When Harry Met Arthur

The story of Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

By: Sam Little

The name Harry Houdini conjures up images of amazing feats of magic and escapes that seem impossible to the natural mind. One can see the mystical magical feats (try saying that three times fast) of this great man just with the mention of his name.

When one thinks of detectives one name always comes to mind, despite the fact that he is a fictional character. Sherlock Holmes is the creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle was known for his fantastic detective tells and his unpredictable plot twists. His work is known for it's serious overtones.

Two seperate men with their own claim to fame and with their own artistic views, both few would imagine these two fantastic people have something in common on a supernatural scale. They both, in their own way influenced the spiritualist movement and all it's aspects.

Houdini's pursuit of the paranormal came after the loss of his mother. He was very close to his mom and her death really affected him. Heartbroken Houdini decided to look for his mom through the eyes and lips of mediums. He went from medium to medium always disappointed at the results. He could detect the trickery and scams right away and his search for his mother began to take on a different look.

Houdini began a quest of sorts to debunk the mediums made popular by the spiritualist movement. Some say of all the crusaders in the fight against spiritualism, Houdini was Richard the Lionhearted. He vigorously went at this endeavor with a passion that almost mimicked his passion for magic and escape.

He even put up $10,000 of his own money to anyone who could create paranormal or psychical phenomena that he could not recreate naturally. The prize was never claimed.

Houdini, ever the performer would implement the debunking sessions into his shows. This served 2 points, the first was to satisfy the insationible hunger he had for proving spiritualist wrong and the second was the money. These debunkings brought in crowds of believers and disbelievers, and with each individual came their money.

At the same time Houdini was losing all faith in spiritualism, a man of equal fame and integrity was slowly becoming it's greatest supporter. Famous for his timeless characters and of course Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a respected and admired man. He was thought to be the height of intelligence and a standard for gentlemen. One would assume a man of this stature would carry some of the traits that his classic detective did, but this was not always the case.

In the beginning Doyle like Houdini assumed the spiritualist movement to be nothing more than a passing fad and he was very skeptical of it, not to unlike Houdini, other than the personal quest to expose the entire movement as a fake.

After losing his son Doyle began to make a shift that some say not only changed his character, but also made him look like a fool. Doyle sought mediums to find his son and communicate pass the grave. (just like Houdini) One medium, evidently affected and convinced him enough that he fell into the movement like a shot duck does a distant lake. Suddenly the detective stories he was made famous by no longer intrigued him. The serious characters and plot twist gave way and under the wall and floor of literary genius was a new thinner layer of spiritualism that Doyle would write continuously about. The writing turned into curiosity which turned into lecturing and tours speaking the marvels of the movement.

In 1893 the Society for Psychical Research entered Doyle into it's ranks. A move that many found absurd as Doyle was gaining a reputation for all out believing. As expected he never really fit in with the other members.

Houdini also sat on counsels that carried out similar work as the SPR did only his role was much different from Doyle. After an initial meeting the two opposites became quick friends. Their passion about spiritualism created a strong bond. Despite their different frames of thought the two became very close.

Despite the friend bond that had been made, the opposing viewpoints would eventually begin to create tension between the famed writer and the man who could not be contained. Doyle assumed and made these assumptions openly clear that he felt Houdini actually possessed psychical abilities and could take spirit form to escape from various restraints. The statements were actually increasing audience interest in the escape artist but Houdini felt it was wounding his integrity and conflicting with his quest.

Doyle wanted to help Houdini and invited him to attend an automatic writing session done by his wife. Lady Doyle had developed a reputation for this form of spirit contact and Houdini figured why not so the three set down to write.

Within minutes Lady Doyle made contact with the dead mother of Harry Houdini. The whole while the session continued, Harry not wanting to upset his friend pretended to be impressed. In truth he had already spotted three discrepancies. The first a cross said to come from Harry's mom. The Houdini family were Jewish and thus this would not have been an appropriate symbol. Next the message given was in perfect English. Harry's mother was Hungarian and could not write in English. The final thing that disturbed the watchful magician was the fact the session was held on his mother's birthday and yet that was never brought up.

Houdini kept the feelings of that night to himself and still endured the outrageous claims made by his friend Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Finally Houdini addressed the issues he had with the writing session. Doyle was quick to make excuses. He claimed Houdini's mother learned English in the afterlife. Harry had stood all he could and began to fire back.

An argument ensued that would see letters publicly displayed in various newspapers and magazines. After a public argument it was obvious the unlikely friendship had came to an abrupt and likely end.

The two would however bang heads again after an investigation of famed medium Nina Stinson Credon (Margery). Houdini openly accused the research team of being blind to the tricks and antics of the medium. Doyle struck back claiming Houdini a fraud and a charlatan. The two would speak rarely from that point on and in 1926 Harry passed away on Halloween night. He swore to contact his beloved wife with a secret message. Despite 25 years of séances every Halloween night Houdini never made contact.

The faud even continued after their deaths with the 1997 film "Fairy Tale" a story about a fraudulent event concerning fairies. Doyle was played by Peter O'toole and Houdini, the polite nemesis was portrayed by Harvey Kietel. While each had their own view and they openly enforced that view these two in their own way added to the spiritualist movement. Happy Hunting!