The Man Who Fooled Edison . . . but Not Houdini

NOTES ON A STRANGE WORLD MASSIMO POLIDORO The Man Who Fooled Edison . but Not Houdini n one of the earliest letters for whom?” Rather a strange ex changed between magi- question, but it happened cian Harry Houdini and that I was having constructed an Exedra for my Beloved ISherlock Holmes creator Sir Mother, and naturally he Arthur Conan Doyle, a fer- could not “guess,” though, vent Spiritualist, the English from the other questions author asks his friend about he answered, he is a gifted the mysterious powers of one reader of character and judges human beings perfectly. I Professor Bert Reese. caught him red-handed, and In actual fact, Reese was no he acknowledged it was the professor—his real name was first time in his life that any- Berthold Riess (1841–1928). one had ever “recognized his A fat, bald, and jovial char- Powers.” And I’ll put it in writing that he was the slickest acter, Reese toured the world I have ever seen. astounding crowned heads and the cream of the crop What was Reese doing of society with his demon- then? What is the “Pellet strations of apparent telep- Test”? A pellet, in magician’s athy. Thomas Alva Edison, lingo, is a billet rolled into a inventor of the phonograph, ball. Reese would ask his sitters had seen him perform and to write something on their became convinced that he billets while he left the room: a really possessed supernatural question, a name or something powers. “Most prodigies are Berthold Riess else. When he would return, merely prodigies, meaning, the billets would be rolled into really, nothing, and this may when charged with fortune-telling in balls—pellets—and he would be the case with Reese,” said Edison with Judge Rosalsky’s Court, he gave a test correctly guess the content of each one. for that shrewd man of the world, and According to Martin Gardner (1996) nonchalance. “But, on the other hand, convinced him that he was genuine; he may mean something—something and was discharged. Reese knew who . the best account of Reese’s methods big. I cannot, yet, explain his power. I was, when I called for a sitting, and is certainly “Bert Reese Secrets,” by Apparently he saw through solids. But— I will say that, of all the clever sleight- magician Ted Annemann, published Well, why not? Do not X-rays do that?” of-hand men he is the brainiest I have in the 1936 Summer Extra issue of ever come across. I was amazed at his his periodical, The Jinx. It includes a The Pellet Test skill, and if I had not been extremely photograph of Reese, his hand holding familiar with all sleights, and all moves the cigar that he habitually smoked Predictably, Houdini was less impressed. of Mediums, who resort to the Pellet during his performances because it He wrote to Doyle: Test, I would have been completely made it easier to palm a folded billet. fooled. Why, he allows you to hold Annemann writes that Harvard’s dis- Reese, is, without doubt, the cleverest the Pellets in your hands, place them Massimo Polidoro is an investigator of the reader of Messages that ever lived. in your pocket and asks you which paranormal, author, lecturer, and cofounder He has deceived the great minds of one he will read and answer first—you Germany—in the Courts—winning a open them yourself—and, sure enough, and head of CICAP, the Italian skeptics lawsuit, and in America, I know he has it has been properly read! He failed to group. His Web site is at www.massimo made children of our brainiest men. answer one peculiar question I put in polidoro.com. Edison actually believes in him, and writing: “What am I building, and SKEPTICAL INQUIRER September / October 2007 25 tinguished German-born philosopher is certainly not a criterion, when it no mistake of your attitude toward me.” and psychologist Hugo Munsterberg comes to judging a shrewd adept in In it, he detailed their first meeting: (1863–1916) be came such a believer the art of pellet-reading. in Reese’s powers that he was preparing The greatest thing Reese did, and In the séance you gave me, where you a book on him when death prevented which he openly acknowledged to purported to read the five messages I its finish. me, was his test-case in Germany had written, surmising that you must when he admitted they could not have some adroit method of opening Unlike his friend William James, solve him. the non-crinkling paper which you Munsterberg was a well-known skeptic I have no hesitancy in telling handed me, you will remember I of the paranormal who had an expansive you that I set a snare at the séance purposely made peculiar shapes of record of exposing mediums and other I had with Reese, and caught him the ‘pellets’ so that when you started to read my questions the astonished psychic charlatans with carefully con- cold-blooded. He was startled when it was over, as he knew that I had look on your face told me that you trived traps. One of his most celebrated bowled him over. So much so that he had been totally unprepared for this maneuver. Houdini went on to detail Reese’s accomplishments abroad and his per- Houdini explained that all so-called formances in front of scientists and then proceeded to propose a test: “I will “pellet readers” were swindlers, even if they write five questions or sentences. Should you be successful in reading the did not claim to use psychic powers. five questions, I will pay you an extra $500. .” The allusion to Bert Reese was clear. But Reese did not reply. Instead, he went personally to Houdini’s home. He begged him not to expose his work, saying that he was an old man of eighty- three and made his living by giving peo- exposures was that of Eusapia Palladino claimed I was the only one that had ple the illusion that he possessed some (Polidoro and Rinaldi 1998). Gardner ever detected him, and in our conver- sation after that we spoke about other psychic powers. “If you don’t claim to was unable to verify this. I would like to workers of what we call the pellet get messages from spirits,” was Hou- take this opportunity to repeat Gard ner’s test—Foster, Worthington, Baldwin dini’s reply, “and if you admit that it is question about this episode: “Can any et al. After my séance with him, I accomplished by natural means, I will reader shed light on Annemann’s startling went home and wrote down all the close the argument.” claim?” details. “No,” said Reese, “I don’t claim to Houdini Fixes Reese Oddly enough, Doyle did not con- be a medium or a spiritualist, I don’t tradict Houdini but accepted his words get messages from disembodied spirits. As usual, Doyle could not be persuaded as fact: “Many thanks, my dear Hou- Never claimed that.” that someone could really deceive a lumi- dini. If you say you know Reese to be “Well, you have fooled a lot of peo- nary of some sort, and so Doyle wrote a trickster, I shall take him as such.” ple.” again to Houdini, asking if he was sure Of course, the two figures were just at “Oh, yes . I can’t keep their mouths that this was the same Bert Reese “be- the beginning of their strange relation- shut. I am only an entertainer. Peo- cause I hear stories of his proof in court ship—their friendship had not yet gone ple have so much faith in me that I can to a New York magistrate, and also to to pieces. cure them.” Edison, which don’t seem to fit into In July of 1926, only three months “What do you mean cure them?” fraud.” Houdini swiftly replied: before his own death, Houdini spoke “Oh, I can do things for them, espe- cially if they are hypochondriacs! I talk You have heard a lot of stories about on New York radio station WOR, de- Dr. Bert Reese, but I spoke to Judge nouncing all pretenders to supernatural to them. Oh, I cure thousands. .” Rosalsky and he personally informed powers. He further explained that all Then, returning to the subject of me that, although he did not detect so-called “pellet readers” were swindlers, pellet reading, Houdini said: “You have Reese, he certainly did not think the best method in the world—that is, even if they did not claim to use psychic it was telepathy. I am positive that that I have ever seen”. Reese resorts to legerdemain, makes powers. The allusion to Bert Reese was “Yes, and I am going to keep it for use of a wonderful memory and is clear. So much so that, after the pro- myself!” a great character reader. He is inci- gram, Houdini received a phone call at dentally a wonderful judge of human his home from an agitated Reese. beings. THE MAN WHO FOOLED That he fooled Edison does not Houdini, as usual, sent him a letter EDISON … BUT NOT HOUDINI surprise me. He would have surprised by registered mail the following day, Continued on page 29 me if he did not fool Edison. Edison with return receipt, “so that there can be 26 Volume 31, Issue 5 SKEPTICAL INQUIRER Ultimately, no agreement was were dismayed and/or disappointed Three of the participants have passed reach ed concerning whether the Hills’ after hearing her glibly ramble on about away: Marcello Truzzi, Karl Pflock, and story was real or imagined.

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