskin from Queen's
Speaker 1: University Applied Science nineteen thirteen, and a bundle of notebooks
Speaker 1: of the type that children used in school. They were
Speaker 1: bound together with kitchen twine. We untied the bundle and
Speaker 1: began to read page after page of penciled handwriting. With
Speaker 1: no anticipation of doing so. We had come across Grandpa's journals,
Speaker 1: eighty three of them to be precise written in his
Speaker 1: own hand, from nineteen o five through nineteen thirty one,
Speaker 1: containing thoughts, observations, and conjectures that he clearly had hoped
Speaker 1: might some day be shared with others with in the
Speaker 1: now fragile pages were handwritten copies of letters to his
Speaker 1: family and friends and to the editors of local newspapers.
Speaker 1: The majority of the words he recorded are actual accounts
Speaker 1: of seances, most of which took place in the small
Speaker 1: farmhouse on the north shore of Lowborough Lake, near the
Speaker 1: village of Sydenham, Ontario. Other passages are his musings over
Speaker 1: what it's all about. The notes and letters aid my
Speaker 1: remembrances of the elderly gentleman who lived in that farmhouse
Speaker 1: where I spent many gloriously happy days and nights. In
Speaker 1: my mind's eye, I can still see him in his
Speaker 1: faded blue shirt and baggy tweed pants, sitting on the
Speaker 1: bank of the lake, with his feet just over the
Speaker 1: edge of the dock, jotting his thoughts into a child's
Speaker 1: notebook with his Dixon H B pencil. My grandfather created
Speaker 1: in me a lifetime interest in the parent normal, an
Speaker 1: interest that has proved to be enormously engaging in fun.
Speaker 1: I have passed it on to my son's Dan and Peter,
Speaker 1: and it also resulted in a television series and movies
Speaker 1: which have been most fun of all. In the year
Speaker 1: of Ghostbusters release, it became the most successful comedy in
Speaker 1: film history to date. It has been seen by over
Speaker 1: a billion people, and it was absolutely and directly derived
Speaker 1: from the Blue Trunk. I hope Grandpa knows what fun
Speaker 1: he started. Everything I've read to you thus far is
Speaker 1: only in the first fourteen pages of the book, so
Speaker 1: there's a lot more. But what I want to do
Speaker 1: in our next segment together is I want to give
Speaker 1: you some really juicy stories from the Alec Harris book.
Speaker 1: But before I do, and before I leave you. In
Speaker 1: the book A History of Ghosts by Peter Ackroyd, he
Speaker 1: talks about home circles. He talks about the history of
Speaker 1: mediumship and all of these fascinating pioneers, how it started,
Speaker 1: what it is more about ectoplasm, all the doctors and
Speaker 1: the scientists involved, and even what happened within the home
Speaker 1: circle of the grandfathers. In fact, it is said that
Speaker 1: between nine and nineteen thirty three, in the doctor Ackroid's notebooks,
Speaker 1: there were no fewer than eighty seances held. You'll also
Speaker 1: be happy to know that the young Peter Ackroyd was
Speaker 1: able to go into the seance room on one night.
Speaker 1: Peeking in, he hit a broom that fell and created
Speaker 1: a whole bunch of noise. The medium was entranced, and
Speaker 1: a very bemused voice called out in a Bella Legosi
Speaker 1: style eerieness, would the young gentleman in the cellar way
Speaker 1: care to join this circle? And so have to report
Speaker 1: he did so. When we come back, we're gonna hear
Speaker 1: about another circle of Alec Harris. You're listening to Shades
Speaker 1: of the Afterlife on the I Heart Radio and Coast
Speaker 1: to Coast, a paranormal podcast Network. Don't go anywhere. There's
Speaker 1: more Shades of the Afterlife coming right up. Hey, it's
Speaker 1: the Wizard of Weird Joshua Pee Warren. Don't forget to
Speaker 1: check out my show Strange Things each week as I
Speaker 1: bring you the world of the truly amazing and bizarre
Speaker 1: right here on the I Heart Radio and Coast to Coast,
Speaker 1: a m paranormal podcast network, and now more Sandra on
Speaker 1: the Your Heart Radio on Coast to Coast Damn Paranormal
Speaker 1: podcast Network. Welcome back to Shades of the Afterlife I'm
Speaker 1: Sander Champlain and we're going to move on to another book.
Speaker 1: This one's called Alec Harris The Full Story of his
Speaker 1: remarkable physical Mediumship by his wife Louie Harris. It's a
Speaker 1: story about how a young man skeptical of all things psychic,
Speaker 1: became one of the world's most brilliant materialization mediums. Alec
Speaker 1: and Louie Harris were married for forty six years, and
Speaker 1: forty of those years until his passing in four they
Speaker 1: were devoted to bringing hope, comfort and enlightenment to countless people.
Speaker 1: In the book, Louie tells of her husband's development of
Speaker 1: trance direct voice healing and after six years of work
Speaker 1: with their spirit team of people solidly materializing in red light.
Speaker 1: Included in the book are wonderful accounts of families reuniting
Speaker 1: across the fale of death and old friends coming back
Speaker 1: in to talk with each other in many languages that
Speaker 1: were unknown to Alec. I also want to just paint
Speaker 1: the picture of what one of these home circles looks like.
Speaker 1: It's inside a room with lots of curtains or drapes
Speaker 1: around the windows so that no light shines in typically
Speaker 1: held at nighttime. The medium, who is Alec Harris in
Speaker 1: this case, is in a corner of a room and
Speaker 1: there is a black curtain in front of him, so
Speaker 1: they call that a cabinet so the energy can build
Speaker 1: up for the spirit world to use alex energy to
Speaker 1: produce things. When the medium sits for physical mediumship, their
Speaker 1: eyes are closed and they're pretty much knocked out. They
Speaker 1: are in a trance like state. They most likely have
Speaker 1: no idea of what is going on because the spirit
Speaker 1: people are blending with their energies and using them. The
Speaker 1: first story I'm going to share in our story time
Speaker 1: here begins in chapter six. Now, the first part of
Speaker 1: the book was talking about Louie Harris, her beliefs, her interests,
Speaker 1: falling in love with her husband, how her brother Ted
Speaker 1: became a spiritualist. He became a medium, and that was
Speaker 1: really frowned on in the family because you know, people
Speaker 1: thought mediums in the afterlife was crazy. But after two
Speaker 1: years of him being a medium and his sister doing
Speaker 1: some work to start attending the things he was attending,
Speaker 1: she herself got wrapped up in spiritualism. She would tell
Speaker 1: white lies to her husband Alec, that she was going
Speaker 1: to these meetings, and one day he wanted to attend
Speaker 1: a meeting and a long story short, he became one
Speaker 1: of these mediums. Now where we're going to go. His
Speaker 1: first story is he is a trance medium, so he
Speaker 1: knows the spirit world is working through him and talking
Speaker 1: through him, but the physical manifestations hadn't taken place yet.
Speaker 1: This is one of the first times where the spirit
Speaker 1: world actually does some physical things to him. On Christmas night,
Speaker 1: Phillis and I suggested to Alec that we should have
Speaker 1: a circle, thinking it would be nice to exchange greetings
Speaker 1: with many of our friends in the spirit world. To
Speaker 1: our surprise, Alec readily agreed. He usually had to be
Speaker 1: coaxed to give any extra circles. Being an unwilling convert
Speaker 1: to spiritualism, he was never very keen on spending long
Speaker 1: periods in trance. Before he could change his mind, we
Speaker 1: quickly hung a curtain across the room to form a cabinet.
Speaker 1: Alec was placed inside, and at his request, we tied
Speaker 1: his hands and feet. My mother had already gone to bed.
Speaker 1: The fire was very low, and we screened its glow
Speaker 1: as best we could. In our haste, we had not
Speaker 1: darkened the windows completely, and being a moonlight night, the
Speaker 1: soft beams filtered into the room, so that we were
Speaker 1: able to see much better than usual. No sooner had
Speaker 1: Alec lapsed into trance than I. Wonga said, We're going
Speaker 1: to try and experiment tonight. Please tie string around each
Speaker 1: of the knots in the cord binding the medium, make
Speaker 1: them extra secure. We ask you to do this so
Speaker 1: that the medium, when he wakes, will have no doubts
Speaker 1: what had taken place was indeed the work of spirit
Speaker 1: and no one else. It will be a feat that
Speaker 1: no human entity could perform. Then, with a note of
Speaker 1: amusement in his voice, he added, also have your long
Speaker 1: coat ready. Please secure the knots. Now Puzzled, we set
Speaker 1: to work on the cord, making a very good job
Speaker 1: of it. This done, Phillis and I took our places
Speaker 1: and began to sing carols. I forgot to mention singing
Speaker 1: builds energy for manifestations to occur. This done, Phillis and
Speaker 1: I took our places and began to sing carols. After
Speaker 1: a moment, Yokum joined us with his beautiful, deep musical voice.
Speaker 1: Then the spirit children added their voices in beautiful harmony.
Speaker 1: Then two voices could be heard singing together. We had
Speaker 1: a lovely Christmas party. Yoakum and the children entertained us
Speaker 1: throughout the evening, making amusing remarks to keep us in
Speaker 1: fits of laughter. The moon later became very bright by
Speaker 1: its lights. The trumpets were clearly visible in their entirety,
Speaker 1: not just the luminous areas painted around the edges. The
Speaker 1: curtains forming the cabinet did not quite reach to the floor.
Speaker 1: I saw beneath them a white, ami transparent substance billowing
Speaker 1: along the floor. My stomach constricted with excitement as I
Speaker 1: realized that a materialization was probably forming. Phyllis was very still.
Speaker 1: She had also seen this substance, and we waited expectantly
Speaker 1: for developments. After a while, two spirit arms projected from
Speaker 1: the cabinet, holding a shoe in each hand. One shoe
Speaker 1: was placed on my lap and the other on Phyllis's next.
Speaker 1: Alex belt and jumper were laid alongside the shoes. As
Speaker 1: this was taking place, I again experienced a feeling of
Speaker 1: extreme cold. My body temperature dropped to the point where
Speaker 1: I was shivering. Then a deep, droning hum could be
Speaker 1: heard from the cabinet, and Adula announced himself he was
Speaker 1: producing the same powerful resonant vibration that he emitted at
Speaker 1: the healing circles, and I felt much relieved. Suddenly we
Speaker 1: heard Alec, whom we had bound with cords, rise from
Speaker 1: his chair. The curtains parted, and he stepped out of
Speaker 1: the cabinet to be greeted by our shocked exclamations. He
Speaker 1: was now also minus his trousers. I promptly jumped up
Speaker 1: and protectively draped my winter coat around him, as it
Speaker 1: was cold in the room now and the fire was
Speaker 1: only an ember's. He came out of trance, and glancing
Speaker 1: down at his state of undress, no trousers, belt, shoes,
Speaker 1: or jersey, he wrinkled his brow in puzzlement and exclaimed,
Speaker 1: what's going on here? What happened? We quickly switched on
Speaker 1: the light and drew aside the cabinet curtains. Phyllis, Alec
Speaker 1: and I stood in shocked silence, unable to believe our eyes.
Speaker 1: They're sitting in the chair, just as if Alec's body
Speaker 1: was still inside them, with the ropes still securely binding them.
Speaker 1: Were his trousers impossible? Alex said, He glan ups down
Speaker 1: at his lower torso to confirm that he really was
Speaker 1: without his trousers. It's amazing, he added, I can't understand it.
Speaker 1: So this shows the spirit world definitely have a sense
Speaker 1: of humor. I'm going to fast forward in the book
Speaker 1: a couple of years, and this is in ninety two,
Speaker 1: after Alec started having materializations of people stepping into the
Speaker 1: ectoplasm and in the room with the people with the
Speaker 1: red light on, here we go in. We were still
Speaker 1: giving voice circles at our Spiritualist church. On a Friday
Speaker 1: one night, I felt the presence of a young soldier
Speaker 1: who was trying very hard to communicate but having no success.
Speaker 1: I sensed his bitter disappointment at this failure. When the
Speaker 1: circle ended, I was drawn to a woman who looked
Speaker 1: very strained. I felt like she was on the edge
Speaker 1: of a breakdown. I approached her, asking if she would
Speaker 1: like to come to our circle on Sunday. At this point,
Speaker 1: the presence of the young soldier came very close, and
Speaker 1: I knew that he had come for her. On the night,
Speaker 1: the lady presented herself, I placed her in the front row.
Speaker 1: We always sat in two rows close to the cabinet.
Speaker 1: Shortly after we began, a young lad stepped from the cabinet.
Speaker 1: He held out his arms to the woman crying and said, Mum,
Speaker 1: it's dairy. She gave an anguished cry, jumped from her
Speaker 1: seat and went to the boy. He put his arms
Speaker 1: around her. The mother broke down and wept in her
Speaker 1: dead son's arms, releasing much of her tensions over the
Speaker 1: past months. The boy gently comforted his mother, saying he
Speaker 1: was always with her. Then he changed the subject and
Speaker 1: quite unexpectedly, said, Mum, I want you to be quite
Speaker 1: sure that this is really me. Look, I've still got it. See.
Speaker 1: He took her hand and placed it on his chest.
Speaker 1: Can you feel it, mum? He asked. He had had
Speaker 1: a deformed breastbone, which his family had laughingly called his
Speaker 1: chicken bone. To give his mother positive proof of his identity,
Speaker 1: he materialized his deformity to convince her. There was not
Speaker 1: a dry eye among us as we witnessed this beautiful
Speaker 1: and touching reunion of a lonely grieving mother with her
Speaker 1: dead son. I have another short story here, okay. This
Speaker 1: is a story of a gentleman who was at one
Speaker 1: of these seances. There appeared to be what seemed to
Speaker 1: be a white rod, which thrust itself along the floor
Speaker 1: from under the cabinet curtains. It moved as if it
Speaker 1: were alive. The end began to enlarge into a ball,
Speaker 1: until there was a mass of moving, pulsating ectoplasm about
Speaker 1: the size of a large stone. It became elongated vertically
Speaker 1: until it was the height of a human being. Gradually,
Speaker 1: as if it was being sculptured, there appeared a face,
Speaker 1: and then ahead, Soon the form was completely human, clothed
Speaker 1: in ectoplasmic draperies. The materialized spirit began to walk around
Speaker 1: the room and was able to speak to us. As
Speaker 1: the power waned, we saw the spirit dissolve and collapse
Speaker 1: into an empty space. Then occurred the most wonderful and
Speaker 1: beautiful manifestation of the entire seance. A charming Spanish girl
Speaker 1: gracefully glided through the curtains and enthralled us with a
Speaker 1: dancing display. It was fascinating to watch her elegant movements.
Speaker 1: As she turned quickly on her toes, the hem of
Speaker 1: her billowing white dress flicked on my cheek. It felt
Speaker 1: as soft as gossamer. Now we have to go into
Speaker 1: our last break, but you better believe me that I
Speaker 1: am most definitely going to tell you some more story
Speaker 1: when we get back all right, you're listening to Shades
Speaker 1: of the Afterlife on the I Heart Radio and Coast
Speaker 1: to Coast AM Paranormal Podcast Network. The Coast to Coast
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Speaker 1: we need your music. Hey, it's producer Tom at Coast
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Speaker 1: your recording. That's Coast to Coast am dot com. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to Shades of the Afterlife. I'm Sandra Champlain and
Speaker 1: we are having story time with Sandra. Currently, I'm reading
Speaker 1: some things from the book Alec Harris, the full story
Speaker 1: of his remarkable physical mediumship, probably my top favorite book
Speaker 1: on physical mediumship. I read it cover to cover many times,
Speaker 1: and so I'm just reading some snippets out of it
Speaker 1: today for you. So let me see where we should
Speaker 1: go on this particular occasion. All this is nineteen fifty five.
Speaker 1: Louis and Alec Harris go to visit some friends in
Speaker 1: the Isle of Man, and she writes it was April,
Speaker 1: in a delightful time of year to be in the
Speaker 1: Isle of Man. Our reunion with Sally and John had
Speaker 1: been a happy one. John informed us that a certain
Speaker 1: medical man of international repute and one with extraordinary powers
Speaker 1: of his own, had expressed a wish to meet us.
Speaker 1: He wanted to witness spirit materialization through alex mediumship, of
Speaker 1: which he had heard excellent reports. His name is Dr.
Speaker 1: Sir Alexander Cannon, said John. He is a great friend
Speaker 1: of mine. He is the author of several most fascinating books.
Speaker 1: I'd like you both to me eat him, and perhaps
Speaker 1: you will give him a sitting. Sir Alexander said, he
Speaker 1: had long waited to sit with Alec, and so we
Speaker 1: formed a circle. It proved to be a very good circle.
Speaker 1: The highlight of the evening was the materialization of Mahatma Gandhi,
Speaker 1: who came especially for Sir Alexander. The little Indian holy
Speaker 1: man was exactly as he had been on earth. He
Speaker 1: was painfully thin, almost emaciated through many long fasts. Gandhi
Speaker 1: wore his customary loincloth and the well remembered steel rimmed spectacles.
Speaker 1: He conversed at length with Sir Alexander in Hindu standing,
Speaker 1: a language familiar to the doctor but certainly not to Alec.
Speaker 1: Our eminent sitter was very impressed with the manifestation, particularly
Speaker 1: at the accuracy of detail of the materialized form and
Speaker 1: the timbre of his voice. Sir Alexander knew mahat Gandhi
Speaker 1: extremely well, Gandhi's conversing in his vernacular tongue was even
Speaker 1: more convincing evidence as far as he was concerned. But
Speaker 1: the doctor was to have further indisputable evidence. Two Tibetan
Speaker 1: monks materialized. They conversed with him in a little known
Speaker 1: Tibetan tongue. Sir Alexander was one of the few white
Speaker 1: people in the world who could understand this Tibetan language.
Speaker 1: He was highly satisfied with what he had seen and
Speaker 1: what he had heard. A London Sunday newspaper was investigating
Speaker 1: the subject of spiritualism. Some disbeliever had written in that
Speaker 1: newspaper that the whole concept of life after death and
Speaker 1: the return to Earth of spirits was a lot of rubbish.
Speaker 1: He had stated categorically that no one ever came back
Speaker 1: from the dead. In other words, once you were dead,
Speaker 1: you stayed dead. Dick was incensed at the bleak picture
Speaker 1: portrayed by this writer. Mediumship in general had been openly discredited,
Speaker 1: and he felt that alex work had been denigrated. He
Speaker 1: promptly took up his pen and wrote to the newspaper
Speaker 1: vehemently defending spiritualism, which he avowed had proved that life
Speaker 1: definitely continued after death. He proceeded to give an account
Speaker 1: of his many experiences in the Alec Harris seance room.
Speaker 1: His letter in the Sunday edition painted so realistic a
Speaker 1: picture of literally hundreds of occasions when he had shaken
Speaker 1: hands with spirit entities who appeared as if in the flesh,
Speaker 1: and of how he had intelligent conversations with them, that
Speaker 1: it immediately brought two reporters to his door at breakfast
Speaker 1: time the next morning. They wished to investigate this remarkable
Speaker 1: circle on behalf of their paper, and asked if they
Speaker 1: might be included in a sitting. Poor Dick was now
Speaker 1: on a quandary on joining our circle. He had given
Speaker 1: an undertaking not to broadcast what took place in our
Speaker 1: seances for fear of unpleasant repercussions from possible belligerent disbelievers
Speaker 1: or over enthusiastic investigators. Now you've put me in a fix,
Speaker 1: he said, This will probably get me thrown out of
Speaker 1: the circle. That's the last thing I want. When they
Speaker 1: showed no sign of retreating, he decided that he had
Speaker 1: better bring them down to me. After meeting them, I
Speaker 1: consulted with Alec, who gave consideration and a searching appraisal
Speaker 1: of the gentleman gave his approval to these two strangers
Speaker 1: being included among the sitters at the next circle the
Speaker 1: next evening. I told them it would be our private
Speaker 1: circle and urged them to refrain from taking any alcohol.
Speaker 1: I received a firm promise that they would comply with
Speaker 1: this request. I silently prayed that it would be as
Speaker 1: satisfactory circle. One can never guarantee how a circle will
Speaker 1: turn out. We are entirely in the hands of those
Speaker 1: on the other side. Fortunately, it was a good seance.
Speaker 1: My mother came fully materialized and was recognized by the
Speaker 1: two reporters who had seen her photograph before going into
Speaker 1: the sanctuary. When Kitty, our saucy little child spirit showed
Speaker 1: herself with two braids hanging down either side of her face,
Speaker 1: one of the gentlemen remarked, you're a pretty girl. How
Speaker 1: old are you, to which she pertly replied, it's very
Speaker 1: rude to ask a lady her age, which raised a
Speaker 1: laugh all around. Alec Dick and I breathed a sigh
Speaker 1: of relief when a good report of our circle appeared
Speaker 1: in the next Sunday's edition of the paper. Dick, however,
Speaker 1: vowed that he would be more careful in the future
Speaker 1: how he defended spiritualism. Now, this is a short story
Speaker 1: from March nine fifty seven, when Alec and Louis went
Speaker 1: to South Africa. About four weeks after our arrived Full Durban,
Speaker 1: I suddenly had a depressed feeling about our cat Bobby.
Speaker 1: I told Alec that I was sure that there was
Speaker 1: something very wrong with him. I kept seeing his dear
Speaker 1: little face rise up before me, and I became very
Speaker 1: anxious about his well being. No amount of soothing on
Speaker 1: Alex's part made me feel any better. The next Tuesday,
Speaker 1: when we had our circle, Phillis touched my arms, saying,
Speaker 1: lou I can see a Persian cat walking around the room.
Speaker 1: Phyllis herself was very psychic. Just then, the scientist Guide
Speaker 1: emerged from the cabinet, carrying something under his robe. He
Speaker 1: came right up to me, and as he turned I
Speaker 1: saw a bushy tail protruding from under the arm of
Speaker 1: his robe. A sudden fear clutched at my heart, and
Speaker 1: I asked, is that a cat you have there? Sir?
Speaker 1: He did not answer, but returned with the bundle to
Speaker 1: the cabinet. Six days later, we had a letter from
Speaker 1: Auntie Thomas saying that dear Bobby had passed away. In
Speaker 1: spite of all the loving care that had been given
Speaker 1: to him. He apparently pined for us and died of
Speaker 1: a broken heart on that very Tuesday that the scientist
Speaker 1: had brought him to the circle. When I asked that
Speaker 1: spirit at the next circle if it was indeed my
Speaker 1: cat Bobby he had brought with him, he replied who
Speaker 1: else he wanted to come see his mother? I suffered
Speaker 1: terrible pains of guilt at having forsaken him, for he
Speaker 1: was just like a baby to me, giving me so
Speaker 1: much love. But once he went to spirit, I always
Speaker 1: felt him close to me. There were many instances of
Speaker 1: animal materialization and our seances. My niece's cat was once
Speaker 1: placed on her lap and she was able to stroke
Speaker 1: its soft fur. While a doctor's wife pet Siamese cat
Speaker 1: ming materialized, giving the characteristic horse Siamese cry, and then
Speaker 1: proceeded to brush itself against her legs and clod at
Speaker 1: her shoe. After the seance, the claw marks were still
Speaker 1: visible on the suede material of the shoe. Our dog
Speaker 1: materialized to us in South Africa. He came wagging his tail,
Speaker 1: barked and licked my hand, at which a spirit voice
Speaker 1: from somewhere above the cabinet warrant do not touch the dog,
Speaker 1: to which I replied, I did not touch him. He
Speaker 1: touched me. Then I saw the little body become transparent
Speaker 1: and the animal slowly dematerialized. The other sitters in the
Speaker 1: room were fascinated by this unusual manifestation. Alec Harris worked
Speaker 1: for forty years as a physical medium, and over the
Speaker 1: course of these many years, thousands of loved ones would
Speaker 1: re materialize, walk out of the cabinet and actually be seen,
Speaker 1: and their loved ones could hear them to me the story,
Speaker 1: These are so precious of these reunions. How can you
Speaker 1: not believe? But living in two as I record this,
Speaker 1: it's really hard to believe. We're trained to be skeptical,
Speaker 1: which is probably a good thing. And in truth, physical
Speaker 1: mediumship was very, very big back in the day, but
Speaker 1: the Charlatans and the con artists got involved and started
Speaker 1: charging huge sums of money saying that they could bring
Speaker 1: through people's loved ones, and of course with the wars
Speaker 1: going on, people paid the money hoping to connect these
Speaker 1: mediums like Alec Harris only charged a very very small
Speaker 1: fee just so he and Louis could live their life,
Speaker 1: you know, pay the bills for me. The physical medium
Speaker 1: that I'm closest to is Scott Milligan, and for the
Speaker 1: past couple of years the virus has shut down everything.
Speaker 1: But just prior to we were doing live events and
Speaker 1: held some seances. And although they happened in the dark,
Speaker 1: with the occasional red light going on, I didn't see people,
Speaker 1: but like I said at the beginning, I felt them,
Speaker 1: and I could hear them, and I could hear them
Speaker 1: speaking to their loved ones. Nothing I can convince you of,
Speaker 1: nor would I try. In this episode, I didn't get
Speaker 1: an opportunity to get into On the Edge of the
Speaker 1: Etheric by Arthur Finlay, but it's definitely a good read,
Speaker 1: and he talks about his medium, Mr John Sloan. I've
Speaker 1: done several live Q and A sessions with Scott Milligan
Speaker 1: and he has some amazing stories of physical mediumship. My
Speaker 1: favorite is when a young woman came out of the cabinet,
Speaker 1: introduced herself to him as his older sister Emma, and
Speaker 1: upon returning to his home, he asked his mom if
Speaker 1: she had had a child before, and sure enough there
Speaker 1: was a baby earl named Emma. I have so much
Speaker 1: more to tell you, but we don't have any time
Speaker 1: until the next episode. And if this episode has made
Speaker 1: a difference for you, let me know, will you. My
Speaker 1: email is Sandra Champlaine at gmail dot com and come
Speaker 1: join us on one of our free events that we
Speaker 1: Don't Die dot com. So in closing, my name is
Speaker 1: Sander Champlain. I'm always so happy to be your host.
Speaker 1: You've been listening to Shades of the Afterlife on the
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Coast to Coast, a M paranormal
Speaker 1: podcast network, and if you like this episode of Shades
Speaker 1: of the Afterlife, wait until you hear the next one.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to the I Heart Radio and
Speaker 1: Coast to Coast, a M paranormal podcast network.