Conference hydra::dejavu

233.0. "Houdini Seance" by MILRAT::KEEFE () Sun Nov 02 1986 18:15

Associated Press Sat 01-NOV-1986 16:34                         Houdini Seance

   Late Magician Harry Houdini Passes Curtain Call Offer

   APPLETON, Wis. (AP) - The medium's message was lost on magician
Harry Houdini, who skipped a curtain call at a seance on the 60th
anniversary of his death.
   William Monroe, a former autoworker from Rockford, Ill., led a
45-minute Halloween night seance in a vacant furniture store in
Houdini's boyhood home town. But he - or the ``spirits'' speaking
through him - got tripped up on a question about Houdini's favorite
dessert.
   ``As much as I'd like to see Houdini come back, I do not think he
came back tonight in any way, shape or form,'' said William Muller,
owner of the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
   The seance began with Monroe's body jerking as he went into a
trance. He talked in varying tones that allegedly were spirits, then
answered questions from seance participants designed to prove
whether any of the spirits were Houdini.
   Twelve people, including magicians, reporters and Houdini's
niece, Marie H. Blood, participated; a pre-seance cocktail party
drew about 100.
   Mrs. Blood, attending her first seance, said she was convinced
her uncle stayed away, especially when she asked his favorite
dessert and Monroe said strawberries.
   ``I was disappointed that he didn't have the faintest idea,
because everybody knew he loved bread pudding custard with fresh
cherries on top,'' she said.
   Sidney H. Radner, 66, the Holyoke, Mass., carpet store owner and
Houdini buff who directed the seance, said the failed seance was
proof again of Houdini's drive to expose mediums.
   Houdini died in Detroit on Oct. 31, 1926. For a decade afterward,
his wife Beatrice tried to contact him in seances on the anniversary
of his death, but gave up after 1936.
   Houdini spent part of his life debunking mediums after his own
failed attempts to contact his dead mother.
   ``I'm hoping maybe someday someone will figure out how to get to
the great beyond, but right now, I'm skeptical,'' said Radner, who
has attended more than 30 seances searching for Houdini and plans
more.
   But Mrs. Blood said she was finished.
   ``I tried so hard,'' she said. ``I kept my eyes shut and I kept
thinking of him constantly and I didn't feel anything at all.''
   Monroe said he didn't remember anything from his trance. He
wasn't disappointed with the outcome and told the participants they
would need five to seven years of intensive effort to reach Houdini.
   ``As long as I didn't disgrace myself, I guess I'm all right,''
he said.

    I was just flicking through the directory and this note caught my
    eye, the reason is because I went to school and was friends with
    a kid that claimed that Harry Houdini was his great uncle. Everyone
    in my class thought he was nuts and that he was lying about it.
    Well he told me that they used to have a saence every year at Halloween
    to try to contact him, over his grandmother's house.  Well nobody
    in school never believed him, but I never doubted him because he
    was my friend.
    
    Well about three years ago, my mom was reading the obituaries in
    the paper, and told me that my friends grandmother died...and lo...
    she WAS related to Harry Houdini and used to make his costumes.
    
    Lynne S.