Man of Mystery Visits Galveston

Announcement, June 14, 1927, Ephemera Collection, Rosenberg Library, Galveston, Texas. Old Mill Park was a Galveston amusement park located at 2328 Seawall Boulevard in the 1920s.

By Casey Edward Greene

A mysterious figure, “Yerger,” accompanied by Madamoiselle Viviana, came to Galveston in June 1927. The Galveston Daily News heralded Yerger as a “Hindu Mystic” and “Crystal Gazer.” The newspaper ran announcements of the pair’s forthcoming appearances at the Galveston Advertising Club, Crystal Palace Ballroom, Psychic Research Hal, and other venues. Yerger would demonstrate his “feats of Pyschology” to audiences.

Announcement, June 14, 1927, Ephemera Collection, Rosenberg Library, Galveston, Texas.

An announcement dated June 14, 1927, detailed a particularly astounding feat, the “burial” of Viviana, which was to take place on June 24. Yerger was to reawaken her three days later. However, the News did not report on Viviana’s return from the netherworld

The reality was mundane. Yerger was Herman Yerger (1894-1962), an illusionist and stage hypnotist from Austin, Texas. According to Ancestry, he was born in New York on March 22, 1894. However, the Austin American, July 5, 1950, mentioned that he was born in Rangoon, Burma. Yerger claimed that his first name was Hernandah, “Herman” being an approximation. He immigrated to the United States at the age of fifteen. In 1946, he founded the Texas Association of Magicians and served as its first president. The newspaper article recognized him as “the Dean of Texas Magicians.” Yerger died on April 11, 1962, and is buried in Austin Memorial Park Cemetery.

2021-03-11