Also known as "Margery," the beautiful Mina Crandon was one of the most well known mediums and séance holders of the 1920s. She is famous for drawing the ire of Harry Houdini, the famed escape artist, who went on a late career crusade against spiritualists, mediums, ghostbusters, and spirit photographers.
Margery enjoyed a cloak of legitimacy by being married to a distinguished Boston doctor and enjoying a coterie of respectable acquaintances. She even counted Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as a fan. Among her talents, she produced "ectoplasm," or ghost goo, created psychic thumb prints, made spirit voices while her mouth was supposedly filled with water, and appeared to grow a teleplasmic hand out of her vagina.
Crandon was a bona fide exhibitionist. She performed a lot of her séances in the nude, and reportedly would fall onto the laps of male participants during the ceremony, which may have contributed to her popularity. Just for good measure, her creepy, death-obsessed husband Dr. Crandon would decorate the house with nude photos of her on séance days. And if all that wasn't weird enough, the United States army would read her prayers. Say what?
Harry Houdini became suspicious of Mina Crandon after she was nominated for a prize given by the Scientific American magazine. The master illusionist's attempts to expose Crandon's tricks met with mixed success. Her devoted supporters weren't interested in testing Margery's authenticity and were hostile to Houdini's efforts. However, Crandon was slowly discredited through the remainder of her life and beyond.
Ironically, considering Houdini's extensive campaign against spiritualism, he and his wife made plans to communicate from beyond the grave after his death. In fact, Houdini's wife held séances for ten years in a futile effort to contact him. And while there are no known reports of paranormal enthusiasts attempting to contact the lovely Mina Crandon, Harry Houdini séances continue to this day.
Margery enjoyed a cloak of legitimacy by being married to a distinguished Boston doctor and enjoying a coterie of respectable acquaintances. She even counted Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as a fan. Among her talents, she produced "ectoplasm," or ghost goo, created psychic thumb prints, made spirit voices while her mouth was supposedly filled with water, and appeared to grow a teleplasmic hand out of her vagina.
Crandon was a bona fide exhibitionist. She performed a lot of her séances in the nude, and reportedly would fall onto the laps of male participants during the ceremony, which may have contributed to her popularity. Just for good measure, her creepy, death-obsessed husband Dr. Crandon would decorate the house with nude photos of her on séance days. And if all that wasn't weird enough, the United States army would read her prayers. Say what?
Harry Houdini became suspicious of Mina Crandon after she was nominated for a prize given by the Scientific American magazine. The master illusionist's attempts to expose Crandon's tricks met with mixed success. Her devoted supporters weren't interested in testing Margery's authenticity and were hostile to Houdini's efforts. However, Crandon was slowly discredited through the remainder of her life and beyond.
Ironically, considering Houdini's extensive campaign against spiritualism, he and his wife made plans to communicate from beyond the grave after his death. In fact, Houdini's wife held séances for ten years in a futile effort to contact him. And while there are no known reports of paranormal enthusiasts attempting to contact the lovely Mina Crandon, Harry Houdini séances continue to this day.
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