Law and Magic Blog

Family Ghosts

Via Newspapers.com:

Judge Clarence M. Hanson disqualified himself in a July 1940 divorce case because one of the parties had been his family's eye doctor for "a number of years." That's not the interesting part. The interesting part is that the party, Dr. William A. Boyce, claimed that his estranged wife, Lillian, was in love with someone else--a spirit named "Sho-Sha." Apparently this Sho-Sha failed to turn up in court to respond to his involvement in the couple's relationship (which also sounds bad). Mrs. Boyle seems to have met Sho-Sha during a seance. More here from the Los Angeles Times. 

H/t Undine@HorribleSanity.

Seance Workshop Derailed In Moose Jaw

Sarah Dionne, a practicing Wiccan in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, is annoyed at some local religious groups. She says they pressured the Western Development Museum, which had been planning to hold a seance and educational event on October 29, into cancelling its plans, because they were worried that the seance might conjure up "evil spirits." Ms. Dionne scoffs at the notion that using Ouija boards and attempting to contact whomever might be out there might pose a danger to the participants, or anyone else. As she told CBC News, "To suggest that contacting any sorts of spirits or otherwise unknown forces in the universe is somehow evil … just doesn't make sense."

Of course, let's be logical. If spirits survive death, and nasty people have nasty spirits, then one would expect that one might actually contact a spirit with bad intentions. The law of averages would suggest that all the spirits one contacts wouldn't necessary be nice ones. However, let's move on.

Ms. Dionne isn't proposing that the event be rescheduled, though. She says Wiccans don't necessarily associate themselves with Ouija boards, or seances. She's simply noting that they've been lumped in with "evil" and nasty practices and, dare we say, the Evil One Himself, once again. But what I don't quite understand is why she thinks Wiccans and pagans have been associated with this event at all. From the article I cannot tell that she or anyone she is associated with sponsored the event. Apart from the fact that the event was close to Hallowe'en, and Hallowe'en is generally associated with witches, and she is a Wiccan, I don't see the connection. More here in an article from the CBCNews.

 

Houdini and Hallowe'en

October 31st isn't just Hallowe'en. It's the anniversary of Harry Houdini's death in 1926. He died in Detroit (I know--not a very Hallowe'eny place). His insurance policy paid "double indemnity" because his death was the result of an accident. More on Houdini's will and estate here.

Want to attend a seance to see if Houdini returns? Try The Harry Houdini Museum which hosts such an event each year. Harry has been a no-show so far, however, just as he was for his wife Bess through 1936. She gave up that year and revealed the secret word he had told her he would send her if there was an afterlife: "Believe." A link to the final seance is here. Some of Houdini's colleagues keep trying, however. Here's a link to a seance from last year, hosted by the inimitable James Randi.

More Houdini-related magic includes a Point of Inquiry discussion from D. J. Grothe and Joe Nickell, the opening of the Jewish Museum in the New York's Houdini: Art and Magic exhibit and from the Library of Congress, discussion of Houdini's work in investigating spiritualism.

Maybe, like Greta Garbo, Mr. Houdini just "vants to be alone." After all, there is such a thing as the right to privacy. And even if it doesn't survive death, a famous dead magician might just want the neighbors, the family, and colleagues to stop dropping by, especially on a busy day, like Hallowe'en.