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Prompts Used

Prompt 1: Context Setup

You are an expert data extractor tasked with analyzing a podcast transcript. 
I will provide you with part 1 of 1 from a podcast transcript. 
I will then ask you to extract different types of information from this content in subsequent messages. Please confirm you have received and understood the transcript content.

Transcript section:
[00:00:03.440 --> 00:00:05.120] Rose Mackenberg.
[00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:09.120] If the name doesn't ring a bell, it wouldn't surprise me.
[00:00:09.120 --> 00:00:15.760] This skeptical heroine was primarily known for being downplayed as Harry Houdini's assistant.
[00:00:15.760 --> 00:00:18.960] However, she was much more than that.
[00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:29.600] Not only was she Houdini's chief investigator, she was a prolific debunker in her own right and should be remembered for all she accomplished.
[00:00:35.680 --> 00:00:40.400] Join us for an exclusive three-day exploration of historic Death Valley.
[00:00:40.400 --> 00:00:47.680] From October 21st to 24th, we'll take you from Las Vegas deep into the heart of this rugged, otherworldly landscape.
[00:00:47.680 --> 00:00:51.600] All transportation, lodging, and meals are included.
[00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:54.320] Your guides will be Skeptoid's Brian Dunning.
[00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:59.360] Hey, I know that guy, he's me, and Death Valley expert geologist Andrew Dunning.
[00:00:59.360 --> 00:01:08.160] Together, they'll lead you to world-famous sites like Badwater Basin and the Artist's Palette, plus hidden gems that you won't find in any guidebook.
[00:01:08.160 --> 00:01:12.720] This year's trip features all new destinations with minimal overlap from last year.
[00:01:12.720 --> 00:01:17.920] And here's a bonus: Skepticamp Las Vegas begins the same evening we return to Las Vegas.
[00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:23.120] Make it a two-for-one trip and stick around to hear me talk about my visit to Area 51.
[00:01:23.120 --> 00:01:26.640] Details at skeptoid.com/slash events.
[00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:28.400] Spots are very limited.
[00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:29.920] Secure yours today.
[00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:37.920] Email help at skeptoid.com with questions and join the conversation with fellow adventurers at skeptoid.com/slash discord.
[00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:39.920] Death Valley is calling.
[00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:42.480] Are you ready to answer?
[00:01:46.320 --> 00:01:48.320] This show is supported by Odoo.
[00:01:48.320 --> 00:01:54.080] When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing.
[00:01:54.080 --> 00:01:55.840] ODU solves this.
[00:01:55.840 --> 00:02:02.520] It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales.
[00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:06.760] Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way.
[00:02:07.080 --> 00:02:10.040] You can save money without missing out on the features you need.
[00:02:10.040 --> 00:02:13.000] Check out Odoo at Odoo.com.
[00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:15.640] That's Odoo.com.
[00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:17.960] You're listening to Skeptoid.
[00:02:17.960 --> 00:02:24.520] I'm Cap McLeod, guest hosting for Brian Dunning from skeptoid.com.
[00:02:25.160 --> 00:02:28.040] More than a magician's assistant.
[00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:42.600] Welcome to the show that separates fact from fiction, science from pseudoscience, real history from fake history, and helps us all make better life decisions by knowing what's real and what's not.
[00:02:42.920 --> 00:02:48.520] A hundred years ago, the spiritualist movement was experiencing a revival.
[00:02:48.520 --> 00:02:58.920] Mediums and mystics claimed to summon the supernatural, weaving illusions that left many in awe and often in debt.
[00:02:58.920 --> 00:03:04.280] The name Rose Mackenberg once drew fear in the hearts of charlatans.
[00:03:04.280 --> 00:03:09.320] You may not have heard of her, but she was a woman who was ahead of her time.
[00:03:09.320 --> 00:03:16.760] Dubbed a ghostbuster by the press in the 1950s, she was far more than a cynic of the psychic world.
[00:03:16.760 --> 00:03:25.000] She was a bold trailblazer who challenged deception, exposing frauds with skill and tenacity.
[00:03:25.320 --> 00:03:32.280] However, despite her remarkable legacy, she remains a hidden hero in history.
[00:03:33.240 --> 00:03:45.000] In the early 1920s, a young Brooklyn-born Rose Mackenberg was working as a private detective at an agency in New York, unheard of for a woman at the time.
[00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:58.000] She was working on a case about a psychic who had recommended worthless stock to a banker when she introduced herself to the man who would become her mentor, the magician, Harry Houdini.
[00:03:58.320 --> 00:04:07.920] The press was reporting on Houdini, who was waging a crusade against psychics and spiritualists, which inspired Mackenberg to seek his counsel.
[00:04:07.920 --> 00:04:14.800] Houdini's advice was enough for Mackenberg to ensnare the psychic and have him convicted.
[00:04:15.440 --> 00:04:20.640] Like Houdini, Mackenberg started out as a believer in the paranormal.
[00:04:20.640 --> 00:04:27.520] Houdini wanted to spare others the grief he'd experienced after failing to contact his mother after her death.
[00:04:27.520 --> 00:04:46.480] Impressed by her investigative and acting skills, Houdini hired Rose Mackenberg in 1924 to be part of his small investigative team to work undercover and expose the charlatans who prospered in the years after World War I and the Spanish flu pandemic.
[00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:50.560] Mackenberg quickly became his chief investigator.
[00:04:50.560 --> 00:05:05.600] She would dress in various disguises, create fictitious backstories, often posing as a widow or a grieving mother, and used false names like the pun intended, Francis Rod, or F.
[00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:10.160] Rod, Fraud, when making appointments with the psychics.
[00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:20.480] She would arrive in cities a week or two before Houdini's tour and meet with psychics to determine which tricks they were using when performing their readings.
[00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:35.720] She took comprehensive notes, would report back to Houdini, and then would appear on stage with him when he came to town, and they would discredit the local medium during Houdini's show by exposing their trickery.
[00:05:29.520 --> 00:05:44.840] In the two years she worked with Houdini, she investigated and helped expose approximately 300 mediums.
[00:05:44.840 --> 00:05:51.960] Her very detailed manuscripts for Houdini have been studied and exhibited in museums.
[00:05:52.280 --> 00:06:00.120] The Vancouver Sun wrote: Rose Mackenberg dons shabby clothes and tracks down spirit world frauds.
[00:06:00.120 --> 00:06:08.440] She has found plenty too, having been put in touch with 1,500 departed husbands she never had.
[00:06:09.720 --> 00:06:24.280] In May 1926, Houdini and Mackenberg testified before the United States Congress in favor of a bill that would outlaw professional spiritualists, seances for money, and charlatan mediums.
[00:06:24.280 --> 00:06:28.680] Mackenberg's testimony was brief but explosive.
[00:06:28.680 --> 00:06:41.160] She spoke about politicians who frequently visited mediums in Washington, and she reported that one medium swore that President Calvin Coolidge had attended seances in the White House.
[00:06:41.160 --> 00:06:45.800] The Coolidge administration denied holding seances.
[00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:57.640] The New York Times reported about her testimony, noting, Today's session was unusually disorderly and came near winding up in a free-for-all fistfight.
[00:06:57.960 --> 00:07:13.480] Unfortunately, the bill failed to pass, likely because of lobbying from the spiritualist community and because Mackenberg exposed several senators who were regularly visiting psychics for advice.
[00:07:13.480 --> 00:07:20.400] The hearing marked the end of her work with Houdini, who would sadly die unexpectedly just five months later.
[00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:26.080] However, Mackenberg continued on with the crusade for decades.
[00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:35.440] In addition to her investigations, Mackenberg attempted to educate the public by touring the country, giving lectures on psychic fraud.
[00:07:35.440 --> 00:07:48.960] She attended spiritualist camps and took classes, which ranged from 20 minutes to three days, in order to be ordained as a medium half a dozen times, under false names, of course.
[00:07:49.280 --> 00:07:56.560] Mackenberg unmasked how spiritualists used theatrical tricks to produce some of their illusions.
[00:07:56.560 --> 00:08:03.440] In the light of day, with a bit of insider knowledge, these gimmicks don't seem very convincing.
[00:08:03.440 --> 00:08:10.800] However, they proved highly effective in the darkness of a seance room in the hands of skilled deceivers.
[00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:22.400] It also helped that the sitters were motivated and willing to suspend their disbelief or any doubt in the hope of contacting a lost loved one.
[00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:29.600] We can all look back at photos of purported ectoplasm now and understand it's a trick with cheesecloth.
[00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:33.200] But in their day, they were very convincing.
[00:08:36.960 --> 00:08:50.000] A quick reminder for everyone: you're listening to Skeptoid, revealing the true science and true history behind urban legends every week since 2006, with now over a thousand episodes.
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[00:09:29.080 --> 00:09:33.800] Come to skeptoid.com and click go premium.
[00:09:38.920 --> 00:09:46.440] Because of her investigative work, Mackenberg was considered an expert on the practices of fraudulent psychics.
[00:09:46.440 --> 00:10:04.520] Mackenberg worked with police, chambers of commerce, newspapers, insurance, and trust companies, and testified in countless civil and criminal lawsuits involving spiritualism in an attempt to end the corrupt practices and help victims.
[00:10:05.160 --> 00:10:07.240] A witty Mackenberg told the St.
[00:10:07.240 --> 00:10:18.440] Louis Post Dispatch in 1937: I never married, but I have received messages from a thousand husbands and twice as many children in the world to come.
[00:10:18.760 --> 00:10:27.000] Invariably, they told me they were happy where they were, which is not entirely flattering to me.
[00:10:27.960 --> 00:10:33.320] Mackenberg appeared on the Steve Allen show on Halloween 1955.
[00:10:33.640 --> 00:10:44.760] She was written about and authored numerous newspaper and magazine articles, as well as an unpublished autobiography titled, So You Want to Attend a Seance?
[00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:55.840] A 1949 Hearst Syndicate article described her as, quote, perhaps the only woman ghostbuster in the world, end quote.
[00:10:56.800 --> 00:11:13.680] In her 1951 article, in the Saturday Evening Post, titled, I've Unmasked a Thousand Frauds, she wrote, To these charlatans who take a cruel advantage of human grief and anxiety, war brings boom times.
[00:11:13.680 --> 00:11:22.560] The anguish of friends and relatives of dead, wounded, or missing servicemen offers a fertile field for heartless deception.
[00:11:22.880 --> 00:11:33.840] Fathers, mothers, wives, sweethearts, and others close to those in the armed service flock to the seances of these counterfeit dealers in the occult.
[00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:42.400] They receive messages from beyond, plenty of them, provided the usual offering is donated.
[00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:48.480] I do not impugn spiritualism as a sect or as a sincere religious belief.
[00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:57.040] There are many intellectually honest persons, some mediums included, who get solace from a belief in contacts with the afterworld.
[00:11:57.040 --> 00:12:03.840] My work and this article concern only those mediums who deceive trusting persons.
[00:12:04.160 --> 00:12:11.200] Is there any medium who can actually call up the spirits of the dead and put them into verbal communication with the living?
[00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:12.240] I don't know.
[00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:13.280] There may be.
[00:12:13.280 --> 00:12:17.360] All I can testify to is that I've never met any.
[00:12:17.680 --> 00:12:26.720] Of the well over thousand mediums I have investigated who claim to have this power, I have never found one who is not a fraud.
[00:12:27.040 --> 00:12:45.960] I've also never found one who hesitated to give a message purportedly from beyond the veil, even when the one presumably talking from Spirit Land was a mythical friend or a relative of the sitter or a real person who was alive and well on earth.
[00:12:45.960 --> 00:13:04.760] I have many times received spirit communications from some person I had taken along to the seance with me and who was sitting right beside me while her spirit on the other side of the grave was telling me not to worry because she was happy and well in her new home.
[00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:21.320] Before his death, Harry Houdini devised a secret code, a carefully prearranged message that he entrusted to his wife Bess and a select circle of confidants, one of whom was Rose Mackenberg.
[00:13:21.640 --> 00:13:31.240] Houdini, a staunch skeptic of the spiritualism movement, had spent years debunking self-proclaimed mediums who claimed to communicate with the dead.
[00:13:31.240 --> 00:13:46.120] His hope was that if an authentic connection between the living and the beyond existed, his code would serve as an irrefutable test of true communication from beyond the grave and undeniable proof of an afterlife.
[00:13:46.760 --> 00:13:59.080] For 30 years, Mackenberg infiltrated seance rooms across the country, posing as a willing believer while meticulously documenting the tricks of fraudulent spiritualists.
[00:13:59.080 --> 00:14:08.360] Despite decades in the company of supposed conduits to the afterlife, Mackenberg never once heard the prearranged words Houdini had promised.
[00:14:08.360 --> 00:14:15.000] No spirit, no medium, no whispered message from the beyond ever provided the code.
[00:14:15.280 --> 00:14:25.360] Instead, what she uncovered time and time again was deception, exploiting hope, grief, and desperation.
[00:14:25.360 --> 00:14:28.080] Houdini had been right.
[00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:38.560] Mackenberg's work became a lasting legacy of skepticism, reinforcing Houdini's crusade against fraudulent mystics long after his death.
[00:14:38.560 --> 00:14:53.040] In a world eager to believe in spirits, she stood as a relentless force for truth, proving that even Houdini himself, master of escapes, had never managed to break through the veil between life and death.
[00:14:54.000 --> 00:15:12.880] Like Harry Houdini and James Randi, Rose Mackenberg spent her lifetime exposing fraudulent mediums, tirelessly trying to discredit dishonest manipulators who would exploit grief for their own financial gain, and educating the public about their deceptions.
[00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:17.440] Her work resulted in arrests and fraud convictions.
[00:15:17.440 --> 00:15:22.560] Who knows how many people she saved from falling prey to psychics?
[00:15:22.880 --> 00:15:28.720] This remarkable woman has not received the attention or recognition she deserved.
[00:15:29.040 --> 00:15:33.120] Rose Mackenberg died in 1968.
[00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:36.240] Let's ensure she's not forgotten.
[00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:43.920] We continue with more on the intriguing Rose Mackenberg in the ad-free and extended premium feed.
[00:15:43.920 --> 00:15:50.960] To access it, become a supporter at skeptoid.com/slash go premium.
[00:15:55.440 --> 00:15:58.400] This has been guest host Kat McLeod.
[00:15:58.400 --> 00:16:04.520] You can hear more of my reports on the Skeptic Zone podcast at skepticzone.tv.
[00:16:04.840 --> 00:16:10.600] I'm also occasionally in the Skeptical Inquirer magazine.
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[00:16:27.240 --> 00:16:28.920] Get the Skeptoid books.
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[00:16:36.040 --> 00:16:41.640] Get them in our online store at skeptoid.com slash store.
[00:16:41.960 --> 00:16:46.360] Remember, we always do our best to publish any corrections.
[00:16:46.360 --> 00:16:53.880] So if you find an error in any Skeptoid episode, come to skeptoid.com slash corrections to report it.
[00:16:53.880 --> 00:16:59.480] And if it checks out, we'll include it in an upcoming corrections episode.
[00:16:59.480 --> 00:17:03.000] Skeptoid is a production of Skeptoid Media.
[00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:05.800] Executive producer is Brian Dunning.
[00:17:05.800 --> 00:17:10.920] Director of Operations and Tinfoil Hat Counter is Kathy Reitmeyer.
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[00:17:24.040 --> 00:17:30.360] Researched and written while wearing my skeptical tiara by me, Kat McLeod.
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[00:17:39.800 --> 00:17:43.640] You're listening to Skeptoid, a listener-supported program.
[00:17:43.640 --> 00:17:47.840] I'm Kat McLeod from skeptoid.com.
[00:17:51.040 --> 00:17:52.960] From PRX.

Prompt 2: Key Takeaways

Now please extract the key takeaways from the transcript content I provided.

Extract the most important key takeaways from this part of the conversation. Use a single sentence statement (the key takeaway) rather than milquetoast descriptions like "the hosts discuss...". 

Limit the key takeaways to a maximum of 3. The key takeaways should be insightful and knowledge-additive. 

IMPORTANT: Return ONLY valid JSON, no explanations or markdown. Ensure:
- All strings are properly quoted and escaped
- No trailing commas
- All braces and brackets are balanced
Format: {"key_takeaways": ["takeaway 1", "takeaway 2"]}

Prompt 3: Segments

Now identify 2-4 distinct topical segments from this part of the conversation.

For each segment, identify:
- Descriptive title (3-6 words)  
- START timestamp when this topic begins (HH:MM:SS format)
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Most important Key takeaway from that segment. Key takeaway must be specific and knowledge-additive.
- Brief summary of the discussion

IMPORTANT: The timestamp should mark when the topic/segment STARTS, not a range. Look for topic transitions and conversation shifts.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted, no trailing commas:
{
  "segments": [
    {
      "segment_title": "Topic Discussion", 
      "timestamp": "01:15:30",
      "key_takeaway": "main point from this segment",
      "segment_summary": "brief description of what was discussed"
    }
  ]
}

Timestamp format: HH:MM:SS (e.g., 00:05:30, 01:22:45) marking the START of each segment.

Prompt 4: Media Mentions

Now scan the transcript content I provided for ACTUAL mentions of specific media titles:

Find explicit mentions of:
- Books (with specific titles)
- Movies (with specific titles)  
- TV Shows (with specific titles)
- Music/Songs (with specific titles)

DO NOT include:
- Websites, URLs, or web services
- Other podcasts or podcast names

IMPORTANT: 
- Only include items explicitly mentioned by name. Do not invent titles.
- Valid categories are: "Book", "Movie", "TV Show", "Music"
- Include the exact phrase where each item was mentioned
- Find the nearest proximate timestamp where it appears in the conversation
- THE TIMESTAMP OF THE MEDIA MENTION IS IMPORTANT - DO NOT INVENT TIMESTAMPS AND DO NOT MISATTRIBUTE TIMESTAMPS
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Timestamps are given as ranges, e.g. 01:13:42.520 --> 01:13:46.720. Use the EARLIER of the 2 timestamps in the range.

Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted and escaped, no trailing commas:
{
  "media_mentions": [
    {
      "title": "Exact Title as Mentioned",
      "category": "Book",
      "author_artist": "N/A",
      "context": "Brief context of why it was mentioned",
      "context_phrase": "The exact sentence or phrase where it was mentioned",
      "timestamp": "estimated time like 01:15:30"
    }
  ]
}

If no media is mentioned, return: {"media_mentions": []}

Full Transcript

[00:00:03.440 --> 00:00:05.120] Rose Mackenberg.
[00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:09.120] If the name doesn't ring a bell, it wouldn't surprise me.
[00:00:09.120 --> 00:00:15.760] This skeptical heroine was primarily known for being downplayed as Harry Houdini's assistant.
[00:00:15.760 --> 00:00:18.960] However, she was much more than that.
[00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:29.600] Not only was she Houdini's chief investigator, she was a prolific debunker in her own right and should be remembered for all she accomplished.
[00:00:35.680 --> 00:00:40.400] Join us for an exclusive three-day exploration of historic Death Valley.
[00:00:40.400 --> 00:00:47.680] From October 21st to 24th, we'll take you from Las Vegas deep into the heart of this rugged, otherworldly landscape.
[00:00:47.680 --> 00:00:51.600] All transportation, lodging, and meals are included.
[00:00:51.600 --> 00:00:54.320] Your guides will be Skeptoid's Brian Dunning.
[00:00:54.320 --> 00:00:59.360] Hey, I know that guy, he's me, and Death Valley expert geologist Andrew Dunning.
[00:00:59.360 --> 00:01:08.160] Together, they'll lead you to world-famous sites like Badwater Basin and the Artist's Palette, plus hidden gems that you won't find in any guidebook.
[00:01:08.160 --> 00:01:12.720] This year's trip features all new destinations with minimal overlap from last year.
[00:01:12.720 --> 00:01:17.920] And here's a bonus: Skepticamp Las Vegas begins the same evening we return to Las Vegas.
[00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:23.120] Make it a two-for-one trip and stick around to hear me talk about my visit to Area 51.
[00:01:23.120 --> 00:01:26.640] Details at skeptoid.com/slash events.
[00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:28.400] Spots are very limited.
[00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:29.920] Secure yours today.
[00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:37.920] Email help at skeptoid.com with questions and join the conversation with fellow adventurers at skeptoid.com/slash discord.
[00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:39.920] Death Valley is calling.
[00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:42.480] Are you ready to answer?
[00:01:46.320 --> 00:01:48.320] This show is supported by Odoo.
[00:01:48.320 --> 00:01:54.080] When you buy business software from lots of vendors, the costs add up and it gets complicated and confusing.
[00:01:54.080 --> 00:01:55.840] ODU solves this.
[00:01:55.840 --> 00:02:02.520] It's a single company that sells a suite of enterprise apps that handles everything from accounting to inventory to sales.
[00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:06.760] Odoo is all connected on a single platform in a simple and affordable way.
[00:02:07.080 --> 00:02:10.040] You can save money without missing out on the features you need.
[00:02:10.040 --> 00:02:13.000] Check out Odoo at Odoo.com.
[00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:15.640] That's Odoo.com.
[00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:17.960] You're listening to Skeptoid.
[00:02:17.960 --> 00:02:24.520] I'm Cap McLeod, guest hosting for Brian Dunning from skeptoid.com.
[00:02:25.160 --> 00:02:28.040] More than a magician's assistant.
[00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:42.600] Welcome to the show that separates fact from fiction, science from pseudoscience, real history from fake history, and helps us all make better life decisions by knowing what's real and what's not.
[00:02:42.920 --> 00:02:48.520] A hundred years ago, the spiritualist movement was experiencing a revival.
[00:02:48.520 --> 00:02:58.920] Mediums and mystics claimed to summon the supernatural, weaving illusions that left many in awe and often in debt.
[00:02:58.920 --> 00:03:04.280] The name Rose Mackenberg once drew fear in the hearts of charlatans.
[00:03:04.280 --> 00:03:09.320] You may not have heard of her, but she was a woman who was ahead of her time.
[00:03:09.320 --> 00:03:16.760] Dubbed a ghostbuster by the press in the 1950s, she was far more than a cynic of the psychic world.
[00:03:16.760 --> 00:03:25.000] She was a bold trailblazer who challenged deception, exposing frauds with skill and tenacity.
[00:03:25.320 --> 00:03:32.280] However, despite her remarkable legacy, she remains a hidden hero in history.
[00:03:33.240 --> 00:03:45.000] In the early 1920s, a young Brooklyn-born Rose Mackenberg was working as a private detective at an agency in New York, unheard of for a woman at the time.
[00:03:45.360 --> 00:03:58.000] She was working on a case about a psychic who had recommended worthless stock to a banker when she introduced herself to the man who would become her mentor, the magician, Harry Houdini.
[00:03:58.320 --> 00:04:07.920] The press was reporting on Houdini, who was waging a crusade against psychics and spiritualists, which inspired Mackenberg to seek his counsel.
[00:04:07.920 --> 00:04:14.800] Houdini's advice was enough for Mackenberg to ensnare the psychic and have him convicted.
[00:04:15.440 --> 00:04:20.640] Like Houdini, Mackenberg started out as a believer in the paranormal.
[00:04:20.640 --> 00:04:27.520] Houdini wanted to spare others the grief he'd experienced after failing to contact his mother after her death.
[00:04:27.520 --> 00:04:46.480] Impressed by her investigative and acting skills, Houdini hired Rose Mackenberg in 1924 to be part of his small investigative team to work undercover and expose the charlatans who prospered in the years after World War I and the Spanish flu pandemic.
[00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:50.560] Mackenberg quickly became his chief investigator.
[00:04:50.560 --> 00:05:05.600] She would dress in various disguises, create fictitious backstories, often posing as a widow or a grieving mother, and used false names like the pun intended, Francis Rod, or F.
[00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:10.160] Rod, Fraud, when making appointments with the psychics.
[00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:20.480] She would arrive in cities a week or two before Houdini's tour and meet with psychics to determine which tricks they were using when performing their readings.
[00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:35.720] She took comprehensive notes, would report back to Houdini, and then would appear on stage with him when he came to town, and they would discredit the local medium during Houdini's show by exposing their trickery.
[00:05:29.520 --> 00:05:44.840] In the two years she worked with Houdini, she investigated and helped expose approximately 300 mediums.
[00:05:44.840 --> 00:05:51.960] Her very detailed manuscripts for Houdini have been studied and exhibited in museums.
[00:05:52.280 --> 00:06:00.120] The Vancouver Sun wrote: Rose Mackenberg dons shabby clothes and tracks down spirit world frauds.
[00:06:00.120 --> 00:06:08.440] She has found plenty too, having been put in touch with 1,500 departed husbands she never had.
[00:06:09.720 --> 00:06:24.280] In May 1926, Houdini and Mackenberg testified before the United States Congress in favor of a bill that would outlaw professional spiritualists, seances for money, and charlatan mediums.
[00:06:24.280 --> 00:06:28.680] Mackenberg's testimony was brief but explosive.
[00:06:28.680 --> 00:06:41.160] She spoke about politicians who frequently visited mediums in Washington, and she reported that one medium swore that President Calvin Coolidge had attended seances in the White House.
[00:06:41.160 --> 00:06:45.800] The Coolidge administration denied holding seances.
[00:06:46.120 --> 00:06:57.640] The New York Times reported about her testimony, noting, Today's session was unusually disorderly and came near winding up in a free-for-all fistfight.
[00:06:57.960 --> 00:07:13.480] Unfortunately, the bill failed to pass, likely because of lobbying from the spiritualist community and because Mackenberg exposed several senators who were regularly visiting psychics for advice.
[00:07:13.480 --> 00:07:20.400] The hearing marked the end of her work with Houdini, who would sadly die unexpectedly just five months later.
[00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:26.080] However, Mackenberg continued on with the crusade for decades.
[00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:35.440] In addition to her investigations, Mackenberg attempted to educate the public by touring the country, giving lectures on psychic fraud.
[00:07:35.440 --> 00:07:48.960] She attended spiritualist camps and took classes, which ranged from 20 minutes to three days, in order to be ordained as a medium half a dozen times, under false names, of course.
[00:07:49.280 --> 00:07:56.560] Mackenberg unmasked how spiritualists used theatrical tricks to produce some of their illusions.
[00:07:56.560 --> 00:08:03.440] In the light of day, with a bit of insider knowledge, these gimmicks don't seem very convincing.
[00:08:03.440 --> 00:08:10.800] However, they proved highly effective in the darkness of a seance room in the hands of skilled deceivers.
[00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:22.400] It also helped that the sitters were motivated and willing to suspend their disbelief or any doubt in the hope of contacting a lost loved one.
[00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:29.600] We can all look back at photos of purported ectoplasm now and understand it's a trick with cheesecloth.
[00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:33.200] But in their day, they were very convincing.
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[00:09:38.920 --> 00:09:46.440] Because of her investigative work, Mackenberg was considered an expert on the practices of fraudulent psychics.
[00:09:46.440 --> 00:10:04.520] Mackenberg worked with police, chambers of commerce, newspapers, insurance, and trust companies, and testified in countless civil and criminal lawsuits involving spiritualism in an attempt to end the corrupt practices and help victims.
[00:10:05.160 --> 00:10:07.240] A witty Mackenberg told the St.
[00:10:07.240 --> 00:10:18.440] Louis Post Dispatch in 1937: I never married, but I have received messages from a thousand husbands and twice as many children in the world to come.
[00:10:18.760 --> 00:10:27.000] Invariably, they told me they were happy where they were, which is not entirely flattering to me.
[00:10:27.960 --> 00:10:33.320] Mackenberg appeared on the Steve Allen show on Halloween 1955.
[00:10:33.640 --> 00:10:44.760] She was written about and authored numerous newspaper and magazine articles, as well as an unpublished autobiography titled, So You Want to Attend a Seance?
[00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:55.840] A 1949 Hearst Syndicate article described her as, quote, perhaps the only woman ghostbuster in the world, end quote.
[00:10:56.800 --> 00:11:13.680] In her 1951 article, in the Saturday Evening Post, titled, I've Unmasked a Thousand Frauds, she wrote, To these charlatans who take a cruel advantage of human grief and anxiety, war brings boom times.
[00:11:13.680 --> 00:11:22.560] The anguish of friends and relatives of dead, wounded, or missing servicemen offers a fertile field for heartless deception.
[00:11:22.880 --> 00:11:33.840] Fathers, mothers, wives, sweethearts, and others close to those in the armed service flock to the seances of these counterfeit dealers in the occult.
[00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:42.400] They receive messages from beyond, plenty of them, provided the usual offering is donated.
[00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:48.480] I do not impugn spiritualism as a sect or as a sincere religious belief.
[00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:57.040] There are many intellectually honest persons, some mediums included, who get solace from a belief in contacts with the afterworld.
[00:11:57.040 --> 00:12:03.840] My work and this article concern only those mediums who deceive trusting persons.
[00:12:04.160 --> 00:12:11.200] Is there any medium who can actually call up the spirits of the dead and put them into verbal communication with the living?
[00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:12.240] I don't know.
[00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:13.280] There may be.
[00:12:13.280 --> 00:12:17.360] All I can testify to is that I've never met any.
[00:12:17.680 --> 00:12:26.720] Of the well over thousand mediums I have investigated who claim to have this power, I have never found one who is not a fraud.
[00:12:27.040 --> 00:12:45.960] I've also never found one who hesitated to give a message purportedly from beyond the veil, even when the one presumably talking from Spirit Land was a mythical friend or a relative of the sitter or a real person who was alive and well on earth.
[00:12:45.960 --> 00:13:04.760] I have many times received spirit communications from some person I had taken along to the seance with me and who was sitting right beside me while her spirit on the other side of the grave was telling me not to worry because she was happy and well in her new home.
[00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:21.320] Before his death, Harry Houdini devised a secret code, a carefully prearranged message that he entrusted to his wife Bess and a select circle of confidants, one of whom was Rose Mackenberg.
[00:13:21.640 --> 00:13:31.240] Houdini, a staunch skeptic of the spiritualism movement, had spent years debunking self-proclaimed mediums who claimed to communicate with the dead.
[00:13:31.240 --> 00:13:46.120] His hope was that if an authentic connection between the living and the beyond existed, his code would serve as an irrefutable test of true communication from beyond the grave and undeniable proof of an afterlife.
[00:13:46.760 --> 00:13:59.080] For 30 years, Mackenberg infiltrated seance rooms across the country, posing as a willing believer while meticulously documenting the tricks of fraudulent spiritualists.
[00:13:59.080 --> 00:14:08.360] Despite decades in the company of supposed conduits to the afterlife, Mackenberg never once heard the prearranged words Houdini had promised.
[00:14:08.360 --> 00:14:15.000] No spirit, no medium, no whispered message from the beyond ever provided the code.
[00:14:15.280 --> 00:14:25.360] Instead, what she uncovered time and time again was deception, exploiting hope, grief, and desperation.
[00:14:25.360 --> 00:14:28.080] Houdini had been right.
[00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:38.560] Mackenberg's work became a lasting legacy of skepticism, reinforcing Houdini's crusade against fraudulent mystics long after his death.
[00:14:38.560 --> 00:14:53.040] In a world eager to believe in spirits, she stood as a relentless force for truth, proving that even Houdini himself, master of escapes, had never managed to break through the veil between life and death.
[00:14:54.000 --> 00:15:12.880] Like Harry Houdini and James Randi, Rose Mackenberg spent her lifetime exposing fraudulent mediums, tirelessly trying to discredit dishonest manipulators who would exploit grief for their own financial gain, and educating the public about their deceptions.
[00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:17.440] Her work resulted in arrests and fraud convictions.
[00:15:17.440 --> 00:15:22.560] Who knows how many people she saved from falling prey to psychics?
[00:15:22.880 --> 00:15:28.720] This remarkable woman has not received the attention or recognition she deserved.
[00:15:29.040 --> 00:15:33.120] Rose Mackenberg died in 1968.
[00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:36.240] Let's ensure she's not forgotten.
[00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:43.920] We continue with more on the intriguing Rose Mackenberg in the ad-free and extended premium feed.
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