by Mary Ann Harrington

Created on: January 05, 2009

While working with nonverbal children with autism, witnessing paranormal phenomena became part of my daily experiences. It was awe inspiring. I had the habit of referring to my nonverbal students with autism as angels. Even in that altered realm, Alex seemed a bit more otherworldly. Thus, I referred to him as my "Archangel." Seeing and controlling his body from outside his physical body, walking backwards or sideways while always facing north,balancing on the back of a chair, telepathy and/or possible remote viewing, were some of his antics that kept me intrigued, yet, frequently off balance.

Alex often looked up at the sky as if he were seeing things that were invisible to the rest of us. He seemed totally entranced with whatever it was that caught his attention. Since he was nonverbal, during classroom activities, Alex was often required to select correct responses from a field of choices. When doing so, he never looked at the answers; yet, his responses were invariably correct. It appeared as if his spirit was controlling his body from above as his arms awkwardly reached out to select the appropriate card. He was invariably correct. It was phenomenal!

In the fall of 2001, right after 9-11, Alex was going through puberty and seemed to take a turn for the worse. His behavior, which was always intriguing, became astonishing and alarming. Alex had always been a compulsive eater. Now, he refused to take in any nutrition. He would bring a favored snack item to his lips and then push it away. Even more frightening, he refused to drink water. Throughout the day, he would run from the room find a position and face north. Often his arms would be at his sides with his palms outstretched similar to what you see in Christian statues. At other times after finding his preferred spot he would assume Muslim prayer position on the floor, hands at sides and head bowed forward.

Facing north became an obsession. If headed north, Alex walked forward. If headed south, he insisted on walking backward. When headed east or west, he walked sideways, so his eyes were always facing north. When we were on our daily walks through the woods, he adjusted his stance to always insure that he was facing north, turning from side to side as he twisted and turned on the meandering trails. I often thought about it, but I never did attach a compass to his head to see how close to north he was able to maintain.

Another amazing thing Alex did during this time was spontaneously jump up from a seated position,

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