Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania touts medium George Valentine as "the man who challenged Harry Houdini!" but it might be more accurate to describe this hometown hero as "the man Houdini humiliated in The New York Times." In the early 1920s, Valentine was a famous local ghostbuster; Wilkesbarre was a thriving, industrial coal town and the sister city of prosperous Scranton, Pennsylvania.
The Scientific American Magazine was offering a $5,000 prize for the first spiritualist who could prove he or she had supernatural powers. Harry Houdini was on the prize committee, and George Valentine volunteered to be the first contestant. Unfortunately for Valentine, Houdini was also on a personal quest to expose spiritualists. He suspected George was a fraud and hatched a plan to discredit him.
The Scranton/Wilkesbarre area was more of a big deal back then. Equidistant from New York and Philadelphia, Scranton was famous for being "The Electric City." In 1880, before the ink was dry on Thomas Edison's patent, they installed their first electric lights. Then in 1886, they became the first city to feature electric street cars. The bright and shiny metropolis seemed destined for great things. Wilkesbarre, while not quite as cool as Scranton, went along for the ride. That's why it is such a tragic irony that their own George Valentine was discredited by electric lights!
Here's how it happened. The medium's presentation for the Scientific American committee consisted of George conjuring various Native American ghosts - who then irritated audience members by whacking them on the back of the head or tapping them on the knee. This all took place in the dark.
Houdini pretty much thought Valentine was a joke. The famous magician and escape artist exposed him with a bit of trickery. At George's séance, Houdini boobytrapped Valentine's chair in such a way that Houdini's assistant in the next room would see an electric light indicator every time George got up from the chair. The assistant recorded the times George was out of his chair, and lo and behold, they matched up with the activities of the "ghosts."
In his New York Times write-up of the affair, Houdini was merciless. He gave Valentine no respect as a medium or a performer and said his friends had been teasing him for being stupid enough to even show up for Valentine's act. He reported, "we had agreed to act like a lot of boobs to see what his game was," called Valentine a complete fraud, and said he and his his ilk should be put in jail for messing with people's emotions. Presumably, George Valentine couldn't really set foot outside of Wilkesbarre after the debacle. But that doesn't stop you from being able to learn about him at Psychic Theater night in Wilkesbarre's Houdini Museum. And while you're there, you can pop over to Scranton to see the restored "Electric City" sign!
Click here for the text of Houdini's New York Times article
The Scientific American Magazine was offering a $5,000 prize for the first spiritualist who could prove he or she had supernatural powers. Harry Houdini was on the prize committee, and George Valentine volunteered to be the first contestant. Unfortunately for Valentine, Houdini was also on a personal quest to expose spiritualists. He suspected George was a fraud and hatched a plan to discredit him.
The Scranton/Wilkesbarre area was more of a big deal back then. Equidistant from New York and Philadelphia, Scranton was famous for being "The Electric City." In 1880, before the ink was dry on Thomas Edison's patent, they installed their first electric lights. Then in 1886, they became the first city to feature electric street cars. The bright and shiny metropolis seemed destined for great things. Wilkesbarre, while not quite as cool as Scranton, went along for the ride. That's why it is such a tragic irony that their own George Valentine was discredited by electric lights!
Here's how it happened. The medium's presentation for the Scientific American committee consisted of George conjuring various Native American ghosts - who then irritated audience members by whacking them on the back of the head or tapping them on the knee. This all took place in the dark.
Houdini pretty much thought Valentine was a joke. The famous magician and escape artist exposed him with a bit of trickery. At George's séance, Houdini boobytrapped Valentine's chair in such a way that Houdini's assistant in the next room would see an electric light indicator every time George got up from the chair. The assistant recorded the times George was out of his chair, and lo and behold, they matched up with the activities of the "ghosts."
In his New York Times write-up of the affair, Houdini was merciless. He gave Valentine no respect as a medium or a performer and said his friends had been teasing him for being stupid enough to even show up for Valentine's act. He reported, "we had agreed to act like a lot of boobs to see what his game was," called Valentine a complete fraud, and said he and his his ilk should be put in jail for messing with people's emotions. Presumably, George Valentine couldn't really set foot outside of Wilkesbarre after the debacle. But that doesn't stop you from being able to learn about him at Psychic Theater night in Wilkesbarre's Houdini Museum. And while you're there, you can pop over to Scranton to see the restored "Electric City" sign!
Click here for the text of Houdini's New York Times article
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