[SPIRITUALISM] Eight-Page Report and TLS to Houdini Regardi...

[SPIRITUALISM] Eight-Page Report and TLS to Houdini Regarding Spirit Mediums. The first portion a five-page TLS signed “George” in pencil and dated Sept. 4, 1925. The letter reports in great detail the writer’s interactions with an unknown person, identified only as “B,” and also alludes to a man who is presumably Walter Franklin Prince, a parapsychologist who worked with Houdini, Dr. Crandon (the husband of Margery the Boston medium), the Banner of Light and other topics directly related to Houdini’s deep interest in spiritualism.

The other three sheets record details of some thirty-five spiritualists working and living at (or near) Camp Chesterfield, a community of mediums in central Indiana. The writer provides illuminating details to Houdini regarding the addresses of these mediums and information about their personal beliefs (“At present she believes that the voices in the trumpet are really those of spirits, but that the medium must help the spirits all she can, even to furnishing names and dope about the people to receive the messages. She also at present believes in materialization.”) Together eight 4to sheets, neatly typed, with numerous penciled corrections and underlining in blue pencil throughout, some possibly in Houdini’s hand. A revealing and possibly unpublished tranche of information regarding Houdini’s anti-spiritualist crusade.