Talk:Mina Crandon

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Before we were called magicians we were proudly known as conjurors. Our art involves prestidigitation, use of the fingers and legererdemain, sleight of the hand. Our art is known as conjuring to us. The public is just unaware of what we call, and know our selves to be, from our past history. I think Houdini would prefer to be known as a conjuror, or if you have to change it magician, rather than an escape artist. 2 Jan 2006 Kazuba

Changed "conjurer" to "escape artist". "Conjurer" implys a supernatural connection, which Houdini was staunchly opposed to.

There is an error in the entry on Mina Crandon: Mina had one son by her first marriage to Earl Rand. Her son, Dr. John H Crandon, was adopted by Dr. Crandon. Also, there is absolutely no evidence that she was "surgically altered."

Yes, the entire section under "Mystery" needs a serious re-write. It is one of those Wikipedia entries where it has been edited by people with differing viewpoints with no consensus, so that now it sounds like the "author" is arguing with himself! heh...

As far as the surgical alteration... well, not to be crude, but I think that theory must have come from an outdated concept of just how much stuff a woman can fit in her vagina. I mean.. yeah, we've all been on the internet. It may be that Ms. Crandon's true talent was an exceptionally large, ahem, cavity, in which she could store all of the props required for these stuns. --13.12.254.82 20:28, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

I agree with UTC. There are many open questions as to how Margery produced seance phenomenon (although it is not an open question that they were naturally, as opposed to supernaturally, derived, as she herself essentially admitted to manufacturing effects). However, the allegations of hiding things in her body are complete speculation (all, I might point out, by men) and it would be irresponsible to present them as fact without actual knowledge of how she contrived her tricks. There are other possibilities such as a trap door, trick furniture, and accomplices. In fact, we know that several individuals, such as Malcom Bird and most likely also Dr. Crandon, assisted her in at least some seances. I do not feel that references to her being surgically altered etc should be repeated without substantiation in a rigorous and objective forum such as Wikipedia (and citing authors who are also only speculating does not qualify as substantiation) -- April 12 2007 (Thurlow99)

Obviously the authors of the last two entries are somewhat unaware of fist fucking. User: kazuba 17 Aug 2012

I tried to smooth out the language, remove non-sequiturs, and added some small biographical facts. Hopefully this reads more clearly without eliminating any of the main points made earlier. -- May 12 2007 (Thurlow99)

Category change

Categories have been changed in accordance with the recent Arbitration on the paranormal, specifically 6a) Adequate framing, and Cultural artefacts. Martin^phi _{(Talk Ψ Contribs)} 22:23, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

Age

...However, Mina continued to perform until her early death in 1941, at the age of 50....

1888 - 1941?

195.200.70.37 (talk) 11:22, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

To talk:195.200.70.37 The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Super Hero by William Kalush and Larry Sloman, Atria Books, 2006, was not well received by many Houdini historians. The call by the book's authors to exhume Houdini's body was viewed as a gross publicity stunt for this book. Kazuba (talk) 19:14, 8 June 2010 (UTC)