Hey folks, Aaron here.

Before we start on today's new episode, I wanted to drop a little reminder in that there are still a few tickets left for the live lore show in Cincinnati on October 29th. This is the only live show that we're doing this year with an evening of

storytelling from me and live music from Chad Lawson. Afterward we'll stick around and

do an audience Q&A from the stage. The show is over at the Cincinnati Music Hall and you can get your

tickets at Cincinnati arts.org. I'm looking forward to seeing you there. And now, on with the show. It's the stuff of Hollywood Blockbusters. Humanity versus aliens, the lone cop versus a building full of German terrorists,

John Wick versus everyone the high table can throw at him.

Everyone loves a good rivalry.

But those epic matchups aren't limited to the present.

Everyone's heard of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes,

and everyone has heard of legendary escape artist Harry Hudini.

But what most people don't know is that they were bitter rivals for years.

Houdini had made it his mission in life to debunk and expose all the frauds in the spiritualist movement.

And Doyle, well he was obsessed with proving just how real spiritualism was.

Skepticism and belief, represented by key figures of the 19th century.

How did it play out? Well, not so good, actually.

Arthur Conan Doyle's wife was apparently a medium, the kind who can talk to the

dead, mind you, not her shirt size, and she claimed to have received a message from

Houdini's dead mother.

As proof, Doyle handed over a 15-page transcript of her message to the world of the living.

There was just one problem. It was written in perfect English,

and Houdini's mother, a Hungarian, barely spoke any English at all.

Rivalries are everywhere, apparently, from sports teams and celebrities

...