If You're Out There Harry Houdini -- Give Us a Sign!

What better moment than now -- just a few hours before the sun sets and the true "spirit" of Halloween kicks in -- that we should bow our heads in honor of the greatest master-of-illusion of all time: Harry Houdini. Houdini was (and perhaps still is) the most recognizable magician and escape artist the world has ever known. But it's easy to overlook that when Harry Houdini wasn't wresting himself free from straight-jackets and locked jail cells, he was also trying to "pass over" -- to make contact with the spirit world.

Houdini's interest in spiritualism started shortly after the death of his mother (see photo). Harry Houdini wasn't the first "only child" to have an especially close relationship with his mom and he certainly won't be the last. But when Harry's beloved mother died, Houdini began a long and ultimately unfilled quest to contact his deceased mother. In fact, according to www.magictricks.com after she died, he was observed many times at the cemetery where she was buried, lying face down on her grave and holding long conversations with her. He felt that he had to communicate with her and that was when he turned to Spiritualism.

What began as an earnest effort at breaking through ultimately wound up as an almost zealot-like campaign to bring spiritualists to their knees, as every attempt Houdini made at contacting his mother came up short. In the process, Houdini became convinced that most -- if not all -- mediums were frauds. Daring mediums to "put up or shut up" soon became an integral part of the magician's stage show.