Talk:Joseph F. Rinn

Reception
Unlike other magicians such as Fulton Oursler (author of Spirit Mediums Exposed 1930), John Mulholland (author of Beware Familiar Spirits, 1938), or Julien Proskauer (author of The Dead Do Not Talk, 1946) which were expert exposes of fraudulent mediums and spiritualist chicanery that were well received, Rinn's book seems to have come under criticism for promoting gossip or hearsay stories as factual.

There is in-depth criticism of Rinn in the American Journal for Society for Psychical Research here by a psychical researcher called L. A. Dale. Note that this is a fringe journal and the review itself seems to be nothing more than unproven allegations against Rinn. For example the reviewer says that Rinn fabricated a lot of the content from his book and never actually met some of the people he claimed to, but does not provide any solid evidence for this.

Obviously it is not Wikipedia's aim to takes sides on what we think is true or not true, we just state what the reliable sources say. But this is all rather strange. I will search for reviews for Rinn's book from reliable sources and see what they say. HealthyGirl (talk) 14:17, 17 May 2016 (UTC)


 * I have Rinn's book, but some of it is available online here if anyone is interested HealthyGirl (talk) 14:37, 17 May 2016 (UTC)

May S. Pepper
Rinn's book is the only book to document the fraud of the medium May S. Pepper. In The Literary Digest,, February 21, 1920 p. 83, there is a clipping that reads:

"Mr. Rinn, the same Joseph F. Rinn who made life miserable for May Pepper, of Brooklyn, some years back, who was one of the exposers of Eusapia Palladino, and who, with his side-partner, Davis, has brought flocks of mediums the country over to weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, and, even worse, to bankruptcy,' accepted a dinner invitation from the giddy Sunrisers last night just for the purpose of showing up psychic phenomena as the bunk."

HealthyGirl (talk) 14:30, 17 May 2016 (UTC)

Houdini and Rinn
An additional article by Daniel Loxton on Houdini and Rinn can be found here, this would be another good reference for the article. HealthyGirl (talk) 14:34, 17 May 2016 (UTC)

Death date
User JuliaHunter changed the birth-date from 1952 to 1962. The 1962 date is supported on another website magicpedia. The 1962 date would make more sense than 1952 because Rinn's book was re-published in 1954, this was not a posthumous release. However one other website I found said 13th October 1952. I believe the 1962 date to be correct but a reliable reference is needed. HealthyGirl (talk) 14:57, 17 May 2016 (UTC)
 * The article itself says the 1954 book was just his 1950 book being published under another title in the UK - that could have happened posthumously. Rinn's article in Magicpedia is inconsistent - it has the 1962 date in the lede and October 13, 1952 in the infobox. It appears to have a reference to an obit in the December 1952 issue of M-U-M which would be consistent with the October 1952 date. Unfortunately as you would expect for a magic magazine, its not available online to check and only held in a handful of libraries. Databases at FamilySearch confirms a birthdate of July 1868, but has 2 different marriage dates (1889 and 1895, to the same woman) and no death date. --Krelnik (talk) 15:21, 17 May 2016 (UTC)


 * First Amy Tanner now Rinn, it is hard to find proper information for some of these older researchers on their death dates. I agree the Magicpedia seems to be inconsistent. I will see what I can do this weekend. There may be an obituary for Rinn in an old newspaper article, that is the sort of thing I feel might turn up somewhere with a deep look. But is gonna be a real challenge to find anything. HealthyGirl (talk) 16:50, 17 May 2016 (UTC)