The search for Margery - Notes on a Strange World - medium associated with Houdini

MP: Did you have other chances to talk about Mina with John?

AT: I've asked my grandfather about Mina over my whole life, but he really didn't like to talk about it. The conversation I relayed to you took place in 1997, I think, just before he really slipped mentally; he must have been in his early eighties, and I was in my late twenties. The question about the mirrors was the same day--I asked him if he believed in it (no) how they did it (mirrors) and how he felt about being in the room next door (wouldn't say). He was very rattled and the nurse told me that he had nightmares all that night. Sid Radner (of the Houdini seances) was very interested in talking with him, but after that, I really felt that he couldn't remember enough for it to be worth the emotional turmoil it obviously caused him.

MP: Dr. Crandon died in 1939 and Mina in 1941, however we know that she went into depression and drank quite heavily. What were those two years alone like for her?

AT: After Dr. Crandon died Mina had an affair with their lawyer, Mr. Button, and I believe she moved in with him in New York City. However, my mother and grandmother (my grandmother was rather horrified by the whole thing and never really knew how to handle Mina) always hated him. I am not sure why but I think my grandfather felt Button stole her money or he otherwise took advantage of her. Button certainly supported her continued "experiments" so I wouldn't be surprised if he was hoping to recreate some of the notoriety of before. However, I haven't found a thing about him that confirms that he was a bad person, so I have to reserve my judgment. But Mina did drink herself to death by her early fifties (although the toll of drink and depression, as I gather, made her seem much, much older). But yes, my grandfather was terribly ashamed of her, as I think most children of alcoholics are, even without having had the whole world know very intimate things about her. By the time she died, my grandfather was already married.

MP: Could this Button you are referring to be W.H. Button, the then-President of the American Society for Psychical Research?

AT: You are right! I was shocked to realize that he was the head of the ASPR--my mother had thought he was a lawyer. All of the papers I have from later in Mina's life were archived, sorted, and stored by him--the envelopes all have his name and address on them. I am now curious as to what date he starts the archiving as opposed to Dr. Crandon. I never really thought about it, but Dr. Crandon's papers seem to peter out around 1926 (presumably around the time that Dr. Crandon no longer believed in Margery?) even though he didn't die until 1938. I wonder if Button "took up the cause" and perhaps that is how Mina and he became involved with each other. She moved to New York to be with him. Coincidentally, she lived on W. 116th street, and of course Houdini had lived on W. 113th street. My mother and I also lived on W. 113th street for almost fifteen years, only two blocks away!