Escape from Afterlife: A History of the Harry Houdini Halloween Séance

This Halloween, magicians, spiritualists, and fans will attempt to contact Harry Houdini from beyond the grave, a ninety-year-old tradition born out of a widow’s promise to her dead husband at a time when spiritualism enjoyed rampant popularity and even scientific support.
houdini-seance

Houdini, aside from being the most famous magician and escape artist in United States history, also crusaded against false mystics and seers who fleeced mourners desperate to contact dead loved ones. However, Houdini’s skepticism also carried with it a deep desire that one day someone would prove him wrong.

Read the full story here.

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About Carter

Theodore Carter is the author of Stealing The Scream, Frida Sex Dreams and Other Unnerving Disruptions, and The Life Story of a Chilean Sea Blob and Other Matters of Importance. His fiction has appeared in The North American Review, Pank, Necessary Fiction, and elsewhere. Carter’s street art projects have earned attention from The Washington Post, The Washington City Paper, several D.C. TV news stations, and other outlets. In 2019, he organized the Night of 1,000 Fridas, an event spanning 5 continents that brought over 1,000 images of Frida Kahlo out into public view on the same night. More at www.theodorecarter.com.

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