1 00:00:15,410 --> 00:00:26,250 Speaker 1: Pushkin In summer nineteen twenty two outside the Ambassador Hotel 2 00:00:26,490 --> 00:00:30,570 Speaker 1: in Atlantic City, New Jersey, two of the world's most 3 00:00:30,690 --> 00:00:34,890 Speaker 1: famous men are relaxing in deck chairs with their wives. 4 00:00:36,130 --> 00:00:40,490 Speaker 1: One man is famous for his astonishing escapes from handcuffs, 5 00:00:40,530 --> 00:00:46,010 Speaker 1: strait jackets, orb and buried alive Harry Houdini, the world's 6 00:00:46,090 --> 00:00:52,370 Speaker 1: greatest mystifier. The other man is Sir Arthur Coman Doyle, 7 00:00:53,090 --> 00:00:57,410 Speaker 1: famous for his novels about the world's greatest solver of mysteries, 8 00:00:57,890 --> 00:01:02,650 Speaker 1: Sherlock Holmes. Has the celebrated detective like to say, when 9 00:01:02,650 --> 00:01:08,530 Speaker 1: you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be 10 00:01:08,570 --> 00:01:12,730 Speaker 1: the truth. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is not only a 11 00:01:12,770 --> 00:01:16,250 Speaker 1: famous author, but also the best known advocate for the 12 00:01:16,370 --> 00:01:23,050 Speaker 1: new religion of Spiritualism. That religion is growing quickly. Spiritualist 13 00:01:23,090 --> 00:01:27,210 Speaker 1: mediums say they can pass on messages from departed loved ones, 14 00:01:27,970 --> 00:01:32,330 Speaker 1: and the world has no shortage of bereaved relatives. The 15 00:01:32,370 --> 00:01:36,490 Speaker 1: Great War and the Spanish Flu have cut down swathes 16 00:01:36,530 --> 00:01:42,250 Speaker 1: of young people, including Sir Arthur's son. Sir Arthur has 17 00:01:42,410 --> 00:01:47,050 Speaker 1: no doubt whatsoever that it's possible to communicate with the dead, 18 00:01:48,250 --> 00:01:53,170 Speaker 1: Houdini is keenly interested in whether or not that's true. 19 00:01:53,330 --> 00:01:56,930 Speaker 1: A couple of years earlier, Sir Arthur had seen Houdini's 20 00:01:56,970 --> 00:02:01,650 Speaker 1: show and invited him for lunch. They've been friends ever since. 21 00:02:02,610 --> 00:02:07,530 Speaker 2: Houdini, if agreeable, Lady Doyle will give you a special seance, 22 00:02:07,970 --> 00:02:09,890 Speaker 2: as she has a feeling, but she might have a 23 00:02:09,930 --> 00:02:14,290 Speaker 2: message come through at any rate she is willing to try. 24 00:02:14,970 --> 00:02:18,610 Speaker 1: The message in question would be from Houdini's mother, whose 25 00:02:18,770 --> 00:02:24,570 Speaker 1: death nine years earlier had devastated the great magician. As 26 00:02:24,610 --> 00:02:25,970 Speaker 1: Houdini once said. 27 00:02:26,610 --> 00:02:31,050 Speaker 3: If God, in his infinite wisdom, ever sent an angel 28 00:02:31,170 --> 00:02:34,810 Speaker 3: upon earth in human form, it was my mother. 29 00:02:37,170 --> 00:02:40,370 Speaker 1: Houdini had always been a mother's boy, even as a 30 00:02:40,410 --> 00:02:43,450 Speaker 1: grown adult. He liked to lie with his head on 31 00:02:43,490 --> 00:02:48,290 Speaker 1: her breast to listen to her heartbeat. In the weeks 32 00:02:48,370 --> 00:02:53,370 Speaker 1: before her death, it had some strange sense of foreboding. 33 00:02:53,970 --> 00:02:59,290 Speaker 1: Visiting his father's grave, Houdini suddenly felt an urge to 34 00:02:59,370 --> 00:03:04,290 Speaker 1: lie down in the dirt. What on earth are you doing, 35 00:03:05,050 --> 00:03:07,770 Speaker 1: asked his brother. I want to lie on the spot 36 00:03:07,850 --> 00:03:12,770 Speaker 1: where our mother will one day rest. Houdini replied, for 37 00:03:12,810 --> 00:03:17,850 Speaker 1: goodness sake, said his brother, don't be so morose. But 38 00:03:18,090 --> 00:03:22,730 Speaker 1: their mother too may have had a premonition. As Harry 39 00:03:22,810 --> 00:03:26,130 Speaker 1: boarded a ship to cross the Atlantic for a month's 40 00:03:26,170 --> 00:03:31,530 Speaker 1: long tour of Europe, she whispered, perhaps I won't be 41 00:03:31,690 --> 00:03:36,250 Speaker 1: here when you return. Then again, she said that every 42 00:03:36,290 --> 00:03:40,250 Speaker 1: time he went away. Hoodini was just about to go 43 00:03:40,290 --> 00:03:44,890 Speaker 1: on stage in Copenhagen when he got a telegram. He 44 00:03:44,930 --> 00:03:47,490 Speaker 1: slipped it in his pocket. No time to read it. 45 00:03:47,530 --> 00:03:52,610 Speaker 1: Now the show was a triumph, the after party in 46 00:03:52,770 --> 00:03:58,090 Speaker 1: full swing. When Houdini remembered the telegram and took it 47 00:03:58,130 --> 00:04:05,050 Speaker 1: from his pocket. His mother was dead a stroke, aged 48 00:04:05,290 --> 00:04:12,570 Speaker 1: seventy two. Houdini promptly fainted. When he came back around, 49 00:04:12,810 --> 00:04:15,970 Speaker 1: he canceled the rest of his tour and took the 50 00:04:16,010 --> 00:04:19,850 Speaker 1: first ship back to New York, where he spent night 51 00:04:20,330 --> 00:04:26,530 Speaker 1: after night, week after week, sitting solemnly by his mother's grave. 52 00:04:28,410 --> 00:04:31,290 Speaker 1: I can't seem to get over it, he wrote to 53 00:04:31,330 --> 00:04:31,770 Speaker 1: his brother. 54 00:04:32,730 --> 00:04:37,490 Speaker 3: I believe in a hereafter, Houdini later said, And no 55 00:04:37,650 --> 00:04:41,210 Speaker 3: greater blessing could be bestowed upon me than the opportunity 56 00:04:41,330 --> 00:04:44,970 Speaker 3: once again to speak to my sainted mother. 57 00:04:49,850 --> 00:04:53,730 Speaker 1: And so on the beach in Atlantic City. So Arthur 58 00:04:53,850 --> 00:04:57,930 Speaker 1: Conan Noyle turns to Houdini's wife, Bess. 59 00:04:58,610 --> 00:05:02,370 Speaker 4: You understand, missus Houdini, that this will be a test 60 00:05:02,450 --> 00:05:04,810 Speaker 4: to see whether we can make any spirit come through 61 00:05:04,850 --> 00:05:08,850 Speaker 4: for Houdini, and conditions may prove better if no other forces. 62 00:05:10,170 --> 00:05:12,930 Speaker 4: You do not mind if we make the experiment without you. 63 00:05:13,770 --> 00:05:15,170 Speaker 3: Go write ahead, Sir Arthur. 64 00:05:15,810 --> 00:05:19,010 Speaker 5: I will leave Houdini in your charge. 65 00:05:20,250 --> 00:05:24,050 Speaker 1: So Arthur and his wife lead Houdini to their suite 66 00:05:24,090 --> 00:05:28,610 Speaker 1: in the Ambassador Hotel. They draw the curtains and invite 67 00:05:28,650 --> 00:05:31,690 Speaker 1: Houdini to sit with them around the table, on which 68 00:05:31,810 --> 00:05:36,370 Speaker 1: is placed a pencil and pad of paper. The three 69 00:05:36,370 --> 00:05:39,530 Speaker 1: of them sit with their hands on the table until 70 00:05:39,650 --> 00:05:42,370 Speaker 1: Lady Doyle's hands begin to. 71 00:05:42,330 --> 00:05:47,250 Speaker 5: Shake spirits, do you have a message? 72 00:05:50,050 --> 00:05:55,050 Speaker 1: Lady Doyle's whole body begins to convulse, her hands thumb 73 00:05:55,130 --> 00:06:00,650 Speaker 1: on the table. Then she grabs the pencil and starts 74 00:06:00,690 --> 00:06:09,410 Speaker 1: to write. I'm Tim Harford and you're listening to cautionary tales. 75 00:06:32,050 --> 00:06:35,290 Speaker 1: This is the first in a series of three cautionary 76 00:06:35,330 --> 00:06:39,770 Speaker 1: tales about Harry Houdini and the afterlife. We're going to 77 00:06:39,810 --> 00:06:42,810 Speaker 1: go with Houdini on a journey from that seance in 78 00:06:42,890 --> 00:06:45,810 Speaker 1: Atlantic City, a journey that will take him in front 79 00:06:45,850 --> 00:06:50,930 Speaker 1: of lawmakers in Washington, d c make him powerful enemies, 80 00:06:51,930 --> 00:06:56,170 Speaker 1: cost him a friendship and a fortune, and leave him 81 00:06:56,210 --> 00:06:57,850 Speaker 1: fearing for his life. 82 00:06:59,250 --> 00:07:00,330 Speaker 3: They're going to kill me. 83 00:07:01,770 --> 00:07:07,490 Speaker 1: That's to come. Our story starts in eighteen seventy four 84 00:07:08,170 --> 00:07:13,330 Speaker 1: when Harry Dani was born in Appleton, Wisconsin. Or that 85 00:07:13,450 --> 00:07:17,010 Speaker 1: was the story he liked to tell. It wasn't true. 86 00:07:17,290 --> 00:07:20,610 Speaker 1: The baby boy who would become Harry Houdini was born 87 00:07:21,210 --> 00:07:25,290 Speaker 1: Eric Weiss in Budapest in what was then the Austro 88 00:07:25,410 --> 00:07:31,010 Speaker 1: Hungarian Empire. Eric was four years old when his father 89 00:07:31,090 --> 00:07:35,090 Speaker 1: took the family to America. They settled in Appleton, where 90 00:07:35,330 --> 00:07:40,090 Speaker 1: Eric's dad had friends who installed him as the local rabbi. 91 00:07:40,570 --> 00:07:46,210 Speaker 1: Young Eric developed a strange fascination with locks. He went 92 00:07:46,250 --> 00:07:49,370 Speaker 1: around the house using a button hook to pick the 93 00:07:49,410 --> 00:07:53,130 Speaker 1: locks of drawers and closets. When he ran out of 94 00:07:53,170 --> 00:07:56,730 Speaker 1: locks at home, he sneaked out one night and worked 95 00:07:56,730 --> 00:08:00,610 Speaker 1: his way down the town's main street, picking the locks 96 00:08:00,650 --> 00:08:06,210 Speaker 1: on the doors to every shop. Here's another story Hudini 97 00:08:06,370 --> 00:08:10,090 Speaker 1: liked to tell. At age eleven, he worked as an 98 00:08:10,130 --> 00:08:14,810 Speaker 1: apprentice in the town's locksmith shop. One day, the sheriff 99 00:08:14,890 --> 00:08:18,530 Speaker 1: came in with a handcuffed prisoner that had come from 100 00:08:18,530 --> 00:08:23,410 Speaker 1: the courthouse. This man's been let off, the sheriff explained, 101 00:08:23,730 --> 00:08:26,450 Speaker 1: But I can't find the key to the cuffs. Can 102 00:08:26,450 --> 00:08:30,290 Speaker 1: you get them off him? The locksmith handed Eric a 103 00:08:30,330 --> 00:08:33,970 Speaker 1: hack saw and said, you do it. I'll go for 104 00:08:34,010 --> 00:08:38,890 Speaker 1: a beer with the sheriff. Eric was left alone in 105 00:08:38,930 --> 00:08:43,690 Speaker 1: the shop with the burly, rough looking prisoner. He worked 106 00:08:43,690 --> 00:08:46,690 Speaker 1: away at the handcuffs that the hack saw blade made 107 00:08:46,770 --> 00:08:52,410 Speaker 1: no impression in the steel. Then the blade snapped, and 108 00:08:52,490 --> 00:08:55,330 Speaker 1: so did the prisoner. You're lucky you didn't cut me up. 109 00:08:56,450 --> 00:09:01,090 Speaker 1: Soaring through the cuffs would take forever, and Eric really 110 00:09:01,090 --> 00:09:03,130 Speaker 1: didn't want to find out what would happen if he 111 00:09:03,170 --> 00:09:09,690 Speaker 1: did cut the prisoner up. Might button hook work handcuff 112 00:09:09,730 --> 00:09:12,730 Speaker 1: locks must be harder to pick than those of drawers 113 00:09:12,770 --> 00:09:16,010 Speaker 1: and closets and shop doors, but it was worth a go. 114 00:09:17,610 --> 00:09:21,410 Speaker 1: Eric found a loop of piano wire and improvised a hook. 115 00:09:22,450 --> 00:09:27,330 Speaker 1: He poked and probed, wiggled and jiggled. This was harder 116 00:09:27,370 --> 00:09:30,610 Speaker 1: to pick than all those other locks, but after a 117 00:09:30,650 --> 00:09:34,930 Speaker 1: minute the cuff popped open. The eleven year old boy 118 00:09:35,530 --> 00:09:40,490 Speaker 1: and the big, burly prisoner looked at each other in astonishment. 119 00:09:41,810 --> 00:09:44,250 Speaker 1: Eric got to work on the other cuff that came 120 00:09:44,290 --> 00:09:49,530 Speaker 1: off more quickly. Then the shop door opened. Back came 121 00:09:49,530 --> 00:09:53,850 Speaker 1: the locksmith and the sheriff. Eric quickly hid his piano wire. 122 00:09:54,610 --> 00:09:58,010 Speaker 1: All the locksmith saw was that the handcuffs were off. 123 00:09:59,090 --> 00:10:04,210 Speaker 1: Well done, Eric said the locksmith, good work. Much later, 124 00:10:04,770 --> 00:10:08,370 Speaker 1: after his handcuff escapes had made him famous, who do 125 00:10:08,450 --> 00:10:12,050 Speaker 1: you like to say that only two people had ever 126 00:10:12,130 --> 00:10:15,490 Speaker 1: seen how he got the handcuffs off, his wife Bess, 127 00:10:16,210 --> 00:10:18,650 Speaker 1: and a rough looking prisoner he'd met when he was 128 00:10:18,650 --> 00:10:29,170 Speaker 1: eleven and never saw again. Ladied Oil scribbled furiously on 129 00:10:29,250 --> 00:10:33,050 Speaker 1: the pad of paper. She was channeling the spirit of 130 00:10:33,090 --> 00:10:36,650 Speaker 1: Houdini's mother. As she reached the end of the page, 131 00:10:37,170 --> 00:10:40,930 Speaker 1: so Arthur tore it from the pad and solemnly handed 132 00:10:40,970 --> 00:10:44,090 Speaker 1: it to Houdini. He began to read. 133 00:10:47,490 --> 00:10:52,810 Speaker 6: Oh, my darling, thank God, thank God, At last time 134 00:10:52,890 --> 00:10:58,570 Speaker 6: through I've tried oh so often, I want to talk 135 00:10:58,610 --> 00:11:02,050 Speaker 6: to my boy, my own beloved boy. 136 00:11:03,010 --> 00:11:09,010 Speaker 1: The message began with a sketch of a crucifix. Curious thought, Harry, 137 00:11:10,090 --> 00:11:14,930 Speaker 1: has my mother, the rabbi's wife converted to Christianity in 138 00:11:14,970 --> 00:11:19,850 Speaker 1: the afterlife? He keeps reading, I'm so. 139 00:11:19,730 --> 00:11:24,810 Speaker 3: Happy in this life. It is so full and joyous. 140 00:11:25,850 --> 00:11:30,130 Speaker 5: It is so different over here, so much larger and 141 00:11:30,810 --> 00:11:38,450 Speaker 5: bigger and more beautiful, so lofty, all sweetness around. 142 00:11:38,090 --> 00:11:43,330 Speaker 1: One and another thing. Why is she writing in English? 143 00:11:44,290 --> 00:11:49,050 Speaker 1: Houdini's mum had been well educated in the Austro Hungarian Empire. 144 00:11:49,530 --> 00:11:54,650 Speaker 1: She spoke five languages. English was not among them, and 145 00:11:54,810 --> 00:11:58,130 Speaker 1: in all her years in America, she'd never felt the 146 00:11:58,210 --> 00:12:02,970 Speaker 1: need to learn Why bother she thought everyone she knew 147 00:12:03,210 --> 00:12:07,810 Speaker 1: spoke German. Had she finally decided it was important to 148 00:12:07,890 --> 00:12:10,810 Speaker 1: learn English now that she was dead. 149 00:12:12,450 --> 00:12:17,690 Speaker 5: I always read my beloved son's mind, his dear mind. 150 00:12:19,170 --> 00:12:21,170 Speaker 5: There is so much I want to say to him, 151 00:12:21,490 --> 00:12:26,130 Speaker 5: But I am almost overwhelmed by this joy of talking 152 00:12:26,170 --> 00:12:27,090 Speaker 5: to him once more. 153 00:12:29,370 --> 00:12:33,890 Speaker 1: So much she wants to say, she says, and yet 154 00:12:34,330 --> 00:12:40,250 Speaker 1: she isn't actually saying any of it. Nothing personal, nothing 155 00:12:40,290 --> 00:12:44,010 Speaker 1: that only a mother would know. She doesn't even mention 156 00:12:44,210 --> 00:12:47,970 Speaker 1: that today would have been her birthday. If she'd read 157 00:12:48,010 --> 00:12:51,850 Speaker 1: his mind, she'd know he'd been thinking about that. No, 158 00:12:52,010 --> 00:12:57,330 Speaker 1: it's just page after page of this generic, breathless burbling 159 00:12:57,810 --> 00:13:00,770 Speaker 1: about how much she loves him and looks over him, 160 00:13:00,850 --> 00:13:03,690 Speaker 1: and how happy she is with the afterlife. And how 161 00:13:03,730 --> 00:13:05,450 Speaker 1: happy he'll be when he joins her. 162 00:13:06,490 --> 00:13:11,210 Speaker 5: Oh so happy, a happiness awaits him that he has 163 00:13:11,410 --> 00:13:19,490 Speaker 5: never dreamed of. Tell him I am with him? 164 00:13:19,530 --> 00:13:25,370 Speaker 1: What an absolute load of twaddle, thinks Houdini. Did Lady 165 00:13:25,370 --> 00:13:29,810 Speaker 1: Doyle really believe she'd been channeling the thoughts of Houdini's mother. 166 00:13:30,890 --> 00:13:35,050 Speaker 1: It seemed so, but who could tell. According to Bess, 167 00:13:35,570 --> 00:13:39,570 Speaker 1: Lady Doyle had earlier been asking a lot of questions 168 00:13:39,650 --> 00:13:44,170 Speaker 1: about Houdini and his mum. Sir Arthur, though, had no 169 00:13:44,410 --> 00:13:48,490 Speaker 1: doubts at all. He was a true believer. He looked 170 00:13:48,530 --> 00:13:54,130 Speaker 1: at Houdini with pleasure and pride. He was convinced that 171 00:13:54,250 --> 00:13:58,130 Speaker 1: he had given his friend the greatest of gifts. A 172 00:13:58,210 --> 00:14:03,090 Speaker 1: message from his beloved mother proved positive that she lived 173 00:14:03,530 --> 00:14:10,130 Speaker 1: beyond the grave. Houdini liked Sir Arthur. He didn't want 174 00:14:10,170 --> 00:14:14,450 Speaker 1: to say what he was really thinking, so he smiled 175 00:14:14,530 --> 00:14:34,290 Speaker 1: politely cautionary tales will be back. After the break In Appleton, 176 00:14:34,370 --> 00:14:39,330 Speaker 1: Wisconsin in the eighteen eighties, things were not going well 177 00:14:39,450 --> 00:14:45,210 Speaker 1: for young Eric Weiss's family. Eric's dad, the rabbi, lost 178 00:14:45,250 --> 00:14:50,690 Speaker 1: his job. His growing congregation, it seemed, wanted someone more 179 00:14:50,730 --> 00:14:53,490 Speaker 1: in tune with the America that had come to than 180 00:14:53,490 --> 00:14:58,450 Speaker 1: the Europe had left behind. Possibly they weren't impressed that 181 00:14:58,570 --> 00:15:03,850 Speaker 1: the rabbi, like his wife, hadn't bothered to learn any English. 182 00:15:04,210 --> 00:15:08,450 Speaker 1: The family moved to Milwaukee, then to New York, but 183 00:15:08,570 --> 00:15:12,050 Speaker 1: work was hard to come by for German speaking old 184 00:15:12,170 --> 00:15:17,290 Speaker 1: school rabbis in failing health. Teenage, Eric chipped into the 185 00:15:17,330 --> 00:15:21,250 Speaker 1: family finances doing any job he could. He was a 186 00:15:21,250 --> 00:15:25,970 Speaker 1: shoe shiner, a newspaper seller, a delivery boy. When he 187 00:15:26,010 --> 00:15:30,170 Speaker 1: wasn't earning money, he was a boxer, a runner, a swimmer. 188 00:15:31,130 --> 00:15:35,370 Speaker 1: He trained himself to contort his body. He read every 189 00:15:35,410 --> 00:15:39,210 Speaker 1: book on magic he could find, and he put on 190 00:15:39,610 --> 00:15:44,810 Speaker 1: any act he could in any show that would have him. 191 00:15:44,970 --> 00:15:48,650 Speaker 1: He was the trapeze artist, Eric the Prince of the Air. 192 00:15:49,330 --> 00:15:53,690 Speaker 1: He was the card magician Eric the Great. Then he 193 00:15:53,850 --> 00:15:57,610 Speaker 1: was half of the brothers Houdini, doing a trick he'd 194 00:15:57,690 --> 00:16:02,930 Speaker 1: learned from a book. First, the brothers Houdini asked volunteers 195 00:16:02,970 --> 00:16:07,130 Speaker 1: from the crowd to come on stage. Lend us your jacket. 196 00:16:07,530 --> 00:16:12,610 Speaker 1: They asked one Harry, as Eric had now renamed himself, 197 00:16:13,170 --> 00:16:17,290 Speaker 1: put on the jacket. The volunteers tied him up with ropes. 198 00:16:17,970 --> 00:16:20,730 Speaker 1: They put him in a sack. They tied up the sack. 199 00:16:21,170 --> 00:16:25,370 Speaker 1: They put him in a trunk, and they locked the trunk. Now, 200 00:16:25,650 --> 00:16:30,330 Speaker 1: said Harry's brother, watch closely. He pulled a curtain in 201 00:16:30,330 --> 00:16:34,890 Speaker 1: front of himself and the trunk. He clapped once. From 202 00:16:34,930 --> 00:16:40,690 Speaker 1: behind the curtain, he clapped twice. On the third clap, 203 00:16:41,210 --> 00:16:46,170 Speaker 1: the curtain was thrown aside by Harry, who'd escaped from 204 00:16:46,170 --> 00:16:51,690 Speaker 1: the trunk. Harry and the volunteers unlocked the trunk, untied 205 00:16:51,730 --> 00:16:56,250 Speaker 1: the sack, and out of its stepped Harry's brother, trussed 206 00:16:56,330 --> 00:16:58,890 Speaker 1: up in just the same way Harry had been a 207 00:16:59,050 --> 00:17:04,490 Speaker 1: mere few seconds before. They untied the ropes, and yes, 208 00:17:05,290 --> 00:17:11,730 Speaker 1: Harry's brother was wearing the first volunteers jacket. The Brothers 209 00:17:11,730 --> 00:17:15,730 Speaker 1: Houdini took their act to Coney Island, where they shared 210 00:17:15,730 --> 00:17:22,130 Speaker 1: a stage with performing Monkey's Morbidly Obese Women, clowns, and 211 00:17:22,210 --> 00:17:23,090 Speaker 1: a singer. 212 00:17:25,170 --> 00:17:32,490 Speaker 5: Russy Sweet Rose a bell I'll off for more. 213 00:17:32,250 --> 00:17:34,850 Speaker 3: Than I can tell. 214 00:17:36,450 --> 00:17:36,490 Speaker 4: Me. 215 00:17:37,690 --> 00:17:39,370 Speaker 3: She casts a spell. 216 00:17:40,330 --> 00:17:46,210 Speaker 1: Harry was twenty, Bess was eighteen. In three weeks they 217 00:17:46,210 --> 00:17:52,410 Speaker 1: were married. Is three weeks long enough to really get 218 00:17:52,410 --> 00:17:55,690 Speaker 1: to know someone. I know that your father passed on, 219 00:17:56,290 --> 00:17:59,410 Speaker 1: says Harry to his new wife. But I still don't 220 00:17:59,410 --> 00:18:03,890 Speaker 1: know his first name. No, wait, don't tell me. Write 221 00:18:03,890 --> 00:18:07,130 Speaker 1: it on this piece of paper. Don't show me. Now, 222 00:18:07,650 --> 00:18:10,530 Speaker 1: crumple up the paper and put it in the stove. 223 00:18:12,050 --> 00:18:17,770 Speaker 1: Now you see. I take the ashes of the crumpled paper, 224 00:18:18,650 --> 00:18:24,210 Speaker 1: rub them on my forearm, and Harry shows Bess's arm. 225 00:18:24,690 --> 00:18:30,250 Speaker 1: Her father's name is written on it in blood red letters. 226 00:18:31,370 --> 00:18:35,290 Speaker 1: Bess turns white as she suddenly remembers the folklore she'd 227 00:18:35,290 --> 00:18:36,530 Speaker 1: been taught as a child. 228 00:18:38,650 --> 00:18:43,050 Speaker 5: The devil, disguised as a handsome young man, lured girls 229 00:18:43,050 --> 00:18:46,250 Speaker 5: to destruction. It was clear to me that I had 230 00:18:46,290 --> 00:18:47,050 Speaker 5: married the devil. 231 00:18:52,450 --> 00:18:57,850 Speaker 1: Bess screams and runs out of the door. Harry bursts out, 232 00:18:57,930 --> 00:19:03,290 Speaker 1: laughing and races after her, calms her down, brings her home, 233 00:19:04,170 --> 00:19:08,570 Speaker 1: gets out his magic book and shows her exactly how 234 00:19:08,690 --> 00:19:15,610 Speaker 1: the trick was done. Soon, the brothers Houdini have become 235 00:19:16,050 --> 00:19:20,010 Speaker 1: the Houdinis. It's Bess who's pulled out of the sack 236 00:19:20,090 --> 00:19:25,730 Speaker 1: in the trunk. Audiences love it, but it's over all 237 00:19:25,770 --> 00:19:29,410 Speaker 1: too quickly. It can't sustain a show on its own. 238 00:19:30,650 --> 00:19:33,490 Speaker 1: Harry and Bess go on tour with a circus, and 239 00:19:33,770 --> 00:19:37,170 Speaker 1: Harry picks up every skill he can from his fellow 240 00:19:37,370 --> 00:19:41,770 Speaker 1: acts from a man who has no arms. He learns 241 00:19:41,810 --> 00:19:45,170 Speaker 1: how to use his toes as dexterously as his fingers. 242 00:19:46,290 --> 00:19:49,370 Speaker 1: He learns how to swallow needles and a thread and 243 00:19:49,490 --> 00:19:54,290 Speaker 1: regurgitate them with a thread through the needles. He starts 244 00:19:54,370 --> 00:19:59,290 Speaker 1: to do escapes from handcuffs. That life on the road 245 00:19:59,770 --> 00:20:04,370 Speaker 1: is a struggle. Harry and Bess trek from one obscure 246 00:20:04,650 --> 00:20:09,410 Speaker 1: small town to another. They're never earning enough. Nothing they 247 00:20:09,490 --> 00:20:15,970 Speaker 1: try really catches fire, until at last they stumble across 248 00:20:16,130 --> 00:20:21,530 Speaker 1: and act that they're brilliant at that causes a sensation. 249 00:20:25,290 --> 00:20:30,770 Speaker 1: In Garnet, Kansas, in eighteen ninety seven, over a thousand 250 00:20:30,850 --> 00:20:35,610 Speaker 1: people are crammed into the Grand Opera House. That's one 251 00:20:35,770 --> 00:20:41,250 Speaker 1: in six of the town's entire population, the largest audience 252 00:20:41,610 --> 00:20:45,930 Speaker 1: ever to fill the building. Twenty three year old Harry 253 00:20:45,930 --> 00:20:50,330 Speaker 1: Houdini is who they've come to see because Harry Houdini, 254 00:20:50,810 --> 00:20:54,690 Speaker 1: according to the headline in the local newspaper, is apparently 255 00:20:55,370 --> 00:21:02,330 Speaker 1: a world famous medium. Houdini takes to the stage. 256 00:21:03,290 --> 00:21:08,690 Speaker 3: Allow me to introduce my assistant, Mademoiselle Beatrice, a trained 257 00:21:08,730 --> 00:21:10,570 Speaker 3: cycle pometric clairvoyant. 258 00:21:12,090 --> 00:21:16,090 Speaker 1: Bess settles herself in a chair lets out a groan 259 00:21:17,010 --> 00:21:18,170 Speaker 1: and slumps forward. 260 00:21:19,410 --> 00:21:22,610 Speaker 3: She is in a trance state. 261 00:21:25,210 --> 00:21:29,530 Speaker 1: The world famous medium had earlier prepared for the show 262 00:21:30,050 --> 00:21:34,010 Speaker 1: by walking around the cemetery in Garnet with a notebook 263 00:21:34,810 --> 00:21:40,490 Speaker 1: reading the gravestones. One freshly dug grave belonged to a 264 00:21:40,530 --> 00:21:45,130 Speaker 1: boy called Joe Osborne. He had recently died at the 265 00:21:45,210 --> 00:21:46,370 Speaker 1: age of six. 266 00:21:51,170 --> 00:21:55,610 Speaker 2: Oh, I see. 267 00:21:55,410 --> 00:21:59,210 Speaker 1: A little boy, says Bess in her trance state. 268 00:22:00,370 --> 00:22:09,730 Speaker 5: He's six years old. His name is Joe's a message 269 00:22:09,770 --> 00:22:10,650 Speaker 5: for his parents. 270 00:22:11,450 --> 00:22:13,730 Speaker 3: Does anyone know a little Joel? 271 00:22:14,490 --> 00:22:18,450 Speaker 1: A murmur goes round the crowd. The Osborne's are the 272 00:22:18,490 --> 00:22:22,890 Speaker 1: Osborne's here? It seems not. Someone rushes out of their 273 00:22:22,930 --> 00:22:24,530 Speaker 1: home to fetch them. 274 00:22:24,930 --> 00:22:27,890 Speaker 3: What is the message from little Joel? 275 00:22:30,170 --> 00:22:35,570 Speaker 5: Joe says he is in a happy place, and he says. 276 00:22:36,050 --> 00:22:39,770 Speaker 6: Don't cry, mama, There'll be another one soon to take 277 00:22:39,810 --> 00:22:40,410 Speaker 6: my place. 278 00:22:42,730 --> 00:22:45,730 Speaker 1: Joe's dad is furious. How the hell did you know 279 00:22:45,810 --> 00:22:50,530 Speaker 1: my wife is pregnant. We haven't told anyone yet. If 280 00:22:50,570 --> 00:22:54,090 Speaker 1: the crowd had stopped to think, they might have realized 281 00:22:54,130 --> 00:22:57,530 Speaker 1: it wasn't hard to guess that a bereaved young couple 282 00:22:58,170 --> 00:23:03,690 Speaker 1: might try for another child. But Houdini simply shrugs and 283 00:23:03,770 --> 00:23:08,610 Speaker 1: modestly reminds them that ma'amoiselle Beatrice is a trained clairvoyant. 284 00:23:09,170 --> 00:23:15,690 Speaker 1: After all, Now, says Houdini, I understand there's recently been 285 00:23:15,730 --> 00:23:20,010 Speaker 1: a murder in your town. The crowd don't need reminding. 286 00:23:20,850 --> 00:23:24,250 Speaker 1: Just a few weeks earlier, a local woman called Anna 287 00:23:24,690 --> 00:23:28,410 Speaker 1: was found dead in her home, bleeding from the head. 288 00:23:29,570 --> 00:23:34,250 Speaker 1: The sheriff hasn't solved the case, but Houdini says he 289 00:23:34,490 --> 00:23:37,370 Speaker 1: can unmask the murderer because. 290 00:23:38,290 --> 00:23:42,890 Speaker 3: You cannot hide an nefarious deed from her spirits. 291 00:23:44,130 --> 00:23:47,690 Speaker 1: He turns to Bess, still slumped in her chair. 292 00:23:48,690 --> 00:23:51,250 Speaker 3: Was Anna murdered in her own home? 293 00:23:57,050 --> 00:23:57,330 Speaker 2: Yes? 294 00:23:59,570 --> 00:24:01,050 Speaker 3: With what instrument? 295 00:24:02,050 --> 00:24:05,730 Speaker 5: She was hacked seventeen times with a butcher's knife? 296 00:24:07,050 --> 00:24:08,530 Speaker 3: Did she know her killer? 297 00:24:09,450 --> 00:24:09,690 Speaker 2: Yes? 298 00:24:10,530 --> 00:24:12,610 Speaker 3: What is the killer's name? 299 00:24:13,290 --> 00:24:14,290 Speaker 1: Bess was silent. 300 00:24:14,810 --> 00:24:20,050 Speaker 3: Answer now, what is his name? 301 00:24:23,530 --> 00:24:31,370 Speaker 6: His name is ash. 302 00:24:30,730 --> 00:24:34,250 Speaker 1: With a fearsome wail, Bess throws her hands in the 303 00:24:34,290 --> 00:24:36,450 Speaker 1: air and collapses back on her chair. 304 00:24:37,210 --> 00:24:41,250 Speaker 3: She's fainted. Is there a doctor in the house? 305 00:24:44,450 --> 00:24:49,130 Speaker 1: The case of Anna's murderer, Alas would have to remain unsolved. 306 00:24:50,290 --> 00:24:53,730 Speaker 1: That the people of Garnets have never experienced an evening 307 00:24:53,810 --> 00:24:58,170 Speaker 1: like this. Harry Houdini has had them eating from the 308 00:24:58,210 --> 00:25:02,090 Speaker 1: palm of his hand. At this rate, he actually could 309 00:25:02,130 --> 00:25:06,530 Speaker 1: become a world famous medium. Harry and Bess, after years 310 00:25:06,570 --> 00:25:10,730 Speaker 1: of struggle, have finally hit upon an act that promises 311 00:25:10,810 --> 00:25:16,930 Speaker 1: to make their fortune, but they decide they can't keep 312 00:25:17,010 --> 00:25:21,370 Speaker 1: doing it. Harry is haunted by the looks on the 313 00:25:21,370 --> 00:25:25,970 Speaker 1: faces of the Osborns. He'd been playing with their emotions, 314 00:25:26,130 --> 00:25:32,050 Speaker 1: exploiting their grief. It's not right. Harry and Bess give 315 00:25:32,170 --> 00:25:35,290 Speaker 1: up the medium act and go back to scraping a 316 00:25:35,330 --> 00:25:40,250 Speaker 1: living with their magic tricks. The thing about magic, Harry says, 317 00:25:40,690 --> 00:25:43,730 Speaker 1: is that you don't have to lie. You tell the 318 00:25:43,770 --> 00:25:47,930 Speaker 1: audience you're going to deceive them, and you do. Unlike 319 00:25:48,290 --> 00:25:52,730 Speaker 1: pretending you can raise the dead, magic is an honest 320 00:25:52,770 --> 00:26:00,930 Speaker 1: way to make a living. A quarter century later, in 321 00:26:01,090 --> 00:26:05,010 Speaker 1: nineteen twenty two, a few months have passed since the 322 00:26:05,050 --> 00:26:09,170 Speaker 1: say Aunt's in Atlantic City, where Ladied Oil channeled the 323 00:26:09,210 --> 00:26:14,810 Speaker 1: spirit of Houdini's dead mum. The New York Son asks 324 00:26:14,850 --> 00:26:19,090 Speaker 1: Houdini to write an article about his thoughts on contacting 325 00:26:19,130 --> 00:26:19,610 Speaker 1: the dead. 326 00:26:20,930 --> 00:26:24,930 Speaker 3: My mind is open. I am perfectly willing to believe, 327 00:26:25,090 --> 00:26:29,210 Speaker 3: but I have never seen or heard anything that could 328 00:26:29,290 --> 00:26:33,250 Speaker 3: convince me that there is a passibility of communication with 329 00:26:33,370 --> 00:26:35,610 Speaker 3: the loved ones who have gone beyond. 330 00:26:37,650 --> 00:26:40,530 Speaker 1: When a copy of The New York Sun finds its 331 00:26:40,530 --> 00:26:46,570 Speaker 1: way to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, he's outraged, or, as 332 00:26:46,570 --> 00:26:48,090 Speaker 1: he writes to Houdini. 333 00:26:48,610 --> 00:26:50,610 Speaker 4: I felt rather sore about it. 334 00:26:51,370 --> 00:26:55,890 Speaker 1: You see, he tells Houdini, he knows from experience the 335 00:26:55,970 --> 00:27:00,210 Speaker 1: purity of his wife's mediumship. He reminds Houdini of that 336 00:27:00,610 --> 00:27:04,290 Speaker 1: utterly convincing message Lady Doyle had received from his mum 337 00:27:04,370 --> 00:27:05,410 Speaker 1: in Atlantic City. 338 00:27:06,450 --> 00:27:09,490 Speaker 4: I saw what you got and what the affe effect 339 00:27:09,610 --> 00:27:10,730 Speaker 4: was upon you at the time. 340 00:27:11,810 --> 00:27:15,970 Speaker 1: Houdini, it seems, had been a little too convincing with 341 00:27:16,050 --> 00:27:21,370 Speaker 1: the politeness of his smile. Cautionary tales will be back. 342 00:27:22,130 --> 00:27:38,250 Speaker 1: After the break, the young lovers Harry and Bess struggled 343 00:27:38,250 --> 00:27:42,290 Speaker 1: on with the traveling circus. Harry would try his hand 344 00:27:42,330 --> 00:27:47,410 Speaker 1: at anything except pretending to raise the dead. He was 345 00:27:47,810 --> 00:27:52,570 Speaker 1: the Wizard of Shackles, the King of Cards. He briefly 346 00:27:52,570 --> 00:27:55,610 Speaker 1: did a turn filling in as the wild Man of 347 00:27:55,690 --> 00:28:02,570 Speaker 1: Mexico in a cage, growling and eating raw meat. Harry's 348 00:28:02,610 --> 00:28:06,450 Speaker 1: brother in law gently offered a way out. I know 349 00:28:06,610 --> 00:28:10,250 Speaker 1: people at the Yale lock factory said, it's a bit 350 00:28:10,330 --> 00:28:13,770 Speaker 1: steady work. If things are no better in a year, 351 00:28:14,130 --> 00:28:19,690 Speaker 1: Harry told Bess, I'll take the job. Whenever the circus 352 00:28:19,810 --> 00:28:23,330 Speaker 1: arrived in a new town, Houdini would present himself at 353 00:28:23,330 --> 00:28:27,690 Speaker 1: the local police station challenged the police to handcuff him 354 00:28:27,730 --> 00:28:31,130 Speaker 1: and escape. It would usually get him a few lines 355 00:28:31,130 --> 00:28:35,490 Speaker 1: in the town's paper. But when he did it in Chicago, 356 00:28:36,370 --> 00:28:43,250 Speaker 1: everything changed completely unexpectedly for Harry Houdini. The Chicago Journal 357 00:28:43,450 --> 00:28:48,010 Speaker 1: put him on the front page Amazes. The detectives read 358 00:28:48,010 --> 00:28:52,810 Speaker 1: the headline with a flattering illustration of Houdini and the handcuffs. 359 00:28:54,170 --> 00:28:57,090 Speaker 1: The publicity bumped him up to the top of the bill. 360 00:28:57,730 --> 00:29:00,890 Speaker 1: It was the big break Houdini had been waiting for. 361 00:29:01,770 --> 00:29:06,010 Speaker 1: Fame begets fame if you work at it, Whodini did. 362 00:29:07,730 --> 00:29:11,810 Speaker 1: He kept upping the an. He'd escape from being buried 363 00:29:11,850 --> 00:29:15,970 Speaker 1: alive under six feet of dirt. He'd be handcuffed on 364 00:29:16,010 --> 00:29:19,210 Speaker 1: a bridge and tossed into the river below. He'd be 365 00:29:19,210 --> 00:29:22,370 Speaker 1: put in a straight jacket and dangled upside down from 366 00:29:22,370 --> 00:29:27,290 Speaker 1: a tall building. Most impressive of all was the Chinese 367 00:29:27,530 --> 00:29:32,450 Speaker 1: water torture cell. Houdini invited volunteers onto the stage to 368 00:29:32,570 --> 00:29:37,770 Speaker 1: inspect his cell, a steel and mahogany cabinet standing five 369 00:29:37,850 --> 00:29:40,690 Speaker 1: and a half feet tall with a glass panel on 370 00:29:40,770 --> 00:29:44,930 Speaker 1: the front. The volunteers filled it up with buckets of water, 371 00:29:45,450 --> 00:29:49,210 Speaker 1: while Fundini's legs were locked into wooden stocks. 372 00:29:51,170 --> 00:29:52,890 Speaker 3: How long can you hold your breath? 373 00:29:53,330 --> 00:29:54,370 Speaker 1: He asked the audience. 374 00:29:55,890 --> 00:29:58,690 Speaker 3: I challenge you to hold your breath along with me. 375 00:29:59,890 --> 00:30:05,450 Speaker 1: Houdini was handcuffed, hoisted upside down, and lowered headfirst into 376 00:30:05,490 --> 00:30:10,730 Speaker 1: the cabinet, the water sploshing over the sides. A curtain 377 00:30:10,970 --> 00:30:15,570 Speaker 1: was drawn in front of the cell. The band began 378 00:30:15,690 --> 00:30:23,330 Speaker 1: to play. Time ticked by one by one. Audience members, 379 00:30:23,490 --> 00:30:29,810 Speaker 1: holding their breath, gave up and exhale. Still, time ticked by, 380 00:30:30,650 --> 00:30:34,770 Speaker 1: the band kept playing. An assistant of Houdini would look 381 00:30:34,890 --> 00:30:38,810 Speaker 1: with mounting concern at the cell behind the curtain. He's 382 00:30:38,850 --> 00:30:43,130 Speaker 1: holding an axe, ready to smash the cabinet. Surely something's 383 00:30:43,170 --> 00:30:46,050 Speaker 1: gone horribly wrong. No one could hold their breath for 384 00:30:46,130 --> 00:30:53,810 Speaker 1: this long. Then the curtain would be thrust aside. There 385 00:30:54,210 --> 00:31:03,890 Speaker 1: was Houdini, dripping and gasping. How did he do it? It 386 00:31:02,490 --> 00:31:07,130 Speaker 1: was honest work, As Houdini said, he promised to mystify you, 387 00:31:07,810 --> 00:31:11,530 Speaker 1: and he did. That's the fun of a magic show. 388 00:31:12,050 --> 00:31:16,770 Speaker 1: You're mystified by exactly how the magician did it, even 389 00:31:16,770 --> 00:31:19,010 Speaker 1: though you know in general terms it's going to be 390 00:31:19,050 --> 00:31:25,970 Speaker 1: some combination of showmanship and misdirection, mechanical trickery, hidden compartments 391 00:31:26,010 --> 00:31:28,930 Speaker 1: and the like, and physical skill on the part of 392 00:31:28,970 --> 00:31:34,370 Speaker 1: the magician. In Houdini's case, don't underestimate the physical skill. 393 00:31:35,410 --> 00:31:40,170 Speaker 1: He really did keep himself exceptionally fit, and he wanted 394 00:31:40,210 --> 00:31:40,810 Speaker 1: you to know it. 395 00:31:42,770 --> 00:31:47,890 Speaker 3: Feel my muscles, they are like iron, he liked to say. 396 00:31:48,490 --> 00:31:51,610 Speaker 3: Or even punch me in the stomach as hard as 397 00:31:51,650 --> 00:31:51,970 Speaker 3: you like. 398 00:31:53,570 --> 00:31:59,290 Speaker 1: But as his fame grew, Houdini faced an unusual problem. 399 00:31:59,690 --> 00:32:03,970 Speaker 1: His tricks were so confounding some people were sure he 400 00:32:04,090 --> 00:32:10,450 Speaker 1: must have had supernatural help. Since that night in at Kansas, 401 00:32:11,010 --> 00:32:15,450 Speaker 1: when Harry had disgusted himself by pretending to deliver a 402 00:32:15,570 --> 00:32:20,170 Speaker 1: message from a dead six year old, more and more 403 00:32:20,290 --> 00:32:25,210 Speaker 1: people had come to believe that spirits were real and powerful. 404 00:32:26,330 --> 00:32:30,810 Speaker 1: The president of the British College of Psychic Science, for instance, 405 00:32:31,130 --> 00:32:36,890 Speaker 1: one j. Hewitt Mackenzie, described seeing Harry on stage in London. 406 00:32:38,930 --> 00:32:43,290 Speaker 4: A small iron tank filled with water was deposited upon 407 00:32:43,330 --> 00:32:47,490 Speaker 4: the stage and in it Ejudini was placed and iron 408 00:32:47,610 --> 00:32:51,050 Speaker 4: lid was securely locked. I felt a great loss of 409 00:32:51,130 --> 00:32:55,650 Speaker 4: physical energy, such as is usually experienced by sitters in 410 00:32:55,850 --> 00:33:04,170 Speaker 4: materializing seances. Houdini's body was completely dematerialized, then materialized on 411 00:33:04,250 --> 00:33:06,570 Speaker 4: the stage front, dripping with water. 412 00:33:09,810 --> 00:33:13,530 Speaker 1: If I actually could do that, said an exasperated Houdini, 413 00:33:13,970 --> 00:33:15,330 Speaker 1: Trust me, I'd tell you. 414 00:33:16,050 --> 00:33:21,770 Speaker 3: I do not dematerialize or materialize anything. I simply control 415 00:33:21,970 --> 00:33:26,330 Speaker 3: and manipulate material things in a manner perfectly well understood 416 00:33:26,490 --> 00:33:30,770 Speaker 3: by myself and equally understandable by any person to whom 417 00:33:30,850 --> 00:33:33,930 Speaker 3: I may elect to divulge my secrets. 418 00:33:35,410 --> 00:33:38,810 Speaker 1: It wasn't only members of the College of Psychic Science 419 00:33:39,010 --> 00:33:43,930 Speaker 1: who doubted Houdini's insistence that he had no supernatural powers. 420 00:33:45,130 --> 00:33:50,050 Speaker 1: The famous French actress Sarah Bernhardt, who recently had a 421 00:33:50,130 --> 00:33:56,770 Speaker 1: leg amputated, once draped her arm around Houdini's shoulder and 422 00:33:56,930 --> 00:33:58,090 Speaker 1: tentatively asked. 423 00:33:57,890 --> 00:34:04,370 Speaker 3: Him, Uddini, you do such marvelous things, couldn't you? Could 424 00:34:04,410 --> 00:34:08,130 Speaker 3: you bring back my leg for me? Good heavens, Madam, 425 00:34:08,210 --> 00:34:11,410 Speaker 3: certainly not. You're asking me to do the impossible. 426 00:34:12,810 --> 00:34:14,930 Speaker 1: Bernhardt leaned closer. 427 00:34:16,730 --> 00:34:22,490 Speaker 3: Yes, but you do the impossible, are you? 428 00:34:22,770 --> 00:34:28,250 Speaker 5: Justing may No, DENI, I've never been more serious in 429 00:34:28,250 --> 00:34:29,810 Speaker 5: my life. 430 00:34:31,330 --> 00:34:33,530 Speaker 1: Then there was the time he'd put on a magic 431 00:34:33,570 --> 00:34:38,850 Speaker 1: show for Teddy Roosevelt, with cards and silk handkerchiefs and 432 00:34:38,890 --> 00:34:42,730 Speaker 1: a trick sometimes used by mediums to claim to be 433 00:34:42,770 --> 00:34:47,170 Speaker 1: getting messages from the other side. He had Roosevelt write 434 00:34:47,210 --> 00:34:50,370 Speaker 1: a question on a sheet of paper, then seal it 435 00:34:50,490 --> 00:34:54,770 Speaker 1: in an envelope. Then the answer to the question appeared, 436 00:34:55,330 --> 00:35:00,570 Speaker 1: mysteriously chalked on a slate. The next morning. Roosevelt put 437 00:35:00,690 --> 00:35:02,730 Speaker 1: his arm around Houdini's shoulder. 438 00:35:04,250 --> 00:35:06,970 Speaker 3: Houdini, tell me the truth, man to man. 439 00:35:07,690 --> 00:35:09,530 Speaker 2: Was that genuine spiritual dualism? 440 00:35:09,610 --> 00:35:16,130 Speaker 1: Last night Roosevelt, even the famously astute former president, needed 441 00:35:16,130 --> 00:35:18,210 Speaker 1: it spelling out to him, No. 442 00:35:18,570 --> 00:35:22,650 Speaker 3: Colonel, it was hocus pocus. 443 00:35:24,730 --> 00:35:30,290 Speaker 1: Houdini became more and more frustrated by how credulous even 444 00:35:30,370 --> 00:35:34,610 Speaker 1: the sharpest minds could be, none more so than Sir 445 00:35:34,850 --> 00:35:40,850 Speaker 1: Arthur Conan Doyle. We've heard in another cautionary tale all 446 00:35:40,890 --> 00:35:45,490 Speaker 1: about how the brilliant author was embarrassingly duped by children 447 00:35:45,850 --> 00:35:49,810 Speaker 1: who claimed to photograph fairies at the bottom of their garden. 448 00:35:50,530 --> 00:35:54,530 Speaker 1: Doyle even wrote to Houdini about the cottingly fairies. 449 00:35:54,370 --> 00:35:57,490 Speaker 4: A fake, you will say, no, sir, I think not. 450 00:35:58,450 --> 00:36:02,330 Speaker 4: The fairies are about eight inches high. In one photo 451 00:36:02,410 --> 00:36:04,090 Speaker 4: there is a goblin dancing. 452 00:36:04,610 --> 00:36:05,770 Speaker 3: It is a revelation. 453 00:36:08,330 --> 00:36:11,170 Speaker 1: And then HOODI he had what must have seemed like 454 00:36:11,210 --> 00:36:16,210 Speaker 1: an inspired idea. Perhaps if he could demonstrate to Sir 455 00:36:16,370 --> 00:36:20,010 Speaker 1: Arthur how easy it is to give the false impression 456 00:36:20,050 --> 00:36:24,490 Speaker 1: of supernatural powers, he might persuade his friend to be 457 00:36:24,570 --> 00:36:31,370 Speaker 1: a little more skeptical in future. At his home in 458 00:36:31,450 --> 00:36:36,650 Speaker 1: New York, Harry Houdini presented Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with 459 00:36:36,770 --> 00:36:42,730 Speaker 1: a blank black slate, a perfectly ordinary slate. You agree, 460 00:36:42,770 --> 00:36:46,370 Speaker 1: Sir Arthur. We shall hang it from the ceiling so 461 00:36:46,410 --> 00:36:51,850 Speaker 1: it can't be interfered with, and cork balls. Choose one 462 00:36:51,850 --> 00:36:57,090 Speaker 1: at random, cut through it pure cork, you see. Now 463 00:36:57,250 --> 00:37:00,210 Speaker 1: choose another, and put it in this ink well so 464 00:37:00,250 --> 00:37:04,970 Speaker 1: it can soak up white ink. Now, take a slip 465 00:37:05,010 --> 00:37:10,010 Speaker 1: of paper, you have a pencil. Go outside, said Houdini, 466 00:37:10,650 --> 00:37:11,810 Speaker 1: Walk anyway. 467 00:37:11,410 --> 00:37:13,770 Speaker 3: You like so you won't be observed, and write on 468 00:37:13,850 --> 00:37:16,730 Speaker 3: that slip of paper a question or a phrase, anything 469 00:37:16,770 --> 00:37:17,130 Speaker 3: you like. 470 00:37:19,410 --> 00:37:24,330 Speaker 1: Sir Arthur walked outside, found a quiet spot and wrote 471 00:37:24,370 --> 00:37:31,850 Speaker 1: an Aramaic phrase from the Bible, mene mene tekel Upharsin. 472 00:37:33,570 --> 00:37:37,930 Speaker 1: He walked back to Houdini's house. Take this spoon, said Houdini. 473 00:37:38,730 --> 00:37:40,930 Speaker 3: Lift the cork boar from the ink well and touch 474 00:37:41,010 --> 00:37:42,330 Speaker 3: it to the left side of the slate. 475 00:37:44,690 --> 00:37:51,530 Speaker 1: It stuck, then slowly it started moving, apparently of its 476 00:37:51,570 --> 00:37:56,370 Speaker 1: own accord, writing in white ink on the black slate, 477 00:37:57,770 --> 00:38:06,650 Speaker 1: Mayne mayne tekel Upharsin. Houdini turned to Sir Arthur. 478 00:38:07,450 --> 00:38:09,330 Speaker 3: I won't tell you how I did it, but I 479 00:38:09,370 --> 00:38:12,730 Speaker 3: can assure you it was pure trickery. I did it 480 00:38:13,010 --> 00:38:18,050 Speaker 3: by perfectly normal means. Now, I beg of you, Sir Arthur, 481 00:38:18,330 --> 00:38:21,770 Speaker 3: do not jump to the conclusion that certain things you 482 00:38:21,850 --> 00:38:27,490 Speaker 3: see are necessarily supernatural or the work of spirits, just 483 00:38:27,650 --> 00:38:30,490 Speaker 3: because you cannot explain them. 484 00:38:32,130 --> 00:38:37,370 Speaker 1: Unfortunately, Houdini's demonstration had the exact opposite effect to the 485 00:38:37,370 --> 00:38:42,450 Speaker 1: one he had intended. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle left Houdini's 486 00:38:42,450 --> 00:38:47,770 Speaker 1: house utterly convinced that Houdini had supernatural powers and was 487 00:38:47,850 --> 00:38:52,690 Speaker 1: lying about it. Remember what Sir Arthur liked his protagonist 488 00:38:52,810 --> 00:38:56,690 Speaker 1: Cherlock Holmes to say, when you have eliminated the impossible, 489 00:38:57,010 --> 00:39:02,770 Speaker 1: whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. But when 490 00:39:02,810 --> 00:39:08,930 Speaker 1: a credulous mind meets an accomplished mystifier, Holmes's aphorism breaks down. 491 00:39:09,930 --> 00:39:15,370 Speaker 1: Sir Arthur simply couldn't tell where the improbable ended and 492 00:39:15,450 --> 00:39:22,290 Speaker 1: the impossible began. Over the years, Harry Houdini had been 493 00:39:22,410 --> 00:39:27,610 Speaker 1: many things, Eric, Prince of the Air, the handcuff King. 494 00:39:28,650 --> 00:39:32,810 Speaker 1: Now approaching the age of fifty, he took on his 495 00:39:33,090 --> 00:39:39,770 Speaker 1: last and greatest role, a champion of critical thinking. He 496 00:39:39,810 --> 00:39:44,170 Speaker 1: published a book, A Magician among the Spirits, in which 497 00:39:44,170 --> 00:39:46,610 Speaker 1: he introduced an aphorism of his own. 498 00:39:47,850 --> 00:39:51,050 Speaker 3: The simple fact that the thing looks mysterious does not 499 00:39:51,250 --> 00:39:56,130 Speaker 3: signify anything beyond the necessity of analytic investigation for a 500 00:39:56,170 --> 00:39:57,490 Speaker 3: fuller understanding. 501 00:39:58,730 --> 00:40:01,930 Speaker 1: It may not be as pithy as Sherlock Holmes on 502 00:40:02,010 --> 00:40:05,490 Speaker 1: the improbable and the impossible, but as a guide for 503 00:40:05,570 --> 00:40:11,890 Speaker 1: clear thinking, perhaps it's better something seems strange, don't assume 504 00:40:11,970 --> 00:40:22,370 Speaker 1: it's supernatural, Engage your brain instead. Houdini introduced a new 505 00:40:22,570 --> 00:40:27,970 Speaker 1: element to his sellout shows. Alongside the tricks and the escapes, 506 00:40:28,850 --> 00:40:34,170 Speaker 1: he'd expose fraudulent local mediums who cynically preyed on those 507 00:40:34,290 --> 00:40:37,810 Speaker 1: made vulnerable by grief. He even tried to get the 508 00:40:37,930 --> 00:40:41,410 Speaker 1: law changed to have them thrown in prison, as we'll 509 00:40:41,450 --> 00:40:47,010 Speaker 1: hear about in the next episode of Cautionary Tales. One 510 00:40:47,130 --> 00:40:52,130 Speaker 1: night after a performance, a woman came up to him. 511 00:40:52,490 --> 00:40:56,930 Speaker 1: I'm from Garnet, Kansas. She said, I was in the 512 00:40:56,930 --> 00:41:01,410 Speaker 1: audience at the show you did twenty six years ago. 513 00:41:01,810 --> 00:41:05,210 Speaker 1: Houdini said, do you know the osbald I see a 514 00:41:05,250 --> 00:41:09,250 Speaker 1: little boy, the Osborne. His name is Why. Yes. They've 515 00:41:09,330 --> 00:41:12,050 Speaker 1: moved to California, but have their address. 516 00:41:12,170 --> 00:41:14,170 Speaker 3: She has a message for his parents. 517 00:41:14,250 --> 00:41:18,450 Speaker 1: Houdini took the address and wrote the Osborne's a long 518 00:41:18,730 --> 00:41:32,210 Speaker 1: letter of apology. This episode relied on biographies including The 519 00:41:32,250 --> 00:41:35,970 Speaker 1: Secret Life of Houdini by William Callush and Larry Slowman, 520 00:41:36,610 --> 00:41:40,850 Speaker 1: and Houdini and Conan Doyle by Christopher Sandford. For a 521 00:41:40,890 --> 00:41:43,330 Speaker 1: full list of our sources, see the show notes at 522 00:41:43,410 --> 00:41:56,730 Speaker 1: Timharford dot com. Cautionary Tales as written by me Tim 523 00:41:56,770 --> 00:42:00,770 Speaker 1: Harford with Andrew Wright, Alice Fines, and Ryan Dilly. It's 524 00:42:00,810 --> 00:42:04,810 Speaker 1: produced by Georgia Mills and Marilyn Rust. The sound design 525 00:42:04,930 --> 00:42:08,650 Speaker 1: and original music are the work of Pascal Wise. Additional 526 00:42:08,650 --> 00:42:13,290 Speaker 1: soundersign is by Carlos San Juan at Brain Audio Bend 527 00:42:13,290 --> 00:42:17,330 Speaker 1: and Dafhaffrey edited the scripts. The show features the voice 528 00:42:17,370 --> 00:42:21,970 Speaker 1: talents of Melanie Guttridge, Stella Harford, Oliver Hembrough, Sarah jupp 529 00:42:22,290 --> 00:42:26,930 Speaker 1: Messeam Monroe, Jamal Westman, and rufus Wright. The show also 530 00:42:27,010 --> 00:42:29,930 Speaker 1: wouldn't have been possible without the work of Jacob Weisberg, 531 00:42:30,010 --> 00:42:34,890 Speaker 1: Greta Cohne, Sarah Nix, Eric Sandler, Carrie Brody, Christina Sullivan, 532 00:42:35,170 --> 00:42:39,770 Speaker 1: Kira Posey, and Owen Miller. Cautionary Tales is a production 533 00:42:39,930 --> 00:42:44,290 Speaker 1: of Pushkin Industries. It's recorded at Wardoor Studios in London 534 00:42:44,570 --> 00:42:48,170 Speaker 1: by Tom Berry. If you like the show, please remember 535 00:42:48,170 --> 00:42:51,050 Speaker 1: to share, rate and review. It really makes a difference 536 00:42:51,050 --> 00:42:52,610 Speaker 1: to us and if you want to hear the show, 537 00:42:52,810 --> 00:42:55,970 Speaker 1: add free sign up to Pushkin Plus on the show 538 00:42:56,010 --> 00:43:00,050 Speaker 1: page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin dot fm, slash 539 00:43:00,170 --> 00:43:00,570 Speaker 1: plus