Now, this I find pretty interesting. On his website, Victor Zammit says he has evidence of several visits from Harry Houdini. He provides transcripts and links to MP3 recordings. In at least one, the voice alleged to be Houdini's sounds Southern--it says Louis Armstrong was helping it with its communications. The seances took place on March 30th, April 8th and April 29th of this year.
I read the transcripts and listened to the files, and I found them disappointing. Then I found a clip of Harry Houdini's voice and compared it to the files available on Mr. Zammit's site. Although I'm not an expert, I can hear few similarities. Here's a link to clips of recordings of Houdini's voice.
Apart from the fact that I discerned no knowledge supplied by the speaker in these materials that was so particular to Houdini that they alone would persuade me that he was one of the participants in these conversations, I also heard some statements that struck me as very odd. With reference to the comments about Houdini's southern accent, in a later seance the speaker says, "And am I speaking to you in a South American accent?" To someone brought up in the United States, there's a huge difference between a Southern accent and a South American (or a Latin American) accent. One is generally considered to be a kind of drawl, a softened pattern of speech, and the other might be the accent of someone who is a native speaker of Latin American Spanish, but not a drawl. I don't understand why someone raised in the US from a young age, as Houdini was, would use the terms interchangeably.
Here's another example. The speaker refers to bringing forth some future proof of his existence in the afterlife--for example, an "apport", which he then says the sitters can take to the Magic Circle for authentication. There's a follow-up question to find out where the "Magic Circle" is--"This is in New York, isn't it?" and the speaker responds, "Yes." I didn't find any record of a magicians' Magic Circle in New York. But The Magic Circle, one of the most prestigious magicians' organizations in the world, is located in London, where it was founded in 1905. Houdini would have known that when he was alive (he died in 1926). I don't understand why he would have forgotten it once he was dead, and the presumption, after all, is that this speaker is Houdini, who discusses other issues from from his life (Margery the Medium, for example), though not in any great detail.
Frankly, I don't understand why the sitters weren't more engaged in the discussions. Why not ask the speaker what the outcome of the Houdini exhumation and investigation will be--with specifics? Did someone poison Houdini, and if so, exactly how? What a tremendous opportunity to obtain some terrific information from one of the leading skeptics and most observant individuals of the twentieth century! If I attended a seance and a spirit came through claiming to be Harry Houdini...let's get going. Swear in the witness, lay that foundation, and get on with the questioning. Under US rules, there should be evidence which would be sufficient to permit one to identify the speaker as Houdini. I would have a lot of very particular lines of inquiry, and if my favorite magician hadn't accompanied me on this outing, I would certainly get on my cell phone for some expert "Let's play Identity" assistance in the matter. (I know it's irregular, but Houdini wasn't on the witness list, after all. I was expecting to contact a relative).
Here's more commentary on the tapes and transcripts from Jon Dennis at BadPsychics.com. Oh, and Harry! If you do know Louis Armstrong, since he is from New Orleans, ask him for directions. Then stop by. Thanks.
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