Brighton Theater, The Boardwalk, Atlantic City, New Jersey

 

• Margolies, John, photographer
• 1978.
• https://www.loc.gov/item/2017703321/
  

Second Sight (1989)

 

Directed by Joel Zwick. John Larroquette, Bronson Pinchot, Bess Armstrong, Stuart Pankin. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Sight_(film)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/secondsight.htm

https://thestopbutton.com/2012/01/11/second-sight-1989/

Helen Duncan

 

From Wiki - a Scottish medium best known as the last person to be imprisoned under the Witchcraft Act 1735 for fraudulent claims. She was famous for producing ectoplasm which was proven to be made from cheesecloth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Duncan

In 1926 she developed from clairvoyant to physical medium by offering séances in which she claimed to be able to permit the spirits of recently deceased persons to materialise, by emitting ectoplasm from her mouth.

In 1928, the photographer Harvey Metcalfe attended a series of séances at the house of Duncan. During a séance he took various flash photographs of Duncan and her alleged "materialization" spirits including her spirit guide "Peggy" The photographs that were taken reveal the spirits to be fraudulently produced, such as a doll made from a painted papier-mâché mask draped in an old sheet.

https://www.curiousarchive.com/helen-duncan-ectoplasm-medium-britains-last-witch/

The Frighteners (1996)

 

Directed by Peter Jackson. Michael J. Fox, Peter Dobson, John Astin, R. Lee Ermey, Jeffrey Combs, Trini Alvarado, Dee Wallace Stone, Jake Busey, Chi McBride. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Frighteners

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-frighteners-1996

https://www.avclub.com/the-frighteners-1798201312

https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/19350/frighteners-the/

Willard Fuller: The Psychic Dentist

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_Fuller

Fuller was born in Grant Parish, Louisiana. In 1946 he graduated in theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He formed his own healing ministry known as the Lively Stones World Healing Fellowship. He worked in Palatka, Florida.

It was alleged that Fuller could cause dental fillings to appear spontaneously, change silver into golden fillings, straighten crooked teeth or produce new teeth. However, magicians and skeptics have found these claims dubious, unsupported by any solid evidence. One dentist examined some patients of Fuller. In one case miraculous gold fillings turned out to be tobacco stains. In another case a female patient who reported a miraculous new silver filling admitted she had forgotten that the filling was already there.

Science writer Kurt Butler has written:

As explained by James Randi in The Faith Healers, he convinces many that the miracles happen because people aren't very observant about their own teeth, regular amalgam can appear yellowish with a dim flashlight, and because they want to believe. When they later realize that no miracle occurred, Fuller's circus has left town or they are too embarrassed to complain, or they blame their lack of faith for the fading and erasure of the miracle."

https://www.loc.gov/item/2016851329/

 - Header image 1920.

The original mystery man of India, the great Kara the world's foremost mind reader and crystal gazer and his $50,000 production of Oriental splendor "A night in the Orient."

 

c1880.

https://www.loc.gov/item/2014636912/

The X-Files - Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose

 

Season three DVD. Episode 4. Peter Boyle. Originally aired Oct. 13, 1995.  Another top X-Files.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clyde_Bruckman%27s_Final_Repose

https://decider.com/2020/10/13/the-x-files-clyde-bruckmans-final-repose-25-anniversary/

https://www.avclub.com/the-x-files-clyde-bruckmans-final-repose-the-list-1798165415

https://www.tor.com/2012/03/08/reopening-the-x-files-qclyde-bruckmans-final-reposeq/

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/x-files-clyde-bruckmans-final-831505/

The Amazing World of Kreskin 1972 TV promo

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreskin

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066627/

NBC Amazing World of Psychic Phenomena 1979 promo

 

The Bangs Sisters

From the Kinja archive:

Found this in the Paranormal Hoaxes section of the Forteana - Wiki Wormhole. They produced spirit paintings. Very successful con in Chicago in the 1870s-80s. A few careful skeptics finally exposed them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangs_Sisters

Magician Milbourne Christopher has written:

Wilmar (William Marriott) had read about the marvelous paintings produced during seances by a pair of Chicago psychics, the Bangs sisters. He wrote David P. Abbott, an amateur magician and investigator of alleged psychic phenomena, who lived in Omaha, Nebraska, asking if by chance he had solved the mystery. Abbott replied that not only had he duplicated the marvel, he also had added several touches to make the feat effective onstage. Abbott described the routine in detail. 

Vibes (1988)

 

Brand new on Youtube in the bookmark list. I've become a fan of this after watching it several times. Good cast. Written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibes_(film)

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/vibes-1988