Haxby, W. (ca. 1878)

Nineteenth-century English physical medium who was a postal employee. Alfred Russel Wallace writes of Haxby's psychic side in My Life (1902):

"He was a small man, and sat in a small drawing-room on the first floor separated by curtains from a larger one, where the visitors sat in a subdued light. After a few minutes, from between the curtains would appear a tall and stately East Indian figure in white robes, a rich waistband, sandals, and large turban, snowy white, and disposed with elegance. Sometimes this figure would walk round the room outside the circle, would lift up a large and very heavy musical box which he would wind up and then swing around his head with one hand.

"He would often come to each of us in succession, bow and allow us to feel his hands and examine his robes. We asked him to stand against the door-post and marked his height, and on one occasion Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood brought with him a shoe-maker's measuring rule and at our request, Abdullah, as he gave his name, took off a sandal, placed his foot on a chair and allowed it to be accurately measured with the sliding rule. After the séance Mr. Haxby removed his boot and had his foot measured by the same rule, when that of the figure was found to be full one inch and a quarter the longer, while in height it was about half a foot taller. A minute or two after Abdullah had retired into the small room, Haxby was found in a trance in his chair, while no trace of the white-robed stranger was to be seen. The door and window of the back room were securely fastened and often secured with gummed paper which was found intact."

It was recorded in the contemporary Spiritualist press that Haxby materialized dogs that ran about the room. However, Charles Richet in Thirty Years of Psychical Research (1923) states: "Haxby cheated impudently."

Sources:

"Alleged Mediumship of W. Haxby." Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 4.

Wallace, Alfred Russel. My Life. London: Chapman & Hall, 1905.