HARRY HOUDINI'S APPEARANCE IN VOICES AIRY by Catherine Karp

Why does Harry Houdini have a role in my novel about early-twentieth-century seances?  Because the renowned escape artist became an impassioned crusader against fraudulent mediums toward the end of his career.  In Voices Airy, my fictional medium, Rosaline Milne, states, "I've heard it said that you're either a zealous believer in Spiritualism or a zealous opponent."  Houdini, who actually performed phony seances in the early phase of his career, became the latter after a search for a genuine medium following the death of his mother turned fruitless.  By the 1920s, he became obsessed with debunking Spiritualist fakes when he encountered nothing but frauds passing off magic tricks as seances. The story about Houdini's public, heated debates with Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who wholeheartedly defended seances, led to my interest in Victorian and early-twentieth-century Spiritualism... and eventually to the creation of Voices Airy.  Although my particular style of historical fiction writing doesn't usually involve real-life characters, I had to find a way for Houdini to make an appearance as a nod to his role in seance history. If you're interested in learning more about this "Magician among the Spirits," I recommend the following websites and books:

A.K.A. Houdini, The Outagamie County Historical Society PBS American Experience: Houdini A Magician among the Spirits by Harry Houdini Houdini!!! by Kenneth Silverman

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