THE 90TH ANNIVERSARY SEANCE 2016

October 3, 2016. The following press release was sent to every south-central Michigan news outlet in a ten county area.

MARSHALL - Halloween will be an especially spooky day at the American Museum of Magic - especially if the ghost of the late magician Harry Houdini makes an appearance.

Halloween is the 90th anniversary of the death of Houdini at Grace Hospital in Detroit and the 38th anniversary of the first Houdini seance at the museum - the largest repository of magicians' materials and memorabilia on public display in the Western Hemisphere.

"Just as we did in 1978, we're going to tempt Houdini to show up by setting up a lox-and-bagel sandwich for him, and locking it inside his own escape apparatus," said Susan Collins, who chairs the board of directors of the museum at 107 E. Michigan Ave. "We're told that it was his favorite snack, so we're going to make it tough for him to ignore us."

Shortly after 2 p.m. on the afternoon of Oct. 31, select members of the museum's staff and supporters will sit in a seance circle around artifacts that once belonged to Houdini, and make their second attempt in 38 years to contact his ghost - if it exists. The public is invited to attend and observe the free event, but no children under age 8 will be admitted.

"When we shifted ahead by an hour last spring for daylight saving time, it put our clocks an hour ahead of Houdini's time in 1926, and we won't 'fall back' to standard time until the following weekend," she said. "So, at 2:26 p.m. on Halloween under daylight saving time, we'll hit the actual 90-year mark. That's when we will go silent and call for Houdini to give us a sign. . ."

October 31st, 12:01 pm. The setup begins for the seance at the American Museum of Magic in Marshall Michigan. Empty chairs are arranged in a circle around a small table. One chair is left empty and simply marked "Bob" for the late Robert Lund. Lund, the founder of the American Museum of Magic, had supervised the last Houdini seance at the museum in 1978. The empty chair is a memorial to him by his surviving friends.

The Houdini Milk Can Escape is placed on a small table inside the circle of chairs along with several other items including a spirit horn, bell, lock, feather, handcuffs, slate with chalk, and a candle with matches.

1:00 pm. The doors to the Museum are opened to the public and museum personnel stand at both the front and back doors greeting the guests as they arrive. The seance is both opened to the press and the public and is free to attend. The seance in 1978 had about 120 people show up so crowd management is a factor.

2:00 pm. John C. Sherwood, a museum board member and a Marshall area magician, begins an introductory address to the audience. He tells the audience that it has been 90 years since Houdini's death on Oct 31st, 1926 and that the audience has ten minutes until the event begins. Sherwood estimates the event to take about half an hour and that during that time the museum doors will be locked from the inside for about six minutes.

2:05 pm. Sherwood tells the audience that they will begin in 5 minutes. He reminds them that the staff will shut down telephone service to the museum in 15 minutes and he hopes that the audience will do the same by shutting off their cell phones. Sherwood request that all calls should take place outside the museum at this point.

2:09 pm. Sherwood tells the audience to please take their place and that they will begin in 1 minute. Members of the seance circle are told to take their seats at this time.

2:09 pm. Longtime Marshall area magician Phillip Hagerty joins Sherwood on the stage. Sherwood welcomes everyone to the seance and provides a brief history of Houdini and past attempts to contact the legendary escape artist. Sherwood reminds the audience that the last "official" seance took place Oct 31, 1936 at which point Houdini's wife Bess determined that she did not believe it was possible to communicate with her husband. Sherwood then explains that at one time she thought the medium Arthur Ford had delivered the secret message Houdini had devised with Bess, but she later renounced this as an error.

Sherwood continues his welcome message by describing the last seance done at the museum, in 1978, of which he was a participant.

Sherwood then introduces the members of the seance's circle and they each raise their hands when called, they are Michigan residents Norman Kinney of Marshall, Tom Franke of Marshall, Gary Reed of Marshall, Kathy Miller of Marshall, Ron Carnell of Colon, Andy Fitzpatrick of Marshall, and Paul Nielsen of Clawson. Cindy Lake and her daughter Jenna Lake will serve as sentries at the front and back doors and as time keepers.

Sherwood then introduces his friend, Phillip Hagerty of Marshall, who will be acting as seance master and request the audience to give him their full attention and cooperation.

2:12 pm. Hagerty addresses the audience and reminds them to turn their cell phones to silent mode or off. He also confirms that they are allowed to take photographs and sound recordings during the seance. Hagerty then turns to the objects on the table and explains their purpose in the seance. These are the Milk Can Escape that Houdini developed, the Mastodon locks used to trap Houdini, and also a kosher bagel to appeal to Houdini's Jewish heritage.

Sherwood places the bagel and lox inside the Milk Can as Hagerty explains that the only way into the Milk Can is through the top. If something does happen to something inside the can it could only be through some unknown source.

Hagerty explains that the 1978 seance was only two minutes long, and that the 2016 version will be 5 minutes long. He also reminds the audience that in addition to what is in the Milk Can, there are other ways Houdini could contact them – by using the bell, the candle, the feather, Houdini's own spirit horn, etc. Hagerty continues to explain that there will not be any trickery during the seance and that if the audience suspects any to please bring it to his attention. Hagerty also dismisses any notion that they are ghost hunters or Spiritualist, adding that they simply want to conduct a "quiet experiment" to celebrate Harry Houdini's legacy.

2:24 pm. The front and back doors of the museum are locked which prevents movement in or out of the museum. The museum staff will remain at those positions to unlock the doors at 2:30 pm, unless there is an emergency in which case the doors will be opened immediately. The staff relays verbally that the museum is now secure and Sherwood then lights the candle of remembrance in memory of those who could not attend physically. The seance has officially begun.

2:25 pm. The circle of guests join hands, forming a seance circle and Hagerty begins to speak slowly. "We call on the spirit of Harry Houdini to make his presence known. We are seekers after truth - each in his or her own way. We call on you, Houdini, to show us what is true. It has been exactly 90 years since you left us, Harry. We hope you can hear us, and will grace us with a sign of your presence. We're surrounded by items you once owned. This museum safeguards your memory and the materials that were important to you, that you touched and valued. From your own hand, your own signatures appear on countless letters and papers in this museum. Your spirit must be drawn to them. We ask only that you give us some sign. Are you here, Harry? Please, make yourself known! . . ."

2:27 pm. Hagerty tells the audience that they will now observe a minute of silence and asks that if someone sees something they are not to say anything aloud, but merely point at what they are observing.


As the silence begins the audience is now alone with their thoughts for the first time since walking through the doors of the museum. While most do not really expect anything to happen, it's almost impossible for an individual not to think 'what if', and that 'what if' is huge because if something were to happen it would the most important news story of the century!

2:28 pm. The minute of silence passes without anything unusual happening. Hagerty then continues speaking to the spirit of Houdini, asking him to make his presence known. Perhaps Houdini wants to wait another ten years for the 100th anniversary, or perhaps Houdini would rather be called his birth name of Erich Weiss. He then begins to request the spirit of Erich Weiss to "grace us with a sign", reminding him that he is among friends and admirers. Hagerty then tells the audience they will observe a second and final minute of silence.

2:30 pm. After the minute of silence the seance is declared over. Hagerty mentions that he did not see anything unusual happen during the seance and asks Sherwood to check the Milk Can for any unusual happenings with the items placed inside the container. After giving Sherwood and the audience a chance to make known anything unusual they might have seen, Hagerty concludes that the spirit of Houdini did not appear this day, October 31st, 2016.

Hagerty then repeats a quote from Houdini's wife Bess after her final seance provided similar results to the one just experienced in the museum.

"I do not believe that Houdini can come back to me, or to anyone. After faithfully following through the Houdini ten year compact, after using every type of medium and seance, it is now my personal and positive belief that spirit communication in any form is impossible. I do not believe that ghosts or spirits exist."

Hagerty then explains to the audience that they should not consider this experience a failure, but rather a tribute or remembrance of the most famous magician who ever lived and a tribute to magic.

2:35 pm. Refreshments are served as the world around the audience slowly returns to normal.