The Ectoplasmic Flying Saucer
One thing struck me about this particular seance. I did not have a personal contact during it, but was impressed by the remarkable difference between Harris and his guide, an Indian Brave. I was invited to stand and feel the materialised body of this guide, and was struck by the texture of the skin and the feel of muscle beneath the flesh.
At one point we were instructed to pull the curtains back — and could not see the body of the medium. A knock came upon the door of the room . . . and Alec Harris was outside! We let him in. Of course, the sceptic would find his absence from the cabinet good reason for doubt. They would probably say he had physically left the room by another way to re-enter through the door.
They would not take into account the circumstances of this ordinary house, which precluded any such action, or the integrity of this wonderful medium who did not need to stoop to trickery. For them, the sceptics, this fantastic power is not recognised.
There were many unexpected occurrences at seances conducted by Alec Harris, as his wife Louie reported in her biography Alec Harris: The Full Story of His Remarkable Physical Mediumship (2009, also reviewed previously). The Harrises were living in Durban, South Africa, having left Cardiff, South Wales, UK in 1957. The following excerpts are from Chapter Eleven "Emigration to South Africa" and Chapter Twelve "Becoming Semi-Professional."
We were renewing acquaintances with many friends in South Africa who had sat with us in Cardiff. One gentleman who we were particularly happy to meet up with again was Hyman Klein. He had been one of the pioneers of Spiritualism in South Africa. He had met his materialised Guide, Shalom, at one of our Cardiff circles. He had then been able to express his thanks to this Spirit who was the inspiration behind the learned and very enlightening lectures which Hyman gave in all parts of South Africa.
The news of our activities soon spread far afield, and many people came from Johannesburg just to attend our circles.
Hyman Klein came regularly. At one of the circles which Hyman attended a strange thing happened. A tall Spirit materialised wearing a mask which covered his whole face leaving only his eyes visible. This figure approached Hyman and taking him by the hand led him to the cabinet. Then in a serious voice he said: "I want to tell you that flying saucers do exist, although your world is sceptical of any reports of such. But I say to you that they will one day be an established fact, and will arrive on your planet before man destroys himself; but the time is not yet ripe."
With that he turned and disappeared into the darkness of the cabinet, only to return a few seconds later carrying a large model of a flying saucer which stood several feet in height, in fact it was taller than he was himself. "This," he announced, "is the type of machine men from space will use when they come. This is only a model. But this is what it will look like; this is what they will travel in when they come, these people from Space." We all inspected this strange contraption and were fascinated by it.
The Spirit spoke again to Hyman, "I will be with you on Thursday evening when you attend the Flying Saucer Meeting." Hyman thanked him, wondering how on earth he had known that it was his intention to attend this meeting, which was to be addressed by an investigator and author of several books on this controversial subject. Certainly none of us present at the circle knew anything of the impending lecture. What is more, we had not had an opportunity prior to the sitting of having any conversation with Hyman, apart from the usual greetings, as he had flown in from Johannesburg and had only arrived just in time for the circle.
Naturally there was much discussion over tea after the séance. It was then that we usually analysed and exchanged opinions on anything unusual which had taken place. As the cabinet was very small and only able to contain the medium sitting in his chair, we were mystified how there had been enough room to include a fully materialised man plus that enormous model of a flying saucer which stood taller than the man himself. And what had happened to it once the Spirit returned to the cabinet? It is truly amazing the things that can be done with ectoplasm for that is what it was, an ectoplasmic model which had dematerialised as quickly as it had been materialised.
Here's another description of an Alec Harris seance from the Noah's Ark Society website; along with yet another account found at the Spiritualism Link website.
Flying saucer 'contactee' Truman Bethurum had used the word 'masklike' to describe the faces of the "small men" whom he encountered on a series of visits to a flying saucer as chronicled in his 1954 book Aboard a Flying Saucer. However, the captain of the circular ship was "a beautiful woman." This is how Bethurum described the group of "about eight or ten small sized men" that he saw during the first encounter in the Nevada desert in 1952.
They were fully developed small men. The real difference which struck me so forcibly was that they all seemed to be wearing some sort of uniform—unfamiliar to me. All but two or three of them wore black billed caps with a black band around the bottom. On the bareheaded ones, all whose hair was black and crew cut, one's hair was wavy. And all of them wore jackets like cowboys and trousers of material which reflected a blue-grayish cast under the bright moonlight. Their dark olive hued faces were bland and without lines or blemishes, like the skin was taut and hard over the bone structure.
Bethurum reported that the small men had spoken English and told him, "We have no difficulty with any language." Four previous blog articles are about Truman Bethurum (1, 2, 3, 4.) As mentioned in the blog article "Instrumental Transcommunication", the communicator known as 'Swejen Salter' also was reported to speak the languages of the various Earth people who witnessed her contacts.
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