Sixty Years of Psychical Research
by Joseph F. Rinn

Houdini and I among the spiritualists.

This book is one of the most important sources of skeptical literature on paranormal investigation from 1890 - 1950. It includes obscure and forgotten newspaper records, material that today appears nowhere else. Its references to Houdini and clippings dealing with him provide important source material for research into Houdini.

1. Early Days with Houdini. The Search Begins. Society for Psychical Research. The Feats of Stuart Cumberland. Tests in Muscle-Reading. Herrmann the Great. The Hen that Laid Gold Pieces. The Talking Kettle
2. The Seybert Commission. A Seance with Henry Slade. Spirit Slate Writing at its Best. Martinka's Magic Shop. Sir William Barrett. The Fox Sisters. Ghostly Materializations
3. The Twilight Club. The Tricks of Washington Irving Bishop. A Sensational Carriage Driving Test. Mr. Pulitzer's Challenge. Mrs. Frank Leslie Recovers Her Hidden Pin. The Mysterious Wallace L. Hight. I Learn about Muscle Reading, Kissing a Baby Ghost. Cabinet Seances with Mrs. Ross
4. The Uncanny Madame Diss Debar. Spirit Paintings. The Bar Association and Luther Marsh, Inspector Byrnes Investigates. A Public Scandal. The Trial and Conviction of a Famous Fraud
5. The New York Press Club. Herrmann and His Dancing Table. Ringing Bells and Rattling Tambourines. Oil-Painted Portraits from the Spirit World. The Career of Madame Diss Debar Comes to a Close. More Sittings with Slade. Methods of Slate Writing Exposed
6. Katie and Margaret Fox. A Crusade against Fakers. The Founders of Spiritualism Turn State Evidence. Creelman and the New York Herald. An Expose in the Academy of Music, Richmond Reads Bank Note Numbers. Houdini Turns Professional Magician. Dr. Hodgson and Professor Hyslop. Numerous Seances. A Mysterious Champagne Bottle. Professor William James and Mrs. Piper. Kellogg and His Mystifying Performance. A Noted Medium Gives Her Tricks Away
7. Minnie Williams and "Little Bright Eyes". The Spirit of Henry Ward Beecher. Barnum's Museum. "The Revelations of a Spirit Medium." Houdini and I Practice Rope Ties. Houdini's Early Struggles
8. Swami Vivakananda. The Theosophical Society. Occultism from the Gobi Desert. A Psychic Bombshell Explodes. Mrs. Garret's Affidavit. Joseph Jastrow's Warning. The Revelations of Henry Archer. The Decline and Fall of Katie Fox. Spirits Operate a Typewriter. The Clever Henry Rogers. George Yost Loses His Mind and His Fortune. A Gigantic Swindle
9. The Handcuff King. Tony Pastor Books the Houdinis. Trapping Rogers. Roughhouse at a Seance. Arresting a Ghost
10. The Exposure of Minnie Williams. Materializations. Dr. Stevens Marries a Ghost. Can a Pistol Shot Injure a Spirit?
11. Hypnotism. A Buried Alive Experiment. Charcot Stages an Astounding Feat. Tommy Minnock, the Painless Marvel
12. Mrs. Piper and Dr. Phinuit. Do Spirits Lose Their Memories? Trance Mediumship. F. B. Morse and the Spirit Bell. Anna Eva Fay and Her Mentalist Act. Clairvoyance and Thought Transference. A Seance with Bert Reese
13. Houdini Gives a Spirit Seance in the Light. Ups and Downs in Show Business. An Escape from a Scotland Yard Prison Cell
14. Mrs. Piper and the Connor Case. Clairvoyance on the Wrong Track. Seeing Things that Never Happened
15. Mrs. Piper and the Spirit "G. P." Edward Clodd Unearths Some Facts. Professor Pellew Takes a Hand. John Fiske Repudiates Dr. Hodgson's Claim. A $5,000 Challenge to Mediums. Test Letters Left Behind. Static in the Spirit Realm
16. Charles Washburn and Christine Beauchamp. Dr. Morton Prince and Multiple Personalities
17. Mrs. Piper's Confession. Disclaims Contact with the Spirit World
18. Hoodwinking Professor Hyslop. Demonstrations in the Art of Trickery. Edwin C. Hill Writes Up Rinn's "Seance". The "Reincarnation" of Helene Smith. Professor Quackenbos and Dr. Funk
19. The Feats of May S. Pepper. A Challenge and its Consequences. 1 Stage a "Psychic" Demonstration. Thought Waves and Clairvoyance by Fraud. Mrs. Pepper Filches Sealed Messages. Unmasking a Notorious Cheat
20. The Pepper Court Trial. "Little Bright Eyes" and a Wealthy Dupe. Ghosts Have an Easy Time at Swindling. The Tragic Ending of a Comedy
21. Simon Newcomb Finds Nothing in Psychical Research. A Test Letter Left Behind. Myers' Ghost Forgets What He Wrote. Carrington Comes to Town with Palladino. The Plot Thickens for an Exposé. The Fade-out of Horace Kanouse
22. Rinn, Bound to a Chair, Does a Seance in Bright Light, Committee, Blindfolded, Sits as if in Darkened Room. Audience Secs How the Committee is Fooled. "Outdoes Madame Palladino," says New York Tribunal
23. Telepathy. Blackburn and Smith. Myers and Gurney Deceived by a Code. Blackburn Admits Fakery
24. Escape from a Wooden Packing Case. The Water-Filled Torture Cell. Houdini and the Convict Prison Ship. The "Breeze" from Palladino's Forehead. Carrington Left Holding an Empty Bag. "The Angels of Mons." Photographing the Invisible
25. Houdini Walks Through a Brick Wall. The Feat Explained
26. Sir Oliver Lodge Hears from "Raymond". A Pathetic Case. Silly Season in the Summerland
27. The Tweedale Ghost. A Mail-Pouch Escape. Bank Vaults and How to Get Out
28. The Disappearing Elephant. The Swallowing of Needles. Lodge and Rinn Clash
29. Dr. Abrams's Electronic Quackery. The Scientific American Exposes His Paraphernalia as Fakes
30. A Philadelphia Symposium. Rinn's Mediumistic Performance Mystifies the Experts. A Notable Debate at Carnegie Hall. Messages from Those Who Never Lived. Eva and Her Ectoplasm. Kathleen Goligher and Dr. Crawford. Scientists and the Public
31. Johnny Coulon, the Man Who Couldn't be Lifted
32. John Slater and a Challenge. A Near Riot among the Ghosts
33. How Harry Kellar Fooled the Seybert Commission. Super Slate Writing by a Magician
34. The Pathetic Case of Arthur Conan Doyle. Nino Pecoraro Does His Stunts. Declines to be Tied with a Spool of Thread. Doyle Dines with American Magicians
35. Ada Bessinet and Her Forty Ghosts. Fulton Oursler Gives a Report. More Sham in the Spirit World
36. Wax and Ghostly Hands. Finger-printing the Spirits. Kathleen Goligher and the Gullible Dr. Crawford. Dr, Fournier d'Albe Detects a Fraud. A Gruesome Test
37. Magic Among the Magicians. The Coin That Moved About. Hands from the Spirit World. The Penalties of Being Credulous. Battle between Doyle and Rinn. Cenotaph Spirits. Medium Tricked by Electric Contacts. Science and Invention Magazine Posts a Challenge. Harry Blackstone Reveals His Stage "Clairvoyance". Argamasalla, the Man with the X-ray Eyes
38. "Margery" of Boston. A Long, Long Trail of Fraud. Cheating in the Dark. The Harvard Committee Reports on "Margery" Phenomena. "Performed by Trickery" is the Verdict
39. The Gilbert Murray Experiments in Thought Transference. Houdini Reveals How a Committee can be Duped. Staging a "Telepathy" Stunt
40. Rose Mackenberg, Houdini's Aide, Ferrets Out Fraudulent Mediums. The Washington, D.C., Congressional Hearing. Rahmen Bey and His Burial Stunt. Into the River in a Sealed Casket. Houdini's Coffin Feat. Ectoplasm Made to Order. A Fatal Accident and Houdini's Death
41. A Flashlight Starts a Riot. Therese Neumann. A Mysterious Swinging Ball
42. Nino Pecoraro and a $21,000 Test. The Ghosts Fail to Show Up. Houdini's Widow Waits in Vain
43. Houdini's Code-word Turns Up. A Hoax Comes to Grief. Arthur Ford Obtains a Secret
44. Dunninger and John Slater Come to Grips. Frank Decker Invokes the Ghosts. More Fraud Comes to Light. The Society of American Magicians Takes a Hand. Martin Sunshine's Affidavit. A Vicarage Seance. Walter Franklin Prince Reports on the Margery Case. Thumb-prints from Spiritland. The Facts Leak Out
45. Dr. J. B. Rhine and Extra-Sensory Perception. His Tests Analysed. A Summary Report on Telepathy and Clairvoyance. The Mulholland-Pitkin Card Tests. Harry Price Summarizes His Findings. Rinn States His Conclusion

1st edition 1950; reprinted in England 1954 under title "Searchlight on Psychical Research"; PDF 432 pages.
word count: 185148 which is equivalent to 740 standard pages of text