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Bert Reese
Bert Reese (1851–1926) was an American-Polish medium and mentalist, most well known for his billet reading demonstrations. Biography Reese was born Berthold Riess in Posen. He was a spiritualist and friend of Aleister Crowley. He claimed to possess the ability of x-ray vision. He drew criticism from magicians of the period who could replicate his billet reading feats by trick methods. Mulholland, John. (1938). ''Beware Familiar Spirits''. C. Scribner's Sons. pp. 207-210. Reese was an expert billet reader. In 1915, Reese was convicted by a magistrate as a fortune teller. He appealed his conviction and agreed to demonstrate his abilities by taking a test. At the court hearing in New York, Judge Rosalsky wrote three questions on a slip of paper. Reese successfully told the judge what the questions were. The charge was dropped and he was released. The famous inventor Thomas Edison was duped by the billet reading tricks of Reese and stated he was "neither a medium nor a fake". ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Posen (region)
Posen was the southern of two Prussian administrative regions, or ''Regierungsbezirke'' ( pl, rejencja), of the Grand Duchy of Posen (1815–49) and its successor, the Province of Posen (1849–1918). The administrative region was bordered on the north by Regierungsbezirk Bromberg, to the west by the Province of Brandenburg, to the south by the Silesia Province, and to the east by Russian Congress Poland. The Posen region was inhabited mainly by Roman Catholic Poles, although it had a minority of mostly Protestant Germans. After World War I, most of the territory of this region was ceded to Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou .... Divisions Note: Prussian provinces were subdivided into units called '' Kreise'' (singular ''Kreis'', abbreviated ''Kr.'', Engl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Franklin Prince
Walter Franklin Prince (22 April 1863 – 7 August 1934) was an American parapsychologist and founder of the Boston Society for Psychical Research in Boston.Berger, Arthur S. (1988). ''Walter Franklin Prince: A Portrait''. In ''Lives and Letters in American Parapsychology: A Biographical History, 1850-1987''. McFarland. pp. 75-108. Career Born in Detroit, Maine, Prince graduated from Maine Wesleyan Seminary in 1881 to become an Episcopal minister. He earned a BD in 1886 from Drew Theological Seminary and a PhD from Yale University in 1899. His doctoral thesis was on multiple personality. In 1910 he was the rector of All Saints' Church in Pittsburgh and in 1916 the director of psychotherapeutics at St. Marks's Episcopal Church in New York City. In 1885, Prince married Lelia Madora Colman, they had no children but adopted a daughter. Lelia died in 1924. Prince authored several works on the study of human psychic abilities, among them ''The Psychic in the House'' (Boston 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psychic
A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, such as psychokinesis or teleportation. Although many people believe in psychic abilities, the scientific consensus is that there is no proof of the existence of such powers, and describes the practice as pseudoscience. The word "psychic" is also used as an adjective to describe such abilities. Psychics encompass people in a variety of roles. Some are theatrical performers, such as stage magicians, who use various techniques, e.g., prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot reading, to produce the appearance of such abilities for entertainment purposes. A large industry and network exists whereby people advertised as psychics provide advice and counsel to clients. Some famous psychics include Edgar Cayce, Ingo Swann, Peter Hurkos, Janet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Dunninger
Joseph Dunninger (April 28, 1892 – March 9, 1975), known as "The Amazing Dunninger", was one of the most famous and proficient mentalists of all time. He was one of the pioneer performers of magic on radio and television. A debunker of fraudulent mediums, Dunninger claimed to replicate through trickery all spiritualist phenomena. Drury, Nevill. (2004). ''The Dictionary of the Esoteric: Over 3000 Entries on the Mystical and Occult''. Watkins Publishing. p. 81. Biography Dunninger was born in New York City. He headlined throughout the Keith-Orpheum Circuit, and was much in demand for private entertainment. At the age of seventeen he was invited to perform at the home of Theodore Roosevelt in Oyster Bay and at the home of the inventor Thomas Edison, both of whom were avid admirers of Dunninger. President Franklin D. Roosevelt invited Dunninger to the White House on a number of occasions to demonstrate his mentalist skills.Samuel, Lawrence R. (2011). ''Supernatural America: A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martin Gardner
Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lewis Carroll, L. Frank Baum, and G. K. Chesterton.Martin (2010) He was also a leading authority on Lewis Carroll. '' The Annotated Alice'', which incorporated the text of Carroll's two Alice books, was his most successful work and sold over a million copies. He had a lifelong interest in magic and illusion and in 1999, MAGIC magazine named him as one of the "100 Most Influential Magicians of the Twentieth Century". He was considered the doyen of American puzzlers. He was a prolific and versatile author, publishing more than 100 books. Gardner was best known for creating and sustaining interest in recreational mathematicsand by extension, mathematics in generalthroughout the latter half of the 20th century, principally through his "Mat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Truth Seeker Company
''The Truth Seeker'' is an American periodical published since 1873. It was considered the most influential Freethought publication during the period following the Civil War into the first decades of the 20th century, known as the Golden Age of Freethought. Though there were other influential Freethought periodicals, ''Truth Seeker'' was the only one with a national circulation. The headquarters is in San Diego, California. The ''Truth Seeker'' is the world’s oldest freethought publication, and one of the oldest periodicals in America. Among general-readership titles, only ''Harper’s Magazine'', ''The Atlantic'', ''Scientific American'', and ''The Nation'' are older. Overview In the first issue, on September 1, 1873, editor D. M. Bennett and his wife Mary proclaimed that the publication would devote itself to: "science, morals, free thought, free discussions, liberalism, sexual equality, labor reform progression, free education, and whatever tends to elevate and emancipate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Rinn
Joseph Francis Rinn (1868–1952) was an American magician and skeptic of paranormal phenomena. Career Rinn grew up in New York City. He coached Harry Houdini as a teenager in running at the Pastime Athletic Club. He remained a friend to Houdini and exposed many fraudulent mediums throughout his career. His sister, Bridgette, was a Catholic nun. He was a former one year member of the American Society for Psychical Research and a lifelong inquirer into psychic matters. He was a member of the Society of American Magicians. Rinn was notable for describing the tricks of physical mediums. He exposed the billet reading of Bert Reese. Science writer Martin Gardner has noted that Rinn had provided "good description of one of Reese's billet-reading performances, with an explanation of how he did it." Rinn would offer huge amounts of money, up to $10,000 to anyone who could demonstrate a psychic event; however, as nobody ever did, the money went unclaimed. He was friends with another deb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skeptical Inquirer
''Skeptical Inquirer'' is a bimonthly American general-audience magazine published by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) with the subtitle: ''The Magazine for Science and Reason''. Mission statement and goals Daniel Loxton, writing in 2013 about the mission and goals of the skeptical movement, criticized the idea that people wanted to read about the paranormal, Uri Geller and crystal skulls not being relevant any longer. Paul Kurtz in 2009 seemed to share this sentiment and stated that the organization would still research some paranormal subjects as they have expertise in this area, but they would begin to investigate other areas. S.I. "has reached an historic juncture: the recognition that there is a critical need to change our direction." While editor Frazier did expand the scope of the magazine to include topics less paranormal and more that were an attack on science and critical thinking such as climate change denialism, conspiracy theories and the influence of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Massimo Polidoro
Massimo Polidoro (born 10 March 1969) is an Italian psychologist, writer, journalist, television personality, and co-founder and executive director of the Italian Committee for the Investigation of Claims of the Pseudosciences (CICAP). Early life As a child in the 1970s, Polidoro was fascinated by magic and the claims surrounding psychic phenomena. He read many books on these arguments that left him with numerous unanswered questions until he came upon ''Viaggio nel mondo del paranormale (Journey into the world of the paranormal)'' by Piero Angela. In the book, Angela treated these topics from a scientific angle instead of assuming they were true phenomena. He learned in his teens about the work of James Randi, and CSICOP investigating parapsychology from a critical, skeptical point of view. Polidoro studied Randi and his publications. Randi, like Houdini, was a magician and investigator of mysteries who employed a scientific approach to his investigations. Polidoro correspond ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini (, born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American Escapology, escape artist, Magic (illusion), magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his Escapology, escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to his spiritual master, French magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, Robert-Houdin (1805–1871). He first attracted notice in vaudeville in the United States and then as "Harry 'Handcuff' Houdini" on a tour of Europe, where he challenged police forces to keep him locked up. Soon he extended his repertoire to include chains, ropes slung from skyscrapers, straitjackets under water, and having to escape from and hold his breath inside a sealed milk can with water in it. In 1904, thousands watched as he tried to escape from special handcuffs commissioned by London's ''Daily Mirror'', keeping them in suspense for an hour. Another stunt saw him Premature burial, buried alive and only just able to claw himself to the surface, emerging in a state ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. The Sherlock Holmes stories are milestones in the field of crime fiction. Doyle was a prolific writer; other than Holmes stories, his works include fantasy and science fiction stories about Professor Challenger and humorous stories about the Napoleonic soldier Brigadier Gerard, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels. One of Doyle's early short stories, " J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (1884), helped to popularise the mystery of the ''Mary Celeste''. Name Doyle is often referred to as "Sir Arthur Conan Doyle" or "Conan Doyle", implying that "Conan" is part of a compound surname rather than a middle name. His baptism entry in the register of St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, gives "Ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samri Frikell
Charles Fulton Oursler (January 22, 1893 – May 24, 1952) was an American journalist, playwright, editor and writer. Writing as Anthony Abbot, he was an author of mysteries and detective fiction. His son was the journalist and author Will Oursler (1913–1985). Background Oursler was born and grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of a poor city transit worker. His childhood passions were reading and stage magic. He was raised in a devout Baptist family, but at 15, he declared himself an agnostic. While still in his teens, he got a reporter's job for the ''Baltimore American''. Career Oursler moved to New York City to edit ''The Music Trades''. He freelanced for a variety of publications early on. His short stories appeared in '' The Black Cat'', ''Detective Story Magazine'', ''The Thrill Book'', and especially ''Mystery Magazine''. Many of his stories, such as "The Magician Detective", incorporate magicians and magic into the plots. In the 1920s, Oursler aided Harry Ho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
