The Magician and the Spirits Read online

  Over the years, he had quietly conspired with important people in his life: whoever died first would communicate with the other if it were possible. “I had compacts with a round dozen. Each one promised me faithfully to come back. . . . I have even gone so far as to create secret codes and handgrips.”

  The day before Houdini’s private secretary, John W. Sargent (with whom he was very close), died, Sargent told him, “Houdini, this may be the end. If it is, I am coming back to you no matter what happens on the other side.” They agreed that if he could, Sargent would relay all the secrets of the Beyond. But one word would be enough, a word they agreed upon in advance. Their minds and intentions were so aligned, Houdini believed, that his friend’s message could not fail to find him if it were possible to send one. Another friend, the ninety-year-old niece of President Pierce, Atlanta Hall, clasped Houdini’s hand on her deathbed, giving him their “agreed-upon grip which she was to give me through a medium.”

  Hall, like Sargent and others, held her silence in death.

  “They have never come back to me!” Houdini said. “They were all loves, each strong, each binding. If these persons, with all the love they bore in their heart for me and all the love I have . . . did not return . . . Why,” he pleaded, “should [other people’s loved ones] come back and mine not?” How “wonderful” it would be to converse again with his dear mother.

  “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has repeatedly told the Spiritualists that I will eventually see the light and embrace Spiritualism. . . . But if Spiritualism is to be founded on the tricks of exposed mediums, feats of magic, resort to trickery, then I say unflinchingly that I do not believe, and more, I will not believe. I have said many times that I am willing.”

  Honoring Houdini’s dying wish, Bess Houdini held a séance every Halloween for ten years, on the anniversary of his death, to conjure his spirit, or try to. She sponsored her last séance in 1936. Others have picked up the mantle, and though no one has succeeded in establishing contact, the custom continues, to this day, at various séance tables around the world.

  If it were possible—or even if it weren’t—Houdini would be the first to tell us.

  Bess Houdini, seated, hosts her final Houdini séance in 1936 in hope of contacting her dead husband.

  NOTES

  Introduction

  “‘Impossibility commences’”: Spellbinder: The Life of Harry Houdini by Tom Lalicki, p. 19.

  “‘mystifier of mystifiers’”: A Magician Among the Spirits (MAtS) by Harry Houdini, p. xiv.

  “eclipsing sensation”: Houdini!!! The Career of Ehrich Weiss by Kenneth Silverman, title page.

  “every country on the globe”: http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.rbc.varshoud.3g03288/default.html.

  “‘duplication, explanation, imitation or contradiction.’”: Lalicki, p. 19.

  “‘Houdini. That’s Enough’”: Lalicki, p. 6.

  “Honorary Secretary of the Society for the Study of Supernormal Pictures.”: MAtS, p. 126.

  “Sainted Mother”: MAtS, preface.

  “I have not found one incident that savoured of the genuine.”: MAtS, p. xix.

  PART ONE: There Is No Death, There Are No Dead

  “There Is No Death, There Are No Dead”: Ella Wheeler Wilcox, “There Is No Death, There Are No Dead,” Complete Poetical Works of Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

  1: Harry and Bess Houdini, Spirit Mediums

  “To me it was a lark.”: MAtS, p. xi.

  “‘Great Wizard’ . . . ‘little vocalist’”: Silverman, p. 18.

  “‘accompanied by the sexton . . . everyone sleeping in God’s acre.’”: Silverman, p. 300.

  “greatest and finest Trunk Mystery the world has ever seen.”: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs online catalog: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2014636906/.

  “‘The Great Mystifier’ . . . ‘The Celebrated Psycrometic Clairvoyant.’”: Silverman, p. 19.

  “I appreciated the fact that I surprised my clients . . . understand the seriousness.”: MAtS, p. xi.

  “‘like a king’”: Silverman, p. 19.

  “‘You can open Omaha March . . . season.’ . . . ‘This wire changed my whole Life’s journey.’”: Silverman, p. 22.

  THE HOUDINIS

  “‘cheap’ . . . ‘glorious’”: Silverman, p. 10.

  “‘Darling One and Only’ . . . ‘on my pillow.’”: Silverman, p. 73.

  THE EFFECT

  “‘Now then . . . the—EFFECT.’”: Silverman, p. 12.

  “‘Just think over this . . . THREE SECONDS!’”: Silverman, p. 13.

  MIRACULOUS MENTORS

  “‘You Can See His Heart Beat! You Can See His Blood Circulate!’”: Silverman, p. 11.

  “defiers of poisonous reptiles. . . . The dime museum is but a memory now.”: Miracle Mongers and Their Methods by Harry Houdini, contents, p. 240.

  2: Dealings with the Dead

  “‘Spiritualism is the Science . . . spirit world.’”: Silverman, p. 247.

  “‘Mr. Splitfoot’”: Talking to the Dead: Kate and Maggie Fox and the Rise of Spiritualism by Barbara Weisberg, p. 95.

  “‘Now do this just as I do’”: Weisberg, p. 18.

  “‘the Medium Business—Spiritualism’”: Silverman, p. 39.

  “‘With due modesty . . . my peer’”: Silverman, p. 129.

  “‘I most certainly did not relish the idea . . . my admirers.’”: Silverman, p. 254.

  WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

  “like confessing a murder”: http://www.lettersofnote.com/2009/09/it-is-like-confessing-murder.html.

  AN EARNEST, LIFELONG ENDEAVOR

  “‘guide and hero . . . earnest, life-long endeavor.’”: Lalicki, p. 6.

  “‘The Shakespeare of Magic’”: Silverman, p. 130.

  “‘prince of pilferers’ . . . ‘Magic Ever Published’”: Silverman, p. 131.

  “‘a mere pretender . . . brainwork of others.’”: Silverman, p. 130.

  Something must come your: Silverman, p. 131.

  FIFTY-FIVE KINGS

  “‘If you throw a stone in the air . . . in his pocket.’”: Silverman, p. 63.

  “‘If you are in a fight . . . other guy first.’”: Silverman, p. 69.

  3: The Mother’s Boy

  “‘I who have laughed . . . I do not think recovery is possible.’”: Silverman, p. 181.

  “‘the Great Dissolution was gradually taking place’ . . . ‘All right, Mama.’”: Silverman, p. 179.

  “still and quiet . . . ‘bowed down’”: Silverman, p. 181.

  “Sainted Mother”: MAtS, preface.

  “‘a prayer’ . . . ‘Prisoner!’”: Silverman, p. 183.

  “‘My very Existence’ . . . ‘ambition’”: Silverman, p. 184.

  “‘I am what would be called a Mothers-boy’ . . . ‘Ma would want me to do this?’”: Silverman, p. 182.

  “‘It was a shame the way I had to fool him’”: Silverman, p. 189.

  “‘man to man’ . . . ‘hokus pokus.’”: Silverman, p. 190.

  “‘The Home is a Home . . . disposed of.’”: Silverman, pp. 190–91.

  “‘Here I am left alone on the station . . . join my mother.’”: Silverman, p. 190.

  “‘The easiest way to attract . . . sudden death.’”: Silverman, p. 197.

  “‘work entirely’”: Silverman, p. 202.

  “MA SAW ME JUMP!”

  “‘The less said on the subject the better’”: Lalicki, p. 4.

  “‘insignificant’”: Silverman, p. 181.

  “‘Ma saw me jump!’”: Silverman, p. 182.

  I WANT TO BE FIRST

  “‘puny attempts at duplication’”: Silverman, p. 66.

  “‘I want to be first . . . my life only for that.’”: Lalicki, p. 55.

  4: The Tor
ch Bearer

  “‘I do not say that I think . . . I should not be sane.’”: The Adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle: A Biography by Russell Miller, p. 413.

  “‘recognition, perhaps friendship, at the firesides throughout the world . . . torch bearer of spiritualism.’”: Silverman, p. 250.

  “‘new Revelation’ . . . ‘the most important development in the history of the human race’”: Silverman, p. 250.

  “‘Spiritualism is a humbug . . . brought into such a life.’”: The Death-Blow to Spiritualism: Being the True Story of the Fox Sisters, as Revealed by Authority of Margaret Fox Kane and Catherine Fox Jencken by Reuben Briggs Davenport, p. 57.

  “‘I am afraid that I cannot say . . . by the spirits.’”: Silverman, p. 253.

  “‘mystifier of mystifiers’”: MAtS, p. xiv.

  “I view these so-called phenomena . . . investigator.”: MAtS, p. xiv.

  “‘I am seeking truth . . . this matter seriously.’”: Silverman, p. 253.

  “‘no possible chance for trickery.’”: Silverman, p. 255.

  “My mind has always been open and receptive”: MAtS, p. xiii.

  “‘Something must come your way if you really persevere . . . follows a rat.’”: Silverman, p. 255.

  “‘the Etheric Body’”: Silverman, p. 273.

  “beyond any doubt”: MAtS, p. 143.

  “‘In spite of the imagination of his writings . . . a crowd which had its dead.’”: http://www.prairieghosts.com/doyle_houdini.html.

  “‘pathetic’ . . . ‘senile.’”: Miller, pp. 413–14.

  “a deep thinker . . . this great author.”: MAtS, p. 138.

  “‘The children would teach you to swim’”: Silverman, p. 280.

  “‘might come through.’”: Miller, p. 424.

  “‘our friends from beyond.’”: Miller, p. 424.

  “religious . . . I made up my mind . . . presence of my beloved Mother.”: MatS, pp. 151–52.

  “‘Oh my darling . . . rest in peace.’”: Silverman, p. 282.

  “‘tossing each to Houdini . . . every moment.’”: Miller, p. 424.

  “‘deeply moved’ . . . ‘have the nerve.’”: Silverman, p. 283.

  “surrendered themselves . . . the most monstrous fiction.”: MAtS, preface.

  DECEPTION—OR CONSOLATION?

  “‘horrible deception’ . . . ‘the death blow’”: MAtS, p. 5.

  THE POWER BEHIND THE THRONE

  “‘the power behind the throne’”: Houdini: Art and Magic by Brooke Kamin Rapaport, p. 92.

  5: “In the Light”

  “‘Some persons . . . “and we will believe otherwise”?’”: MAtS, p. 35.

  “‘The darkness of the theater . . . weird effect upon the crowd.’”: The Witch of Lime Street: Séance, Seduction, and Houdini in the Spirit World by David Jaher, p. 60.

  “‘being of a jovial disposition, always ready for a joke’”: The Strange Case of William Mumler, Spirit Photographer by Louis Kaplan, pp. 71–72.

  “‘This photograph was taken . . . twelve years since.’”: Kaplan, pp. 35–36.

  “‘humble instrument . . . surrounds us.’”: Kaplan, p. 69.

  “‘low swindle.’”: Kaplan, p. 1.

  “‘palming off, as genuine spirit likenesses . . . living in this city’”: Kaplan, p. 58.

  “‘Man is naturally both credulous . . . taken advantage.’”: Kaplan, p. 155.

  “‘a man with an angel . . . just as I wish.’”: Kaplan, p. 191.

  “‘Have you never’ . . . ‘with it sometimes.’”: Kaplan, p. 197.

  “‘Persons of all classes . . . “A miracle.”’”: Kaplan, p. 188.

  “‘Let me say to you . . . spiritually yours.’”: Kaplan, p. 184.

  “‘morally’”: Kaplan, p. 206.

  “much annoyed at his premature . . . Spirit world.” MAtS, p. 122.

  “‘a very good likeness . . . to see my son again.’”: Silverman, p. 273.

  “would keep him busy for months”: MAtS, p. 129.

  “‘the greatest spirit photo ever taken.’”: Silverman, p. 273.

  “From a logical, rational point of view . . . take the reward.”: MAtS, pp. 136–37.

  “‘Poor, dear, loveable . . . heart of a child.’”: Miller, p. 409.

  HOW TO SHOOT SPIRITS

  “regular . . . additional hazy something”: MAtS, p. 115.

  AIRY IMAGES

  “‘air images’”: Magic, 1400s–1950s, edited by Noel Daniel, p. 162.

  FAIRIES ON FILM

  “proving the existence of fairies . . . opening the way to a new world”: The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult by Clément Chéroux and Andreas Fischer, p. 93.

  “‘Among all the notable persons attracted to Spiritualism . . . honesty.’”: Miller, p. 409.

  6: Manifestations!

  “‘Strange how people imagine things in the dark . . . over their heads.’”: MAtS, p. 25.

  “‘The best’ . . . ‘ridiculous stuff.’”: Silverman, p. 255.

  “‘She was afraid of me’ . . . ‘quite final?’”: Silverman, p. 255.

  “‘You have a reputation among Spiritualists of being a bitterly prejudiced enemy . . . humble spirit.’”: MAtS, p. 164.

  “‘forces beyond . . . impulse of sympathy’”: MAtS, p. 162.

  “‘You are a magnificent actor . . . beneath a man of your talent.’”: Silverman, p. 256.

  “scoffing . . . against any trickery.”: MatS, p. 168.

  “lady members of the Committee . . . adhering to her veil on the inside.”: MAtS, p. 169.

  “almost identical . . . manipulate my experiment.”: MAtS, p. 170.

  “a subtle and gifted assistant . . . honest”: MAtS, p. 172.

  “wrong in the air”: MAtS, p. 171.

  “in a blank . . . an atmosphere of incredulity”: MAtS, p. 267.

  “‘If you want to send a telegram . . . office’”: MAtS, p. 268.

  “simply took advantage . . . nature”: MAtS, p. 172.

  “authentically classified as questionable”: MAtS, p. 179.

  “nothing beyond the simple act of regurgitation . . . ‘medium’s pocket.’”: MAtS, p. 172.

  “He treats Spiritualism as a religion . . . the deed.”: MAtS, pp. 140–41.

  “the future state of a soul.”: MAtS, p. 177.

  “horrible, revolting . . . stunts.”: MAtS, p. 179.

  “began a new line of psychical research”: MAtS, p. xii.

  “reality to the return . . . brain power I possess”: MAtS, pp. xi–xii.

  “trifling with the hallowed reverence . . . departed”: MAtS, p. xi.

  “I too would have parted gladly . . . bestowed.”: MAtS, p. xi.

  “realized that it bordered on crime.”: MAtS, p. xi.

  “a séance room except with an open mind.”: MAtS, p. xii.

  “involuntary and subconscious”: MAtS, p. 110.

  “I have attended . . . monotony.”: MAtS, p. 110.

  “just at the psychological moment . . . were two acrobats.”: MAtS, p. 113.

  “preferably cobweb-fine French muslin”: Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death by Deborah Blum, p. 29.

  “greatly in debt . . . certain documents”: MAtS, p. 223.

  “If it is possible to steal the records . . . of a family.”: MAtS, p. 220.

  “the ‘gilded lobster palaces’ of Broadway”: MAtS, p. 218.

  “a quiet couple . . . handsomely the first year.”: MAtS, p. 221.

  “Under the excitement . . . escape the medium.”: MAtS, p. 223.

  “human wolves”: MAtS, p. 221.

  “human leeches”: MAtS, p. 190.

  “human vultures”: MAtS, p. 217.


  “resourceful in obtaining information . . . their victims.”: MAtS, p. 217.

  WATER-TORTURE CELL ESCAPE

  “‘the greatest sensational mystery ever attempted in this or any age’”: Lalicki, p. 43.

  EATING NEEDLES ON A STRING

  “‘taking iron for the blood’ . . . ‘snap under his iron teeth.’”: Silverman, p. 24.

  SPIRIT WORDSMITHS

  “‘Any mechanical deception or sleight-of-hand . . . impossible.’”: Silverman, p. 251.

  7: A Menace t'o Health and Sanity

  “‘How long a private friendship can survive . . . the situation.’”: Final Séance: The Strange Friendship Between Houdini and Conan Doyle by Massimo Polidoro, p. 186.

  “‘possibility of communication . . . gone beyond.’”: Silverman, p. 291.

  “‘I saw what you got . . . at the time.’”: Jaher, p. 95.

  “‘I have no fancy . . . in public.’”: Jaher, p. 94.

  “‘I have done my best to give you the truth . . . friendly converse.’”: MatS, p. 157.

  “‘You write that you are very sore . . . other human beings.’”: Jaher, p. 95.

  “‘I read an interview . . . wonder how you reconcile your various utterances!’”: Polidoro, p. 168.

  “‘Our relations are certainly curious . . . attack you in turn.’”: MatS, p. 164.

  “‘Sir Arthur Coming to Answer Houdini’”: Silverman, p. 293.

  “‘harmless and ingenious . . . airs of superior intelligence.’”: Silverman, p. 294.

  “‘Houdini, the magician . . . Wait till Sir A. C. Doyle hears of my lectures!’”: Silverman, 298.

  “no warfare”: MAtS, p. 165.

  “craze”: MAtS, p. xvi.

  “cult”: MAtS, p. 207.

  “a menace to health and sanity.”: MAtS, p. xvi.

  “who declared herself in love . . . join him.”: MAtS, p. 181.

  “‘Wife Seeks Death . . . Husband from Beyond.’”: Stashower, p. 373.

  “‘The incident shows the great danger . . . spiritual matters.’”: Polidoro, p. 178.

  “‘communication . . . five children to her.’”: MAtS, p. 182.

  “It is with the deepest interest and concern . . . bereavement.”: MAtS, p. xvi.

  “‘Truth wins and there is lots of time.’”: MAtS, p. 163.