When Worlds Collide: Houdini and Conan Doyle

One of my favorite spots for adventures, the Karpeles Manuscript Museum, has a current exhibit that I just had to attend. Writings that detail the meeting of Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It offered the potential for high drama. As usual, click each photo for a better view.


Despite being the author of the very logical and deductive detective Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle held deep beliefs in spiritualism and periodically attended seances. In fact, his wife often served as the vessel for a spirit guide named Pheneas who presented himself through her automatic writings.

Doyle and Houdini became friends around their desire to expose fake mediums who were quite popular at the turn of the Century. It was a fast friendship despite Doyle's initial unfavorable impression of Houdini.



Doyle always kept detailed notes of various seances he attended and at the very bottom of this note he writes: "As the medium was half out of my control he was observed by a very bumbling, vulgar, American who made a few indifferent jokes." The bumbler was Houdini.



Houdini believed that the creator of Sherlock Holmes would have the deductive powers of his famous character that could be used in exposing fake spiritualists. However, Doyle's tight and highly controlled handwriting belies a personal style that believed in things such as fairies. Not only did Doyle not have the deductive powers of his famous creation, he also had no interest in disproving the existence of spirits; and in fact was quite gullible on the subject.

Evidently Doyle desperately wanted Houdini to believe as he did. So much so that he and his wife arranged a seance where he hoped to speak to Houdini's mother using Mrs. Doyle as the medium. Doyle's wife claimed she had made contact but Houdini believed she was a fraud. It seems Mrs. Doyle had the habit of making a cross at the beginning of her automatic writing and Houdini doubted that his mother who was an orthodox Jew would have allowed such a practice, in addition to his Hungarian mother's inability to write in English. And, he went public with his thinking on the matter. Notice the cross at the top of the page in the picture to the left.

A very public argument erupted that shattered the relationship and ultimately turned into a feud that lasted the remainder of their lives. It was very instructive to view the writings of these two giants of the early 20th century, and yet just as sad to learn what happened when the two very different skeptical and gullible worlds collided.

Walk Like an Egyptian...

A trip to the Karpeles Museum is always a treat because they have some of the most interesting manuscripts and artifacts that help explain the workings of history.

They recently had an Egyptian exhibit and while it was not King Tut it served to explain all the different hieroglyphics as well as the thinking of the ancient Egyptians. As usual click each photo for a better view.

Magic played an important role in the life of ancient Egyptians, and these small statues, Ushabti, were placed in the tombs of the dead. They were intended to be servants in the next life that would magically come to life and do any chores the deceased might call upon them to do, like planting crops in the fields. Because the Egyptians imagined that life would be rural in the next life as it was in the present the little statues took on the appearance of field workers. They were mummiformed but their hands were allowed free from the bandages so they could do the work.

Since Ushabtis were provided to do the work of the dead, it was desirable to have many of them. It was assumed because the number of Ushabti found in tombs was often 365 that the intent was to have one for each day of the year. However, one tomb had over one thousand! I guess that guy didn't want to take any chances...

This next statue I found interesting on several levels, it is Anubis the god of the dead. Anubis is depicted as a man with the head of a jackal,and his head is always shown black representing his position as god of the dead. His job was to watch over the mummification process and conduct souls through the underworld. As part of the judging in the underworld he placed the heart of the dead on the scales of justice and fed the souls of the wicked to the wild animals of the underworld.











To the left is a relief carving of the famous Pharaoh Amenhotep I, the son of Ahmose and Queen Nefretiri. He is shown wearing a nemes headdress which was a royal head covering made of stiff cloth pleated with different colors. In front is the ureaus, or the cobra symbol, which was the emblem of lower Egypt (the northern half of Egypt).










Another interesting character was Tohr the god of writing, wisdom, and the moon. The curved beak of Tohr was suppose remind the Egyptians of the crescent moon and his representation as the lunar deity of wisdom. Tohr could bear away the dead on his wings over the obstacles of the other world. As the inventor of writing he was believed to have written the book of the dead., and is commonly represented as holding a palette and a reed pen as a symbol of his status as the god of writing and learning.








Sekhment, on the other hand, was the lion headed goddess of war and destruction. She was supposed to have been created by the fire in the eye of Re, the sun god. Re created her as a weapon of vengeance to destroy men for their wicked ways and disobedience to him.












And finally Horus who represented many deities but in an earthly context referenced the current Pharaoh. In this stone carving he is depicted as wearing the double crown of upper and lower Egypt. It was believed that the all seeing Eye of Horus roamed the skies of ancient Egypt looking for the return of his father Osiris from the other world or the dead.










And two final shots that give you a full view of the statues.











I have seen many pictures of these statues over the years and wondered what some of the hieroglyphics meant, but after this visit they have a lot more meaning. Think you can name a few after our tour?

Off the Wall Sculptors

I guess you could say that I have had enough of cabin fever as the weather warms up because there was an art show titled "Off the Wall Sculptors" at the Karpeles Museum and I decided to go.

You might remember the Karpeles from the handwriting analysis I did on several mystery writers. This was a juried show and promised to be interesting. The sun was shining and it was beginning to once again feel like Florida so why not? As usual, click each photo for a better view.

Unlike the previous visit, there were plenty of others who had the same idea so it was interesting to get other's impressions of the art work.

This piece titled "Lamelliform 200" really caught my eye. It is a striking piece especially when viewed from different angles. I've provided two different views so you can get the feel of how it's shape moves the eye.

I really liked how viewing it from a different angle gives a totally different perspective. The piece is made out of laminated wood.

Another very interesting piece was this owl titled "Owlexander The Great". It really is great in my estimation because he is carved out of a gourd.

The back view really gives a sense of the detail that is involved.

A really whimsical piece was this couch or davenport which looks like it is ready to take flight. I guess that was the idea because it is made out of fabricated steel and titled "Davenportation".

Talk about quiet reflection. This bronze piece "Quiet Repose" makes you want to spend hours just pondering peaceful thought.

Another piece titled "Wings" seemed minimally abstract when compared to the full sized bird in the background. It is welded steel done by the same artist.

Very much like the earlier piece "Quiet Repose" this alabaster piece, while simple, some how caused me to stop and ponder it. There is a quiet beauty to it, and the dark smooth lines causes the eye to almost caress it.

The shape and color of this piece "Eclipse"caught my eye as well. It is wood and welded steel and despite the fact the largest portion is a static wheel, the colors give the impression that the wheel is somehow moving. Odd, very odd!

And finally, the most dominate piece of the show. I say dominate because it was over six feet high and hung from the wall, but looks like a necklace. The title "Rust and Satin #7", made from etched steel, rope, and leather. What do you think?













All-in-all it was a wonderful afternoon and I still had time to do a little walking around. Spring can't be far off...

Sherlock Holmes and The Two Detectives...

I sometimes think that we are a little odd (me and Alex) with our constant wandering in search of adventure. I say that because we never seem to meet a stranger and think that everyone has a story to tell as long as you are willing to take the time to listen. I personally subscribe to the theory that life is lived between two doors. You open the first door and start walking... and then you reach the other door and life ends. I really believe that is true, and I have resolved that as long as I am walking between those two doors it makes sense look around a bit, and if possible take a picture.

That said, I am overjoyed to be able to invite you to view one of my favorite passions. I love mysteries, but not just any kind of mystery. The Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes kind of mystery. I am a sucker for Holmes and never tire of reading the Sherlock Holmes Anthology or watching a Holmes movie. And, if you add the mindset of Holmes himself it is more than exciting. He is a walking brain that is only happy when he is struggling to put it to use.

You can therefore imagine my excitement roaming around Springfield when we discovered the Karpeles Manuscript Museum and learned their current exhibit was “The Detective (Sherlock Holmes), The Detective Scholar (Dorothy Sayers) and The Spy (James Bond). Right here in Jacksonville were copies of their original manuscripts. We simply had to go...!

To add to the adventure we were going to do a little handwriting analysis of the writers. We did some research on the subject because pressure and slant tell you a lot about a person. We were now ready to take off and dig into the psyche of..."The Detective!"

Deep stuff huh...?!

The museum... no long lines or crowds even though admission is free. Back to our being odd, because we welcomed the solitary aspect and viewed this as opportunity for us to roam around and ask questions. Crowds mean competition and it was apparent we would have none.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes)

Conan Doyle as a medical student was the assistant to Doctor Joseph Bell and it is widely believed that Bell was the person who inspired the character Sherlock Holmes. In a strange twist you could almost say Conan Doyle was actually Watson observing Bell.

Let's first view the handwriting of Dr. Bell. There appears to be deep pressure but not as much slant except for his "t's"

Conan Doyle's script on the other hand does not seem that different from Dr. Bell's except that there is not as much pressure.

Funny, but what actually got me started down this handwriting analysis rabbit hole is that Conan Doyle frequently received suggestions from readers about things he could use in the Holmes series, and one reader suggested having Holmes analyze someone's handwriting to solve a case. Conan Doyle corresponded frequently with the reader to understand the concept of handwriting analysis but abruptly stopped when the reader one day made the mistake of analyzing Conan Doyle's.

Dorothy Sayers (Lord Peter Wimsey)

Dorothy Sayers strokes appear to exert moderate pressure and also have a slightly more right slant.

Ian Fleming (James Bond)

Ian Fleming's notes from "You only live Twice" seem to have pressure but not nearly as much as Dr. Bell's, and yet a lot more flair than Sayers.

I'll leave it to you to dig deeper into how each of them is different but we asked tons of questions. The caretaker could see he had some willing snoopers and gave us the grand tour of other exhibits not currently on display. The next three photos are part of our tour.

And then a friend of the caretaker came by to help him close. He had a guitar, and right in the middle of the building was a stage with a piano. Alex could not resist and offered to play a few songs with him while I sat in the balcony.

Would you like to hear them play? Of course you would...

We closed the afternoon convinced that we learned a lot and also accepted that yes we truly are odd, but in a pleasant sort of way...