The 19th century was such a bizarre time in history. The growth of the cities all over the world led to impressive advancements in technology and science, however, instead of facts reigning in the collective imagination, society got immersed into magical and fantastical trains of thoughts and systems of beliefs. Ghosts and spirits were among the most popular of the time.
The turn of the century saw a rise in Spiritualism all over Europe and the US. People would pay fortunes to have even the slightest touch with the paranormal, mainly passed family members who they wanted to contact. Psychics and mediums became really popular and wealthy and as the popularity of Spiritualism grew bigger and bigger, so did the number of charlatans who just robbed naive people wanting to see their beloved ones at least one more time.
Harry Houdini, Leader of the Ghostbusters
Naturally, they were some who saw these people as they were, scammers. One of them was no other than the most iconic magician in history, Harry Houdini, who after a terrible experience after the death of her mother decided to make war against mediums and bust their ghost-seeking business; he was determined to make the world know they were being scammed.
When his mother passed, he was drawn immediately to Spiritualism in an attempt to keep in touch with his mother. It’s said that he attended over thousands of séances, but he was never convinced that he was actually talking or communicating with his departed mother. Eventually, the discouragement became suspicion, and being the amazing magician and trickster that he was, he soon realized that most séances were built through similar tricks he used in his escapes. All those alleged sounds and movements that mediums assured were ghosts communicating, were pure tricks, and even the most refined acts like ectoplasm could be explained.
Spiritists didn’t only resort to cheap tricks, there was even a trend of spirit photography in which photos would be tricked so ‘ghosts’ would appear standing next to their beloved ones. This type of trick was so popular that even the former first lady, Mary Todd Lincoln, had an infamous shot with her beloved Abraham.
But back to Houdini. Seeing how so-called mediums and spiritists were making a fortune out of stripping people from their money, Houdini decided to expose these charlatans at all costs. In 1924 he published a book called A Magician Among the Spirits, in which he described how most of the most popular tricks were made at séances to fool people. But it wasn’t enough to really unmask the Spiritist business.
Rose Mckenberg and the Ghostbusters
Houdini put together a group of smart and skeptic investigators to expose as many charlatans as possible. They would attend séances all over the US and meet with mediums to understand their tricks and then expose them publicly. They would often accompany Houdini on his tours and arrive a week or so early to the visiting cities to investigate mediums. Once they’ve got the information they needed, Houdini would expose them at his show by replicating their tricks so no one in that town or city would spend a dime on their business.
His team eventually got its biggest asset when Rose Mackemberg, a law stenographer, approached Houdini himself to ask him for help in a particular case. One of her clients wanted legal help after he lost his fortune on an investment that his medium had advised him to make. At that time, Houdini was already famous for exposing fraudulent spiritists, so Rose knew he could help her client out. Seeing how smart Rose was, Houdini offered her to join his team of ghostbusters. She soon became the chief investigator of the team, and there was a very good reason for that.
While the other investigations proved to be effective in unmasking tricksters, Rose was a master on the field. She used impressive disguises creating very convincing characters to avoid being recognized and with her expertise, brought down hundreds of con artists. Rose worked alongside Houdini until his accidental death in 1926. However, she was way too invested to abandon the cause.
Her work was so impressive that skeptics all over the country and Europe saw her as a master. But as it was obvious, the more mediums she exposed the more spiritist enemies she made. Even Houdini had been threatened on multiple occasions and Rose wasn’t the exception. Still, she never worried to had extra security and kept busting charlatans and alleged ghosts.
Skeptics Against Ghosts
Houdini and his team of ghostbusters weren’t the only skeptics trying to make the world know the truth. Another celebrity character that was very keen to unmask charlatans was no other than P.T. Barnum, best known as ‘The Greatest Showman.’ The famous circus and freak-show mogul made it quite public his dislike of Spiritualism and even sued the famous spiritist photographer William H. Mumler with evidence that it was all a trick. Houdini jumped in to help Barnum by presenting a ‘ghost’ photo of himself alongside the spirit of Abraham Lincoln. However, Barnum’s attempt was futile and Mumler was acquitted.
On the spiritist side, there were also some celebrity supporters, and one of the most famous is probably Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the classic Sherlock Holmes novels. Even though his character was all about facts and logic, and Doyle himself was a man of science, he fell for the spiritist craze and did all he could to defend the practice. He was so convinced about spirits that he even convinced Victorian England that the photos that two girls faked with fairies (The Cottingley Fairies) were true. He even joined The Society for Psychical Research, which still exists today.
The ironic part of this story is that despite all these men being quite intense when it came to their stand on Spiritualism, Houdini and Doyle eventually became very good friends.
