The Psychic Contest

Sunday, July 1, 2018 at 1:00pm

Speaker: David Jaher, author of The Witch of Lime Street

Tickets to this program include admission to the Museum – Buy Now

JMM Members – Reserve Your Seats

The Jazz Age Psychic Contest of 1923-25 offered more money than the Noble Prize. It was sponsored The Scientific American Magazine and was judged by some of the top scientists in the United States, and one great magician, Harry Houdini. The contest was an international search for a genuine psychic, and attracted one charlatan after another until a young and beautiful Boston psychic entered at Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s urging.  The competition between the medium Margery and Houdini led to one of most famous rivalries of the Jazz era.

Talk followed by book signing – copies will be available at Esther’s Place, the JMM Shop.

DAVID JAHER received a BA from Brandeis University and an MFA in film production from New York University. At NYU, he was the recipient of the WTC Johnson Fellowship for directing. His first book, The Witch of Lime Street, was a 2015 NPR Non Fiction Book of the Year.  A New York native and resident, he is an author and screenwriter and is writing his next work of American history.

This program is presented in relation to the Inescapable: The Life and Legacy of Harry Houdini exhibit, on display June 24, 2018 – January 21, 2019.