The magician and the spirits : Harry Houdini and the curious pastime of communicating with the dead Cover Image

Book

The magician and the spirits : Harry Houdini and the curious pastime of communicating with the dead / Deborah Noyes.

Summary:

A century ago, the curious idea that spirits not only survive death but can be contacted on the "other side" was widespread. Psychic mediums led countless séances, claiming to connect the grieving with their lost relations through everything from frenzied trance writing to sticky expulsions of ectoplasm. The craze caught Harry Houdini's attention. Well-known by then as most renowned magician and escape artist, he began to investigate these spiritual phenomena. Are ghosts real? Can we communicate with them? Catch them in photographs? Or are all mediums "flim-flammers," employing tricks and illusions like Houdini himself? Peopled with odd and fascinating characters, Houdini's gripping quest will excite readers' universal wonderment with life, death, and the possibility of the Beyond.--from book jacket.

Record details

ISBN: 9780803740181
ISBN: 0803740182
Physical Description: 152 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
Publisher: New York : Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House [2017]
Copyright: ©2017

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 144-146) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	Introduction -- Harry and Bess Houdini, spirit mediums -- Dealings with the dead -- The mother's boy -- The torch bearer -- "In the light" -- Manifestations! -- A menace to health and sanity -- Science and sincerity -- It takes a flimflammer to catch a flimflammer -- The end (or is it?) -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Acknowledgments -- Picture credits -- Index.
Awards Note:	A Junior Library Guild selection (JLG.)