Crystal Gazing Experiments in the Harry Houdini Collection

About

In this segment of From the Vaults, Amanda Zimmerman addresses some curious manuscripts in the Harry Houdini Collection in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division. The Houndini collection contains many strange and intriguing materials, making up what Houdini himself referred to as one of the largest libraries in the world on psychic phenomena, Spiritualism, magic, witchcraft, demonology, evil spirits, etc., some of the material going back as far as 1489. Houdini collected and studied these occult movements, practices, and theories in an effort to find the "truth" about the afterlife. Within this unusual collection lies a mystifying multi-volume set containing manuscript notes on experiments in the art of crystal-gazing or scrying. The books themselves reveal little about their origin or use; even the author Frederick Hockley is an enigmatic figure, though he is often referenced as a key contributor to the Occult Revival of the late 19th century. This video looks at Hockley's life and library, and examines these strange manuscript volumes, giving context to the mystery of their contents.

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Archive

Library of Congress, in Library of Congress: talks and concerts

Licence or status

Rights statement at the Library of Congress, as the Library of Congress states it.

Credit

Library of Congress

Language

English

Country

United States

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