The Mystery of the Illusionist and His Ghosts

As part of its Houdiniana auction April 9, Chicago auction house Potter & Potter will be auctioning off an unfinished manuscript of "The Cancer of Superstition," a book project commissioned by Houdini that was canceled when the magician died in 1926. 

The 31-page manuscript — which is expected by Potter & Potter to fetch $25,000 to $40,000 — explores the history of superstition and how superstitions persist through "mental indolence of those who reject modern science," even among academics. 

Besides the Houdini connection, what generated media buzz from the likes of The Guardian, Fine Books & Collections and others is the manuscript's purported ghostwriter: H.P. Lovecraft, most famous for "The Call of Cthulhu."

But did Lovecraft really write it?