Was he even a Fortean?
It’s hard to say.
Joseph Dunninger was born 28 April 1892 in New York City. He grew up to be a stage magician, known professionally as “The Amazing Dunninger,” and debunker of spiritualist mediums, like his associate Harry Houdini. The two magicians were close enough that before Houdini died, he vouchsafed with Dunninger a secret code that could be used to tell of any supposed contacts from beyond the grave were really from Houdini or not. (No one ever successfully identified the code.) By the 1930s, he was one of the most well-know magicians in the United States of America, and through the 1940s renowned in the press and one television.
Dunninger died 9 March 1975.
He was only mentioned once in the pages of the Fortean Society magazine, and it is not clear whether he was a member or not. There were other magicians and associates of magicians in the Society—Harry Price, Hereford Carrington, Fred Keating, Vincent Gaddis, so he would not have been alone. It’s just not clear.
The immediate cause that got him the mention was flying saucers. In Doubt 38 (October 1952), Thayer was running down Fortean connections to the flying saucers, noting that N. Meade Layne and R. L. Farnsworth had both implored the president to resist shooting down the crafts. He then continued, “Joe Dunninger, the Anna Eva Fay of our time, got on the bandwagon too, hauling poor old Houdini out of the grave via Nostradamus Roberts telephonic mediumship.”
The comment was not a kind one. Anna Eva Fay was a spiritualist medium from earlier in the 20th century who had been exposed as a fraud; it’s note clear why Thayer thought she and Dunninger comparable. Nor is it clear to me that Dunninger was anything more than a conduit for Henry C. Roberts’s views. Roberts was a Fortean who had written about Nostradamus. Dunning seemingly had no truck with Nostradamus, and may not have even been a Fortean. Thayer did not give him the honorific MFS; but as the article was about Forteans and flying saucers, and as he highlighted Dunninger, it is possible that he was.
As I wrote in my post about Roberts:
“In August 1952, he spoke with Houdini’s spirit, who explained the meaning of flying saucers. Roberts called Joseph Dunninger, a mentalist, magician, and one-time associate of Houdini—and Dunninger then relayed the story to the press via the International News Service. According to Houdini, flying saucers were a warning to humankind to end wars, step exploding atomic bombs and quiet the ‘general dissension that exists on the earth plane.” . . . Roberts went on to say that Nostradamus had predicted the coming of the saucers. Flashes from the atomic bombs had alerted Martians to humanity’s new activities, and they had come to investigate. A standard story, then, at least in science fiction circles—with the added dollop of spirits and Nostradamus.”
Dunninger never appeared in Doubt again. Not surprising, given the reception upon his first visit.
It’s hard to say.
Joseph Dunninger was born 28 April 1892 in New York City. He grew up to be a stage magician, known professionally as “The Amazing Dunninger,” and debunker of spiritualist mediums, like his associate Harry Houdini. The two magicians were close enough that before Houdini died, he vouchsafed with Dunninger a secret code that could be used to tell of any supposed contacts from beyond the grave were really from Houdini or not. (No one ever successfully identified the code.) By the 1930s, he was one of the most well-know magicians in the United States of America, and through the 1940s renowned in the press and one television.
Dunninger died 9 March 1975.
He was only mentioned once in the pages of the Fortean Society magazine, and it is not clear whether he was a member or not. There were other magicians and associates of magicians in the Society—Harry Price, Hereford Carrington, Fred Keating, Vincent Gaddis, so he would not have been alone. It’s just not clear.
The immediate cause that got him the mention was flying saucers. In Doubt 38 (October 1952), Thayer was running down Fortean connections to the flying saucers, noting that N. Meade Layne and R. L. Farnsworth had both implored the president to resist shooting down the crafts. He then continued, “Joe Dunninger, the Anna Eva Fay of our time, got on the bandwagon too, hauling poor old Houdini out of the grave via Nostradamus Roberts telephonic mediumship.”
The comment was not a kind one. Anna Eva Fay was a spiritualist medium from earlier in the 20th century who had been exposed as a fraud; it’s note clear why Thayer thought she and Dunninger comparable. Nor is it clear to me that Dunninger was anything more than a conduit for Henry C. Roberts’s views. Roberts was a Fortean who had written about Nostradamus. Dunning seemingly had no truck with Nostradamus, and may not have even been a Fortean. Thayer did not give him the honorific MFS; but as the article was about Forteans and flying saucers, and as he highlighted Dunninger, it is possible that he was.
As I wrote in my post about Roberts:
“In August 1952, he spoke with Houdini’s spirit, who explained the meaning of flying saucers. Roberts called Joseph Dunninger, a mentalist, magician, and one-time associate of Houdini—and Dunninger then relayed the story to the press via the International News Service. According to Houdini, flying saucers were a warning to humankind to end wars, step exploding atomic bombs and quiet the ‘general dissension that exists on the earth plane.” . . . Roberts went on to say that Nostradamus had predicted the coming of the saucers. Flashes from the atomic bombs had alerted Martians to humanity’s new activities, and they had come to investigate. A standard story, then, at least in science fiction circles—with the added dollop of spirits and Nostradamus.”
Dunninger never appeared in Doubt again. Not surprising, given the reception upon his first visit.
