Presented by Mark Carlon and Catherine Woytowicz
Society of American Magicians
Paranormal Investigation Committee
Saturday, September 9, 2023 at 2:30 PM ET (note special time)
Central Library
Barbara M. Donnellan Auditorium
1015 North Quincy Street
Arlington, VA
(Virginia Square-GMU Metro station)
FREE admission – Everyone welcome, members and non-members
The
Society of American Magicians (S.A.M.) is the oldest fraternal magic
organization in the world, founded in 1902. Several months after
S.A.M.'s founding, Harry Houdini was elected to membership. Houdini was
well-known for his escapes and magic acts, but he also worked to expose
frauds who claimed to have supernatural powers.
Based
in part on his own experiences with psychics attempting to contact the
dead, Houdini helped form the S.A.M’s Paranormal Investigation Committee
(P.I.C.) and establish its mission to investigate and expose those
“supernatural” frauds. Houdini even testified before Congress, exposing a
method fraudulent psychics used to imply they were in communication
with the dead. S.A.M.'s P.I.C. has carried on that work for more than 100
years.
Carlon
and Woytowicz will talk about P.I.C.’s current work to raise
awareness of fraud. They have created a presentation on typical fraud
cases and are partnering with community law enforcement agencies to
raise awareness of these scams – especially psychics who are preying
upon people who lost loved ones during COVID.
Mr. Carlon will be joining us virtually while Ms. Woytowicz will join us in person.
Mr.
Mark Carlon is a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians
(IBM) and S.A.M. who has performed magic from Chicago to Las Vegas. He
has a degree in developmental psychology and is a retired attorney. Mr.
Carlon is the chair of the Paranormal Investigation Committee.
Ms.
Catherine Woytowicz is a magician, mentalist, and comic who began her
magic career at 14 in a girl-to-tiger change illusion. She performs
corporate magic and facilitates critical thinking/structured thinking
techniques with her company, Just the Trick. She has a PhD in
pharmaceutical design and discovery. If you believe she could talk
about drugs for hours, she will promise not to.
