In
Holyoke, a Halloween seance to rouse Houdini
By
Taryn Plumb
GLOBE
CORRESPONDENT
NOVEMBER
03, 2011
HOLYOKE
- The council of 12 clasped hands, closed their eyes, breathed
deeply, and waited.
The
room became tomb-silent. The air began to chill. And then, the dead
spoke.
Note
to you skeptics out there: Please suspend your disbelief.)
Ropes,
locks, webs of chains, straitjackets: Harry Houdini defied just about
every worldly restraint he could while in the air, underwater,
upside-down, crammed into milk cans, or tied to pillars.
And,
as evidenced by a ritual seance held every Halloween night for more
than three-quarters of a century, some believe the escape artist has
the ability to spurn his otherworldly confines as well.
Since
he died at 52 on Oct. 31, 1926, Houdini’s family, friends, and fans
have ceaselessly tried to rouse the legendary showman and magician
from the dead. This Halloween, the 85th year, they once again
attempted the feat at the Wistariahurst Museum, welcoming, among
other guests, the mute magician Teller, and local female escape
artist Alexanderia the Great.
“We
all want to think anything is possible,’’ said Roger Dreyer, a
New York City-based magician who was part of this year’s paranormal
tradition on the cold, crescent-mooned Halloween night.
Every
year, they gather for the invitation-only, private event - magicians,
historians, enthusiasts, and the curious. Officiated by members of
what is known as “the inner circle,’’ the Official Houdini
Seance (they’re so serious about it they’ve trademarked it) -
carries on a tradition begun by Houdini’s widow, Bess. Over the
years, it’s been held in cities large and small - Salem, Hollywood,
New York, Las Vegas, Toronto, London - each with some sort of
connection to Houdini.
Holyoke
was the setting for the supernatural ceremony this year in honor of
Sidney Radner, who lived in town and earned the nickname “Mr.
Houdini’’ thanks to his lifelong dedication to the mystifier.
(Houdini actually performed in Holyoke in the 1890s, before he became
the man of legend.) A mentor of Houdini’s brother Hardeen - also a
sleight-of-hand showman - Radner died in June at 91.
“Houdini
brought us all together; that’s part of his magic,’’ said Fred
Pittella, a Houdini historian from New York City.
As
for encounters with the maestro of metamorphosis? Some who’ve been
attending the seances for years described unexplained drafts and
shoulders being brushed.
Filmmaker
Gene Gamache, who came to Holyoke from Burbank, Calif., recalled how
one year his watch stopped.
“It
was an antique watch,’’ he said, with a laugh.
Gamache
has been to more than a dozen seances, and is so dedicated to Houdini
that he directed a mid-1990s documentary in his name.
Dreyer,
meanwhile, described hearing “unusual sounds, unusual currents.’’
Still, the co-owner of Fantasma Magic toy shop in New York said with
a shrug: “It could be coincidence. Who knows? No one can ever
say.’’
And
no one’s going to stop trying.
“I’m
always going to keep an open mind,’’ said Pittella, who’s been
coming to the seances for 15 years and collects handcuffs and
memorabilia from both Houdini and his competitors and imitators.
“We’re just waiting for it to happen.’’
And
this year, something may have - if you believe in this sort of thing.
Late
Monday night, after a dangerous underwater cell escape by Alexanderia
the Great - an homage that took about 30 seconds - the 12 members of
the inner circle gathered at a round table in a marble-columned,
Italian Renaissance-style room.
The
lights were dimmed. Set in front of the participants were candles,
two sets of Houdini’s handcuffs, a bust, and a miniature model of
his water torture cell. Silent spectators sat all around.
Medium
Kandisa Calhoun led the flirtation with the unknown. Between deep
breaths, she asked that the circle members join hands and that the
onlookers close their eyes and think “complete, pure thoughts.’’
“I’m
calling you Ehrich Weiss [Houdini’s real name],’’ she intoned
in the silent room, quietly and tentatively at first, then louder and
fiercer. “In the name of everything pure and real, in the name of
the angels, I call you.’’
After
a few seconds of heavy breathing, opening and closing her eyes, and
subtle head movements, Calhoun looked around, seemingly bewildered,
allegedly channeling Houdini himself. She went around the table,
asking everyone to say a few words about what they wanted with
Houdini and why they were there.
“I
know some of your souls,’’ she said. “I don’t know you by
your faces.’’
Later,
when the lights were undimmed and the lines between the dead and the
living were no longer blurred, some spectators mused about a subtle
flickering of lights during the ceremony, and a spooky feedback noise
from hearing aids.
“He
wanted to believe,’’ Dreyer said of Houdini. “We all want to
believe.’’
