The story of a 'greata' medium

Massimo Polidoro

There once was an Italian Spiritualistic medium who had both the pleasure of astonishing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes and a fervent believer in Spiritualism, and the "honor" of being unmasked by Harry Houdini, the great magician and skeptic.

Nino Pecoraro was born in Naples in 1899. He had tried to perform his mediumistic stunts in Europe, apparently impressing some reputable scientists, and then traveled to the United States in search of fame. He worked in a drug store during the day but, at night, he claimed he could go into a trance and call the spirit of one of the greatest mediums--some would say the greatest charlatan--who ever lived, Eusapia Palladino, another Italian. Thanks to her, he could ring a bell, levitate a table, and create other strange phenomena. Since he spoke no English, he was usually accompanied by his employer and mentor, Dr. Anselmo Vecchio.

Challenging Giants

Pecoraro's first big break came when Conan Doyle visited the United States in 1922 for a lecture tour on Spiritualism. During his trip he visited a number of mediums and, on April 14, he attended a seance with Pecoraro. The meeting had been arranged by Hereward Carrington, a well-known psychic investigator. Nino was tied with picture wire and placed in a darkened cabinet. There were shrieks, a toy piano on the table tinkled, and, between hymns, Sir Arthur spoke with the spirit of Palladino.

"I who used to call the spirits aback," said Palladino speaking through Nino, "now coma back to be a spirita myself."

"Is that you, Madame Palladino?" asked Carrington.

"Yes," came the reply in a whisper.

"The power is getting stronger, Palladino," interjected Conan Doyle. "We send you our love and our best encouragement."

Needless to say, Sir Arthur was very impressed by the medium.

Houdini's turn to be impressed came the following year. Scientific American had launched a challenge to all psychic mediums to perform their feats under controlled conditions and win a prize. Scientists, psychic investigators, and one magician, Houdini, formed a committee to decide how to prepare the tests.

In December 1923, the committee had examined just a few lesser mediums, finding no real candidate for the prize, when they stumbled upon Pecoraro.

It was actually Carrington, a member of the committee, who had proposed the medium to participate in the Scientific American contest. Pecoraro held four seances for the Scientific American judges, on December 10, 14, and 18. During the first seance, Nino was tied to a chair with sixty feet of rope, beside him was a table with tambourines, bells, and trumpets; he was then hidden from view by a curtain. After a while, noises were heard from behind the curtain: raps, rings, and shrieks by Nino. At the end of the seance, Nino was found lying on the floor, still tied to the chair. The same things happened during the second seance.

O.D. Munn, the editor of Scientific American, suspected that Nino had been able, somehow, to free one hand and to play the instruments. He thus wired to Houdini, then on tour with his magic show, requesting his presence in New York. Houdini took the first train and, when he arrived at the December 18 seance, he was amazed to discover the kind of controls that had been imposed upon the medium. Nobody, he explained, could be securely fastened with one long piece of rope: it was too easy to get some slack and get flee. He cut the rope into dozens of shorter pieces and with those proceeded to tie Pecoraro: it took him almost an hour and forty-five minutes to finish the job. After that, all the phenomena disappeared and Nino did not win the prize.

Here is how Houdini described the episode to his friend Harry Price in a letter dated December 19, 1923: "Last night I tied up a medium for the Scientific American. He is called the 'boy wonder' but is 24 years of age. There were no manifestations with the exception of raps which he managed to make by striking his foot on the side of the cabinet. They asked me to tie him up so that he could not move--and he stayed put. Personally, I believe the man is mad and thinks the 'spirits' help him. He is a powerfully built fellow, has great curved shoulders and an enormous amount of endurance--but he did not get out. You will read a detailed account later on."

No formal decision was rendered by the judges, since Dr. Vecchio, who still protested that his medium was genuine, was granted the privilege of more sittings in January. These, however, appear not to have been claimed by the medium. Neither Pecoraro nor anyone else ever won the Scientific American prize.

"Dunninge! This is Houdeen!"

Houdini died in 1926 and one question often asked after his death was: "Can Houdini come back?" Sir Arthur was convinced that, after "a period of complete rest," he would return. Bess Houdini, the wife of the magician, was obviously skeptical but probably wished to receive a sign. "I want so to believe in a communication with my husband," she told a reporter. "Every day I get letters from people who say they are able to feel his presence and catch his messages. But they have nothing to show me--no proof. Perhaps they are sincere, these mediums, but they are unconvincing." One of the first mediums to claim contact with Houdini was, not surprisingly, Nino Pecoraro.

At the time of Scientific American's offer to mediums, another smaller magazine devoted to the popularization of science, Science and Invention, noticed the interest that surrounded the investigations and quickly announced a $1,000 prize of its own.

Chairman of the investigating committee was Joseph Dunninger, the famous mentalist and a friend of Houdini. He was soon joined by another friend of the "king of escapes," Joseph Rinn, who put $10,000 of his own to increase the size of the award. The prize was later augmented when both Dunninger and Bess Houdini added $10,000 each to the challenge. The award, totaling $31,000, looked attractive enough for Nino Pecoraro who, on April 26, 1928, appeared at the offices of Science and Invention.

A preliminary seance, where nothing peculiar happened, had taken place at Bess's house. Now it was time for the official test. Nino, seated in a chair, was bound by the committee. His hands were covered by two leather gloves, which were sewn to his shirt. He was tied to the chair with ropes, their knots sealed. He was thus placed in a corner of the room and a curtain drawn in front of him. After ten minutes, a voice in falsetto claimed to be the spirit of Eusapia Palladino; soon after that, the voice claimed to be Houdini: "Dunninge! This is Houdeen! How are you, Dunningee!" "Both," commented Dunninger, "sounded as though uttered by Nino. Houdini's voice was far from natural." The voices kept promising remarkable phenomena: a wax hand impression, table raps, the materialization of Houdini's spirit ... none of which occurred.

Afterwards, Nino Pecoraro sent a letter to Dunninger and to the press protesting the "grossly unfair treatment I received at your hands." He then challenged Dunninger himself, saying that "you, with all your trickery notwithstanding, are unable to produce any of the phenomena which I am able to produce under the strictest test conditions." He then went on describing the restraints that both he and the mentalist had to be subjected to and concluded: "I defy you to produce the phenomena which I shall produce."

Dunninger easily saw through this further weak attempt at getting some publicity, and replied to Nino saying that he considered his challenge "exceedingly humorous. Permit me to remind you that you have had two seances prepared for you ... you have produced absolutely nothing that could not be duplicated by any six-year-old child.... If you are a genuine medium and can produce phenomena, why did you not do so during any of these tests that have already been arranged for you? You promise everything and produce practically nothing."

The Confession

Eventually, Nino decided to give a full confession to Dunninger, whom he respected and considered a friend. In April 1931, he said to the mentalist: "To-night, I am going to exposa spiritualism. Exposa the whola damn business. I am a greata medium; but wat I get? Not even a packa cigarettes!"

He explained that when he was still in Italy, approaching the time for him to join the army, he found himself capable of acting like he was in a trance, along with wild spasms. He was bound many times, also in a straitjacket, and he found he could escape and was pleased by it. By acting wild he was finally declared unfit for military service.

Nino then came to America and had a big hero he wanted to surpass, Houdini, but he wanted to do it by being a medium and escaping from bonds. In the beginning, seances were profitable, but irregular. It was not a desire to dupe people that started him as a medium, Dunninger thought. Nino wanted attention, to be the center of a show.

He went on explaining how he created his phenomena and then signed a complete confession. His chief reason for confessing appeared to be a disappointment that his hopes had not been realized. Other mediums had made money. Nino was convinced that his work was superior to theirs, but he had been unable to capitalize on it.

After the confession, he tried for a while to start a career doing an escape act, wishing to emulate Houdini, but his rude manners and lack of ability in managing business took him nowhere.

Nino Pecoraro returned to Italy in 1932, repudiated his confession, and devoted himself to "astral paintings," painting abstract art while claiming to be directed by entities from other dimensions. He never achieved the heights he had reached in America, but at least he was one of the very few who on his deathbed, in 1973, could look at photographs of himself with both Conan Doyle and Houdini. He had not become rich, but at least he had had some fun.

Massimo Polidoro is an investigator of the paranormal, author, lecturer, and co-founder and head of CICAP, the Italian skeptics group. His Web site is www.massimopolidoro.com.

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