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Houdini Exhibit – A Magician Among the Spirits

Houdini Duplicates Spirit Photo

One of the first things you notice about the Michigan State Historical Society’s exhibit based on Houdini’s A Magician Among the Spirits,is the careful use of the exposure to explain his crusade against spiritualism.

“Secret” of Shoe Rapping


There are a few examples of methods: A hollowed out heel in a woman’s shoe to replicate spirit raps; a complex system of mirrors to allow a spiritualist to read a participant’s slate; or a method of raising tables.


Houdini in Disguise


Each of the methods are similar — none of them were used by actual spiritualists in Houdini’s time. It is a clever method of showing how the effects could be accomplished without disclosing the actual method.

Interestingly, they sell Houdini’s books in the bookshop just outside the doors. The magic clubs around the Lansing, Michigan area contributed to the design and the substance of the exhibits.


“Secret” of table lifting.


If you search the documents available at the exhibit, you will find references to the Fox sisters, Margery and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle but you would have to know something about magic or its history to know where or how to look.

One of my favorite exhibits was the straight jacket display. Houdini had ordered a leather straight jacket from a company in Detroit, Michigan. A magician from the Detroit wrote to the company in 1998 and asked that they produce the same jacket for him. Houdini bought it for $25.00. The company said they could produce it but that they regretted the price had increased since 1910 to $325.00.

A Magician Among the Spirits


If you have a chance to visit the exhibit, please do. Maybe your reaction, as a magician, will be different than mine but I think they handled it just right.



Houdini Duplicates Spirit Photo

One of the first things you notice about the Michigan State Historical Society’s exhibit based on Houdini’s A Magician Among the Spirits,is the careful use of the exposure to explain his crusade against spiritualism.

“Secret” of Shoe Rapping


There are a few examples of methods: A hollowed out heel in a woman’s shoe to replicate spirit raps; a complex system of mirrors to allow a spiritualist to read a participant’s slate; or a method of raising tables.


Houdini in Disguise


Each of the methods are similar — none of them were used by actual spiritualists in Houdini’s time. It is a clever method of showing how the effects could be accomplished without disclosing the actual method.

Interestingly, they sell Houdini’s books in the bookshop just outside the doors. The magic clubs around the Lansing, Michigan area contributed to the design and the substance of the exhibits.


“Secret” of table lifting.


If you search the documents available at the exhibit, you will find references to the Fox sisters, Margery and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle but you would have to know something about magic or its history to know where or how to look.

One of my favorite exhibits was the straight jacket display. Houdini had ordered a leather straight jacket from a company in Detroit, Michigan. A magician from the Detroit wrote to the company in 1998 and asked that they produce the same jacket for him. Houdini bought it for $25.00. The company said they could produce it but that they regretted the price had increased since 1910 to $325.00.

A Magician Among the Spirits


If you have a chance to visit the exhibit, please do. Maybe your reaction, as a magician, will be different than mine but I think they handled it just right.

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