Arthur Conan Doyle

Houdini and Spiritualism

Charleston, South Carolina
January 1, 2012 to April 30, 2012
s

Houdini and Arthur Conan Doyle, the famous author of Sherlock Holmes, were great friends. They both attended many seances and shared an interest in spiritualism. It was soon apparent that each of these men had their own agenda. Houdini was interested in proving or disproving the existence of 'spirits'. Doyle, on the other hand, did believe that spirits existed - and he wanted to promote this belief in spirits - and went so far as to fake successful contacts with spirits.

Houdini was skeptical and believed that the author of Sherlock Holmes would have the deductive power of his famed detective in order to assist in disproving the spiritualists. Houdini soon learned otherwise! Not only did Doyle not have such deductive powers; he had no interest in disproving the existence of spirits, and he was quite gullible on the subject. In fact, Houdini once joked with Doyle separating the top of his thumb from its lower half, a trick that every little child knows. Doyle was amazed and commented that Houdidi indeed possessed spiritual powers.

Doyle and his wife even went so far as to hold a seance for Houdini and his wife Bess. The purpose of the seance was to contact Houdini's dead mother. Doyle's wife claimed to have made contact, but Houdini became convinced that Doyle was a fraud. The key factor was the habit if Doyle's wife to draw a cross at the top of the page that she used to record the inspired contact. When Houdini saw this he became very upset. His mother would never have 'allowed' the cross to be used in the recording of a communication with her, she being Orthodox Jewish. [See the exhibit showing the cross of Mrs Doyle.]

The incident put a strain on their friendship.

Houdini's was disappointed in mental capabilities Doyle. But Doyle was also suspicious of Houdini. He thought that Houdini would attempt to tamper with a seance to expose whatever trick that the medium was using. . [See the exhibit showing the contact box.]

Also shown here are several letters of Houdidi at the beginning of his career, pleading for a job - showing almost an obsessive attitude toward his work.