Houdini(21)

XI. Houdini, the Crusader against Spiritualism





Read It and Know It




After reading this chapter, you will know more about



Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The creator of Sherlock Holmes was a devout believer in Spiritualism.



A Magician Among the Spirits: Houdini’s book sought to expose fraudulent mediums.



Mina “Margery” Crandon: Houdini eventually exposed the famous Boston medium after a long and public struggle.



Robert Gysel and Rose Mackenberg: These informants joined Houdini in his campaign to debunk Spiritualism.





Spiritualism, a religion and movement born in the late eighteenth century, became very trendy after World War I. Spiritualists believed that the spirits of the dead could communicate with the living through mediums. They did so during séances, in which a group of “sitters” came and sat in front of a medium, holding hands in a darkened room while the medium summoned the spirits of the dead.



Houdini had in the past scorned Spiritualism as fraudulent and manipulative of mourning individuals who had lost loved ones. At the same time, the loss of his mother left him yearning for the ability to reach her somehow. Whatever his real beliefs, he made a pact with Bess and several other friends to speak a certain word if summoned by a medium after death, in order to have final proof on the matter. Further, even at the height of his crusade against Spiritualism, he never claimed to attack the tenets of the religion itself; rather, he set out to expose fraud on the part of persons who claimed to be mediums.





The worlds of magic and Spiritualism overlapped both practically and culturally; the popularity of Spiritualism ignited the public’s interest in magic, and further, magicians and mediums used similar techniques to perform their arts. Houdini’s fame as a magician and manic drive to expose all that threatened his trade put him on an inevitable crash course with the religion. The collision was played out in part through his friendship with the author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.





Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle




Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, most renowned for his authorship of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, was also an evangelical Spiritualist in his later days after having lost his son in Word War I. Well-known as a writer, Doyle was originally an eye doctor and belonged to a scholarly level of society that Houdini often seemed to ache to join. In addition, Doyle fit the role of an ideal man of the time; he was tall, muscular, athletic, wealthy, and cultured. He and Houdini shared a passion for the sport of boxing. When Houdini traveled to Europe in 1920, he mailed Doyle a copy of his book, The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin. Doyle read it and wanted to discuss Houdini’s representation of the famous Davenport Brothers, magicians whom Houdini had met. Doyle believed that the brothers were able to do their escape art because they were mediums, able to de-materialize and reconstitute their physical forms. In his eagerness to make friends with Doyle, Houdini didn’t contradict him. In fact, Houdini indicated to Doyle that he was interested in looking into Spiritualism with an open mind. Doyle believed that Houdini himself might be able de-materialize in order to do his tricks.



Doyle sent Houdini to mediums Doyle trusted, one of whom performed the then-popular form of speaking with spirits by manifesting ectoplasm, a gooey substance in the shape of someone or something or that appeared to be a living substance. Houdini failed to be convinced by these demonstrations, recognizing the ways that such tricks could be arranged. However, his desire to be friends with Doyle, who he found intelligent and fascinating, led him to hold back from being open with Doyle about his doubts. Houdini attended many séances.



Doyle and Houdini’s friendship began to fall apart when Doyle came to the United States to promote Spiritualism in 1922. At that time, Doyle was especially passionate about a new trend in Spiritualism called “spirit photography,” in which everyday photographs captured a spirit image. Houdini, who knew something about film development from his film company (see Chapter IX), recognized that the “spirit” images could be doctored into the photographs. He even hired a team of investigators to try to find out the methods of famous spirit photographers. Houdini became less enthralled with Doyle as he saw how naïve Doyle was; magicians well known to Houdini, the Zancigs, had convinced Doyle that they were clairvoyants during a private session. Similarly, Houdini tried to explain to Doyle how the spiritualist phenomenon of “spirit hands,” or hands that appeared in wax during séances, could be made by humans. Doyle refused to give Houdini’s explanations any weight. While in the States, Doyle saw a famous medium named Besinnet, with whom Houdini tried to gain a meeting through Doyle’s introduction. However, Besinnet refused to answer Houdini’s requests, probably wisely, as Houdini had done some research on her methods and had likely already concluded that she was a fraud.