“We had some strange things happen.”

90-year-old Sid Radner talks about the annual Halloween seance he holds to try to contact Harry Houdini.

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Recorded in Holyoke, MA

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Sid Radner died on Sunday, June 26, 2011. He was 91. Read the New York Times obituary here.

Credits

Produced by Jasmyn Belcher.

Facilitated by Nina Porzucki.

Transcript

Click here to read the transcript for this story.

Interview transcript

SR: Houdini died in '26 and his wife tried to contact him on the anniversary of his death for ten years. Well, at that point she said ten years was long enough to wait for any man, so she stopped.

WIFE: I do not believe that Houdini can come back to me or to anyone. The Houdini Shrine has burned for ten years. I now turn out the light. Good night, Harry.

SR: I started doing séances in the '30s. And as a matter of fact, I own the trademark, the name "Official Houdini Séance." Usually, there could be eight, ten, twelve people, and you sit around and hold hands, concentrate and wait to see if you get some contact from Houdini. One time the medium asked for Houdini to make his presence known, and a gal standing around, her beads broke and fell on the floor. Another time, a book fell down off a shelf. We had some strange things happen.

SR: If I can't contact Houdini, and I've been trying for many, many years, maybe it can't be done. But if it does come, I want to be there. Believe me.