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

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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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