J. W. (John William) Harris

Born in 1849, J. W. Harris is identified in library and public-domain book records as John William Harris. He is chiefly remembered for Inferences from Haunted Houses and Haunted Men, published in London by P. Wellby in 1901.

That book looks at reports of hauntings and unusual mental phenomena through the lenses of hypnotism, suggestion, and telepathy. Rather than treating ghost stories as pure folklore, Harris approached them as cases to be examined and interpreted, which places him in the wider culture of psychical research that interested many readers at the turn of the 20th century.

Very little reliable biographical information about his personal life appears to survive in the sources readily available online. Because of that, he remains a somewhat shadowy figure whose reputation rests almost entirely on this one unusual and still-circulating work.