New Thinkin • Apr 2, 2025 David Jaher is author of The Witch of Lime Street: Seance, Seduction, and Houdini in the Spirit World. Here he describes an episode in American history in which Scientific American magazine held a contest that pitted the great escape artist, Harry Houdini, against the provocative Spiritualist medium and Boston socialite, Margery Crandon. These two individuals were among the most famous in the western world during the 1920s. A number of psychical researchers were involved in the investigation of Mrs. Crandon’s mediumship. This case, in part, inspired J. B. Rhine to develop scientific parapsychology in a new direction. New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in “parapsychology” ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He is also the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death. He is Co-Director of Parapsychology Education at the California Institute for Human Science. (Recorded on March 19, 2019)