Rose Mackenberg, Houdini’s Undercover Co-Investigator
The 1920s: A period defined in the United States not only by opulence but also by a sense of profound melancholy. During World War I, More than 100 thousand Americans They lost their lives, followed by Nearly 700,000 more deaths During the influenza pandemic of 1918. Death was on a scale previously unknown in modern times, allowing a resurgence of the disease. Spirituality. The movement assumed that our dead were still among us, as spirits, and could be contacted under the right circumstances and with the right means of channeling their energy. Grief-stricken people seeking to connect with lost loved ones helped create a thriving industry, and the movement had many Notable followers– Mae West, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Thomas Edison among them.
But the movement was not without opposition. One of these skeptics was Rose McKenberg. The stenographer-turned-private investigator grew up with a healthy belief in the supernatural, and even considered herself a believer — but in 1925, things changed when she was presented with the case of an investor who lost money in stocks on the advice of a “psychic medium.” To aid the cause, Mackenberg summons Spiritualism’s greatest enemy, Harry Houdini, and is drawn into a world of intrigue, trickery, and deception that will take her all the way to Capitol Hill.
Harry Houdini’s side hustle
Harry Houdini is known as one of the most famous and accomplished escape artists of all time, but he also had another lesser-known career: Fraud detection Within the spiritual community. While Houdini himself was indifferent (or even curious) about the possibility of the supernatural, he found through expertise These psychics and others like them seem to be generally charlatans, preying on the desperate and exploiting their grief.
He also resented the way some other magicians presented themselves as having magical and/or psychic abilities, even going so far as to perform the same tricks himself just to prove that he could do it without supernatural help. For example, when Egyptian magician Rahman Bey remained in a submerged coffin in a swimming pool for 60 minutes, citing a “motivational euphoria” for his success, Houdini said stayed under For 1 hour and 28 minutes – no need to get excited.
By the time Mackenberg approached Houdini to consult on her case, he already had a team of investigators at his disposal to help him uncover the so-called psychics. He was so impressed with McKenberg’s work that he asked her to join them.
Thus began the decades-long career from which she claimed to have earned Mackenberg Investigation More than 1,000 brokers (all of them, she said, scams). I did it He travels To a particular city before a Houdini tour and look for spiritualists in the area, often in disguise. She would attend seances in her clothes (which were often modeled after other women she had seen attending seances) using one of several aliases (one of which was Frances Raud, meaning “fraud”), and then she would spin threads, often around Loss of a spouse or child. She has also been ordained by multiple Spiritualist churches, and has earned a title in Houdini’s circle: “pastor“.
“I never married,” McKenberg said He said once st louis post dispatch, “But I received messages from 1,000 couples and twice as many children in the world to come. They were always telling me they were happy where they were, which wasn’t exactly pleasant for me.”
It was Houdini I taught her tricks Used by intermediaries in fraudulent acts –Double exposed images He gave the illusion of ghostly apparitions, disembodied voices created using “spirit trumpets”, Table tiltand assistants hidden in the dark, among other tactics. She collected evidence of anything suspicious she saw or heard and reported it to the wizard, who gathered everything into a dramatic expose when he finally entered the city. Spiritualists were often in attendance. When Houdini called them out by name and they denied his accusations, Houdini brought Mackenberg on stage to give a first-hand account.
Houdini and his team of detectives were so hated among the spiritualist community for their unwavering devotion that they were called Houdini. He carried a gunHe urged Rose to do the same.
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Spirituality in the Capitol
McKenberg’s most famous case was in 1926, when she helped Houdini prepare to testify in Congress in support of the Copeland-Bloom bill that would Ban this practice “Foresting” in Washington, D.C. Anyone found guilty of doing so would be fined $250 (about $4,500 today) or imprisoned for six months.
Before the hearing—and convincingly—Mackenberg visited with two mediators appointed to testify against the bill. McKenberg told the assembled lawmakers that one of the mediators had claimed as much Various senators He came to her for readings, and the scandalous revelations were clearly made more serious when Mackenberg mentioned names. The proceedings, which took place over four days, were disorganized. The police were called on more than one occasion, there were fights in the hallways during breaks, and Houdini was nearly punched in the face by one of the mediums’ pairs. Ultimately, the bill was not passed.
It was a bitter defeat for Houdini. One of the psychics visited by Mackenberg was none other than Madame Marcia Champagne, one of the magician’s lifelong enemies. Champney was a key player in the White House under Warren G. Harding, with his wife employing her services and later claiming that her readings played a large role in the choices his administration made. (This wouldn’t be the last time other forces infiltrated the White House: In 1988, Ronald Reagan’s chief of staff revealed that his boss had a secret astrologer at home that he needed to consult before every major decision.)
Carry the torch
On Halloween 1926, Houdini died unexpectedly. Mackenberg was among those close friends who received a secret code from Houdini, which he said he would use to try to contact them from beyond the grave if there really was an afterlife. Although many psychics claimed to have reached Houdini, Mackenberg reported more than 20 years after his death that “his message had not arrived.”
McKenberg continued to lead investigations and teach others to do the same for decades, living in “Well litapartment on West 24th Street in Manhattan because years of attending seances had taken their toll. “I was tired of dark rooms,” she said. McKenberg was 75 when she died in 1968, and remained celibate to the end. She and Houdini paved the way for other skeptical discoverers like James Randi and Penn & Teller, but they never completely gave up hope In the presence of something unexplainable.
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