A small group of local magicians and invited guests are preparing to gather for a séance on Halloween night in Sonoma County in hopes that the spirit of the great magician Harry Houdini will grace them with his ghostly presence.
Houdini was surprisingly a skeptic when it came to the supernatural and spent much of his life exposing mediums as nothing more than charlatans. But he didn’t rule out the possibility of the dead being able to talk to the living.
Before Houdini died, he and his wife, Bess, agreed that if Houdini found a way to communicate after death, he would send her the secret message “Rosabelle believe.”
Houdini died Oct. 31, 1926, and for the next 10 years Bess held séances on Halloween night in an attempt to make contact with her husband. He never showed, and in 1936 Bess called it quits and is quoted as saying “10 years is long enough to wait for any man.”
The mystery of the Houdini séance has continued over the years, with séances being conducted on Oct. 31 worldwide in efforts to communicate with the great illusionist.
Petaluma has also kept the tradition alive. From 1964 to 2002, a Houdini séance was held each Halloween night in Sonoma County. Organized by former Petaluma Argus-Courier columnist Bill Soberanes, along with local residents Fred Daniels and Nahmen Nissen, the séance became an anticipated event each year, with accounts of the séances appearing regularly in the Argus-Courier.
Held in Petaluma and in various locations in Sonoma County on Oct. 31 for the last 50 years, the exact location for this year’s séance is still in the works.
“This year’s séance is exciting, as it will be the first to include paranormal investigating equipment,” said séance organizer Tom Wyrsch. “Hopes are that Houdini’s spirit may be captured for the first time.”
In keeping with the “spirit” of Soberanes’ séance coverage, Wyrsch will report the results of this year’s event in the Argus-Courier next week.
Wyrsch is the director of the documentary film “The Annual Harry Houdini Seances.” To learn more about his film, visit garfieldlaneproductions.com.
The complete history of the Sonoma County séances “Houdini - Magic Among the Spirits” can be seen Halloween night on KRCB Channel 22 at 11 p.m.
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