The spookiest time of the year is upon us once more as our attention turns to jack-o’-lanterns, black cats, and things that go bump in the night.

It was also the time when the widow of one of the most famous entertainers of the 20th century tried to communicate with the departed. Here’s how it happened.

Wilhemina Beatrice Rahner—called Bess by her friends—was in a song-and-dance act on New York’s Coney Island in the 1890s. She started dating a fellow performer, a young magician. But she quickly fell in love with his big brother, Harry Weiss. He took notice of her, too.

Like his kid brother, Harry was also a magician and escape artist. He felt “Weiss” lacked panache, so he changed his last name to Houdini—a tribute to earlier pioneering French magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin.

At firs

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