Most know Houdini as a great magician, when in fact he was a fierce debunker of frauds

and charlatans, and most know Arthur Conan Doyle as the creator of one of our great logic-based

characters, Sherlock Holmes, when he was in fact an ardent spiritualist and believer in

all things paranormal.

But did you know the two maintained along, if turbulent, friendship?

All the gory details are coming up today on Skeptoid.

You're listening to Skeptoid.

I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com.

Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Harry Houdini, 1874 to 1926, was best known as the world's most famous magician during

his lifetime, and also as a tireless debunker of false mediums and dishonest claims of

profit-driven supernaturalists.

He followed a simple strategy, and that's the fundamental basis of the scientific method,

work hard to falsify all new hypotheses, and maintain a mind open to all new evidence.

Sadly for Houdini, this meant testing what could have been one of the most important personal

relationships to the history of public understanding of science.

Much has been made of the friendship between Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

As the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur would have seemed to have been a man of science

and rational thought, but he was a lifelong, steadfast believer in the supernatural.

In fact it was something that was at the forefront of his attention much of the time.

Among the most telling events in Sir Arthur's career came when he was a member of the Society

for Psychical Research, which is often criticized for being composed mainly of true believers

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