In the aftermath of the loss of his mother, Houdini turned to a new religious fad that was taking over the world at the turn of the century. Spiritualism claimed to be able to put people in contact with the spirits of people who had died. Tons of famous people that we consider intelligent from that period, from writers to journalists to inventors to Nobel Prize winners, got wrapped up in the religion, which was riddled with charlatans. Scientists William Crookes, Sir Oliver George, and Alfred Russel Wallace; writers Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; even inventor Thomas Edison, who, according to Tech Times, had an idea for a "spirit phone" — all got pulled into the bogus claims of the spiritualists.
After trying for a while to talk to his dead mother and getting no response, Houdini became disillusioned with spiritualism and went on to devote himself to debunking the claims of mediums who charged people for séances in which they supposedly communicated with the dead. According to American Experience, he once told the L.A. Times, "It takes a flimflammer to catch a flimflammer." His most famous debunking was that of Mina "Margery" Crandon, who was up for a big prize from Scientific American magazine if she could show proof of "conclusive psychic manifestations." His investigations ended up causing the magazine to decide against giving her the prize.
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