Halloween with Houdini in Harmon

On Halloween 1922, renowned magician Harry Houdini performed what he termed a "pseudo seance" at the Harmon residence of Sophie Irene Loeb, a journalist and social reformer. Houdini used the word "pseudo" deliberately, as he was celebrated for exposing fraudulent spiritualists and mediums who deceived people claiming to contact the deceased.

In his book Magician Among Spirits, Houdini explained his skepticism: "Gladly would I embrace Spiritualism, if it could prove its claims," adding that he refused "to be deluded by the fraudulent impositions" of fake psychics.

At Loeb's home, Houdini used two examined slates. When dimmed lights returned, the slates contained a message bearing a code word attributed to Jack London—one Loeb claimed no one else knew. She expressed that "if she had not known I was a magician she would have believed readily that I had psychic powers."

Precisely four years later, on Halloween 1926, Houdini died in Detroit from a ruptured appendix. Sophie Irene Loeb served as an honorary pallbearer at his funeral.