Carlos María de Heredia (1872-1951) was a Mexican magician and

Jesuit priest , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

Biography

Heredia was born in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

and spent his life investigating and exposing the tricks of

spiritism Spiritism (French: ''spiritisme''; Portuguese: ''espiritismo'') is a spiritualist, religious, and philosophical doctrine established in France in the 1850s by the French teacher, educational writer, and translator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Riva ...

. He worked as a professor at the

College of the Holy Cross The College of the Holy Cross is a private, Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Boston. Founded in 1843, Holy Cross is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest ...

. At the

Catholic Club of New York Catholic Club of New York was a social Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and lar ...

in 1920, he held a mock

séance A séance or seance (; ) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word ''séance'' comes from the French word for "session", from the Old French ''seoir'', "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, spe ...

for five hundred people. He showed the audience how easily one could fake

mediumship Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or ghost, spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship o ...

tricks such as the

levitation Levitation (from Latin ''levitas'' "lightness") is the process by which an object is held aloft in a stable position, without mechanical support via any physical contact. Levitation is accomplished by providing an upward force that counteracts ...

of objects and how easily people can be fooled in the séance room. Heredia had revealed how the fake ectoplasm "spirit hand" was made by using a rubber glove, paraffin and a jar of cold water. The work of Heredia in debunking the tricks of fraudulent mediums has been praised by the skeptic

Daniel Loxton Daniel Loxton (born 1975) is a Canadian writer, illustrator, and skeptic. He wrote or co-wrote several books including ''Tales of Prehistoric Life,'' a children's science trilogy, and '' Abominable Science!'', a scientific look at cryptozoology. A ...

. His book ''Spiritism and Common Sense'' (1922) has been described as a "highly critical examination of paranormal phenomena." Heredia was a friend with the magicians

Harry Houdini Harry Houdini (, born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American escape artist, magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to his spiritual master, French magician ...

and John Mulholland. In his ''Magician Among the Spirits'' (1924), Houdini cited a fraudulent method that Heredia had used to produce a spirit photograph. Houdini, Harry. (1924). ''A Magician Among The Spirits''. Harper and Brothers. p. 114

Publications

* * ''True Spiritualism'' (1924) * ''Los Fraudes Espiritistas y los Fenómenos Metapsíquicos'' (1931) * ''The Quest of Ben Hered: Memoirs of a Reporter in the Time of Christ'' (1947)

References

External links

Priest Exposes Spiritism
- The New York Times {{DEFAULTSORT:Heredia, Carlos Maria de 1872 births 1951 deaths 20th-century Jesuits Critics of Spiritualism Harry Houdini Mexican Jesuits People from Mexico City