Mina 'Margery' Crandon (1888–November 1, 1941) was an American psychic medium who performed under the stage name 'Margery' and claimed to channel her dead brother, Walter Stinson. Investigators who studied Crandon concluded that she had no such paranormal ability, and others detected her in outright deception.Edmunds, Simeon. (1966). Spiritualism: A Critical Survey. Aquarian Press. p. 112. Neher, Andrew. (2011). Paranormal and Transcendental Experience: A Psychological Examination. p. 216. "Margery Crandon was studied by at least half a dozen different set of investigators, all of whom reached the conclusion that there was no substantial evidence that any of her phenomena was paranormal and some of whom detected her in outright deception; once, she displayed some "spirit fingerprints" impressed on wax, which turned out to be those of her dentist." She became known as her alleged paranormal skills were touted by Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and were disproved by magician Harry Houdini. Crandon was investigated by members of the American Society for Psychical Research and employees of the Scientific American.
Crandon was the wife of a wealthy Boston surgeon and socialite, Dr. Le Roi Goddard Crandon. Her life has been extensively documented in magic and parapsychology literature.
Biography Born Mina Marguerite Stinson, Mina grew up on a farm near Picton, Ontario, Canada. She moved to Boston as a young woman. While working as a secretary of a local church in Boston, she met and married Earl Rand, a grocer. They had one son.Silverman, Kenneth. (1996). Houdini!!!: The Career of Ehrich Weiss. Harper Collins Publishers. She later met Dr. Le Roi Goddard Crandon when she entered a Dorchester, Massachusetts hospital for an unspecified operation,Christopher, Milbourne. (1975). Mediums, Mystics, & the Occult. Thomas Y. Crowell Company. possibly appendicitis.Kalush, William; Sloman, Larry. (2006). The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero. Atria Books. Crandon was her surgeon. The two crossed paths again later that year when Crandon served as a lieutenant commander and head of surgical staff in a New England Naval hospital during World War I, and she was a civilian volunteer ambulance driver who transported casualties to the hospital. Mina sued for divorce from Earl P. Rand in January 1918 and became Crandon's third wife a few months later. She moved to Crandon's house at 10 Lime Street with her son. Crandon later adopted her son and changed the boy's name to John Crandon.
Scientific American Mina began experimenting with séances as a hobby, possibly to distract her older husband from a morbid obsession with mortality. On June 23, 1924, her name was submitted by her husband as a candidate for a prize offered by Scientific American magazine to any medium who could demonstrate telekinetic ability under scientific controls. With a doctor as husband, Margery was well prepared for the challenge, and her charm and lack of interest in personal monetary reward made her seem honest to the public eye. Her séance circles included members of the middle class as well as luminary members of the Boston upper class and Ivy League elite. Famous supporters such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle gave her significant credibility. She became so popular that her prayers were read by the U.S. Army. The Scientific American prize committee consisted of William McDougall, professor of psychology at Harvard; Harry Houdini, the famous professional magician and escape artist; Walter Franklin Prince, American psychical researcher; Daniel Frost Comstock, who introduced Technicolor to film; and Hereward Carrington, amateur magician, psychical researcher, author, and manager for the Italian medium Eusapia Palladino.
J. Malcolm Bird, an employee of Scientific American (not on the Prize Committee) notified Houdini of the possibility that "Margery" might win the prize. Houdini and other prize committee members attended two séances in Boston at Margery (and her husband's) home on July 23 and 24, 1924, and claimed to have observed Margery's tricks. According to Houdini, Margery had escaped control and stretched her foot to ring a bell in the séance room.Polidoro, Massimo. (2001). Final Séance: The Strange Friendship Between Houdini and Conan Doyle. Prometheus Books. pp. 134–234. Houdini told the committee about the fraud and gave a practical demonstration; however, Bird in an article for Scientific American praised Margery's abilities and newspapers supported Bird's declarations.
They visited again on August 23, 1924, for a few days. On the August visit, Houdini exposed the mechanics used during the séance, along with other people involved in creating the noises during the séance. Houdini asked her to wear an apparatus that prevented her from using her legs.Christopher, Milbourne. (1969). Houdini: The Untold Story. Thomas Y. Crowell Company. pp. 187–199. The apparatus was a large cabinet-box leaving only her head and hands sticking out. On August 25 with Comstock and Houdini in a séance Margery was placed in the cabinet. A box with a bell was placed on a table in front of the cabinet. During the séance the bell made a noise but when the lights were turned on it was revealed the lid of the cabinet-box had been forced open. Houdini claimed Crandon had cheated and had rung the bell herself.Polidoro, Massimo. (2003). Secrets of the Psychics: Investigating Paranormal Claims. Prometheus Books pp. 136–140.
There was much disagreement among the committee, and in the end, only Carrington voted in favor of Crandon. However, committee Secretary Malcolm Bird leaked to the press that the committee was leaning toward a positive vote. Incensed, committee member Harry Houdini returned from abroad to submit his dissenting vote. His efforts to discredit Crandon became a part of his stage act, and he reproduced her effects for audiences as well as published a pamphlet that described how she achieved some of her more basic effects.Houdini's prototype Margery bell box resides in the magic collection of Ken Klosterman Sr.Houdini, Harry. (1953). Houdini on Magic. Dover Publications. Contains a reprint of the Margery pamphlet.
On August 27, the investigator, Comstock, asked her to wear a similar device called a "median control". The device consisted of a box into which Crandon and an investigator would put their feet. Connecting to the box was a board that was locked on top of the knees, preventing withdrawal of the feet. Crandon's hands were held by the investigator and the box with the bell was placed outside the control-box. Crandon agreed to be tested and, because of the strict control, no paranormal phenomena in the séance were observed. Margery did not win the prize money.
Ruler incident
During a séance with the cabinet-box, Crandon requested that the sides be closed so she could move her hands freely inside the cabinet. A collapsible ruler was later found in the cabinet. Houdini suggested that Crandon had used the ruler with her neck to ring the bell. In response, Crandon accused Houdini and his assistant Jim Collins of placing the ruler inside the cabinet to discredit her. Houdini and Collins were both questioned about the incident and denied placing the ruler in the cabinet.
In 1959, author William Lindsay Gresham accused Collins of placing the ruler and quoted him as saying "I chucked it in the box meself. The Boss told me to do it. He wanted to fix her good".Gresham, William Lindsay. (1959). Houdini: The Man Who Walked Through Walls. Holt. p. 254 However, doubts have been raised about this statement. Magic historian Milbourne Christopher dismissed the alleged statement as "sheer fiction". According to Christopher, the source of the quotation was a rival magician to Houdini, Fred Keating, and is unreliable. In 2003, Massimo Polidoro noted that "the incident remains doubtful to this day."Polidoro, Massimo. (2003). Secrets of the Psychics: Investigating Paranormal Claims. Prometheus Books. pp. 140–142. "The source of this story, though not given by Gresham, was Fred Keating, a magician who had been a guest of the Crandons in their house on Lime Street at the time Carrington was investigating the medium. Keating, however, was not unbiased. Several days before Gresham spoke to him, Keating had seen an unpublished manuscript in this author's collection in which Houdini, while praising Keating as a magician, had commented in unflattering terms on Keating's abilities as an investigator of psychic phenomena. In this writer's opinion, the story of Collins' admission is sheer fiction. (Christopher, 1969, p. 198). The incident remains doubtful to this day. It could have been revealing if at the time a laboratory could have examined the ruler found inside the box for fingerprints or other useful traces. Evidently the Scientific American committee was not that scientific after all." Christopher, Milbourne. (1969). Houdini: The Untold Story. Thomas Y. Crowell Company. p. 198.
Investigations
By 1925, due to the investigation of Crandon, the American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) had been taken over by a spiritualist faction. The ASPR championed Crandon and suppressed any reports unfavorable to her.Chéroux, Clément. (2005). The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult. Yale University Press. In response, Walter Franklin Prince, who was the Society's research officer, resigned to establish the Boston Society for Psychical Research. Prince was accused by supporters of Crandon of being biased against paranormal phenomena.
Crandon's husband was known for displaying nude photographs of her in her mediumship sessions. Mina Crandon was described as a beautiful woman whom men found "too attractive for her own good". It was suggested that the psychical investigator J. Malcolm Bird actively conspired with the Crandons in stage-managing the séances in an attempt to have a sexual relationship with Mina. Reports, however, suggest that Mina found Bird repulsive. Instead, she had amorous feelings for the psychical researcher Hereward Carrington, with whom she had an affair. Carrington also borrowed money he was unable to repay from Crandon. Critics have written that it is easy to imagine these factors could have biased his judgement regarding her mediumship.
Crandon performed many of her séances in the nude and was reported to throw herself onto the laps of her male sitters. She was also described as an alcoholic.Keene, M. Lamar. (1997). The Psychic Mafia. Prometheus Books. pp. 74–75. During séances, Eric Dingwall told Crandon to take off her clothes and sit in the nude. Crandon would also sometimes sprinkle luminous powder on her breasts and because of such activities William McDougall and other psychical researchers criticized Dingwall for having improper relations with Crandon.
Historian Ruth Brandon has noted that as Bird, Carrington and Dingwall were all personally involved with Crandon, they were biased and unreliable witnesses.Brandon, Ruth. (1993). The Life and Many Deaths of Harry Houdini. Secker & Warburg. p. 265. Magician Fred Keating, who had observed Crandon at her house, suggested Carrington pretended some of her phenomena baffled him in an attempt to get financial backing for his own psychical laboratory.Christopher, Milbourne. (1975). Mediums, Mystics & the Occult. Thomas Y. Crowell. p. 202
A review by the father of modern parapsychology, Joseph Banks Rhine, lent further insight into Crandon's performances. Dr. Rhine was able to observe some of her trickery in the dark when she used luminous objects.Tietze, Thomas. (1973). Margery. Harper & Row. Rhine claimed to have observed Crandon committing fraud in a séance in 1926. According to Rhine, during the séance, she was free from control and kicked a megaphone to give the impression it was levitating.