Testimonials about Witnessing Loved Ones Materialize at Seances (with Photos)

book caption: "Aunt Agg, materialised, our second attempt at taking photographs in red light."  (exposure of two minutes)

This article presents testimonials from materialization seance participants.  These accounts are from the expanded second edition of the Spiritualism case study book Life After Death - Living Proof (2004; expanded 2008) by Tom Harrison.  The book is described as "A Lifetime's Experiences including The Definitive Record of the Remarkable Physical Mediumship of Minnie Harrison from the weekly diaries and recorded notes of her son Tom Harrison, Founder Manager of the Arthur Findlay College, Stansted Hall."  The documented phenomena includes "Physical Phenomena — Apports [materialized objects] — Trumpet and Direct Voice — Full Ectoplasmic Materializations."

Tom's mother was from a Spiritualist family and as a teenager recognized she was clairvoyant and clairaudient in relation to interaction with people representing the ascended realm of life.  Four of her brothers and sisters also developed to become 'deep-control trance mediums.'  She would remain unconscious when materialization phenomena would take place.  Tom's parents married in 1915 during World War I.  How tragic it is that the Divine Dispensations of Spiritualism and diverse forms of transcendental communication are widely unknown, overlooked or misunderstood by so many people in 2022 when national leaders are again showing a propensity for warfare potentially leading to cataclysm instead of opting to engage in spiritually conscious diplomacy.  Preceding articles at this blog seem to be dismissed by readers due to individual personal estimations of what constitutes an acceptable 'shared consensus reality' of Earth life today.  The articles include "UFOlogy and Seance Phenomena Correlations - Testimonials Mentioning Blue Light or Blue", "UFOS, Transcendental Communication and Expansion of Consciousness" and "Photo Evidence: Ignored Blessings of Our Relinquished Divine Status Quo".

 

The following testimonial from Chapter 1 is a transcript of a 1954 visitor to Tom's 'Home Circle,' Gwen Schlegl, who spoke on a BBC radio broadcast in December 2003. 

 

"I know without a shadow of doubt that there is life after death.  There is no question about it — such a comfort — I know my loved ones are waiting for me.  Before the sitting started I was terrified, but after it started, to my astonishment, into the room in a full red light came this little old lady.  She was absolutely fantastic.  She was jolly and friendly and full of fun.

 

She came to each of us in turn and shook our hands and welcomed us.  At that moment all my fears left me.  I saw her face clearly, very clearly.  She was in like a white shroud — the ectoplasm.  Her face was a human face, lovely smile, laughing eyes.  It was an old lady's hand I took hold of, warm, like meeting a living person.  I just wish everyone knew this."

 

"After the old lady had gone, my mother's sister Aunt Jane came.  She was amazing.  She had been dead a couple of years and this was her first time to materialise . . . she had been deaf and dumb but she was very excited tonight to be able to speak to her sister Phoebe by name.  She said it slowly like 'Pheeeee . . . . beeee.'  I remember that so vividly — it was the first time I had heard her speak.  It was all so amazing, in a red light.  Everything could be clearly seen.  I'll never forget it as long as I live.  I was there.  They hugged us.  We held hands.  It was amazing."

 

"I can fully understand people who think this is all crazy.  I would have done so, but now I have seen it and know otherwise."

 

Tom commented that "Gwen was also thrilled to be given an apported carnation to take home with her.  The 'little old lady' was Granny Lumsden, my wife's grandmother, one of our regular Spirit visitors . . ."

 

    

 a photo taken in red light of "Granny Lumsden materialised" in 1948 / the other was taken in 1930 prior to her transition to the 'Other Side.'  The seance photo was taken with a plate camera on an exposure of 90 seconds.

 

 

Another seance participant interviewed for the Christmas-themed 2003 BBC radio broadcast was retired electrical engineer Don McKenzie.  He was 19 in 1954 when he helped his father set up the recording equipment used during a January sitting and then stayed to experience his own first session of Tom's Home Circle with Tom's mother Minnie Rose (1895-1958) the medium. 

"I saw a materised form build up and come out of the cabinet.  I actually went across and shook hands with one of the regular Spirit people who came, because they build up quite strongly.  A wonderful experience — actual proof to me — I shook hands and talked to this old lady.  Quite firm.  An important thing in my life."

 

'Could it have been faked?' asked the Programme Producer.  "No way at all.  We were allowed to go into the room before it started and have a look round — an ordinary room in a domestic house.  There could be no other explanation, when you actually see the materialised form come out from the cabinet.  The medium was a plump tallish lady — and you see a slim Spirit form standing there erect to shake hands with you.  No way can that be faked."

 

In addition to all the other materialisation phenomena that night, Don also saw his brother Bruce materialise.  Bruce spoke with Don and his mother and father but was not strong enough to stand their touch.  Don also heard through the 'trumpet' [lightweight megaphone placed in the center of the Circle as each seance commenced], the voices of his mother's mother, Margaret Phoenix, and Margaret McKenzie, his father's grandmother who all spoke to him.  His father was very excited, because for the first time ever he had her typical Scottish accent on tape.

 

"We were very privileged to witness what the regular sitters saw every week.  To see, hear, touch and feel — an experience that remains with you for the rest of your life.  Even now 50 years later I still remember it."

 

The Home Circle team of this unusual weekly 'Saturday Night Club' formed in April 1946 and the first ectoplasmic materialization occurred eight months later.  The author commented about 'Granny Lumsden': "She was seldom seen without her large shawl draped around her shoulders (just like the ectoplasmic shawl seen in the photograph), running errands for the elderly and housebound."

 

Other Home Circle 'regular visitors from the Spirit World' included relatives of Circle members.  The two listed first in the book are:

 

'Sunrise' — whom Tom described as "my mother's main Spirit guardian and guide who had been with her all her life on earth . . . He was our Circle leader and doorkeeper in the Spirit World . . . His use of the English language at first was very limited, but he quickly learned and became a good communicator, especially through the trumpet . . ."

 

'Aunt Agg' — ". . . from the mind 1930s until her sudden passing in 1942 at the age of 57, [she] was a prominent medium [in London] . . . Like my mother, she was an unassuming and homely woman who always found time to help those in need; a kind person who would never speak ill of anyone, but strong enough to speak out when the need was there."  An account of one of her sittings is recorded in two books by Arthur Findlay (1, 2, 3, 4): Looking Back and On The Edge of the Etheric.  "Aunt Agg became a major link between the two worlds, materialising every week and generally being the last to come to close the sitting."

 

    
Aunt Agg materialization in comparison with a photo showing her in the garden at home, 1942

 

 

Tom recalled that during one seance 'Aunt Agg' explained (in simple words as would be to some degree comprehensible for them) how, as he wrote, "the ectoplasm was simply a material covering for the Spirit or Ethereal body, which takes up no space but can be used as a 'vehicle' for moving around."  Tom observed: "Our Spirit friends are not subject to the laws of physics or chemistry as set down on the earth plane.  It is a great pity that the scientists here cannot accept this proven Truth of Life after Death."  He also commented that the Spirit people couldn't explain the phenomena "due to our lack of the necessary explanatory vocabulary."

 

Tom observed about 'ectoplasm':
 

Ectoplasm is a tactile material which comes, originally, from the medium's body in a gaseous form, through one or more orifices like the nostrils, ears or as in my mother's case, the mouth, as clearly shown in the infra-red photographs we were privileged to take in December 1948.  It must then return to the medium's body at the end of the physical phenomena . . .

He mentioned how at times materialized figures would depart by disappearing into the floor "as though they were going through a trap door."

 

"Ectoplasm emanating from the medium's mouth.  (Infra-red)"
 

"The trumpet supported on an ectoplasmic rod.  (Infra-red)"

Similar photos of 'ectoplasmic arms' or 'rods' are featured in the book The Mediumship of Jack Webber (1940) as shown below.  (article)

Tom reported about a unique incident that occurred during the May 10, 1954 seance.

. . . my mother, being in a deep trance state, was completely unaware of the materialised Spirit visitors who were in the room — except during this particular sitting.  While Aunt Agg was in the room talking to us, we suddenly heard my mother shuffling behind the curtain.  Aunt Agg assured us that there was nothing to worry about and they would soon settle 'our Min.'  Her spirit had temporarily left her body and was actually looking down from the corner of the room, had seen her sister and was trying to get to her as she was standing in front of the curtain.  Within a minute the shuffling ceased and the sitting continued.

 

When we were having our cup of tea and sandwiches after the sitting had closed, Mam suddenly 'announced' that she remembered that she had been up in the corner of the room, and had seen 'our Agg' standing in the room so tried to get to her, but was unable to do so.  This confirmed what Aunt Agg had told us during the sitting, but it was the only time my mother ever 'saw' any of our Spirit visitors.  Hence our request later for photographs to help my mother understand what we were privileged to experience each week.

'Aunt Agg' had been the first materialized Spirit person for the Home Circle during Sitting 32 on December 7, 1946.  Tom described the event: ". . . we saw this white disc, about two feet diameter, on the floor between my mother and myself . . . as we chatted we saw this disc begin to build into a vertical white column, which grew to about five feet of solid ectoplasm! . . . The column remained still for a few minutes . . . the top of it twisted towards me and I could just see there was the semblance of a face in it . . . From the body of the column then there appeared two hands and arms covered by the ectoplasmic 'robes' of the person who was standing in front of me . . . I was being given four beautiful carnations, apports . . . my two hands were firmly clasped by the warm ectoplasmic hands in front of me.  I then heard, quietly but clearly, from the face above me, the words "For you, for you."  The hands and arms went back into the 'column' of ectoplasm and it then shrunk, slowly towards the floor, as the ectoplasm returned to my mother and we were all left exceedingly breathless after such a unique experience."

 

The Circle members later learned that their first visitor had been 'Aunt Agg.'  During the years that followed, it became customary at each weekly sitting for Granny Lumsden to be the first person to materialize and Aunt Agg the last.  Among the variety of flower apports that materialized during sittings, on one occasion "a spray of Michaelmas' Daisies" was placed on Tom's lap — a subtle reminder of what this blogger has found through researching the history of paranormal cases to be observable as 'The Michael Pattern' (incl. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).  Granny would take her leave after bidding the sitters her usual "See ya again, ta-ra then, ta-ra" (meaning 'farewell').  There is a subtle correlation with the Edgar Cayce channeled readings about 'Ra-Ta,' a metaphorical emissary and one whose contemporary incarnation is hoped not to also signify a 'farewell' with a civilization collapse during the 2020s.

 

A photograph in the book shows a display of objects materialized during sittings and descriptions of these mementos collected by Tom.  There are links between these 'apports' with occurrences in other Spiritualism and 'poltergeist' paranormal case chronologies.  (example articles: 1, 2) 

 
The apports shown are "Mr. Roeder's Lyceum badge, bearing the picture of Andrew Jackson Davis, handed to me by the materialised form of Mr. Roeder Sitting 89"; a "Canadian 5 cent piece"; "One of the four red carnations handed to me by 'Aunt Agg' during her first materialization"; a "Royal Artillery button apported on another of our Soldiers' nights"; "An old penny taken from my box at Lambeth Road and apported in the circle, 3 streets away" ("Identified by a sliver missing from the reverse" side / Sitting 14); "An orange feather brought by Aunt Agg, for Sunrise, to the circle's 1st anniversary sitting"; "A red silk poppy, brought during a sitting on our Remembrance Day"; and "Sprig of heather brought for 'Good Luck" ("Just one of the hundreds of our floral apports"). 

It was Aunt Agg's youngest son who took a photograph of the Home Circle 'Saturday Night Club' group and discovered an anomalous image on the unexposed portion of his film.

Tom Harrison wrote:

Imagine our surprise when it appeared to be an out of focus image of the group of the eight of us.  On closer examination we could see that it appeared to be a double exposure with the profile form of a man superimposed over Mr. Jones.  Terry was adamant that his camera could not take double exposures and anyway what was that wicker chair doing in front of the group; it was always over the other side of the fireplace where I sat in it for the circle sittings.  It seems the image was placed on the film by the Spirit people ['The God Force'] so that Uncle Jack could have his picture taken as well.

 
The image of 'Uncle Jack' correlates with the 'spirit extra' anomalous images in the authentic 'psychic photography' of such people as Ada Emma Deane, John Myers, William Hope, and William Mumler.  (1, 2) 

Among the "Letters from Guest Sitters" featured in chapter 20 of Life After Death - Living Proof is one from Bill Lennie from Middlesbrough.  He was a guest attendee along with his mother and sister for two sittings in May 1947. 

The reason we attended was because at a previous meeting there had been a request from one of the Spirits for my mother to attend . . . . what had previously been a stationary megaphone (the trumpet) suddenly began to whirl about and was the means of audio communication prior to the subsequent materialisation.

 

I remember vividly two events.  Firstly the appearance of Aunt Fanny who was the wife of Uncle Frank, the older brother of Uncle Sam (Sam Hildred).  Their son Billie Hildred was serving in the Royal Navy and was rumoured to be involved in various escapades.  When I mentioned this to Aunt Fanny she clearly replied, "I am watching him."  Secondly, was the experiment carried out by Dr. Brittain Jones.  Permission was asked and given for a piece to be cut from the ectoplasm for further examination.  I can remember the sound as a sharp intake of breath as the doctor made the cut, as any person would if suddenly pricked by a sharp instrument.

To witness the appearance in human form of souls who had departed this worldly life was almost unbelievable, had one not been present.  It was a sensational experience, yet the whole atmosphere was one of a cordial family gathering.  There was no sense of foreboding, just friendly exchanges.  It did demonstrate to me that there is the continuation of another form of life after mortal existence.  It did show, how, given the right conditions, that it is possible to establish contact and communicate with the Spirit World and there is nothing to fear from this experience.  To me this was truly wonderful.

During one sitting, a little girl in Spirit asked for a few 'jelly babies' candies to be put in a dish for the Spirit children the following week.  This was done and the dish was placed beside a notepad with only the date written at the top of the current page.  Tom reported:

The Spirit child came again to thank Ann for the jelly babies and said they hadn't been [able] to eat them all, which rather puzzled us at the time.  When the light was switched on at the end of the sitting however, there on the dish, which had had five jelly babies when we started, was only half a black one, which, from its appearance, looked as though it had been bitten through!

 

Also discovered was a Spirit message newly printed on the notepad which read: "We are with you always." 

 

The book includes an account by Roy Dixon Smith, a Lt. Colonel in the Indian Army who attended a seance as part of his research investigating Spiritualism.  Roy's wife Betty had died of a heart disease in 1944.  The first phase of the session consisted of 'Direct Voice' [disembodied voices] through a luminous-banded trumpet and one of the voices to come through was Betty.  Roy recalled: ". . . after prolonged and seemingly painful effort and a few exclamations to the effect that she couldn't do it, she managed to say, 'I am your Betty.'"

There was a phase of apports with large pink carnations materializing and dropping upon each sitter's lap, including Roy's.  Then the materializations phase of 'Spirit visitors' commenced and Roy described the two interludes that were unforgettable.

The guide then announced the coming of Betty and asked us to sing one of her favorite songs.  We sang "I'll Walk Beside You," in the middle of which a tall slim figure emerged from the curtain and stood silently in view.

I rose from my chair and walked up to the figure, taking the extended hand in mine.  I examined the hand, and it was just like Betty's and quite unlike the medium's.  I stared into the face, and recognized my wife.  We spoke to each other, though what we said I cannot remember, for I was deeply stirred and so was she and her voice was incoherent with emotion.

"Can he kiss you?" someone asked, and Betty murmured, "Yes."  I then kissed her on the lips, which were warm, soft, and natural.  Thereupon she bent her head and commenced to weep, and in a moment or two she sank.  I watched her form right down to the level [of] the floor at my feet where it dissolved, the last wisp of it being drawn within the cabinet.

After I had resumed my seat, there was a pause, perhaps to allow me to recover some of my lost composure; and then the circle guide another visitor for me, giving the name "John Fletcher," and saying that he was a clergyman who had been helping to inspire my book [New Light on Survival (1952)] . . .


A tall black-bearded figure then appeared, and when I reached him he gave my hand a very powerful hearty grip, expressed his delight at this meeting between us and my realization, at last, of his own reality, discussed the book with me, declared that the work was now complete, bade me a cordial farewell, and vanished in the usual manner.  If I once doubted the existence of guides, how can I do so now?

Also see: "Seance Materialization Phenomena (with Photos) — Ten Evidentiary Books", "These Dispensations Remain Unknown to Most People", "Emphatic Perspectives of Life from the Other Side" and "'We' and the Mediums of Oneness".