Who ya gonna call? If you lived in Denver in the 1920s and wanted to debunk a seance scam, you might call William Nelan of 229 West First Avenue and Leo Tritt of 1787 South Broadway, Colorado’s original busters of ghost-related scams.
The matter was personal to Nelan. He and his wife had lost their five-year-old son, a tragic event that prompted Nelan’s wife to attend “spiritualist meetings in the belief that her baby boy was returning and talking to her,” the Rocky Mountain News reported November 20, 1922. In other words, those conducting the seances used a mother’s grief to drain her pocketbook. Shameful.
Anticipating James Randi’s 1964 million-dollar paranormal challenge, Nelan “posted a certified check for $100 [over $1,800 in today’s dollars] which he declared he will give to any medium who can prove spirit return by trumpet speaking,” the Rocky reported.
What the heck is trumpet speaking? the Rocky described the efforts of Nelan and Tritt to stage a seance some days before: “Fifty persons attended the seance, staged in a large basement room of the Nelan home, and after the room was completely darkened and the first formalities of a seance were out of the way, a tin trumpet provided for the occasion ‘rose’ into the air and voices emanated from it: The trumpets could be seen by the dim rings of luminous paint around their larger ends.” Spooky!
But Nelan and Tritt had a trick up their sleeve: “At an appointed time, a flashlight photograph was taken in the room and the lights were turned on by Mr. Nelan, showing Tritt holding the trumpet in the air with one hand and talking thru it, disguising his voice. . . . According to Tritt, all trumpet mediums use this method of trickery to make their clientele believe that the trumpets rise into the air solely by the force of an atmosphere spiritually charged by the holding of hands by all present in the form of a ‘battery.'”
Nelan and Tritt weren’t afraid of no ghost, nor of any fraudster.
By the way, those interested in how Randi later exposed psychic frauds and faith healers should watch the excellent biographical film about him, “An Honest Liar.”
Reports of seances common
Reports of seances are relatively common in the Colorado newspaper archives.
On October 27, 1883, the Rocky Mountain News reported that, at a seance by a Dr. Slade, “a party of newspaper men and some prominent citizens” was “unable to discover any deception” with the bound Slade and the floating spirits. Those of us with a more cynical bent may not be overly impressed that news reporters were easy to fool.
An article of March 27, 1892, also in the Rocky, illustrates how politics, mainstream religion, entertainment, and “spiritualism” sometimes intermingled: “The Woman’s Association of Progressive Workers will . . . celebrate the 44th anniversary of modern Spiritualism; Hon. J. B. Belford will lecture; subject, ‘Jesus of Nazareth;’ tests given by Jules Wallace, Professor Gray and other mediums; supper and dance will close the evening’s entertainment.”
On May 17, 1899, Leadville’s News Reporter noted, without a hint of skepticism or critical reporting, that “the physical demonstrations were unusually strong” at a local seance, with “four or five independent voices . . . heard at one time” and “musical instruments float[ing] about the ceiling and . . . played by unseen hands.” Less than a month later, the same paper announced another seance promising “strong and clear” materializations.
On October 25, 1902, the Victor Record announced under a “church notice” that a “free” seance would include “readings and slate writing and trumpet seance.”
On August 20, 1923, the Greeley Tribune promoted an upcoming seance: “Conan Doyle’s spirit pictures will be shown, remarkable tests with the ouija board will be given, spirit slate writing, table rapping and the receiving of messages will take place.” A few pages later the Tribune ran an ad for the same event.
A case of fraud
The Rocky Mountain News published numerous announcements for events featuring the “medium” Dr. F. O. Matthews (such as one from September 20, 1891). The Rocky also published articles about and letters from Matthews in 1891 in which Matthews defended spiritualism in response to criticisms from Reverend John L. Brandt (more on Brandt later).
But on September 5, 1892, the Rocky published a mocking follow-up reporting that Matthews had been accused of defrauding various local women. One example: “Catherine B. Boyle, who owns a restaurant at 1124 Eighteenth street, was led to believe that she owned large tracts of land in Washington, D. C., and that the doctor could get possession of the land for her. Mrs. Boyle says that she advanced him $12O, and has been fed on transparent dreams ever since. She has put her case in the hands of Attorney May, and intends to recover the money if possible.”
The Rocky did not acknowledge its role in building up the reputation of this fraudster.
Brandt’s skepticism of spiritualism
In 1891, the Rocky Mountain News ran a serious of sensational stories and letters involving the Reverend John Brandt of Highlands Christian Church and his criticisms of spiritualism.
On June 15, 1891, the Rocky reported that Brandt was violently kicked out of a seance for challenging its legitimacy. The paper described: “Brandt is of a skeptical turn of mind. He likes to know things. He prefers beliefs grounded on facts to blind faith. He does not believe in spirits of any kind; especially those that are said to speak for and in behalf of the departed.” (Brandt did hold mainstream Christian supernaturalist beliefs.)
On June 8, Brandt, at the invitation of a friend, attended a seance held in a Highlands home. The seance involved a trumpet or horn, and Brandt asked why a spirit might need a horn to communicate. With the lights out, the horn floated and spoke with voices.
The Rocky reported, “When the lights were turned on, Rev. Mr. Brandt, still perversely skeptical, at once made for the horn. . . . He seized that conveyor of spirits’ voices. He examined it. He called attention to the fact that the mouthpiece was moist; that human lips had touched it; that it was still covered with plain, every day spittle.”
Brandt also said, reported the Rocky, that “slate manifestations were no good and couldn’t be made to work with new slates and pencils, and that he had proposed to donate $100 against $100 in support of his assertions, with no takers.”
The host of the seance, not at all amused, pushed Brandt “in the small of the back” and threatened to “knock him into the middle of next week,” the Rocky reported.
On June 17, the Rocky published Brandt’s personal account of the event. The Rocky also editorialized on June 17 that spiritualism should be skeptically investigated but fairly so and given a chance. Later in June the Rocky published a lengthy description of a sermon by Brandt and others against spiritualism.
However, on September 2, 1891, the Rocky published a follow-up claiming that, after attending another seance, Brandt was “not sure” and was “an alleged convert to spiritualism” who “cannot explain certain mysterious manifestations.” But that’s like saying that, because I cannot explain every magic trick, therefore magic is real in the sense of manifesting supernatural powers.
But, judging from the one quote by Brandt provided by the Rocky, the newspaper oversold its story. Here’s what Brandt actually told the paper: “I admitted that the exhibition was fine, and that I could not explain the phenomena. But I did not say the same was produced by spirits and do not believe it was. Two of our committee were much impressed by what they heard, but they are not used to attending seances and that accounts for their feelings.”
Unfortunately, I was not able to locate a report that Brandt promised to release. From what I can tell, Brandt maintained his skeptical stance.
A sensationalist front-pager
Jumping back to the 1920s: On February 25, 1923, the Rocky Mountain News published a front-page, top-of-fold article with photo, nestled between stories on European finances and state budgeting, with the all-caps headline, “Eva Fay tells how spirits may be called into your own home without aid of medium.”
The “news” paper asserts straight away, “Eva Fay is the greatest living American authority on psychic phenomena.” The Rocky does equivocate regarding the news worthiness of the story: “While this series of ten experiments which will be published from week to week are offered by The News as a means of unique entertainment, there is no doubt but that the assertions of Mrs. Fay are entitled to respectful consideration.”
But of course Fay was just an entertainer (spun positively) or a trickster. James Randi’s “Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural” reports that Fay was “investigated by conjuror Harry Houdini, to whom she eventually admitted many of her tricks, after her retirement.”
Then, as now, “news” media often were more interested in attracting eyeballs than in faithfully telling the truth.
Treating seances as a crime
How times change! Within just a few decades, seances went from having the support or at least interest of prominent journalists and public officials to becoming the subject of criminal inquiry. What did not change is the sensationalist tone of media coverage.
On August 14, 1954, the Rocky Mountain News, at this point in its signature tabloid format, reported as its lead story (again in all-caps): “2 lads nabbed in seance raid.” The accompanying photo shows Detective Sergeant Jack Field showing a “mask and trumpet seized” in the raid, along with a young man “looking on, behind his filmy white veil.”
The Page 5 story by Ken Pearce reports that Denver’s Morals Bureau conducted the raid of the seance, at which Keith Rhinehart, 18, and Arthur Carden, 19, collected $45 “at the rate of $3 per customer.”
Obviously, even though seances are complete bunk, for the morality police to raid a seance over $3 admissions is absurd, unjust, and an obvious violation of the First Amendment. Yes, government has a legitimate role to play in fighting fraud. But many people sincerely believe in the stuff of seances, and they can have entertainment value, as the Rocky itself recognized in promoting spiritualism a few decades earlier. My attitude is, if you’re stupid enough to spend money on a seance, or if you just view it as entertainment, you have the right to so be separated from your money.
In a follow-up about the trial, the Rocky reported that the two men were “charged with obtaining money under false pretenses and charging money for clairvoyance.”
On March 25, 1955, the Rocky ran another story about the criminal sentencing, reporting, “The youths specifically were charged with three violations of the city code: promoting a fraudulent scheme to obtain money; obtaining money through false pretenses; and practicing clairvoyance.” Municipal Judge J. Joe Rawlinson “ordered $900 fines and 270 days in jail for both—then suspended the jail sentences and $400 of the fines,” reported the Rocky. Further: “The 5-day trial [was the] longest in municipal court history.” Everything about this bogus prosecution is absurd.
Rhinehart appealed. A follow-up article reveals that, not only did the morality police bust the seance, they placed an undercover cop at the seance, and her “observation was the key testimony in the Police Court and subsequent Superior Court trials.” The Superior Court “imposed a penalty of $300 in fines and six months in jail.” Such governmental overreach is crazier than anything seen at the seance.
Seance as comedy
By the ’60s, things had settled down, and seances no longer were the subject either of media complicity or of overzealous policing. Instead, they were more about comedy and showmanship.
On October 25, 1964, the Rocky Mountain News published an article with a photo under the title, “Local Seance Fails to Draw Houdini.” The topic was a seance held by the Mile Hi Magicians Club, and the seance was for show. “Before the seance, the group demonstrated a host of magicians’ tricks, including some of the kind that used to fool the uninitiated at phony seances,” the Rocky Reported.
One of the magicians, Glenn Harrison, offered the reply another magician gave “when asked if one can talk to the dead,” the Rocky reported. The answer? “Yes. Yes, you can. But try to get an answer.”
The Rocky reported, “The magicians all agreed it’s getting harder to fool the public nowadays.” I worry they were premature in their evaluation.
Ari Armstrong writes regularly for Complete Colorado and is the author of books about Ayn Rand, Harry Potter, and classical liberalism. He can be reached at ari at ariarmstrong dot com.
