Frank Decker was a 20th-century American spiritualist

medium Medium may refer to: Aircraft *Medium bomber, a class of warplane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Medium'' (1921 film), a German silent film * ''The Medium'' (1951 film), a film vers ...

who was discovered to be a fraud.

Career

Decker was born to a family of Syrian origin. He lived in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

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. In January, 1930 Decker took a challenge to win $21,000 if he could prove his supposed mediumship powers. Decker would not win the prize if the magician

Joseph Dunninger Joseph Dunninger (April 28, 1892 – March 9, 1975), known as "The Amazing Dunninger", was one of the most famous and proficient Mentalism, mentalists of all time. He was one of the pioneer performers of Magic (illusion), magic on radio and tele ...

could duplicate the same physical phenomena. In the

séance A séance or seance (; ) is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word ''séance'' comes from the French language, French word for "session", from the Old French , "to sit". In French, the word's meaning is quite general and mundane: one ma ...

Decker claimed spirits had moved trumpets around the room and spoken in them. After the séance was finished, Joseph Dunninger replicated by natural means the same trumpet phenomena as Decker. Decker did not win the prize. In 1932, Decker was exposed as a fraud. A magician and séance sitter who called himself M. Taylor presented a

mail bag A mail bag or mailbag can be one of several types of Satchel (bag), bags used for collecting or carrying different types of postal material. References Further reading

* * Bags Philatelic terminology Postal history Postal services ...

and Decker agreed to lock himself inside it. During the séance objects were moved around the room and it was claimed spirits had released Decker from the bag. It was later discovered to have been a trick as Martin Sunshine, a magic dealer admitted that he sold Decker a trick mail bag, such as stage escapologists use, and had acted as the medium's confederate by pretending to be M. Taylor, a magician. Edwin F. Bowers had defended Decker. In his book ''Spiritualism's Challenge'', Bowers had made incorrect statements about the magician and was threatened with a lawsuit from the Society of American Magicians. He later removed the incorrect statements from his book. In 1933, Decker was investigated by the psychical researcher

Harry Price Harry Price (17 January 1881 – 29 March 1948) was a British Parapsychologist, psychic researcher and author, who gained public prominence for his investigations into psychical phenomena and exposing fraudulent Spiritualism (movement), spiritu ...

at the National Laboratory of Psychical Research. Under strict scientific controls that Price contrived, Decker failed to produce any phenomena at all. Holroyd, Stuart. (1976). ''Minds Without Boundaries''. Aldus Books. p. 49.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Decker, Frank American spiritual mediums People from Greenwich Village American people of Syrian descent