Description:

Harry Houdini Signed Letter Referring to 1924 "Scientific American" Committee Exposing Boston Medium Mina Crandon

A 1p letter signed by Harry Houdini (1874-1926), the world-famous illusionist, as "Houdini" at center right. August 1, 1925. N.p. On onion skin paper. Expected wear including flattened transmittal folds and a few extra gentle wrinkles. Exhibiting a partial rusted paper clip impression and thumb print along the top edge. Else near fine. 8.375" x 11."

In this correspondence addressed to newspaper editor F.M. Heller, Houdini points out a factual error that was published in a recent article of the "Toledo News Bee," a local newspaper published in northwestern Ohio from 1902-1938. As Houdini explains, the article written by "H.L.B." had wrongly reported the results of a committee investigation evaluating the psychical abilities of a flamboyant female medium named Mina "Margery" Crandon (1888-1941) in the summer of 1924.

Houdini wrote in part:

"I want to call attention to one particular thing that I may have overlooked in my letter [not included in this lot] where 'H.L.B.' states - '(May I comment that the expose of Margery, the Boston medium, claimed by the magician, has not been corroborated by any other member of the investigating committee present?)' - I wish to state that four of the five voted against her possessing psychic power which evidently means that my exposing of the medium was accepted…"

"Margery" Crandon was the Canadian-born wife of a prominent Boston surgeon who began experimenting with spiritualism in the early 1920s. Crandon claimed to be a conduit to the invisible world by channeling her dead brother. Ringing bells, apparent spontaneous manifestations of ectoplasm, and the unpleasant touch of disembodied hands during her seances convinced many; she was notably championed by Scottish writer and spiritualist Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930). Crandon's name was submitted for consideration in the 1924 contest sponsored by "Scientific American" magazine: a $2,500 cash prize offered to any authentic medium.

The "Scientific American" investigating committee was comprised of five members who brought expertise from a number of fields, including the occult, psychology, and physics. The members included, in addition to Harry Houdini:

- William McDougall (1871-1938), a leading parapsychologist and Harvard professor of psychology, mentioned in the last line of this letter as "Prof. William McDougall"

- Daniel Frost Comstock (1883-1970), a young and brilliant physicist

- Walter Franklin Prince (1863-1934), a parapsychologist and the founder of the Boston Society for Psychical Research

- Hereward Carrington (1880-1958), a well-known psychic investigator

The committee attended multiple seances with Crandon in July and August 1924, and during several sessions, Crandon agreed to be enclosed in a full-body cabinet dubbed the "Margie box" that prevented her from using her feet. Despite the application of the scientific method to the proceedings, disturbing shenanigans continued to occur. In the end, the committed decided that Crandon was not a genuine clairvoyant.

Houdini's assertion that four committee members believed Crandon was a fake is correct: Houdini, McDougall, Comstock, and Prince all "voted against her." The results of the "Scientific American" investigation of Crandon caused considerable upheaval in the American spiritualist community, and it proved one of only many to follow. During subsequent investigations of Crandon's seances, her use of such props as "spirit hands" fashioned from stuffed animal liver was discovered. Nevertheless, she continued holding seances until her death in 1941. About the Crandon case, Walter Franklin Prince stated in 1934 that it was "the most ingenious, persistent, and fantastic complex of fraud in the history of psychic research."

During the last half of his career as a celebrated illusionist, stuntman, and entertainer, Houdini emerged as one of the world's preeminent psychical researchers. After over 30 years of applied study, Houdini had built up a massive archive of relevant scholarship, and his expertise on the subject enabled him to routinely lecture at American universities. Houdini actively investigated fraudulent mediums, in his view thus preserving the real art and craft of explicable magic. In the 1920s, Houdini had famously sponsored cash prizes (drawn from numerous sources) to be presented to any genuine medium. Houdini's investigations into mediums had resulted in dozens of convictions. The Mina Crandon case was one of Houdini's most well-known exposés of fake psychics.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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