SPOOOOOKY LADIES-TOBER : THE TIPSY CONSULTANT AND HER THREE DOZEN HUSBANDS

  

"When there's something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call?" Rose Mackenberg! Not quite the refrain that 80s kids remember, Rose "The Rev" Mackenberg didn't exactly bust ghosts, but rather she busted the people who claimed to speak to ghosts. In her 43-year career Rose Mackenberg busted thousands of fake psychic mediums. She braved harrassment, testified before Congress, lied about husbands and babies, all while exposing charlatans and helping countless grief stricken individuals seeking solace.

Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1892 to Russian immigrant parents, Rose Mackenberg worked as a stenographer in a law office. While investigating a case involving a client suffering investment losses at the hands of an unscrupulous psychic medium, Rose met Harry Houdini. Houdini, while not folding himself into milk cans and straitjackets, committed himself to busting fraudulent psychic mediums. Advising Rose on her case, Houdini liked Rose and asked her to work on his team of investigators. Rose was hesitant. She believed in spiritualism, and thought that anyone who genuinely possessed those abilities should use them. Houdini explained he wanted to bust the mediums who went beyond readings, the liars and cash grabbers.

Rose joined Houdini's bust squad in 1925. Rose traveled to cities where Houdini was set to perform. Rose would shop in local stores, and eat at local restaurants to get the feel of how people spoke and interacted with one another. Then Rose would craft a persona and visit local psychics in disguise. She would relate a story about needing to speak to a deceased loved one. At first her story would be one of grief and need of closure. The medium would contact the spirit and offer assurance of love and comfort to the bereft Rose. Then Rose would tie money into her grief stricken need. If the medium offered financial advice, or mentioned upping their fee Rose would pay a small amount and ask for a receipt. 

Rose's disguises included : "smartly garbed widow," ; "rustic school teacher," ; "small town matron," ; "credulant servant girl," ; "believing semi-invalid," ; "woman seeking lost relatives," ; "a vamp from the country," ; and "a tipsy consultant." {1} (I can't decide between "smartly garbed widow" and "believing semi-invalid" as my favorite)

When Houdini would arrive a week or so later, Rose reported her intel to Houdini and Houdini would expose the frauds on stage during his shows, sometimes with the faux mediums in attendance. Rose would also consult a medium, and ask them to hold a second seance. She would then ask members of the press to attend these seances as other grief stricken family members. Reporters would take notes, and having been tipped off by Rose about when the mediums pulled their tricks, reporters would snap photos just at the right moments, exposing those tricks. The press loved Rose as she never minced words.

Rose exposed very disturbing behavior on the part of male mediums towards women. Male psychics would grope women, and try to coerce them into undressing. (Because clothes interfere with ghost mojo juju?) Houdini encouraged Rose to carry a gun.  Rose would also, for fees of $5 to $25, become ordained in Spiritualist churches. Houdini's team called her "Rev Rose." One ordination took exactly 20 minutes, and the psychic did not notice he had ordained a person named F. Raud.  One hell of a sense of humor Rose had. One such psychic ordained Rose and, in an effort to "purify" her, fondled her ankles, then tried to pull her into his body. Rose left that situation, shaken by the invasive experience.

In 1926 the Copeland Bloom Bill was put before Congress by Houdini. The bill would ensure the regulation of psychic practices and enforce punishments to swindler psychic mediums. Rose visited a Washington, D.C. psychic, Jane Coates. When Rose was called to testify, she swore Coates named four Senators who use the services of mediums. Coates then told Rose President Coolidge and his family hosted "table tipping" seances at the White House. That assertion, coupled with Coates volatile reaction to this exposure, resulted in an all-out melee that shut down the hearing. The legislation did not pass.

Houdini died in 1926. Rose continued her investigations, working for banks, insurance companies, police, and the Better Business Bureau. Rose took a Chicago journalist with her on several investigations, the results of which became a series in the Chicago Tribune. Rose wisely observed that reliance on spiritualism peaked at times of strife - after war and during times of economic uncertainty. Rose's efforts gave back dignity to people in the throes of grief and kept countless more mourners from being victimized. Rose never married, but claimed at least three dozen fake husband throughout her career. Rose died April 10th 1968 at the age of 70. Rose said : "I smell a rat before I smell the incense."

SOURCES :

Rose Mackenberg. Wikipedia.

Frey, Holly / Wilson, Tracy V., Hosts. Rose Mackenberg. Stuff You Missed In History Class, 17 October, 2022.

FURTHER MEDIA :

Bowlin, Ben / Brown, Noel, hosts. "Rose Mackenberg : Houdini's Ghostbuster." Ridiculous History, iheartradio, 7 November 2019.

To further explore Rose Mackenberg she is the subject of a Season 14, Episode 13 segment of Mysteries at the Museum.