Other Worlds

Those present include Harry Houdini, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, psychoanalyst Nandor Fodor, and a writer who rivals them all with her sleuthing talent. These masters of mystery are about to put their minds to a pair of ghoulish stories--of families beset by poltergeistly pranks and bewitched by inexplicable horrors. Gripping puzzles, yes, but the terror of these tales is all too vicious and all too real.In the hollows of Tennessee, a family is threatened by a dire spirit whose warnings of despair and death come frighteningly true....In a small Connecticut town, a newly married widow and her children move into her second husband's home to find their lives possessed by an unimaginable demon....Were these villains phantom spirits or evildoers of flesh and blood? Dare to find out in this masterful delight from Barbara Michaels--a tale as frightening by daylight as it is by darkness."

From the Back Cover

Those present include Harry Houdini, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, psychoanalyst Nandor Fodor, and a writer who rivals them all with her sleuthing talent. These masters of mystery are about to put their minds to a pair of ghoulish stories--of families beset by poltergeistly pranks and bewitched by inexplicable horrors. Gripping puzzles, yes, but the terror of these tales is all too vicious and all too real.In the hollows of Tennessee, a family is threatened by a dire spirit whose warnings of despair and death come frighteningly true....In a small Connecticut town, a newly married widow and her children move into her second husband's home to find their lives possessed by an unimaginable demon....Were these villains phantom spirits or evildoers of flesh and blood? Dare to find out in this masterful delight from Barbara Michaels--a tale as frightening by daylight as it is by darkness."

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter OneThe Scene is the smoking room of an exclusive men's club, familiar through film and fiction even to those who have been denied admittance to such precincts because of deficiencies of sex or social status. The lamplight glows on the rich rubbed leather of deep, high-backed chairs. Grave, deferential servants glide to and fro, their footsteps muffled by the thick carpet. The tall windows are draped in plum-red plush, shutting out the night air and the sounds of traffic on the street without the traffic, perhaps, of hansom cabs and horsedrawn carriages. For this is no real establishment; it exists outside time and space, in the realm of the imagination -- one of the worlds that might have been.A small group of men enters the room. They have the sleek, satisfied look of gentlemen who have dined well, and who are looking forward to brandy and a fine Havana and another pleasure equally as great -- conversation with their peers on a subject deeply engrossing to all of them.One man leads the way, striding impatiently. His high forehead is wrinkled, his eyes narrowed. Mr. Frank Podmore calls himself "skeptic-in-chief" of the Society for Psychical Research. The spiritualist tricksters he has exposed, and many of his own colleagues in the SPR, consider him unreasonable and unfair. Those colleagues would recognize the expression on his face this evening. Podmore is on the trail again, ready to pour the ice-water of his doubt on another questionable case.Behind him comes a man whose voice still retains the accents of his native Vienna -- Nandor Fodor, formerly director of the International Institute for Psychical Research, who resigned in disgust when his colleagues objected to his "filthy-minded" explanations of certain cases. A practicing psychiatrist for many years, he has investigated almost as many purported "ghosts" as has Podmore.The third member of the group is stocky and cleanshaven, with keen blue-gray eyes. Born Erik Weisz, son-of a Hungarian rabbi, he is better known as Harry Houdini. Many of the spiritualists he ridiculed claimed that he himself must have had psychic powers in order to accomplish his amazing feats.One of his old antagonists, a burly bristling mustache and soft blue eyes, walks with him. Conan Doyle and Houdini broke off their friendship when Houdini attacked Doyle's faith in the survival of the dead. It would be pleasant to believe that in some other time and place these two good men have at last made up their quarrel.A fifth person follows modestly behind the others. From his hesitant manner and the formal way in which the others address him, one might deduce that he is a guest, rather than a regular member of the group. He is taller and heavier than the others; his evening suit is a trifle old-fashioned and more than a trifle too small. He has very large feet.They settle into their chairs. Topaz liquid swirls in the bell-shaped glasses and a fragrant fog of smoke surrounds them."Well, gentlemen," says Podmore, "are we ready to begin?" Typically, he does not wait for a reply, but continues, "Tonight's case -- "Doyle raises a big hand. "Always impatient, Podmore. Don't you think we owe our guest a word of explanation first? He knows our purpose, but cannot be familiar with our methods.""Oh -- certainly" Podmore turns to the stranger. "I beg your pardon, sir. All of us have investigated many cases of presumed supernatural activity, some as agents of the SPR and some, like Houdini, in a private capacity. During our evenings together we enjoy a busman's holiday, applying our combined expertise to the investigation of famous cases that have never been satisfactorily explained. Sometimes we agree on a solution; more often we agree to disagree.""More often?" Fodor repeats, smiling. "I cannot remember an occasion when the verdict was unanimous, and I know none of you are going to agree with my solution to this case. The Bell Witch, is it not?""Correct," says Podmore. "And, as is fitting, we have selected our American member to describe this American ghost. No more interruptions, gentlemen, if you please; pray, silence for Mr. Harry Houdini."Houdini has his notes ready. He gives the others a rueful smile. "This is worse than escaping from a sealed coffin, gentlemen. Book research isn't my style, and this is the first case I've investigated where all the suspects have been dead for over a century. But as Podmore would say, that just makes it more challenging. And what a tale it is! Dr. Fodor here has called it the greatest American ghost story I would go further; I would call it the greatest of all ghost stories. There is nothing to equal it on either side of the Atlantic."Over the years the true facts have become so encrusted with layers of exaggeration, misinterpretation, false memories and plain out-and-out lies that the result sounds like one of Sir Arthur's wilder fictions. Our greatest difficulty will be to figure out what really happened. I won't presume to do that; I will just give you the story as I have worked it out and let you decide what is important and what isn't. Ready? Then here we go."

About the Author

Elizabeth Peters (writing as Barbara Michaels) was born and brought up in Illinois and earned her Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Chicago's famed Oriental Institute. Peters was named Grandmaster at the inaugural Anthony Awards in 1986, Grandmaster by the Mystery Writers of America at the Edgar® Awards in 1998, and given The Lifetime Achievement Award at Malice Domestic in 2003. She lives in an historic farmhouse in western Maryland.

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