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Authors: Richard Matheson
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the lights went on, Houdini lunged to his feet and over to the cabinet, features stone-like. With quick, angry movements, he unlocked the cabinet and threw it open. Reaching down, he jerked a folded ruler from beneath the cushion under Mrs. Crandon’s feet; held it up in triumph.
“Announcing the existence of this ruler is obviously a cheap device to avoid its discovery and, at the same time, discredit me,” he said derisively.
“A cheap device to discredit my wife, you mean!” Crandon broke in loudly. Again, he had to be restrained by Carrington.
Houdini pointed at the cabinet, his expression one of contempt.
“I accuse our so-called
medium
of concealing this ruler in the cabinet to besmirch my reputation!” he cried.
“A lie!” raged Crandon.
“Mr. Houdini, you and your assistant checked the cabinet completely just before we started,” Dr. Prince reminded him.
“We did not—” began Houdini.
“You even re-opened the cabinet to check it again mere seconds before we started,” Prince interrupted the magician.
“In order to place the ruler inside and discredit my wife!” Dr. Crandon shouted.
“False!” Houdini screamed at him. “
False! False! False!”
AFTERWARD
The mystery was never solved. Houdini denied that he had placed the ruler in the cabinet. So, too, did Dr. Crandon and his wife.
At the very least, Houdini’s accusations of fraud in this case were questionable.
Oddly enough, although it is generally assumed that Houdini went to his grave claiming that he had never witnessed a single, genuine psychic manifestation in his life, he once told Hereward Carrington that, while performing in Berlin, he had, in fact, experienced exactly such a manifestation.
He was walking onto the stage to begin his show when his eyes were drawn to the opposite wing.
There, he saw his mother standing, a shawl over her head.
Smiling at him.
Torn between his sense of duty to the audience and his stunned reaction to the sight of his beloved mother, Houdini spoke a few words of greeting to the audience, then looked back quickly at the wing where he had seen his mother.
She was gone.
Houdini, stricken, commenced his show.
Later, to discover that, at the moment he had seen his mother, she was dying in New York.
Even more odd—if not downright peculiar—is the conviction that Houdini’s declared vow to communicate with his wife after death never took place despite yearly attempts on his birthday.
In fact, he
did
communicate with his wife as agreed.
At least, his widow believed that he did.
In a message delivered by well-known medium Arthur Ford—through his Spirit Control Fletcher—Mrs. Houdini was told the following:
“A man who says he is Harry Houdini but whose real name was Ehrich Weiss, is here and wishes to send to his wife, Beatrice
Houdini, the ten-word code which he agreed to do if it were possible for him to communicate.
“He says you are to take this message to her and, upon acceptance of it, he wishes her to follow out the plan they agreed upon before his passing. This is the code:
“ROSABELLE ** ANSWER ** TELL ** PRAY ** ANSWER ** LOOK ** TELL ** ANSWER ** ANSWER ** TELL”
No one on earth knew this code but Houdini and his wife.
Following another sitting with Arthur Ford, Mrs. Houdini stated emotionally, “It is right!”
The code was used by her and Houdini in their “mind-reading” act.
Interpreted, the message was ROSABELLE, BELIEVE.
Mrs. Houdini prepared a hand-written statement as follows:
Regardless of any statements made to the contrary, I wish to declare that the message, in its entirety, and in the agreed upon sequence given to me by Arthur Ford, is the correct message prearranged between Mr. Houdini and myself.
Beatrice Houdini
From the moment Mrs. Houdini signed this statement, she was exposed to a firestorm of scorn and criticism.
It is believed that she later reneged on her signed statement.
At least, virtually everyone believes that she did.
But
“Announcing the existence of this ruler is obviously a cheap device to avoid its discovery and, at the same time, discredit me,” he said derisively.
“A cheap device to discredit my wife, you mean!” Crandon broke in loudly. Again, he had to be restrained by Carrington.
Houdini pointed at the cabinet, his expression one of contempt.
“I accuse our so-called
medium
of concealing this ruler in the cabinet to besmirch my reputation!” he cried.
“A lie!” raged Crandon.
“Mr. Houdini, you and your assistant checked the cabinet completely just before we started,” Dr. Prince reminded him.
“We did not—” began Houdini.
“You even re-opened the cabinet to check it again mere seconds before we started,” Prince interrupted the magician.
“In order to place the ruler inside and discredit my wife!” Dr. Crandon shouted.
“False!” Houdini screamed at him. “
False! False! False!”
AFTERWARD
The mystery was never solved. Houdini denied that he had placed the ruler in the cabinet. So, too, did Dr. Crandon and his wife.
At the very least, Houdini’s accusations of fraud in this case were questionable.
Oddly enough, although it is generally assumed that Houdini went to his grave claiming that he had never witnessed a single, genuine psychic manifestation in his life, he once told Hereward Carrington that, while performing in Berlin, he had, in fact, experienced exactly such a manifestation.
He was walking onto the stage to begin his show when his eyes were drawn to the opposite wing.
There, he saw his mother standing, a shawl over her head.
Smiling at him.
Torn between his sense of duty to the audience and his stunned reaction to the sight of his beloved mother, Houdini spoke a few words of greeting to the audience, then looked back quickly at the wing where he had seen his mother.
She was gone.
Houdini, stricken, commenced his show.
Later, to discover that, at the moment he had seen his mother, she was dying in New York.
Even more odd—if not downright peculiar—is the conviction that Houdini’s declared vow to communicate with his wife after death never took place despite yearly attempts on his birthday.
In fact, he
did
communicate with his wife as agreed.
At least, his widow believed that he did.
In a message delivered by well-known medium Arthur Ford—through his Spirit Control Fletcher—Mrs. Houdini was told the following:
“A man who says he is Harry Houdini but whose real name was Ehrich Weiss, is here and wishes to send to his wife, Beatrice
Houdini, the ten-word code which he agreed to do if it were possible for him to communicate.
“He says you are to take this message to her and, upon acceptance of it, he wishes her to follow out the plan they agreed upon before his passing. This is the code:
“ROSABELLE ** ANSWER ** TELL ** PRAY ** ANSWER ** LOOK ** TELL ** ANSWER ** ANSWER ** TELL”
No one on earth knew this code but Houdini and his wife.
Following another sitting with Arthur Ford, Mrs. Houdini stated emotionally, “It is right!”
The code was used by her and Houdini in their “mind-reading” act.
Interpreted, the message was ROSABELLE, BELIEVE.
Mrs. Houdini prepared a hand-written statement as follows:
Regardless of any statements made to the contrary, I wish to declare that the message, in its entirety, and in the agreed upon sequence given to me by Arthur Ford, is the correct message prearranged between Mr. Houdini and myself.
Beatrice Houdini
From the moment Mrs. Houdini signed this statement, she was exposed to a firestorm of scorn and criticism.
It is believed that she later reneged on her signed statement.
At least, virtually everyone believes that she did.
But
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