22 Mind-Blowing Facts About Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

10. Doyle Was A Spiritualist Mystic... Leading Him To Fall Out With Harry Houdini

Having sunk into depression following the death of his first wife, his son, his brother, his two brothers-in-law and his two nephews in a relatively short space of time, Doyle turned to spiritualism as a means of escape and to prove to himself that life continued beyond the grave. A member of the renowned supernatural organisation The Ghost Club, Conan Doyle wrote a spiritualist novel The Land of Mist - featuring the protagonist Professor Challenge. Although he had been good friends with illusionist Harry Houdini, Doyle's belief in spiritualism led to a falling out between the pair as the former attempted to discredit the art-form.