Yes, today was Harry Houdini's birthday (he was born in 1874) and I mention him as he was, in many ways, an anti-gothic character, in that he did his level best to demystify all the things that writers had been trying so hard to make exciting and dark in the previous century.
Houdini was a member of a committee which offered a cash prize for anyone who could prive the existence of spirits, and spent a lot of his time (after the death of his mother) in debunking mediums and exposing the tricks that they used to convince the unwary. His actions led to the dissolution of his friendship with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, famous supporter of the British 'fairy' photographs... You can read more about that here, if you like.
After his death, Houdini's wife spent ten years holding seances, according to his wishes, as he had promised her that if life after death really existed he would get in touch. She finally gave up, after a decade of no results, reportedly saying 'ten years is long enough to wait for any man'...
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