Harry Houdini is remembered today for his legendary escapes and illusions, but he also had a lifelong obsession with the paranormal. After dabbling in fake seances himself, Houdini made it his mission to uncover fakes and expose mediums. This put him on a collision course with his spiritualist friend, Arthur Conan Doyle, and left him fearing for his life.
This is the first in a three-part series.
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Further reading
Our three episodes on Houdini rely on books including The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America’s First Superhero, by William Kalush and Larry Sloman; The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini, by Joe Posnanski; Houdini & Conan Doyle: The Great Magician and the Inventor of Sherlock Holmes, by Christopher Sandford; Final Seance: The Strange Friendship Between Houdini and Conan Doyle, by Massimo Polidoro; and the enthusiastically titled Houdini!!!: The Career of Ehrich Weiss – American Self-Liberator, Europe’s Eclipsing Sensation, World’s Handcuff King & Prison Breaker – Nothing on Earth Can Hold Houdini a Prisoner!!!, by Kenneth Silverman.
Houdini’s book A Magician Among the Spirits is available on Project Gutenberg. Helpful additional details came from the Wild About Houdini website.
Newspaper columns written by Rose Mackenberg are collated in the book Houdini’s “Girl Detective”: The Real-Life Ghost-Busting Adventures of Rose Mackenberg, with an introduction by Tony Wolf. See also Rose’s obituary in the New York Times.
The transcripts of the Congressional hearings are available online. The research referenced in the second episode is From beyond the grave: the legal regulation of mediumship by Steve Greenfield, Guy Osborn and Stephanie Roberts, published by Cambridge University Press.
Milbourne Christopher’s book Mediums, Mystics, and the Occult contains a helpful account of Arthur Ford’s career.
