This is odd; even though Ouija boards were a big craze at exactly the time Houdini was crusading against fake Spiritualism, I can't find any Houdini quotes, articles, etc. actively debunking Ouija.
There are a couple of quotes to the effect that he'd been told that excessive Ouijaing might drive people crazy and a couple more where he just dismisses Ouija boards out of hand, but nothing so far in which he actually explains the ideomotor effect, etc.
Am I not looking in the right places? It seems really unlikely that Houdini wasn't aware of the ideomotor phenomenon, given his extensive research in so many related fields; on the other hand, he did have a much stronger track record in exposing fraud and pseudoscience based on deliberate, physical trickery. Also, there were some media debunkings of Ouija boards carried out by other skeptics during the 1920s ... did he just figure he had bigger fish to fry?
Any ideas?
There are a couple of quotes to the effect that he'd been told that excessive Ouijaing might drive people crazy and a couple more where he just dismisses Ouija boards out of hand, but nothing so far in which he actually explains the ideomotor effect, etc.
Am I not looking in the right places? It seems really unlikely that Houdini wasn't aware of the ideomotor phenomenon, given his extensive research in so many related fields; on the other hand, he did have a much stronger track record in exposing fraud and pseudoscience based on deliberate, physical trickery. Also, there were some media debunkings of Ouija boards carried out by other skeptics during the 1920s ... did he just figure he had bigger fish to fry?
Any ideas?
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