Melvin Harris

A sceptic and author, Melvin Harris turns up in the debates that followed several famous cases. At Knock, the 1879 apparition had long drawn suspicion of a magic lantern. Professor Francis Lennon had tested one in 1880 and ruled it out. Harris rebuilt that experiment on a replica set, using a mirror, and got it to work. In the R101 séance of 1930, he dismissed Eileen Garrett's details as commonplace or gobbledegook and proposed cryptomnesia. He also suggested that photographs of Red Cloud, the spirit guide of the medium Roberts, showed Roberts herself in a feathered war bonnet.

Stories3

The Knock Apparition

August 21, 1879 · South gable of the Church of St John the Baptist, Knock, County Mayo

Ireland

Paranormal · Being / humanoid · 45 sources

36Partially documented

Pro early

The Empty Chair: Conan Doyle's Spiritualist Memorial at the Royal Albert Hall

July 13, 1930 · Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, South Kensington, London

United Kingdom

Paranormal · Being / humanoid · 23 sources

17Thinly documented

Sceptic who suggested Roberts posed as her spirit guide Red Cloud

Pro early

The R101 Séance: Eileen Garrett and the Voice of Flight Lieutenant Irwin

October 7, 1930 · National Laboratory of Psychical Research, 13 Roland Gardens, South Kensington, London

United Kingdom

Paranormal · Other · 18 sources

24Thinly documented

Sceptical author who proposed cryptomnesia