Conjurers and Spirits

From The Arthur Conan Doyle Encyclopedia

Conjurers and Spirits is a letter written by Arthur Conan Doyle published in the Daily Mail on 1 march 1919.


Conjurers and Spirits

Daily Mail (1 march 1919, p. 4)

To the Editor of The Daily Mail.

Sir, — I had not intended to intervene again in this debate, but this continuous reference to conjurers leads me to remind those who write letters to The Daily Mail that Houdin, Bellachini, and Keller, whose names may certainly bear comparison with any living rivals, all admitted that the spiritual phenomena were something beyond their art. They examined Home, Eglinton, and the best mediums of their time.

The absurdity of the conjurer explanation becomes more manifest when one considers spirit photographs, clairvoyance, clairaudience, automatic writing, and all the other manifestations of forces outside ourselves. It is clear that whatever the explanation of them may be, it must be one single source from which they all bow. The spiritual explanation does cover them all.

But what has conjuring to do with the clairvoyance which, in a single case which I have explained, has described correctly a large number of our dead soldiers, imparting great consolation to their parents! Read the Rev. W. Wynn's "Rupert Lives," and ask what conjuring has to do with that.

Arthur Conan Doyle,
Windlesham, Crowborough, Sussex.