A Magician Among the Spirits

HARRY HOUDINI’S CLASSIC INVESTIGATION INTO THE WORLD OF SPIRITUALISM — PUBLISHED IN A NEW EDITION TO MARK THE CENTENARY OF HIS DEATH

Harry Houdini was the most famous magician and escape artist of his age. But behind the handcuffs, death-defying escapes and extraordinary showmanship was another Houdini: the investigator determined to discover whether communication with the dead was real.

For more than twenty-five years, Houdini attended séances, investigated mediums and examined extraordinary claims of supernatural phenomena. A Magician Among the Spirits, first published in 1924, is his remarkable account of that search.

Houdini takes the reader inside the strange and fascinating world of early Spiritualism, investigating the Fox Sisters, the Davenport Brothers, Daniel Dunglas Home, Eusapia Palladino, spirit writing, spirit photography, ectoplasm and the ingenious methods by which fraudulent mediums could apparently obtain information known only to their sitters. The book culminates in Houdini’s argument for why the trained eye of a magician offered a unique defence against deception.

At its heart is one of the most fascinating relationships in the history of magic: Houdini’s friendship and profound disagreement with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The creator of Sherlock Holmes became a passionate believer in Spiritualism, while Houdini remained unconvinced. Their opposing views eventually placed two of the most famous men of their generation on opposite sides of an extraordinary debate.

Yet Houdini was not simply a scoffer. He believed in an afterlife and desperately hoped for evidence that he might communicate with his beloved mother. He approached séances wanting to find something genuine, but concluded that the evidence he encountered could be explained by deception, illusion or human psychology.

This special Hey Presto edition includes:

• A new foreword by Marvin Berglas, President of The Magic Circle, reflecting on Houdini, his father David Berglas and The Magic Circle’s long involvement in investigating paranormal claims.
• “Houdini, A Century On” — a new introduction by Professor Richard Wiseman, psychologist, magician and Chair of The Magic Circle’s Paranormal Investigation Committee.
• The complete, unabridged text of Houdini’s original work.
• Remastered original illustrations.
• A newly prepared index and textual notes.
• Numerous errors in names, places, dates and titles found in the original edition carefully researched and corrected, with significant amendments documented for reference.

Published to commemorate 100 years since Houdini’s death on Halloween, 31 October 1926, this edition presents one of his most important books for a new generation.

Part detective story, part history of magic and part first-hand investigation into belief, deception and the desire to communicate with the dead, A Magician Among the Spirits reveals a side of Houdini every bit as fascinating as his legendary escapes.

Essential reading for anyone interested in Houdini, magic, Spiritualism, the paranormal, scepticism, psychical research or the remarkable cultural world of the 1920s.