Transcriber’s Note: Italic text is enclosed in _underscores_.
A MAGICIAN AMONG THE SPIRITS
[Illustration: SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE AND HOUDINI PHOTOGRAPHED AT THE
AUTO CLUB, LONDON, ENGLAND]
A MAGICIAN
AMONG THE SPIRITS
BY
HOUDINI
_Illustrated_
[Illustration]
_Publishers_
HARPER & BROTHERS
New York and London
_MCMXXIV_
A MAGICIAN AMONG THE SPIRITS
Copyright, 1924, by Harry Houdini
Printed in the United States of America
_First Edition_
O-Y
IN WORSHIPFUL HOMAGE
I
DEDICATE THIS BOOK
TO THE MEMORY OF MY SAINTED MOTHER
IF GOD
IN HIS INFINITE WISDOM
EVER SENT AN ANGEL UPON EARTH IN HUMAN FORM
IT WAS MY
MOTHER
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
INTRODUCTION xi
PREFACE xxi
I. THE FOUNDERS OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM 1
II. THE DAVENPORT BROTHERS 17
III. DANIEL DUNGLAS HOME 38
IV. PALLADINO 50
V. ANN O’DELIA DISS DEBAR 66
VI. DR. SLADE AND HIS SPIRIT SLATES 79
VII. SLATE WRITING AND OTHER METHODS 101
VIII. SPIRIT PHOTOGRAPHY 117
IX. SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE 138
X. WHY ECTOPLASM? 166
XI. BY-PRODUCTS OF SPIRITUALISM 180
XII. INVESTIGATIONS--WISE AND OTHERWISE 191
XIII. HOW MEDIUMS OBTAIN INFORMATION 217
XIV. WHAT YOU MUST BELIEVE TO BE A SPIRITUALIST 229
XV. MAGICIANS AS DETECTORS OF FRAUD 244
XVI. CONCLUSION 266
APPENDIX 271
ILLUSTRATIONS
SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE AND HOUDINI PHOTOGRAPHED AT THE AUTO
CLUB, LONDON, ENGLAND _Frontispiece_
PAGE
JOHN D. FOX AND HIS WIFE 10
THE FOX HOME AT HYDESVILLE 10
LEAH FOX FISH 14
KATIE FOX JENCKEN 14
MARGARET FOX KANE 14
ELISHA KENT KANE, M.D. 14
IRA ERASTUS DAVENPORT AND HOUDINI, TAKEN ON JULY 5, 1911. The
last photograph of the old showman 26
FACSIMILE OF PORTIONS OF A LETTER WRITTEN TO HOUDINI BY IRA
E. DAVENPORT 28
DANIEL DUNGLAS HOME 44
DIAGRAM SHOWING ARRANGEMENT OF ROOMS, WINDOWS, ETC., WHERE
HUME’S REPUTED FEAT OF FLOATING TOOK PLACE 47
EUSAPIA PALLADINO AND HER SEANCE TABLE 60
ANN O’DELIA DISS DEBAR 76
HENRY SLADE 88
LOCKED SLATE USED BY DR. HENRY SLADE IN HIS WRITING TESTS AT
PHILADELPHIA 96
SKETCH SHOWING SLADE’S SEAT AT THE TABLE, DIFFERENT POSITIONS
OF SLATES, LOCATION OF SPONGE, AND METHOD OF MOVING BOOK
98
WRITING ON HONEST SLATES BY MEANS OF WEDGE AND WIRE 104
HOUDINI, MRS. HOUDINI, AND MR. TEALE, DEMONSTRATING A METHOD
OF SWITCHING SLATES OVER A SITTER’S HEAD 106
RAPPING MECHANISM IN HEEL OF MEDIUM’S SHOE 111
TUBE AND PISTON ARRANGEMENT FOR MAKING RAPS 111
SO-CALLED “SPIRIT EXTRA” ON PHOTOGRAPH OF HARRY PRICE MADE BY
WILLIAM HOPE OF THE CREWE CIRCLE 130
HOUDINI AND ALEXANDER MARTIN 134
PHOTOGRAPH OF HOUDINI MADE BY ALEXANDER MARTIN, AT DENVER,
COLORADO, ON MAY 10, 1923, SHOWING SO-CALLED “SPIRIT
EXTRAS” 136
MME. BISSON, MRS. FEILDING (TOMCHICK), AND MLLE. EVA 170
KELLAR AND HOUDINI 224
INTRODUCTION
From my early career as a mystical entertainer I have been interested
in Spiritualism as belonging to the category of mysticism, and as
a side line to my own phase of mystery shows I have associated
myself with mediums, joining the rank and file and held seances as
an independent medium to fathom the truth of it all. At the time I
appreciated the fact that I surprised my clients, but while aware
of the fact that I was _deceiving_ them I did not see or understand
the seriousness of trifling with such sacred sentimentality and the
baneful result which inevitably followed. To me it was a lark. I was a
mystifier and as such my ambition was being gratified and my love for a
mild sensation satisfied. After delving deep I realized the seriousness
of it all. As I advanced to riper years of experience I was brought
to a realization of the seriousness of trifling with the hallowed
reverence which the average human being bestows on the departed, and
when I personally became afflicted with similar grief I was chagrined
that I should ever have been guilty of such frivolity and for the first
time realized that it bordered on crime.
As a consequence my own mental attitude became considerably more
plastic. I too would have parted gladly with a large share of
my earthly possessions for the solace of one word from my loved
departed--just one word that I was sure had been genuinely bestowed by
them--and so I was brought to a full consciousness of the sacredness
of the thought, and became deeply interested to discover if there was
a possible reality to the return, by Spirit, of one who had passed
over the border and ever since have devoted to this effort my heart and
soul and what brain power I possess. In this frame of mind I began a
new line of psychical research in all seriousness and from that time to
the present I have never entered a seance room except with an open mind
devoutly anxious to learn if intercommunication is within the range of
possibilities and with a willingness to accept any demonstration which
proves a revelation of truth.
It is this question as to the truth or falsity of intercommunication
between the dead and the living, more than anything else, that has
claimed my attention and to which I have devoted years of research and
conscientious study. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle says in one of his lectures:
“When one has a knock at the door, one does not pause, but goes further
to see what causes it and investigates, and sooner or later one
discovers that a message is being delivered,...”
So I have gone to investigate the knocks, but as a result of my
efforts I must confess that I am farther than ever from belief in the
genuineness of Spirit manifestations and after twenty-five years of
ardent research and endeavor I declare that nothing has been revealed
to convince me that intercommunication has been established between the
Spirits of the departed and those still in the flesh.
I have made compacts with fourteen different persons that whichever of
us died first would communicate with the other if it were possible,
but I have never received a word. The first of these compacts was made
more than twenty-five years ago and I am certain that if any one of the
persons could have reached me he would have done so. One compact was
made with my private secretary, the late John W. Sargent, a man of
mature years. We were very much attached to each other. The day before
he underwent an operation he said to me:
“Houdini, this may be the end. If it is, I am coming back to you no
matter what happens on the other side provided there is any way I can
reach you. And if I can come, you will know it is I because I am going
to will it so strong that you cannot be mistaken.”
He died the next day. That was more than three years ago and there
has been no sign. I have waited and watched believing that if any man
ever could have sent back word he would have been the man. And I know
that our minds were so close to each other that I would have received
the signal that my friend wanted to call me. No one could accuse me of
being unwilling to receive such a sign because it would have been the
greatest enlightenment I could possibly have had in this world.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a sincere and confirmed believer in Spirit
phenomena whose acquaintance I esteem, advises me that I do not secure
convincing results because I am a skeptic and I therefore want to
make it clear that I am not a scoffer. I firmly believe in a Supreme
Being and that there is a Hereafter. Therefore since their departure
from this earth it has been my practice, as a final duty, to visit
the sacred resting places of my dearly beloved parents, and ask their
protection and silent blessings through the Omnipotent Almighty.
The very first place I visit when I return from a trip is this same
hallowed spot. Both promised me faithfully innumerable times in this
life that if they could aid and protect me from their graves or from
the Great Beyond, they would do so. My mind has always been open and
receptive and ready to believe. In attending seances I have always
made a pledge of honor with myself to banish all profane thoughts
from my mind to the utmost of my ability. I further pledge myself to
concentrate. I have persuaded my whole soul, brain and thought to a
point where the medium has my attention to such an extent that at
the finish I feel as much exhausted as the medium who shows to those
present the effects of great strain irrespective of its cause. Thus it
must be seen that I am not a skeptic. However, it has been my life work
to invent and publicly present problems, the secrets of which not even
the members of the magical profession have been able to discover, and
the effects of which have proved as inexplicable to the scientists as
any marvel of the mediums, and I claim that in so far as the revelation
of trickery is concerned my years of investigation have been more
productive than the same period of similar work by any scientist; that
my record as a “mystifier of mystifiers” qualifies me to look below
the surface of any mystery problem presented to me and that with my
eyes trained by thirty years’ experience in the realms of mystery and
occultism it is not strange that I view these so-called phenomena
from a different angle than the ordinary layman or even the expert
investigator.
A memorable incident in my life and one that shows how little the world
at large understands the methods by which my mysteries are produced
and also shows how easy it is for even a great intellect, faced with
a mystery it cannot fathom, to conclude that there is something
supernatural involved, has to do with Madame Sarah Bernhardt.
During one of my various engagements in Paris she had witnessed my
performances and was anxious to see one of my outdoor exploits, so,
when we were both playing at the same time in Boston, out of good
camaraderie I gave a special performance at my hotel adding a few
extra experiments for her benefit. As we were seated in the motor
car on the way to my demonstration she placed her arm gently around
my shoulder, and in that wonderful speaking voice with which she was
gifted and which has thrilled thousands of auditors, but now stilled
forever, she said to me:
“Houdini, you do such marvellous things. Couldn’t you--could you bring
back my leg for me?”
I looked at her, startled, and failing to see any mischievous sparkle
in her eye replied:
“Good heavens, Madame, certainly not; you cannot be serious. You
know my powers are limited and you are actually asking me to do the
impossible.”
“Yes,” she said as she leaned closer to me, “but you do the impossible.”
We looked at each other; she, the travel-worn, experienced woman of the
world; I, the humble mystifier, nonplussed and thunderstruck at the
extraordinary, unintentional compliment she was paying me. Then I asked:
“Are you jesting?”
“_Mais non, Houdini, j’ai jamais été plus sèrieux dans ma vie_,”[1] she
answered as she slowly shook her head.
“Madame, you exaggerate my ability,” I told her.
Each of the marvels of modern scientific achievement such as the
telephone, radio, flying machine, radium, etc., were at one time
classed as impossible and would have been looked upon as supernatural,
if not Spiritual manifestations. Similar mysteries, but more frail in
principle and constructive detail, were the instruments used by the
priestcraft of ancient religious cults for the purpose of holding the
mass of unintelligent beings in servitude.
It is not unusual for the eye or ear to play tricks with one but when
such illusions and delusions are taken for the Spirit forms of the
departed and voices of the dead instead of being recognized as some
subjective phenomena brought about by a physical cause the situation
takes on a grave aspect. It is this transfer of an inner reaction to an
external object which constitutes practically all that is necessary to
be placed in the category of “psychics,” who represent the priests and
ministers of Spiritualism.
Distressed relatives catch at the least word which may remotely
indicate that the Spirit which they seek is in communication with them.
One little sign even, which appeals to their waiting imagination,
shatters all ordinary caution and they are converted. Then they
begin to accept all kinds of natural events as results of Spirit
intervention. This state of mind is productive of many misfortunes,
including suicides by those who think they are going to happiness
with loved ones beyond the pale. When in Europe in 1919 finishing
an engagement interrupted by the World War I was impressed by the
eagerness of grief-stricken parents for the solace of a word from the
boy who had passed on and my desire for the truth was renewed with
fresh vigor. I am informed that so great has the “medium” craze become
in Berlin that the grief-stricken residents have spent great sums of
money in the hope of discovering mediums who will “guarantee them a
glimpse behind the veil.” It is with the deepest interest and concern
that I have watched this great wave of Spiritualism sweep the world in
recent months and realized that it has taken such a hold on persons of
a neurotic temperament, especially those suffering from bereavement,
that it has become a menace to health and sanity.
Professor George M. Robertson, eminent psychopathologist, and
Physician-Superintendent of the Royal Edinburgh Mental Hospital, made
the danger of insanity resulting from strong belief in Spiritualism by
neurotics the subject of a part of his annual report in 1920. He says:
“Those who had sustained bereavements during the war and bore them with
equanimity in the days of crowded incidents and amidst the pressure of
war activities, such as Red Cross and other work, find it much harder
to bear up now, although time has elapsed. Some have broken down since
the war came to an end. Many, as a solace to their feelings, have taken
an interest in Spiritualism. Since Dr. Charles Mercier quoted in the
preface of his book ‘Spiritualism and Sir Oliver Lodge’ my warning on
the danger of neurotic persons engaging in practical inquiries of a
Spiritualistic nature, I have received many requests to say more on the
subject. I have little to add save to reaffirm the statement then made.
“I do not consider either Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or Sir Oliver Lodge
to be safe judges, whose opinion should be accepted on this difficult
and important subject, in view of their bereavement and unconscious
desires. If the wish be father to the thought, it is mother to the
hallucination of the senses.
“The tricks the brain can play without calling in Spiritualistic aids
are simply astounding, and only those who have made a study of morbid
as well as normal psychology, realize the full truth of this.”
I have read with keen curiosity the articles by leading scientists on
the subject of psychic phenomena, particularly those by Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle and Sir Oliver Lodge, in which they have discussed their
respective conversions to a belief in communication with the dead.
There is no doubt in my mind that some of these scientists are
sincere in their belief but unfortunately it is through this very
_sincerity_ that thousands become converts. The fact that they are
_scientists_ does not endow them with an especial gift for detecting
the particular sort of fraud used by mediums, nor does it bar them from
being deceived, especially when they are fortified in their belief by
grief, for the various books and records of the subject are replete
with deceptions practised on noted scientists who have essayed to
investigate prominent mediums. It is perfectly rational to suppose
that I may be deceived once or twice by a new illusion, but if my
mind, which has been so keenly trained for years to invent mysterious
effects, can be deceived, how much more susceptible must the ordinary
observer be.
During my last trip abroad, in 1919, I attended over one hundred
seances with the sole purpose of honest investigation; these seances
were presided over by well-known mediums in France and England. In
addition to attending these seances I spent a great deal of time
conferring with persons prominently identified with Spiritualism.
In the course of my intense investigations I have met most of the
famous mediums of our time. I have submitted to conditions imposed
by them and religiously awaited results, but I still question any
so-called proof of the existence of Spirits who are interested in any
way, physically or mentally, in the welfare of mortal men. It is not
within the province of this book, which is the result of my years of
investigation, to give all the historical detail concerning every
medium mentioned, though enough are furnished in each instance to
establish my claims, each of which is based on a thorough study of
the records as are also my statements many of which are supported by
documentary evidence in my possession.
I have spent a goodly part of my life in study and research. During
the last thirty years I have read every single piece of literature on
the subject of Spiritualism that I could. I have accumulated one of
the largest libraries in the world on psychic phenomena, Spiritualism,
magic, witchcraft, demonology, evil spirits, etc., some of the material
going back as far as 1489, and I doubt if any one in the world has so
complete a library on modern Spiritualism, but nothing I ever read
concerning the so-called Spiritualistic phenomena has impressed me
as being genuine. It is true that some of the things I read seemed
mystifying but I question if they would be were they to be reproduced
under different circumstances, under _test conditions_, and before
expert mystifiers and open minded committees. Mine has not been an
investigation of a few days or weeks or months but one that has
extended over thirty years and in that thirty years I have not found
one incident that savoured of the genuine. If there had been any real
unalloyed demonstration to work on, one that did not reek of fraud,
one that could not be reproduced by earthly powers, then there would
be something for a foundation, but up to the present time everything
that I have investigated has been the result of deluded brains or those
which were too actively and intensely willing to believe.
HOUDINI.
PREFACE
Gladly would I embrace Spiritualism if it could prove its claims, but I
am not willing to be deluded by the fraudulent impositions of so-called
psychics, or accept as sacred reality any of the evidence that has been
placed before me thus far.
The ancients’ childish belief in demonology and witchcraft; the
superstitions of the civilized and uncivilized, and those marvellous
mysteries of past ages are all laughed at by the full grown sense of
the present generation; yet we are asked, in all seriousness, by a few
scientists and scholars, to accept as absolute truth such testimony as
is built up by their pet mediums, which, so far, has been proven to be
nothing beyond a more or less elaborate construction of fiction resting
on the slenderest of foundations, or rather, absolutely no foundation.
Not only educated men and women with emotional longings for some
assurance of the continued existence of departed loved ones, but people
of all phases and conditions of life, have completely surrendered
themselves to belief in the most monstrous fiction, vouched for by
only a single witness of the so-called phenomenon, and that too when
the medium, through whom the phenomenon was supposed to have presented
itself, had been caught cheating time and again.
I believe in a Hereafter and no greater blessing could be bestowed upon
me than the opportunity, once again, to speak to my sainted Mother who
awaits me with open arms to press me to her heart in welcome, just as
she did when I entered this mundane sphere.
H.
_Spring, 1924._
A MAGICIAN AMONG THE SPIRITS
CHAPTER I
THE FOUNDERS OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM
The story of modern spirit manifestations, so called, dates from
1848 and the “solitary farmhouse” of John D. Fox and his wife in the
village of Hydesville, in New York State, and centres around their
two little girls, Margaret, eight, and Kate, younger by a year and
a half. Successfully exploited while still children; credited with
occult power; becoming world-famous as “The Fox Sisters,”--their record
is, without exception, one of the most interesting in the history of
spiritualism.
John Fox and his wife appear to have been of the “good, honest,” but
not mentally keen type of farmer folk. Of the two, the wife was the
more “simple minded,” and when the “nervous, superstitious woman”
began to hear unusual noises which she could not account for, and
which seemed in some peculiar manner connected with her children, she
concluded at once that the sounds were “unnatural” and began to brood
over the matter. Her fears increased with the persistent recurrence of
the mysterious sounds, and before long she took some of the neighbors
into her confidence. They were as puzzled as the mother, the Fox home
became an object of suspicion and the neighborhood set itself the task
of solving the mystery.
With the increase of interest came a proportionate increase in the
noises, which commenced to be known as “rappings,” and which, in spite
of the positive denials by the children of any knowledge of how they
were produced, regularly answered by an uncanny code questions asked
the two girls. The possibility of duplicity in such children never
occurred to any one in Hydesville, with the result that the timid hint
of a “disembodied spirit” soon became a theory. Some one asked the
girls if a murder had ever been committed in the house. The ominous
sounds of the code answered in the affirmative and at once to the eager
investigators, the theory became a proven fact and there flashed up in
their minds the vision of a personality in the Spirit World endeavoring
by crude means, which somewhat resembled telegraphy, to give to human
beings the benefit of its vaster knowledge, the whole affair in some
obscure manner being connected with two little girls.
At this critical moment a married daughter of John D. Fox and his wife
came home to Hydesville for a visit. Twenty-three years older than
little Margaret, of a very different type than either father or mother,
she seems to have grasped instantly the possibilities in the “occult”
powers of her little sisters and to have taken complete command of the
Fox family’s affairs at once. Her first move was to organize a “Society
of Spiritualists” and encourage crowds to come to the house to see
the children. Hydesville became famous almost overnight. News of the
peculiar “rappings” spread with lightning-like rapidity and soon became
an absorbing topic of conversation, not only in the United States, but
in England, France, Italy, and Germany as well. Women like Harriet
Martineau and Elizabeth Barrett Browning were said to have given their
whole thought to it, and men of the strongest intellect and will to be
“caught in the meshes it had woven in contemporaneous thought.”
Hydesville became too small a field for the operations of Mrs. Fish,
the older sister, very quickly, and soon she appears in Rochester with
the girls, publicly exhibiting their feats to great crowds for money,
realizing from one hundred to a hundred and fifty dollars a night in
profits, which she pocketed. From Rochester she took them to New York
City, and later the girls made a tour of the cities of the United
States, attracting the “most prominent theologians, physicians, and
professional men of all kinds, as well as great crowds everywhere.”
There is no record that the girls were ever under the management of
Mrs. Fish after they left New York City although she menaced them
continually and Margaret feared her as long as she lived.
The grand tour over, Kate, sponsored by Horace Greeley, went to school
and Margaret, just developing into an attractive young woman, and
destined to become the more famous of the two mediums, began a series
of seances in rooms occupied by herself and mother at the Union Hotel
in Philadelphia. There romance entered her life on a day in 1853 in the
person of Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, the noted Arctic explorer.
His had been a remarkable career. Belonging to one of the most
aristocratic families in Philadelphia; the son of a judge; handsome;
still under thirty-four; graduated more than ten years previously from
the University of Pennsylvania, he had gone out to China with Commodore
Parker as “surgeon of the embassy,” later obtained a leave of absence
and travelled through Greece on foot, went up the Nile, toured India,
Ceylon, and the South Sea Islands, and even “dared the Himalayas.”
The Mexican War had furnished him an opportunity to “win spurs for
gallantry.” and, this over, he had joined a relief expedition which
went in search of Sir John Franklin in 1850.[2]
This much travelled, much experienced man of the world was instantly
and irresistibly attracted to the young medium. An acquaintance
was formed and it was not long before Doctor Kane determined that,
regardless of all obstacles, she should be his wife. In spite of the
efforts of his family, he soon made arrangements to educate Margaret,
and she was placed with a tutor in a quiet suburb of Philadelphia,
where an aunt of the doctor’s could have an oversight of her and where
in addition to her other studies she was to be made proficient in
French, German, and Italian, as well as vocal and instrumental music.
Her vacations were spent with a sister of Senator Cockrell. For some
three or four years she was thus sheltered from the world, while the
doctor did all in his power to eradicate from her mind everything
connected with spiritualism and “rappings.” Then came the turn of the
tide.
The doctor became broken in health as a result of exposure in the
Arctic and decided to go abroad. There had been neither civil or
religious ceremony to mark his marriage to Margaret, but just before he
sailed, in the presence of her mother and other witnesses, he declared
that they were husband and wife. His health grew worse in London and
he left there for the West Indies, where Margaret and her mother were
to join him, but their preparations for the journey were cut short by
the announcement in the papers of his death in Havana on the 16th of
February, 1857. Margaret was prostrated by the blow. A long sickness
followed and when she finally recovered it was to face the world, not
only friendless and alone, but penniless as well, for, owing to a
compromise, she did not share in the doctor’s estate. Disappointed,
disheartened, and bitter she went back to her Spiritualism and
“rappings.” For thirty years she wandered from place to place holding
seances. For thirty years she suffered the tortures of remorse and ill
health. She believed she was being driven “into hell.” She loathed
the thing she was, and tried at times to drown her troubles in wine.
For thirty years she lived in constant fear of her older sister. Then
Margaret Kane found a temporary solace in the Catholic Church. But
there were still more months of struggle before she finally found
courage to tell the story of the world-famous “rappings” in a signed
confession given to the press in October, 1888.[3]
“I do this,” she said, “because I consider it my duty, a sacred thing,
a holy mission, to expose it (Spiritualism). I want to see the day when
it is entirely done away with. After I expose it I hope Spiritualism
will be given a death blow. I was the first in the field and I have a
right to expose it.[4]
“My sister Katie and I were very young children when this horrible
deception began. I was only eight, just a year and a half older than
she. We were very mischievous children and sought merely to terrify our
dear mother, who was a very good woman and very easily frightened.
“When we went to bed at night we used to tie an apple to a string and
move the string up and down, causing the apple to bump on the floor,
or we would drop the apple on the floor, making a strange noise every
time it would rebound. Mother listened to this for a time. She would
not understand it and did not suspect us as being capable of a trick
because we were so young.
“At last she could stand it no longer and she called the neighbors in
and told them about it. It was this that set us to discover a means of
making the raps more effectually. I think, when I reflect about it,
that it was a most wonderful discovery, a very wonderful thing that
children should make such a discovery, and all through a desire to do
mischief only.[5]
“Our oldest sister was twenty-three years of age when I was born. She
was in Rochester when these tricks first began but came to Hydesville,
the little village in central New York where we were born and lived.
“All the neighbors around, as I have said, were called in to witness
these manifestations. There were so many people coming to the house
that we were not able to make use of the apple trick except when we
were in bed and the room was dark. Even then we could hardly do it, so
the only way was to rap on the bedstead.
“And that is the way we began. First, as a mere trick to frighten
mother, and then, when so many people came to see us children, we were
ourselves frightened, and for self-preservation forced to keep it up.
No one suspected us of any trick because we were such young children.
We were led on by my sister purposely and by mother unintentionally. We
often heard her say:
“‘Is this a disembodied spirit that has taken possession of my dear
children?’
“That encouraged our fun and we went on. All the neighbors thought
there was something and they wanted to find out what it was. They were
convinced that some one had been murdered in the house. They asked the
spirits through us about it and we would rap one for the spirit answer
‘yes,’ not three as we did afterwards. The murder they concluded must
have been committed in the house. They went over the whole surrounding
country trying to get the names of people who had formerly lived in the
house. Finally they found a man by the name of Bell, and they said that
this poor innocent man had committed a murder in the house and that
the noises came from the spirit of the murdered person. Poor Bell was
shunned and looked upon by the whole community as a murderer.[6]
“Mrs. Underhill, my eldest sister, took Katie and me to Rochester.
There it was that we discovered a new way to make the raps. My sister
Katie was the first to observe that by swishing her fingers she could
produce certain noises with her knuckles and joints, and that the same
effect could be made with the toes. Finding that we could make raps
with our feet--first with one foot and then with both--we practiced
until we could do this easily when the room was dark.
“Like most perplexing things when made clear, it is astonishing how
easily it is done. The rappings are simply the result of a perfect
control of the muscles of the leg below the knee, which govern the
tendons of the foot and allow action of the toe and ankle bones that
is not commonly known. Such perfect control is only possible when a
child is taken at an early age and carefully and continually taught
to practice the muscles, which grow stiff in later years. A child at
twelve is almost too old. With control of the muscles of the foot, the
toes may be brought down to the floor without any movement that is
perceptible to the eye. The whole foot, in fact, can be made to give
rappings by the use only of the muscles below the knee. This, then, is
the simple explanation of the whole method of the knocks and raps.
“In Rochester Mrs. Underhill gave exhibitions. We had crowds coming
to see us and she made as much as a hundred to a hundred and fifty
dollars a night. She pocketed this. Parties came in from all parts to
see us. Many as soon as they heard a little rap were convinced. To
all questions we answered by raps. We knew when to rap ‘yes’ or ‘no’
according to certain signs which Mrs. Underhill gave us during the
seance.
“A great many people when they hear the rapping imagine at once that
the spirits are touching them. It is a very common delusion. Some
very wealthy people came to see me some years ago when I lived in
Forty-second Street and I did some rappings for them. I made the spirit
rap on the chair and one of the ladies cried out:
“‘I feel the spirit tapping me on the shoulder.’
“Of course that was pure imagination.
“Katie and I were led around like lambs. We went to New York from
Rochester and then all over the United States. We drew immense crowds.
I remember particularly Cincinnati. We stopped at the Burnett House.
The rooms were jammed from morning till night and we were called upon
by those old wretches to show our rappings when we should have been out
at play in the fresh air.
“Nobody has ever suspected anything from the start in 1848 until
the present day as to any trickery in our methods. There has never
been a detection.[7] But as the world grew wise and science began to
investigate we began to adapt our experiments to our audiences. Our
seances were held in a room. There was a centre-table in the middle and
we all stood around it.
“As far as _Spirits_ were concerned neither my sister nor I thought
about it. I know that there is no such thing as the departed returning
to this life. Many people have said to me that such a thing was
possible and seemed to believe so firmly in it that I tried to see, and
I have tried in every form and know that it cannot be done.
“After I married, Dr. Kane would not let me refer to my old life--he
wanted me to forget it. But when I was poor, after his death, I was
driven to it again, and I wish to say clearly that I owe all my
misfortune to that woman, my sister. I have asked her time and again:
“‘Now that you are rich why don’t you save your soul?’
“But at my words she would fly into a passion. She wanted to establish
a new religion and she told me that she received messages from spirits.
She knew that we were tricking people but she tried to make us believe
spirits existed. She told us that before we were born spirits came into
her room and told her that we were destined for great things.
“Yes, I am going to expose Spiritualism from its very foundation. I
have had the idea in my head for many a year but I have never come to
a determination before. I have thought of it day and night. I loathe
the thing I have been. I used to say to those who wanted me to give a
seance:
“‘You are driving me into Hell.’
“Then the next day I would drown my remorse in wine. I was too honest
to remain a ‘medium.’ That’s why I gave up my exhibitions. I have seen
so much miserable deception! Every morning of my life I have it before
me. When I wake up I brood over it. That is why I am willing to state
that Spiritualism is a fraud of the worst description. I have had a
life of sorrow, I have been poor and ill, but I consider it my duty, a
sacred thing, a holy mission to expose it. I want to see the day when
it is entirely done away with. After my sister Katie and I expose it I
hope Spiritualism will be given a death blow.
“I do not want it understood that the Catholic Church has advised me
to make these public exposures and confession. It is my own idea. My
own mission. I would have done it long ago if I could have had the
necessary money and courage to do it. I could not find anyone to help
me--I was too timid to ask.
“I am now very poor. I intend, however, to expose Spiritualism because
I think it is my sacred duty. If I cannot do it who can? I who have
been the beginning of it? At least I hope to reduce the ranks of the
eight million Spiritualists in the country. I go into it as into a holy
war. I am waiting anxiously and fearlessly for the moment when I can
show the world, by personal demonstration, that all Spiritualism is a
fraud and a deception. It is a branch of legerdemain, but it has to be
closely studied to gain perfection. None but a child at an early age,
would have ever attained the proficiency and wrought such widespread
evil as I have.
[Illustration: JOHN D. FOX AND HIS WIFE]
[Illustration: THE FOX HOME AT HYDESVILLE]
“I trust that this statement, coming solemnly from me, the first and
the most successful in this deception, will break the rapid growth of
Spiritualism and prove that it is all a fraud, hypocrisy and delusion.
(Signed) “Margaret Fox Kane.”[8]
Mrs. Kane’s “confession” was published in the Sunday edition of
the New York _World_ on October 21, 1888. Arrangements had been
made for her to give a public demonstration and exposition of the
so-called “marvellous” Spiritualistic “phenomena” that same evening
at the Academy of Music in New York. Meanwhile, in order to foil the
“attempts” of certain mediums to “kidnap her” she was being closely
guarded at her hotel where during the day she was interviewed by
newspaper men. Expecting when she left her room to answer questions
only she nevertheless readily consented to give some evidence of “how
the trick was done” in order to do all in her power to “complete the
exposure and demonstrate the utter absurdity of the claim made by
mediums that she was possessed of spiritual power in spite of her
denials.” The _World_ reporter told of this private demonstration as
follows:
“‘Now,’ said Mrs. Kane, ‘I will stand up before these folding-doors and
you may stand as near as you please and I will call up any “spirit”
that you wish and answer any questions. One rap means “no” and three
raps mean “yes.” Are you ready?’
“‘Is Napoleon Bonaparte present?’ the reporter asked, watching Mrs.
Kane closely. Three raps (yes).
“‘Does he know me? I mean did he ever meet and converse with me?’ Three
raps.
“‘That is strange, isn’t it,’ remarked Mrs. Kane, smiling, ‘in view of
the fact that he must have died before you were born? Try again.’
“‘Is Abraham Lincoln present?’ Three raps.
“‘Well you see the “spirits” are very obliging.’
“‘Will Harrison be elected?’ One loud rap (no).
“‘Will President Cleveland get another term?’ Three raps.”
That night some two thousand or more persons crowded the Academy of
Music to witness the sensational exposé. Most of them were sober,
sensible people who “hailed with delight” the announcement that one
of the famous Fox Sisters was to make a “clean breast of her share in
Spiritualistic humbuggery.” But certain portions of the house were
packed with pronounced Spiritualists, men and women who regarded
all efforts to disillusion the public as so many personal insults,
and when, previous to Mrs. Kane’s appearance, Dr. C. M. Richmond, a
prominent New York dentist who had spent twenty years and thousands
of dollars investigating mediumistic tricks and wiles explained and
demonstrated in full light the full methods of producing them, this
Spiritualistic contingent became decidedly hostile and when Mrs. Kane
finally stepped before the big audience to “confess orally what she
had already confessed in print” she was laboring under too great a
nervous strain to make any “intelligent utterance.” Those in charge of
the affair realizing that an address was out of the question at once
suggested that she immediately give a demonstration of the “rappings.”
One of the New York papers the next morning published the following
description of what happened.[9]
“But if her tongue had lost its power her preternatural toe joint had
not. A plain wooden stool, or table, resting upon four short legs and
having the properties of a sounding board was placed in front of her.
Removing her shoe, she placed her right foot upon this little table.
“The entire house became breathlessly still and was rewarded by a
number of little short, sharp raps--those mysterious sounds which have
for forty years frightened and bewildered hundreds of thousands of
people in this country and in Europe.
“A committee consisting of three physicians taken from the audience
then ascended the stage, and having made an examination of her foot
during the progress of the rappings, unhesitatingly agreed that the
sounds were made by the action of the first joint of her large toe.
“The demonstration was perfect and complete and only the most
hopelessly prejudiced and bigoted fanatics of Spiritualism could
withstand the irresistible force of this commonplace explanation and
exhibition of how spirit rappings are produced.”
The exposure attracted widespread attention. Letters poured in from
far and wide begging for confirmation, explanation or denial. The rest
of the tribe of mediums naively hinted that if there had been fraud it
was well to have it exposed but of course _they_ were genuine. Many
who had believed in Spiritualism wrote most pathetically. One of these
writing from San Francisco says:
“I have been a believer in the phenomena from its first inception
through you and your sister, believing it to be true since that time.
“I am now eighty-one years old and have but a short time of course, to
remain in this world, and I feel a great anxiety to know through you if
I have been deceived all this time in a matter of vital interest to us
all.”[10]
But perhaps of them all none better expresses what a blow the exposure
was to thousands who had accepted as genuine the messages of the
mysterious raps or describes more vividly the effect of Spiritualism
on many who are attracted to it than the following from a woman in
Boston.[11]
“Hundreds of thousands have believed through you and you alone.
Hundreds of thousands eagerly ask you whether all the glorious light
that they fancied you had given them, was but the false flicker of a
common dip-candle of fraud.
“If, as you say, you were forced to pursue this imposture from
childhood, I can forgive you, and I am sure God will; for he turns not
back the truly repentant. I will not upbraid you. I am sure you have
suffered as much as any penalty, human or divine, could cause you to
suffer. The disclosures that you make take from me all that I have
cherished most. There is nothing left for me now but to hope for the
reality of that repose which death promises us.
“It is perhaps better that the delusion should be at last swept away by
one single word, and that word ‘fraud.’
[Illustration: LEAH FOX FISH]
[Illustration: KATIE FOX JENCKEN]
[Illustration: MARGARET FOX KANE]
[Illustration: ELISHA KENT KANE, M.D.]
“I know that the pursuit of this shadowy belief has wrought upon
my brain and that I am no longer my old self. Money I have spent
in thousands and thousands of dollars within a few short years to
propitiate the ‘mediumistic’ intelligence. It is true that never once
have I received a message or the token of a word that did not leave a
still unsatisfied longing in my heart, a feeling that it was not really
my loved one after all who was speaking to me, or if it was my loved
one that he was changed, that I hardly knew him and he hardly knew
me. But that must have been the true intuition. It is better that the
delusion is past, after all, for had I kept on in that way, I am sure
I should have gone mad. The constant seeking, the frequent pretended
response, its unsatisfying meaning, the sense of distance and change
between me and my loved one--oh! it has been horrible, horrible!
“He who is dying of thirst and has the sweet cup ever snatched from his
lips, just as the first drop touches them--he alone can know what in
actual things is the similitude of this Spiritualistic torture.
“God bless you, for I think that you now speak the truth. You have
my forgiveness at least, and I believe that thousands of others will
forgive you, for the atonement made in season wipes out much of the
stain of the early sin.”
Margaret Kane’s “confession” did not bring her the relief or friends
she had hoped for, nor did it end her connection with Spiritualism for,
glad as she would have been to give it up for good, her theatrical
exposure was a financial failure and before long she was down and
out again and once more she resorted to Spiritualism as a means of
livelihood, giving seances and mediumistic meetings in a number of
cities throughout the United States; but her power of fooling the
public was gone. Having confessed to deceit once, no amount of
persuasion on her part could convince the public that she was genuine,
and in place of the thousands who had flocked to her in her younger
days she never had more than a handful at her meetings. Her only
friends were Spiritualists for strangely enough some of them still had
faith in her, even when she was exposing Spiritualism, believing that
she had fallen into the hands of evil spirits when she confessed that
she was a fraud.
Some time after the confession a “recantation” was circulated as coming
from Mrs. Kane. I was never able to find any proof of its authenticity
but my friend, Mr. W. S. Davis, who knew her well, informed me that
she did make it--that she had to, or starve. It was not wholly
voluntary though as Mr. Newton (then President of the First Society of
Spiritualists) convinced her that it would be for her interest, and the
interest of Spiritualism as well to do it. It made little difference,
however, for the career of the unfortunate woman was nearly over.
Frequently overcome by drink, forced on by privation and misery, death
came to her, on March 8, 1895, less than seven years after she had
stood in a crowded theatre and deliberately shown the method of making
the raps which had brought her fame for four decades.
The Fox Sisters used Spiritualism only as a means to “get while the
getting was good.” Fortunately for the general public Spiritualism
received a severe jolt in the confession of Margaret Fox Kane; there
was an end to the Fox “swindle” and an untold amount of blood-money
and grief saved to poor misguided souls so easily fooled by a simple
physical trick.