Sunday, November 3, 2019

Photos from The Official Houdini Seance 2019

The 2019 Official Houdini Seance was held at the Rapids Theater in Niagara Falls, New York. While Houdini was once again a no-show, it looked like another fine event in a great Houdini location. Below are some photos thanks to attendee Sean Doran.




The Official Houdini Seance is organized each year by Bill Radner and Tom Boldt.

Thank you Sean!

Official Houdini Seances past:

13 comments:

  1. Do you about the letter Beth wrote as a reply to Sir Arthur in the late thirty's? Rick Schmidlin

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    1. Hey Rick. They exchanged quite a few letters. Many of those are reprinted in the 1932 book Houdini and Conan Doyle, including the one with her famous "...it was Houdini himself that was the secret" quote.

      Did you perhaps see something wonderful at the Ransom Center? :)

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  2. Yes there is letter that she wrote around 1938 that he did not respond and told Doyle that she did not believe he would come back.

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    1. If she wrote it in 1938, he didn't respond because he had been dead for 8 years. :p So maybe what you saw was earlier. Or maybe Bessie was hitting the sauce pretty hard that day! Either way, I look forward to reading it. Thanks for the heads up.

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  3. Harry Ransom Center

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  4. It truly was an intimate night of mystery and magic! Thanks to Bill and Tom for putting on this event.

    Speaking of letters...There was some interesting dialog during the seance that night regarding a red wax sealed Houdini/Dunninger code letter. Anyone have the scoop on that letters contents? I believe Arthur Moses is in possession of this particular letter.

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    1. Thanks Sean. I've read about the big storm that night. That just makes it sound all the better! I so wish I would have attended this one. But I found out about it much too late. But this was a location worth traveling to. And I bet I could have found some Man From Beyond shooting locations!

      That letter was something you can see Henry Muller talking about in some HH documentaries. This is off the top of my head so I might not be getting this exactly right, but it's a letter from HH to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (or maybe the other way around) with several words circled and it's sealed inside an envelope. The test is for a medium to tell us which words are circled. Dunninger created it for his own seances I believe. I didn't know Arthur now has it!

      Thanks again for the pics.

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  5. YES! Our Halloween storm that night was something else. The moving of the 1918 "Iron Scow" that has been lodged near the Horseshoe Falls does make it sound all the better!

    I've been trying to find a few of The Man From Beyond shooting locations as well. I have a couple of ideas but still need to grab the right shots and frame them up. Would have loved your knowledgeable company to track these down!

    Thanks for the letter info as well! I must have just been too excited when Arthur was speaking of this "Dunninger" letter, and I didn't make the connection to the Houdini/Doyle letter.

    Glad you enjoyed the pics!

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    1. Did you see this post Sean? Any idea where this bridge is or was?

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  6. Don't get me started on that bridge John! That "Houdini" bridge has been the bane of my searching for that exact location. I thought I had a solid lead to the spot, but I cannot find any recorded history of that style of bridge spanning any section of the Niagara river or rapids. I'll drop you an email with some locations and pictures I'm leaning towards shortly!

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    1. Haha, now you're starting to sound like me! :)

      Is it possible that isn't a bridge at all? Could it just be some structure built over the rapid for whatever reason? Power station related or something?

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