"Once while reading scripture, he reportedly mistook a candle's sputtering as a sign that the devil desired him to stop. Another time he excitedly awoke from his sleep believing that a creature as large as a dog had been upon his chest, though a nearby associate could find nothing to confirm his fears. Several hostile and perhaps unreliable accounts told of visionary experiences with Satan and Christ, Harris once reporting that Christ had been poised on a roof beam." (Walker 1986, pp. 34–35) Walker, Ronald W. (Winter 1986), "Martin Harris: Mormonism's Early Convert", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 19 (4): 29–43, doi:10.2307/45225502, JSTOR45225502, S2CID254310097.
"Once while reading scripture, he reportedly mistook a candle's sputtering as a sign that the devil desired him to stop. Another time he excitedly awoke from his sleep believing that a creature as large as a dog had been upon his chest, though a nearby associate could find nothing to confirm his fears. Several hostile and perhaps unreliable accounts told of visionary experiences with Satan and Christ, Harris once reporting that Christ had been poised on a roof beam." (Walker 1986, pp. 34–35) Walker, Ronald W. (Winter 1986), "Martin Harris: Mormonism's Early Convert", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 19 (4): 29–43, doi:10.2307/45225502, JSTOR45225502, S2CID254310097.
"Once while reading scripture, he reportedly mistook a candle's sputtering as a sign that the devil desired him to stop. Another time he excitedly awoke from his sleep believing that a creature as large as a dog had been upon his chest, though a nearby associate could find nothing to confirm his fears. Several hostile and perhaps unreliable accounts told of visionary experiences with Satan and Christ, Harris once reporting that Christ had been poised on a roof beam." (Walker 1986, pp. 34–35) Walker, Ronald W. (Winter 1986), "Martin Harris: Mormonism's Early Convert", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 19 (4): 29–43, doi:10.2307/45225502, JSTOR45225502, S2CID254310097.
In March 1830, a revelation from Smith warned Harris not to "covet thy neighbor's wife."(Doctrine and Covenants 19:25)
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John A. Clark letter, August 31, 1840: "No matter where he went, he saw visions and supernatural appearances all around him. He told a gentleman in Palmyra, after one of his excursions to Pennsylvania, while the translation of the Book of Mormon was going on, that on the way he met the Lord Jesus Christ, who walked along by the side of him in the shape of a deer for two or three miles, talking with him as familiarly as one man talks with another." (Vogel 1996–2003, 2: 271) Vogel, Dan (1996–2003), Early Mormon Documents, Salt Lake City: Signature Books, ISBN978-1-56085-072-4, OCLC31374045.
According to two Ohio newspapers, shortly after Harris arrived in Kirtland, Ohio, he began claiming to have "seen Jesus Christ and that he is the handsomest man he ever did see. He has also seen the Devil, whom he described as a very sleek haired fellow with four feet, and a head like that of a Jack-ass." (Vogel 1996–2003, 2: 271, note 32) Vogel, Dan (1996–2003), Early Mormon Documents, Salt Lake City: Signature Books, ISBN978-1-56085-072-4, OCLC31374045.
John Stafford, eldest son of William Stafford (cited in Mormonism Unvailed), asserted: "[Martin Harris] was an honorable farmer; he was not very religious before the Book of Mormon was published." Vogel 1996–2003, 2:123 Vogel, Dan (1996–2003), Early Mormon Documents, Salt Lake City: Signature Books, ISBN978-1-56085-072-4, OCLC31374045.
Lucy Harris statement: "In one of his fits of rage he struck me with the butt end of a whip, which I think had been used for driving oxen, and was about the size of my thumb, and three or four feet long. He beat me on the head four or five times, and the next day turned me out of doors twice, and beat me in a shameful manner.... Whether the Mormon religion be true or false, I leave the world to judge, for its effects upon Martin Harris have been to make him more cross, turbulent and abusive to me."(Vogel 1996–2003, 2: 34-36) Vogel, Dan (1996–2003), Early Mormon Documents, Salt Lake City: Signature Books, ISBN978-1-56085-072-4, OCLC31374045.
