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Rose Mackenberg

May 04, 2023

Rose Mackenberg (July 10, 1892 – April 10, 1968) was an American investigator specializing in fraudulent psychic mediums, known for her association with Harry Houdini. She was chief of a team of undercover investigators who investigated mediums for Houdini in the 1920s. After Houdini's death she continued to investigate spiritualist fraud for over 20 years and was known as an expert on the subject. She testified in court cases and before Congress and was interviewed in national magazines and on television.

Rose Mackenberg
Born(1892-07-10)July 10, 1892
Brooklyn, New York
DiedApril 10, 1968(1968-04-10) (aged 75)
Suffolk, New York
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Investigator, writer
Years active1925–1955
Known forDebunking psychic fraud for Harry Houdini

Early life

Mackenberg was born July 10, 1892,[1] and lived in Brooklyn, New York City.[2] In her early years she worked as a stenographer in a law office[3] and as an investigator in New York City. She later reported that, in her early life, she had believed that psychics and fortunetellers really were able to communicate with spirits and foretell the future.[4]

Houdini's investigator

In the early 1920s, Mackenberg was working on a case involving investment losses that had been advised by a psychic medium. She sought out Houdini's help in the case, as he was very publicly engaged in a campaign against false mediums.[5]

Houdini was impressed with the young woman, and educated her on the tricks that mediums use to manipulate their victims.[4][6] In 1925, Houdini hired her for his undercover investigator team.[7] The team included several other women besides Mackenberg, including Houdini's niece Julia Sawyer[5][8][9] and a showgirl named Alberta Chapman.[8][9] Houdini also sometimes employed men including Clifford M. Eddy, Jr.,[9] Robert H. Gysel,[2][9] and Amadeo Vacca.[10][11]

While Houdini was on tour in 1925 and 1926, Mackenberg and the other investigators would precede him by up to 10 days[12] into each city, and perform undercover investigations of the local spiritualists or psychic mediums. They would use multiple false names, sometimes containing puns like "Frances Raud" (for FRAUD)[13] and "Alicia Bunck" (for All Is A Bunk).[14] They would also wear various disguises to avoid being found out.[14][15] Mackenberg would sometimes even wear a hearing aid she didn't need.[12]

Mackenberg did investigations for Houdini and sometimes appeared on stage with him in many cities on those tours including Indianapolis,[16] Worcester, Mass.[5][17] Washington, D.C.[18] Chicago,[19] New York[20] and Montreal.[21] Her very detailed written reports for Houdini have been studied and exhibited in museums.[22] When Houdini later performed in each city, he would debunk local mediums from the stage, presenting the gathered evidence. Naturally Houdini and his investigators became the target of great anger from the spiritualists.[15] It was said he carried a Derringer and he advised Mackenberg to carry a gun as well,[7] but she refused.[23]

Mackenberg earned the respect of Houdini and his team, and was considered his chief investigator.[24][7] The other investigators sometimes called her "The Rev"[25] because of the multiple bogus spiritualist diplomas and titles she had acquired during her investigations.[6] Prior to his death, Houdini set up secret codes with more than twenty friends to attempt to communicate with them from beyond the grave.[26] Mackenberg was among those chosen, and in 1945 she reported "the message has not come through."[27]

Expert on psychic fraud

 
Mackenberg in séance disguises

Because of her investigative work, Mackenberg became an expert on the practices of fraudulent psychics. She claimed to have investigated over 1,000 mediums and never found one who was not a fraud.[28] For example, the various mediums had claimed to communicate with over three dozen non-existent deceased husbands, despite Mackenberg being single.[6] According to William Lindsay Gresham, Julien Proskauer credited Mackenberg for "much of his material" in his book The Dead Do Not Talk.[24]

Congressional testimony

In the first session of the 69th Congress, an anti-fortunetelling law for Washington, D.C., was put forward on the urging of Houdini.[29] The Copeland-Bloom bill[30] (H.R. 8989) came before a House committee beginning February 26, 1926. Houdini was to testify in its favor.[31]

Following the same pattern as during the tour, Mackenberg visited local Washington mediums in the days prior to the hearings. She targeted local mediums including Jane B. Coates and Madam Grace Marcia who were scheduled to testify against the bill.[32] Her testimony on May 18, 1926, included the revelation that Coates had told her that Senators Capper, Watson, Dill, and Fletcher "had come to her for readings" and that "table tipping seances are held at the White House" with President Coolidge and his family.[33] This was met with raucous denials in the committee room, and a "fracas" ensued.[34] The meeting was adjourned. President Coolidge did not officially respond to the accusation but unofficial denials were made known in the press.[34][35] Ultimately H.R. 8989 did not pass,[36] but the hearings received wide press coverage.[30][33][34]

Lockwood's estate

After Houdini's death in October 1926, Mackenberg continued to investigate fraudulent psychics for over 20 years and serve as an expert on them in various venues.[37] One court case in Pennsylvania involved the 1939 will of Augustus T. Lockwood. He had bequeathed a large sum of money to a "Spiritualistic College to Educate Mediums" at Lily Dale, New York, a famous camp and meeting place for Spiritualists. The state of Pennsylvania sought to invalidate the will, in part on the argument that the bequest would benefit criminal behavior and thus would be "against public policy".[38] Mackenberg was called as the "star witness" and the state was successful at trial.[39] The case was appealed, however, and overturned by higher courts.[38]

Public outreach

In addition to her investigations, Mackenberg attempted to educate the public on psychic fraud. She toured the country giving lectures on psychic fraud to various groups, a typical talk title was “Debunking the Ghost Racket”.[40] These talks would include demonstrations of techniques used by psychics including spirit trumpets, table tipping, billet reading and so on.[27][5]

She wrote a series of articles on the "ghost racket" which were serialized to newspapers in 1929 and posthumously anthologized and re-published in 2016. A manuscript titled So You Want to Attend a Seance? gathered these reports, but the manuscript itself has never been published.[15] She also assisted with investigations which were published in major media outlets such as Popular Science,[41] The Chicago Tribune[6] and The Saturday Evening Post.[42] She appeared on television talk shows including Mike and Buff[43] and Tonight Starring Steve Allen.[44]

Personal life

She remained single and continued to live in the New York City area in a "well lighted" apartment ("because I get tired of dark rooms").[4] Her friends called her "Mac".[12] Mackenberg died in April 1968.[1]

Representations in popular culture

In 2017, Mackenberg was featured alongside Houdini in re-enactment sequences during season 14, episode 13 of the Travel Channel's documentary series Mysteries at the Museum. The re-enactments included Mackenberg's investigations of spiritualist seances and her 1926 congressional testimony.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Rose Mackenberg". Social Security Death Index via Family Search. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
  2. ^ a b Polidoro 2001, p. 180.
  3. ^ Edwards 2019.
  4. ^ a b c Battelle, Phyllis (November 21, 1949). "Ghost-Busting Is Job of Rose Mackenberg". St. Petersburg Times. p. 12. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
  5. ^ a b c d Pankratz 1995, p. 29.
  6. ^ a b c d Williamson, E.W. (August 9, 1945). "A Lady with 36 Spirit Hubbies Says It's Fraud". Chicago Tribune. p. 11. from the original on August 28, 2019. Retrieved August 28, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b c Kalush & Sloman 2006, p. 460.
  8. ^ a b Polidoro 2001, p. 181.
  9. ^ a b c d Kalush & Sloman 2006, p. 461.
  10. ^ Polidoro 2001, p. 175.
  11. ^ Kalush & Sloman 2006, p. 501.
  12. ^ a b c Loxton 2013, p. 74.
  13. ^ Kalush & Sloman 2006, p. 478.
  14. ^ a b Scott, Ed (September 29, 1941). "How to Fool a Ghost ... By Alicia Bunck". PM Daily. p. 15.
  15. ^ a b c Wolf 2016.
  16. ^ Kalush & Sloman 2006, p. 466.
  17. ^ Kalush & Sloman 2006, pp. 478–480.
  18. ^ Kalush & Sloman 2006, p. 483.
  19. ^ Mackenberg & Fishman 1951, p. 27.
  20. ^ Kalush & Sloman 2006, p. 488.
  21. ^ Kalush & Sloman 2006, p. 506.
  22. ^ Ranger, Joshua; Edward T. Linenthal (December 2000). "Houdini: A Magician among the Spirits". Journal of American History. 87 (3): 967–969. doi:10.2307/2675284. JSTOR 2675284. Although not technically artifacts, the wonderfully reproduced manuscript letters from Rose Mackenberg offer a fantastic opportunity for very interested visitors to learn more about how séances were conducted. Certainly wordy, the affidavits describe in detail how Ms. Mackenberg was manipulated by the medium. Eerily similar to today's "psychic hot lines," the mediums took clues from Ms. Mackenberg to report on what the spirits were saying. The affidavits, more than anything in the exhibit, place the visitor in the séance and stand as a great example of how archival manuscript materials can add rich detail to museum exhibits.
  23. ^ Mackenberg & Fishman 1951, p. 104.
  24. ^ a b Gresham, William Lindsay (1959). Houdini, the man who walked through walls. New York: Henry Holt and Company. p. 305. OCLC 529502. For much of his material the author gives credit to Miss Rose Mackenberg, Houdini's chief investigator of psychic frauds.
  25. ^ "Some Recollections of Houdini". Mystifier. 3 (3): 2–4. 1993.
  26. ^ Kalush & Sloman 2006, p. 532.
  27. ^ a b "Seance Tricks Exposed To Jr. Assembly". The Herald Statesman. Yonkers, NY. November 7, 1945. p. 11. Members of the Junior Assembly of Yonkers learned the truth and fallacies of seances and other "ghost rackets" from Miss Rose Mackenberg, former detective for the late Houdini, at the November meeting at the Y.W.C.A. Miss Mackenberg, who has conducted investigations of mediums for various newspapers, gave a demonstration of a seance showing "phenomena" used to fool the public. She revealed tricks of spirit photography, cabinet hoaxes and phosphorus wraiths. She also showed how ballot reading is done by soaking the envelope, in which the ballot is enclosed, with alcohol. She said that before his death 19 years ago, Houdini gave written messages to members of his family and a few friends which he said would be delivered personally by him if a message could be sent from the spirit world. Miss Mackenberg was one of those chosen and the message has not come through.
  28. ^ Mackenberg & Fishman 1951, p. 26.
  29. ^ Kalush & Sloman 2006, p. 481.
  30. ^ a b "SAY LAWMAKERS CONSULT MEDIUMS; Washington Spiritualists Fight Bill to Forbid Fortune Telling for Fees". The New York Times. February 27, 1926. p. 17.
  31. ^ USCongress 1926.
  32. ^ Kalush & Sloman 2006, p. 482.
  33. ^ a b "HINTS OF SEANCES AT WHITE HOUSE; Witness at Capital Asserts a Spiritualist Said Coolidge Family Attended Them. STORY OFFICIALLY DENIED Row Between Houdini and Mediums Breaks Up Hearing on Bill to Regulate Clairvoyants". The New York Times. May 19, 1926. p. 26.
  34. ^ a b c Stokes, Thomas L. (May 19, 1926). "Woman Was Told Seances Given At White House – Also Informed Number of Senators are Patrons of Clairvoyants". The Evening Independent. Vol. XIX, no. 168. p. 1. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  35. ^ Kalush & Sloman 2006, p. 487.
  36. ^ Polidoro 2001, p. 189.
  37. ^ Pankratz 1995, p. 28.
  38. ^ a b Lockwood's Estate, 344 Pa. 293, 25 A.2d 168 (1942)
  39. ^ "Spiritualism Not Involved, Writer Says". The Jamestown Evening Journal. Vol. LXXII, no. 31. February 5, 1941. pp. 1, 6.
  40. ^ "Houdini Ex-Aide 'Debunks' Ghosts". Brooklyn Eagle. June 18, 1946. p. 18. There just isn't such a thing as a ghost, Rose Mackenberg, former aide to the late Houdini, world famed, magician, last night told the Flatbush Republican Club of 2431 Church Ave. In a lecture on "Debunking the Ghost Racket," Miss Mackenberg displayed the tricks used by mediums when she presented a "genuine" old-fashioned seance.
  41. ^ Worden, Helen (November 1944). "Exposing Tricks of the Fake Mediums". Popular Science. Vol. 145, no. 5. pp. 67–71, 213–214. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  42. ^ Mackenberg & Fishman 1951.
  43. ^ "Free service offers bizarre personalities for radio and TV". Sponsor Magazine. February 25, 1952. p. 54. Rose Mackenberg, a "ghost detective" who debunks phony spiritualists, who appeared on Mike and Buff, CBS-TV
  44. ^ "Television Programs for Today". The Philadelphia Inquirer. October 31, 1955. p. 22. 11:30 TONIGHT. Steve Allen. Rose Mackenberg, Houdini colleague, is guest.

Bibliography and further reading

  • United States Congress House Committee on the District of Columbia (1926). Fortune Telling: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Judiciary...on H.R. 8989. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. pp. 30–36, 62–63, 94–95, 132–140. OCLC 82094540.
  • Mackenberg, Rose; Harry Price (1939). When Crime Poses As Spiritualism. New York: American Weekly. OCLC 940082483.
  • Mackenberg, Rose (February 1941). "They Gave Me 1,500 Husbands". The American Magazine. Vol. 131. ISSN 2155-7225.
  • Mackenberg, Rose; Fishman, Joseph Fulling (March 3, 1951). "I've Unmasked a Thousand Frauds". The Saturday Evening Post. Vol. 223, no. 36. pp. 26–27, 103–105. ISSN 0048-9239.
  • Pankratz, Loren (July–August 1995). "Rose Mackenberg: Crusader Against Spiritualist Fraud". Skeptical Inquirer. Vol. 19, no. 4. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. pp. 28–29. ISSN 0194-6730.
  • Polidoro, Massimo (2001). Final Séance: The Strange Friendship Between Houdini and Conan Doyle. Prometheus Books. pp. 180–181, 189. ISBN 978-1-61592-424-0.
  • Kalush, William; Sloman, Larry (2006). The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero. New York: Simon and Schuster. pp. 455–457, 460–461, 466, 478–479, 482–484, 487–488, 505–506. ISBN 978-0-74327-207-0. OCLC 74332162.
  • Samuel, Lawrence R. (2011). Supernatural America: A Cultural History. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Praeger. pp. 68–73. ISBN 978-0-313-39899-5. OCLC 707211515.
  • Sandford, Christopher (2011). Masters of Mystery the Strange Friendship of Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 193, 197, 202, 206. ISBN 978-0230619500. OCLC 706021015.
  • Loxton, Daniel (Winter 2013). . Junior Skeptic. Vol. 18, no. 1. pp. 74–75. ISSN 1063-9330. Archived from the original on September 11, 2016.
  • Wolf, Tony (May 5, 2016). "The Female Ghost Buster Who Rooted Out Spiritual Fraud for Houdini". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
  • Mackenberg, Rose; Wolf, Tony (2016). Houdini's "Girl Detective": The Real-Life Ghost-Busting Adventures of Rose Mackenberg. Chicago. ASIN B01LFX8MXW.
  • Edwards, Gavin (December 6, 2019). "Overlooked No More: Rose Mackenberg, Houdini's Secret 'Ghost-Buster'". The New York Times. Retrieved June 9, 2020.

External links

  • Nilsson, Jeff (April 2, 2011). "The Art and Crime of Illusion". The Saturday Evening Post. Retrieved May 11, 2016. has photos of Mackenberg demonstrating seance techniques in 1951
  • Carnegie, Dean (January 22, 2012). "Houdini's Mysterious Girl Detective". The Magic Detective blog. Retrieved May 12, 2016. has photos of Mackenberg in her disguises

May 04, 2023
rose, mackenberg, july, 1892, april, 1968, american, investigator, specializing, fraudulent, psychic, mediums, known, association, with, harry, houdini, chief, team, undercover, investigators, investigated, mediums, houdini, 1920s, after, houdini, death, conti. Rose Mackenberg July 10 1892 April 10 1968 was an American investigator specializing in fraudulent psychic mediums known for her association with Harry Houdini She was chief of a team of undercover investigators who investigated mediums for Houdini in the 1920s After Houdini s death she continued to investigate spiritualist fraud for over 20 years and was known as an expert on the subject She testified in court cases and before Congress and was interviewed in national magazines and on television Rose MackenbergBorn 1892 07 10 July 10 1892Brooklyn New YorkDiedApril 10 1968 1968 04 10 aged 75 Suffolk New YorkNationalityAmericanOccupation s Investigator writerYears active1925 1955Known forDebunking psychic fraud for Harry Houdini Contents 1 Early life 2 Houdini s investigator 3 Expert on psychic fraud 3 1 Congressional testimony 3 2 Lockwood s estate 4 Public outreach 5 Personal life 6 Representations in popular culture 7 See also 8 References 9 Bibliography and further reading 10 External linksEarly life EditMackenberg was born July 10 1892 1 and lived in Brooklyn New York City 2 In her early years she worked as a stenographer in a law office 3 and as an investigator in New York City She later reported that in her early life she had believed that psychics and fortunetellers really were able to communicate with spirits and foretell the future 4 Houdini s investigator EditIn the early 1920s Mackenberg was working on a case involving investment losses that had been advised by a psychic medium She sought out Houdini s help in the case as he was very publicly engaged in a campaign against false mediums 5 Houdini was impressed with the young woman and educated her on the tricks that mediums use to manipulate their victims 4 6 In 1925 Houdini hired her for his undercover investigator team 7 The team included several other women besides Mackenberg including Houdini s niece Julia Sawyer 5 8 9 and a showgirl named Alberta Chapman 8 9 Houdini also sometimes employed men including Clifford M Eddy Jr 9 Robert H Gysel 2 9 and Amadeo Vacca 10 11 While Houdini was on tour in 1925 and 1926 Mackenberg and the other investigators would precede him by up to 10 days 12 into each city and perform undercover investigations of the local spiritualists or psychic mediums They would use multiple false names sometimes containing puns like Frances Raud for FRAUD 13 and Alicia Bunck for All Is A Bunk 14 They would also wear various disguises to avoid being found out 14 15 Mackenberg would sometimes even wear a hearing aid she didn t need 12 Mackenberg did investigations for Houdini and sometimes appeared on stage with him in many cities on those tours including Indianapolis 16 Worcester Mass 5 17 Washington D C 18 Chicago 19 New York 20 and Montreal 21 Her very detailed written reports for Houdini have been studied and exhibited in museums 22 When Houdini later performed in each city he would debunk local mediums from the stage presenting the gathered evidence Naturally Houdini and his investigators became the target of great anger from the spiritualists 15 It was said he carried a Derringer and he advised Mackenberg to carry a gun as well 7 but she refused 23 Mackenberg earned the respect of Houdini and his team and was considered his chief investigator 24 7 The other investigators sometimes called her The Rev 25 because of the multiple bogus spiritualist diplomas and titles she had acquired during her investigations 6 Prior to his death Houdini set up secret codes with more than twenty friends to attempt to communicate with them from beyond the grave 26 Mackenberg was among those chosen and in 1945 she reported the message has not come through 27 Expert on psychic fraud Edit Mackenberg in seance disguises Because of her investigative work Mackenberg became an expert on the practices of fraudulent psychics She claimed to have investigated over 1 000 mediums and never found one who was not a fraud 28 For example the various mediums had claimed to communicate with over three dozen non existent deceased husbands despite Mackenberg being single 6 According to William Lindsay Gresham Julien Proskauer credited Mackenberg for much of his material in his book The Dead Do Not Talk 24 Congressional testimony Edit In the first session of the 69th Congress an anti fortunetelling law for Washington D C was put forward on the urging of Houdini 29 The Copeland Bloom bill 30 H R 8989 came before a House committee beginning February 26 1926 Houdini was to testify in its favor 31 Following the same pattern as during the tour Mackenberg visited local Washington mediums in the days prior to the hearings She targeted local mediums including Jane B Coates and Madam Grace Marcia who were scheduled to testify against the bill 32 Her testimony on May 18 1926 included the revelation that Coates had told her that Senators Capper Watson Dill and Fletcher had come to her for readings and that table tipping seances are held at the White House with President Coolidge and his family 33 This was met with raucous denials in the committee room and a fracas ensued 34 The meeting was adjourned President Coolidge did not officially respond to the accusation but unofficial denials were made known in the press 34 35 Ultimately H R 8989 did not pass 36 but the hearings received wide press coverage 30 33 34 Lockwood s estate Edit After Houdini s death in October 1926 Mackenberg continued to investigate fraudulent psychics for over 20 years and serve as an expert on them in various venues 37 One court case in Pennsylvania involved the 1939 will of Augustus T Lockwood He had bequeathed a large sum of money to a Spiritualistic College to Educate Mediums at Lily Dale New York a famous camp and meeting place for Spiritualists The state of Pennsylvania sought to invalidate the will in part on the argument that the bequest would benefit criminal behavior and thus would be against public policy 38 Mackenberg was called as the star witness and the state was successful at trial 39 The case was appealed however and overturned by higher courts 38 Public outreach EditIn addition to her investigations Mackenberg attempted to educate the public on psychic fraud She toured the country giving lectures on psychic fraud to various groups a typical talk title was Debunking the Ghost Racket 40 These talks would include demonstrations of techniques used by psychics including spirit trumpets table tipping billet reading and so on 27 5 She wrote a series of articles on the ghost racket which were serialized to newspapers in 1929 and posthumously anthologized and re published in 2016 A manuscript titled So You Want to Attend a Seance gathered these reports but the manuscript itself has never been published 15 She also assisted with investigations which were published in major media outlets such as Popular Science 41 The Chicago Tribune 6 and The Saturday Evening Post 42 She appeared on television talk shows including Mike and Buff 43 and Tonight Starring Steve Allen 44 Personal life EditShe remained single and continued to live in the New York City area in a well lighted apartment because I get tired of dark rooms 4 Her friends called her Mac 12 Mackenberg died in April 1968 1 Representations in popular culture EditIn 2017 Mackenberg was featured alongside Houdini in re enactment sequences during season 14 episode 13 of the Travel Channel s documentary series Mysteries at the Museum The re enactments included Mackenberg s investigations of spiritualist seances and her 1926 congressional testimony See also EditAnn O Delia Diss Debar One of the most extraordinary fake mediums the world has ever known Houdini Bob Nygaard Psychic fraud investigator Charlatan Con artist Confidence trick Fortune telling fraud List of con artists List of confidence tricks Televangelist Peter Popoff exposed by James RandiReferences Edit a b Rose Mackenberg Social Security Death Index via Family Search Retrieved May 9 2016 a b Polidoro 2001 p 180 Edwards 2019 a b c Battelle Phyllis November 21 1949 Ghost Busting Is Job of Rose Mackenberg St Petersburg Times p 12 Retrieved May 14 2016 a b c d Pankratz 1995 p 29 a b c d Williamson E W August 9 1945 A Lady with 36 Spirit Hubbies Says It s Fraud Chicago Tribune p 11 Archived from the original on August 28 2019 Retrieved August 28 2019 via newspapers com a b c Kalush amp Sloman 2006 p 460 a b Polidoro 2001 p 181 a b c d Kalush amp Sloman 2006 p 461 Polidoro 2001 p 175 Kalush amp Sloman 2006 p 501 a b c Loxton 2013 p 74 Kalush amp Sloman 2006 p 478 a b Scott Ed September 29 1941 How to Fool a Ghost By Alicia Bunck PM Daily p 15 a b c Wolf 2016 Kalush amp Sloman 2006 p 466 Kalush amp Sloman 2006 pp 478 480 Kalush amp Sloman 2006 p 483 Mackenberg amp Fishman 1951 p 27 Kalush amp Sloman 2006 p 488 Kalush amp Sloman 2006 p 506 Ranger Joshua Edward T Linenthal December 2000 Houdini A Magician among the Spirits Journal of American History 87 3 967 969 doi 10 2307 2675284 JSTOR 2675284 Although not technically artifacts the wonderfully reproduced manuscript letters from Rose Mackenberg offer a fantastic opportunity for very interested visitors to learn more about how seances were conducted Certainly wordy the affidavits describe in detail how Ms Mackenberg was manipulated by the medium Eerily similar to today s psychic hot lines the mediums took clues from Ms Mackenberg to report on what the spirits were saying The affidavits more than anything in the exhibit place the visitor in the seance and stand as a great example of how archival manuscript materials can add rich detail to museum exhibits Mackenberg amp Fishman 1951 p 104 a b Gresham William Lindsay 1959 Houdini the man who walked through walls New York Henry Holt and Company p 305 OCLC 529502 For much of his material the author gives credit to Miss Rose Mackenberg Houdini s chief investigator of psychic frauds Some Recollections of Houdini Mystifier 3 3 2 4 1993 Kalush amp Sloman 2006 p 532 a b Seance Tricks Exposed To Jr Assembly The Herald Statesman Yonkers NY November 7 1945 p 11 Members of the Junior Assembly of Yonkers learned the truth and fallacies of seances and other ghost rackets from Miss Rose Mackenberg former detective for the late Houdini at the November meeting at the Y W C A Miss Mackenberg who has conducted investigations of mediums for various newspapers gave a demonstration of a seance showing phenomena used to fool the public She revealed tricks of spirit photography cabinet hoaxes and phosphorus wraiths She also showed how ballot reading is done by soaking the envelope in which the ballot is enclosed with alcohol She said that before his death 19 years ago Houdini gave written messages to members of his family and a few friends which he said would be delivered personally by him if a message could be sent from the spirit world Miss Mackenberg was one of those chosen and the message has not come through Mackenberg amp Fishman 1951 p 26 Kalush amp Sloman 2006 p 481 a b SAY LAWMAKERS CONSULT MEDIUMS Washington Spiritualists Fight Bill to Forbid Fortune Telling for Fees The New York Times February 27 1926 p 17 USCongress 1926 Kalush amp Sloman 2006 p 482 a b HINTS OF SEANCES AT WHITE HOUSE Witness at Capital Asserts a Spiritualist Said Coolidge Family Attended Them STORY OFFICIALLY DENIED Row Between Houdini and Mediums Breaks Up Hearing on Bill to Regulate Clairvoyants The New York Times May 19 1926 p 26 a b c Stokes Thomas L May 19 1926 Woman Was Told Seances Given At White House Also Informed Number of Senators are Patrons of Clairvoyants The Evening Independent Vol XIX no 168 p 1 Retrieved May 7 2016 Kalush amp Sloman 2006 p 487 Polidoro 2001 p 189 Pankratz 1995 p 28 a b Lockwood s Estate 344 Pa 293 25 A 2d 168 1942 Spiritualism Not Involved Writer Says The Jamestown Evening Journal Vol LXXII no 31 February 5 1941 pp 1 6 Houdini Ex Aide Debunks Ghosts Brooklyn Eagle June 18 1946 p 18 There just isn t such a thing as a ghost Rose Mackenberg former aide to the late Houdini world famed magician last night told the Flatbush Republican Club of 2431 Church Ave In a lecture on Debunking the Ghost Racket Miss Mackenberg displayed the tricks used by mediums when she presented a genuine old fashioned seance Worden Helen November 1944 Exposing Tricks of the Fake Mediums Popular Science Vol 145 no 5 pp 67 71 213 214 Retrieved May 7 2016 Mackenberg amp Fishman 1951 Free service offers bizarre personalities for radio and TV Sponsor Magazine February 25 1952 p 54 Rose Mackenberg a ghost detective who debunks phony spiritualists who appeared on Mike and Buff CBS TV Television Programs for Today The Philadelphia Inquirer October 31 1955 p 22 11 30 TONIGHT Steve Allen Rose Mackenberg Houdini colleague is guest Bibliography and further reading EditUnited States Congress House Committee on the District of Columbia 1926 Fortune Telling Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Judiciary on H R 8989 Washington DC U S Government Printing Office pp 30 36 62 63 94 95 132 140 OCLC 82094540 Mackenberg Rose Harry Price 1939 When Crime Poses As Spiritualism New York American Weekly OCLC 940082483 Mackenberg Rose February 1941 They Gave Me 1 500 Husbands The American Magazine Vol 131 ISSN 2155 7225 Mackenberg Rose Fishman Joseph Fulling March 3 1951 I ve Unmasked a Thousand Frauds The Saturday Evening Post Vol 223 no 36 pp 26 27 103 105 ISSN 0048 9239 Pankratz Loren July August 1995 Rose Mackenberg Crusader Against Spiritualist Fraud Skeptical Inquirer Vol 19 no 4 Committee for Skeptical Inquiry pp 28 29 ISSN 0194 6730 Polidoro Massimo 2001 Final Seance The Strange Friendship Between Houdini and Conan Doyle Prometheus Books pp 180 181 189 ISBN 978 1 61592 424 0 Kalush William Sloman Larry 2006 The Secret Life of Houdini The Making of America s First Superhero New York Simon and Schuster pp 455 457 460 461 466 478 479 482 484 487 488 505 506 ISBN 978 0 74327 207 0 OCLC 74332162 Samuel Lawrence R 2011 Supernatural America A Cultural History Santa Barbara Calif Praeger pp 68 73 ISBN 978 0 313 39899 5 OCLC 707211515 Sandford Christopher 2011 Masters of Mystery the Strange Friendship of Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini New York Palgrave Macmillan pp 193 197 202 206 ISBN 978 0230619500 OCLC 706021015 Loxton Daniel Winter 2013 Ghostbuster Girls Junior Skeptic Vol 18 no 1 pp 74 75 ISSN 1063 9330 Archived from the original on September 11 2016 Wolf Tony May 5 2016 The Female Ghost Buster Who Rooted Out Spiritual Fraud for Houdini Atlas Obscura Retrieved May 7 2016 Mackenberg Rose Wolf Tony 2016 Houdini s Girl Detective The Real Life Ghost Busting Adventures of Rose Mackenberg Chicago ASIN B01LFX8MXW Edwards Gavin December 6 2019 Overlooked No More Rose Mackenberg Houdini s Secret Ghost Buster The New York Times Retrieved June 9 2020 External links EditNilsson Jeff April 2 2011 The Art and Crime of Illusion The Saturday Evening Post Retrieved May 11 2016 has photos of Mackenberg demonstrating seance techniques in 1951 Carnegie Dean January 22 2012 Houdini s Mysterious Girl Detective The Magic Detective blog Retrieved May 12 2016 has photos of Mackenberg in her disguises Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Rose Mackenberg amp oldid 1146368396, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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