'A' - ECTOPLASM EMANATING FROM THE MEDIUM
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Taken in December 1948, in complete darkness, with a Kodak Infra-red plate.

My mother is in deep trance sitting on a chair in the corner of the room, which, with the black curtain seen in Photo 'B' formed the very simple cabinet which assisted the 'building process' of the materialised Spirit people. The Ectoplasm is emanating from her mouth and in this form it is quite transparent, very similar in appearance and texture to chiffon.

I must admit that when my mother first saw this photograph she was rather taken aback and somewhat queasy to think that this was happening to her whilst she was 'asleep'. But it did not deter her from sitting for many years to come - thus giving so much joy and pleasure to so many people, both here and in the Spirit World.

This photograph in particular clearly illustrates how much the Medium places herself in the hands of the sitters and the paramount need for protection at such times. This I cannot stress too often.

'B' - FULLY MATERIALISED ECTOPLASMIC SPIRIT PERSON
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Taken in February 1948, in a subdued red light with a 'superfast' film and exposure time of two minutes.

This is my Aunt Agg and as you can see, she stood perfectly still. The man to the left is my father, one of the sitters, and you can see from the double exposure that he actually moved during the two minutes. Also during the exposure time we heard my mother moving on her chair behind the curtain. Aunt Agg then told us during her five or six minutes stay afterwards, that Mam had been 'suspended' in the opposite corner of the room looking down at Aunt Agg and had been trying to reach her - hence the movement.

She added that after the Circle, Mam would probably recall this experience - and she did just that, during supper, when she suddenly said - "Oh, I saw our Agg tonight, standing here by the fireplace" - pointing to the exact place.

"I was up there in that corner" she added, without any prompting from us, and pointed to the opposite corner which Aunt Agg had indicated previously. "She looked just as she always was - it was lovely"! This had been a unique experience for my mother and she had obviously enjoyed it.

You will observe differences in the texture of the Ectoplasm e.g. the face, the upper part of the robe, and the lower part which is similar to Photograph 'A'. I usually moved across the room to greet our Spirit friends and can assure you that the hands and faces were exactly the same as human flesh - quite smooth and warm. All our visitors who shared this wonderful experience of embracing their loved ones always confirmed the naturalness of the Materialised Spirits nothing distasteful and certainly nothing to be afraid of.

'C' - MANIPULATION OF TRUMPET BY MEANS OF ECTOPLASMIC ROD
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Minnie Harrison ectoplasmic rod

This image shows how trumpet is operated by Spirit helpers using Ectoplasmic rod. Taken in complete darkness using Kodak infra-red plate. Taken in December 1948.

Taken in December 1948, in complete darkness with a Kodak Infra-red plate; same as Photo 'A'.

This shows the 'mechanics' of Trumpet Voice phenomena on a cantilever principle. The Ectoplasmic 'rod', so solid that you can clearly see the shadow behind it, emanates from the medium's mouth (as in 'A') and although the Spirit people make use of the medium's voice box whilst she is in deep trance, their voices are all quite different - as they were when here on the Earth.

The other end of the 'rod' is attached to the smaller end of the trumpet, thus enabling the Spirit people to move it around the room in mid-air. When they were speaking through the trumpet it was usually 'suspended', perfectly still, about five feet from the floor in the centre of the Circle - from which position we could normally hear their voices quite clearly. But when we had a visitor who was rather hard of hearing, the trumpet would be moved closer to that person. Another indication of the ever present awareness of our Spirit friends!

'D'- SOME OF THE APPORTS WE RECEIVED
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A few examples of the hundreds of Apports we received at our Saturday night sittings. In our early sittings they were usually found in the room after we closed - small flowers having been dropped on to our knees and larger flowers often found on the hearth. Later, when we had full Materialised Spirit people (as in photo 'B') the Apports were frequently handed to the recipient by the Materialised Spirits themselves.

These examples, together with some others, are still in my possession, and these are recent photographs taken specifically for this publication by Alan Harrison, one of my sons.

In the plastic envelopes are dried Roses and Carnations with three metallic items

(i) A Spiritualist Lyceum lapel badge with the picture of the founder Andrew Jackson Davis. This was brought by an old pioneer of the Middlesbrough Lyceum - Mr. Chas Roeder when he materialised at our Children's Party sitting on 3rd January 1948.

(ii) A Royal Artillery uniform button brought during our "Soldiers' Night" sitting on 8th November, 1947 which was the nearest Saturday to Armistice Day. We always paid our respects by holding such a sitting at this time each year, when the majority of our Spirit visitors were Servicemen from both World Wars.

On this particular night one of them was a youngster whom my father had befriended at Ypres - Billy Earle. My father felt so emotionally moved by his tragic death at the age of 17, he decided when I was born in 1918 to remember young Billy by adding William to the family name of Thomas - hence my name of Thomas William.

(iii) A damaged Queen Victoria penny dated 1864, 'apported' one Saturday evening from a box of old coins which I kept in a drawer at home, about half a mile away. I still have the box with all the other coins in it.

'E' - The TWO INDIAN-STYLE BELLS mentioned in the story of Our Christmas Party Sitting in January 1954
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Christmas Party Sitting in January 1954. The smaller one was ours with a broken prong. The larger one was the Apport, which was certainly not in the room when we started the sitting but was there when we finished.