In 1923 Mary Langley was arrested. Her crime? Fraudulent séances.
In May of that year Mrs. Langley, a spirit medium, was conducting a séance in Covington, Kentucky. A policeman named Herman Ricken was in attendance at this séance, but was very much a skeptic as to Mrs. Langley’s abilities to contact the dead. Mary supposedly brought back several spirits, including Ricken’s grandmother. When grandma appeared, Mr. Ricken embraced her, saying “well, grandmother!” It was then that a reporter in attendance flipped on his flashlight, revealing a very solid “ghost” who looked exactly like Mary Langley, who dived unceremoniously under a table. Officer Ricken arrested Mary on a charge of fraud. That didn’t stop Mary Langley or her supporters.
Spiritualist friends of Mrs. Langley asked the chief of police to allow her to give a demonstration of her powers to communicate with the spirits of the dead, under test conditions. This was permitted, after consultation with the judge in her case, and the test was set for Monday evening, May 21, with the trial to happen on the same day and time.
The séance was set up in the grand jury room, with the judge, the police chief, four newspaper reporters and two other Covington mediums, rivals of Mary Langley. These two, Carrie Dressel and Belle Dinard, insisted that Mary be searched before she started her séance, to which her attorney objected. The judge ordered that the search take place, causing a “spirited exchange” between the police chief and Mrs. Langley’s lawyer. They eventually agreed to adjourn to Mary’s home for the demonstration, with the rival mediums not allowed to be in attendance.
The demonstration was not convincing and on June 2 Mary Langley was tried and convicted of disorderly conduct, fined $100 and sentenced to fifty days in jail.