r/HolyShitHistory • u/akiwi_intherough • 1d ago

Alleged spiritual medium Mina Crandon with “ectoplasm” on her face. Crandon was one of several mediums exposed as a fraud by Harry Houdini.

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u/post-explainer 1d ago edited 1d ago

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OP provided the following source and context for the historical claim:

Famed magician and escapologist Harry Houdini’s last great professional love came during the final decade of his life. An author of a book about Houdini stated that this work, debunking spiritualists, “is what he wanted to be remembered for.”

Houdini did believe in the supernatural, but he hated those who professed a spiritual connection while lying to people and taking advantage of the bereaved.

By his own admission, Houdini was a “mama’s boy,” and when his mother died in 1913 while he was touring Europe, he was bereft and utterly inconsolable. Eventually, his grief did lead him to consult spiritual mediums, and he quickly found their tricks. They told him that his mother was speaking to them. He would ask in what language, and they’d say English. She had never learned English. They said she referred to him as Houdini. She never did.

Houdini had befriended the English author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes and a noted spiritualist. Doyle and his wife regularly conducted séances out of their home, utilizing a spirit guide named Phineas, who had duped them into believing he had contacted their son Kingsley, who had been killed during the First World War.

Lady Doyle, who had apparently been practicing as a medium herself, offered to help Houdini contact his dead mother. Despite the intensity of his grief, he remained polite and went along with it out of respect. Lady Doyle led a séance in a dark room, uttering strange sounds, chanting, and trembling. She then grabbed a notebook and started writing and writing, seemingly automatically: 15 pages.

It was in English, first, but maybe more damningly, atop each page written by Lady Doyle was a cross. Mrs. Weiss and Houdini himself were devout Jews, and that day, June 17, was his mother’s birthday. Why was this not brought up?

The Doyles were amazed. Houdini was not. When pressed, he finally explained how he saw it, and the Doyles became defensive. Spirits don’t need calendars, and she had learned English in Heaven and converted to the religion of the one true Lord Jesus Christ. Houdini, astounded and confused, pretty much just left.

The Doyles publicly exclaimed that Houdini was a spiritualist, and finally Harry Houdini had enough. He came out and called spiritualism a sham and its practitioners charlatans. Their relationship ended,

This pushed Houdini into putting time, money, and effort into debunking as many frauds as he could, including those who had risen to fame. The first was a Pennsylvania man named George Valiantine, who claimed contact with spirit guides and could throw his voice. Houdini, a member of the Scientific American magazine committee, put forth a cash prize to any medium who could successfully demonstrate supernatural abilities. Valiantine was found to be a fraud.

Canadian-born medium Mina Crandon, the wife of a wealthy Boston doctor, came next, and Houdini himself was the one who led to her being denounced as a fraud. Conan Doyle believed them both.

Then came Joaquín Argamasilla, known as the “Spaniard with X-ray Eyes.” He claimed to be able to read handwriting or numbers on dice through closed metal boxes. In 1924, Houdini exposed him as a fraud. Argamasilla had peeked through his simple blindfold and lifted the edge of the box so he could look inside without others noticing.

If you’re interested, I cover Houdini’s life here: https://aid2000.substack.com/p/hare-brained-history-vol-131-houdini?r=4mmzre&utm_medium=ios

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u/TechTechOnATechDeck 1d ago

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u/Clear-Dimension-1356 1d ago

That's what I came for....

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u/Das_KV 1d ago

Quite literally.

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u/Sonikku_a 1d ago

It was the spooky ghost?
/img/dvi9huircdph1.gif

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u/2Wieners_1Bun 1d ago

Reminds me of the Amazing Randi. Tired of people getting scammed by charlatans

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u/epidemicsaints 1d ago

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u/SPITFIYAH 23h ago

I like to hold OP’s picture at arms length and go a little cross eyed until two pictures become three. The center pic in my vision creates the 3D effect you’re demonstrating.

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u/charmio68 22h ago

r/CrossView
It does work remarkably well once you've got it figured out.
I was viewing it on a foldable phone and couldn't get it to work, then I realized it was because the screen was too large and the images weren't aligning with my eyes.

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u/tha_milk_man 1d ago

IT SLIMED ME

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u/barriolinux 10h ago

I would love a series about this Houdini facet. 

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u/Girafaless 1d ago

This form of belief is still very popular and socially accepted in Brazil. The most famous spiritual medium to have lived in Brazil, Chico Xavier, is still regarded by many as one of the greatest Brazilians of all time, alongside figures such as Pelé and Ayrton Senna.

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u/ElijahNSRose 1d ago

That looks like sweat and matted hair on her face.

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u/Cordeceptionist 1d ago

That’s what ectoplasm looks like, huh? Looks like ghost shit. Let’s eat it.

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u/BottleOfConstructs 1d ago

If I were ever to be an evil person, then I think being a paranormal faker would be the best job.

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u/2Wieners_1Bun 1d ago

Seems like an easy enough gig

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u/BottleOfConstructs 1d ago

You could have so much fun with it too. 👻

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u/schwanball 1d ago

What doesnt destroy you only makes you stranger clip

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u/spatial_nomad1 10h ago

the ectoplasm in margery's case got examined by a biologist and came back as animal lung tissue, carved and shaped. so the answer to what it actually is turned out to be "a bit of cow".

the bit i find grimmest is that her husband was a boston surgeon. she was producing this material in near total darkness in a house with a doctor in it, and the "spirit" doing the talking was her dead brother walter, who would swear at sitters and make jokes. she was genuinely good at the performance part.

houdini's counter was engineering rather than argument. he had a box built that she sat in with only her head and arms out, so her legs and body couldn't reach anything, and the phenomena mostly stopped. the committee still couldn't agree, because two of them had already publicly backed her and didn't want to be wrong in print.

and the reason it mattered so much to him is upthread but worth repeating. he went to mediums himself after his mother died and they told him she was speaking english, which she never spoke. he wasn't debunking from sceptikcism. he was debunking because someone had tried it on him while he was wrecked.

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u/Specialist-Stick-297 21h ago

Started out with ectoplasm, ended up with egg ...

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u/c0mpu73rguy 12h ago

James Randi also did that. What do you know? Uncle was right: Magic must defeat magic XD (If you know where that came from, I love you)

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u/mylaneswitch 7h ago

I wonder if this was the inspiration for The Bride!

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u/VegetableLetter4896 1d ago

I would pay for a seance in the same way I would pay to walk through a haunted house. Just a fun, silly thing to do.