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From: glo@cyb-eng.UUCP (Gary Owens)
Newsgroups: net.sci
Subject: Re: Re: Spiritual Energy?
Message-ID: <926@cyb-eng.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 18-Jul-86 19:57:57 EDT
Article-I.D.: cyb-eng.926
Posted: Fri Jul 18 19:57:57 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 19-Jul-86 04:37:13 EDT
References: <2162@brl-smoke.ARPA>
Organization: Cyb Systems, Austin, TX
Lines: 40

In article <2162@brl-smoke.ARPA> gwyn@brl-smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn ) writes
in reply to article <191@cci632.UUCP>:
>Houdini and his wife really wanted to believe in the afterlife,
>but they became disappointed by the dismal performance of the
>many mediums they consulted.  Houdini made a solemn pact with
>his wife that after his death, if it was at all possible, he
>would make every effort to contact his wife.  They arranged a
>secret way for her to be able to check that it was really him.
>After Houdini died, his wife tried for a long time to contact
>his "spirit" through mediums, without success.
>...

It is my understanding that just such a contact was made
through the American medium Arthur Ford (of Bishop Pike & son
fame).  The sitter given the message passed it on to Mrs. Houdini
who then checked it out with a message in a safety deposit box.
The message was encoded, of course, in the banter that Harry and
Mrs. Houdini used for their stage magic "mind-reading" tricks.
Sorry I can't provide more references, I haven't been able to
get in contact with a friend who has more info.

Along the same lines, I was also looking for some information about
Abe Lincoln's interest in spiritualism and a copy of the
pamphlet he wrote about contacting one of his dead sons.  Most Lincoln
biographys I've seen ignore this subject entirely, and one
asserts that Lincoln was never interested in mediums at all!
If anyone has any pointers, such as information on Nettie Maynor
(sp?), the medium at the seance were her was told he ought to
free the slaves, I'd appreciate some mail.

By The Way, I just picked up _Flim_Flam_, the book by James Randi.
Even though I'm a confirmed believer in psi, etc. I think this
should be required reading for all concerned.  He makes many good
observations about the hoards of gullible and deluded fools
running around declaring that everything is genuine.
He is also guilty of specious and intolerant reasoning himself.


-- 
ut-sally!cyb-eng!glo  Gary Owens at Cyb Systems, Austin TX 512 835 2266