Magician Among the Spirits — Chapter 9 Part III - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
(Signed) “A. Conan Doyle.
” I had written an article for the _New York Sun_, October 30, 1922, which gave my views in reference to Spiritualism and at the same time answered the challenge offered by the General Assembly of Spiritualists of New York State.
This had been called to the attention of Sir Arthur, who wrote as follows: “Windlesham, Crowborough, Sussex.
November 19, 1922. “My dear Houdini:-- “They sent me the _New York Sun_ with your article and no doubt wanted me to answer it, but I have no fancy for sparring with a friend in public, so I took no notice.
“But none the less, I felt rather sore about it.
You have all the right in the world to hold your own opinion, but when you say that you have had no evidence of survival, you say what I cannot reconcile with what I saw with my own eyes.
I know, by many examples, the purity of my wife’s mediumship, and I saw what you got and what the effect was upon you at the time.
You know also you yourself at once wrote down, with your own hand, the name of Powell, the one man who might be expected to communicate with me.
Unless you were joking when you said that you did not know of this Powell’s death, then surely that was evidential, since the idea that out of all your friends you had chanced to write the name of one who exactly corresponded, would surely be too wonderful a coincidence.
“However, I don’t propose to discuss this subject any more with you, for I consider that you have had your proofs and that the responsibility of accepting or rejecting is with you.
As it _is_ a very real lasting responsibility.
However, I have it at last, for I have done my best to give you the truth.
I will, however, send you my little book, on the fraud perpetrated upon Hope, but that will be my last word on the subject.
Meanwhile, there are lots of other subjects on which we can all meet in friendly converse.
“Yours very sincerely, (Signed) “A. Conan Doyle.
” To which I replied:-- “December 15, 1922. “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Windlesham, Crowborough, Sussex.
“My dear Sir Arthur:-- “Received your letter regarding my article in the _New York Sun_.
You write that you are very sore.
I trust that it is not with me, because you, having been truthful and manly all your life, naturally must admire the same traits in other human beings.
“I know you are honorable and sincere and think I owe you an explanation regarding the letter I received through the hands of Lady Doyle.
“I was heartily in accord and sympathy at that seance but the letter was written entirely in English and my sainted Mother could not read, write or speak the English language.
I did not care to discuss it at the time because of my emotion in trying to sense the presence of my Mother, if there was such a thing possible, to keep me quiet until time passed, and I could give it the proper deduction.
“Regarding my having written the name ‘Powell.
’ Frederick Eugene Powell is a very dear friend of mine.
He had just passed through two serious operations.
Furthermore Mrs. Powell had a paralytic stroke at that time.
I was having some business dealings with him which entailed a great deal of correspondence; therefore, naturally, his name was uppermost in my mind and I cannot make myself believe that my hand was guided by your friend.
It was just a coincidence.
“I trust my clearing up of the seance, from my point of view is satisfactory, and that you do not harbor any ill feelings, because I hold both Lady Doyle and yourself in the highest esteem.
I know you treat this as a religion but personally I cannot do so, for up to the present time I have never seen or heard anything that could convert me.
“Trusting you will accept my letter in the same honest, good faith feeling as it has been written.
“With best wishes to Lady Doyle, yourself and the family, in which Mrs. Houdini joins, “Sincerely yours, (Signed) “Houdini.
” In January 1923, the _Scientific American_ issued a challenge of . to the first person to produce a psychic photograph under test conditions.
An additional . was offered to the first person who, under the test conditions, defined, and to the satisfaction of the judges named, produced an objective psychic manifestation of physical character as defined, and of such sort that permanent instrumental record may be made of its occurrence.
The committee named were: Dr. William McDougall, D. Sc.
, Professor of Psychology at Harvard; Daniel Frisk Comstock, Ph.
D.
, former member of the Faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Walter Franklin Prince, Ph.
D.
, Principal Research Officer for the S. P.
R.
;
Hereward Carrington, Ph.
D.
, Psychic Investigator; J. Malcolm Bird, Member of the Scientific American Staff; and myself.
[91] Sir Arthur’s letter is self-explanatory.
“Windlesham, Crowborough, Sussex.
“January 1, 1923. “My dear Houdini: “...
I see that you are on the Scientific American Committee, but how can it be called an Impartial Committee when you have committed yourself to such statements as that some Spiritualists pass away before they realize how they have been deluded, etc?
You have every possible right to hold such an opinion, but you can’t sit on an Impartial Committee afterwards.
It becomes biased at once.
What I wanted was five good clear-headed men who can push to it without any prejudice at all, like the Dialectical Society[92] of London, who unanimously endorsed the phenomena.
“Once more all greetings, (Signed) “A. CONAN DOYLE.
” On May 21, 22 and 24 the _Scientific American_ held their first test seances.
The permanent sitters were Mr. Walker, Mr. Lescurboura, Mr. J.
Malcolm Bird of the Editorial staff of the _Scientific American_, Mr. Owen of the _Times_, Mr. Granville Lehrmann of the American Telephone and Telegraph and Richard I. Worrell, _a friend_ of the medium.
Drs.
Carrington and Prince of the Committee of Judges sat on Monday.
Dr. Prince and myself on Thursday.
On Tuesday the Committee was represented by Mr. Frederick Keating, conjuror.
The medium, a man by the name of George Valentine of Wilkes-Barre, Penn.
, claimed to be genuine.
He was trapped by being seated on a chair which was so arranged that when he arose an electric light arrangement was fixed in the room adjoining, together with dictographs and a phosphorous button.
In the estimation of the Committee, Mr. Valentine was just a common, ordinary trickster.
Lady Doyle, Miss Juliet Karcher, Mrs. Houdini, Sir Arthur and I were lunching at the Royal Automobile Club in London, May 11, 1920, and Sir Arthur called attention to the fact that a few days previously they had been sitting at the same table with a powerful medium, and he told me in a very serious tone, which was corroborated by Lady Doyle, that the table started to move all around the place to the astonishment of the waiter, who was not aware of the close proximity of the medium.
All the time he was relating it, I watched him closely and saw that both he and Lady Doyle were most sincere and believed what they had told me to be an actual fact.
There are times when I almost doubt the sincerity of some of Sir Arthur’s _statements_, even though I do not doubt the sincerity of his belief.
I have been over a number of letters which I have received from Sir Arthur during the last few years and selected the following excerpts which show his viewpoint regarding many of the matters we have discussed.
“I do not wonder that they put you down as an occult.
As I read the accounts I do not see how you do it.
You must be a brave man as well as exceptionally dexterous.
” “How you get out of the diving suits beats me, but the whole thing beats me completely.
” “I spoke of the Davenport Brothers.
Your word on the matter knowing, as you do both the man and the possibilities of his art, would be final.
” “You are to me a perpetual mystery.
No doubt you are to everyone.
” “In a fair light I saw my dead Mother as clearly as I ever saw her in life.
I am a cool observer and I do not make mistakes.
It was wonderful--but it taught me nothing I did not know before.
” “Our best remembrances to your wife and yourself.
For God’s sake be careful in those fearsome feats of yours.
You ought to be able to retire now.
” “These clairvoyants whose names I have given you are passive agents in themselves and powerless.
If left to themselves they guess and muddle--as they sometimes do, when the true connection is formed, all is clear.
That connection depends on the forces beyond, which are repelled by frivolity or curiosity but act under the impulse of sympathy.
” “I see that you know a great deal about the negative side of Spiritualism.
” “If you think of a lost friend before going to a seance and breathe a prayer that you may be allowed to get in touch you will have a chance--otherwise none.
It really does depend upon psychic or mental vibrations and harmonies.
” “I fear there is much fraud among American mediums where Spiritualism seems to have deservedly fallen into disrepute.
Even when genuine it is used for stock exchange, and other base worldly purposes.
No wonder it has sunk low in the very land that was honored by the first Spiritual manifestations of the series.
” “You certainly have very wonderful powers, whether inborn or acquired.
” “I envy you the privilege of having met Ira Davenport.
” “Most of our great mediums at present are unpaid amateurs, inaccessible to any but Spiritualists.
” “Something _must_ come your way if you really persevere and get it out of your mind that you should follow it as a terrier follows a rat.
” “Mental harmony does not in the least abrogate common sense.
” “I heard of your remarkable feat in Bristol.
My dear chap, why do you go around the world seeking a demonstration of the occult when you are giving one all the time?
” “I _know_ Hope to be a true psychic and will give you my reasons when I treat it, but you can give no man a blank check for honesty on every particular occasion, whether there is a temptation to hedge when psychic power runs low is a question to be considered.
I am for an uncompromising honesty--but also for thorough examination based on true knowledge.
” “I am amused by your investigation with the Society for Psychical Research.
Have they never thought of investigating you?
” “It was good of you to give those poor invalids a show and you will find yourself in the third sphere alright with your dear wife, world without end, whatever you may believe.
” “Incredulity seems to me to be a sort of insanity under the circumstances.
” This was in reference to some photographs of ectoplasm which I questioned.
“This talk of ‘fake’ is in most cases nonsense and shows our own imperfect knowledge of conditions and of the ways of Controls, who often take short cuts to their ends, having no regard at all to our critical idea.
” “Our opponents talk of one failure and omit a great series of successes.
However, truth wins and there is lots of time.
” “I never let a pressman (newspaper man) get away with it with impunity if I can help it.
”[93] “Our relations are certainly curious and likely to become more so, for as long as you attack what _I know_ from experience to be true I have no alternative but to attack you in turn.
How long a private friendship can survive such an ordeal I do not know, but at least I did not create the situation.
” “You have a reputation among Spiritualists of being a bitterly prejudiced enemy who would make trouble if it were possible--I know this is not so.
” On page 150 of Sir Arthur’s book “Our American Adventure” he says: “Houdini is not one of those shallow men who imagine they can explain away Spiritual phenomena as parlor tricks, but he retains an open--and ever, I think, a more receptive--mind toward mysteries which are beyond his art.
He understands, I hope, that to get truth in the matter you have not to sit as a Sanhedrim of Judgement, like the Circle of Conjurors in London, since Spiritual truth does not come as a culprit to a bar, but you must submit in a humble spirit to psychic conditions and so go forth, making most progress when on your knees.
” Sir Arthur has told me time and time again that his whole life is based upon the subject of Spiritualism and that he has sacrificed some of the best years of his life to the betterment and spread of the cause, which, due to his sincerity, is a beautiful faith.
[94] But in my opinion it is no “sacrifice” to convince people who have recently suffered a bereavement of the possibility and reality of communicating with their dear ones.
To me the poor suffering followers eagerly searching for relief from the heart-pain that follows the passing on of a dear one are the “sacrifice.
” Sir Arthur thinks that I have great mediumistic powers and that some of my feats are done with the aid of spirits.
Everything I do is accomplished by material means, humanly possible, no matter how baffling it is to the layman.
He says that I do not enter a seance in the right frame of mind, that I should be more submissive, but in all the seances I have attended I have never had a feeling of antagonism.
I have no desire to discredit Spiritualism; I have no warfare with Sir Arthur; I have no fight with the Spiritists; but I do believe it is my duty, for the betterment of humanity, to place frankly before the public the results of my long investigation of Spiritualism.
I am willing to be convinced; my mind is open, but the proof must be such as to leave no vestige of doubt that what is claimed to be done is accomplished only through or by supernatural power.
So far I have never on any occasion, in all the seances I have attended, seen anything which would lead me to credit a mediumistic performance with supernatural aid, nor have I ever seen anything which has convinced me that it is possible to communicate with those who have passed out of this life.
Therefore I do not agree with Sir Arthur.
CHAPTER X
