The Witch of Lime Street: Seance, Seduction, and Houdini in the Spirit World

David Jaher’s spirited prose revives a spellbinding body of history. The horrific death tolls of World War I and the 1918 influenza pandemic created a vast number of bereaved survivors. In an attempt to somehow reconnect with their lost loved ones, many turned to spirit mediums, who claimed to channel messages from beyond the grave. Interest in “Spiritism” became so pervasive, that in 1922, Scientific American, assembled a panel of experts, including the great magician Harry Houdini, to uncover any valid, empirical evidence of a genuine medium. When an enchanting Bostonian, known as “Margery, the Witch of Lime Street,” came forward to be tested by the panel, the controversial result left the examiners both shocked and divided.