Best of 2024: The Death of Harry Houdini [VIDEO]

Houdini was renowned for his incredible escape acts and death-defying stunts, which made him one of the most famous magicians of his time.

Harry Houdini's claim to fame rested on the foundation of his death-defying stunts and breathtaking escape acts. One of his most notable feats, first performed in 1912, was the water torture cell. In this trick, Houdini was secured by the ankles and lowered upside down into a tank of water, yet he would always miraculously emerge breathless but alive. His knack for escaping seemed boundless: he jumped from bridges in handcuffs and would later up the ante by having himself handcuffed inside a wooden box, nailed shut, and dumped into a body of water—from which he would inevitably escape.

Houdini performed dangerous tricks like being submerged in water tanks and buried alive, but he always managed to escape unharmed, defying death and cementing his reputation as an immortal figure.

The legend of Harry Houdini was built upon acts that would have sealed the fate of any ordinary man. He wowed audiences by escaping from clear glass boxes, nailed coffins, and ropes wound so tightly they seemed to choke him. However, he always prevailed. Even being buried alive only added to his mythos, as he once crawled out from under six feet of soil in a nearly fatal stunt, escaping just before his air supply would have run out.

Despite his legendary status, Houdini did not actually die during one of his famous stunts, but rather ...

Harry Houdini, the skilled magician and escape artist, became a vocal critic of the spiritualist movement, seeking to dismantle the practices of mediums who claimed to communicate with the dead, whom he saw as deceivers and con artists.

Houdini was a vocal critic of the spiritualist movement and the mediums who claimed to commune with the dead, seeing them as deceivers and con artists.

Houdini's disdain for the spiritualist movement was deeply personal. His own mother, Cecilia, was taken advantage of by mediums after his father died, leading to financial strain. This fueled Houdini's crusade to debunk these mediums as he felt compelled to expose spiritualism's impact on vulnerable people like his mother. His comfort turned to anger when during a session with a medium channeling the voice of his deceased mother, the medium communicated in English—a language his mother did not speak, thus clearly deceiving him.

In the summer of 1924, Houdini's attention turned to a medium known as Marjorie, who conducted seances in complete darkness—a practice he found suspicious. Houdini aimed to prove that she was a fraud. He saw Arthur Conan Doyle, a proponent of spiritualism and a friend who advocated for mediumship, as a con artist after a deceptive seance involving Doyle's wife. Ultimately, Houdini's relationship with Doyle soured due to Houdini's determination to disprove the spiritualistic claims that Doyle supported.

Houdini's mother was taken advantage of by mediums, fueling his disdain for the practice and his crusade to debunk them.

Houdini often attended seances in disguise to study the mediums' techniques. In one instance, during a seance with the Boston Medium, Marjorie, he acted as one of the controls. He suspected Marjorie was using her feet to manipulate objects and prove this; he kept his leg pressed against hers to detect any fraudulent movement. On the second night, Houdini discovered her stockings caught in the buckle of his garter, an incident that impeded her from moving her leg to perform her usual deceptions.

Houdini ardently debunked spiritualism through publications, performances, and public demonstrations

Houdini took his battle against spiritualism to the stage, denouncing mediums as frauds in his performances. He also published a 25-page pamphlet titled "Houdini Exposes the Tricks Used by the Boston Medium Marjorie," with detailed descriptions and illustrations of how she conducted her deceptions. Further, he wrote "A Magician Among the Spirits," revealing the methods of well-known mediums dating back to the Fox sisters. This book included photographs and diagrams and criticized Arthur Conan Doyle's support for mediums.

Houdini's efforts to discredit mediums didn't stop at publications. He incorporated his knowledge of ...

The enigmatic death of Harry Houdini on Halloween in 1926 has given rise to several conspiracy theories, with some believing he was murdered.

While Houdini's official cause of death was a ruptured appendix, some historians believe his death may have been the result of a planned assassination by those within the spiritualist movement.

As a vociferous critic of mediums towards the end of his career, Houdini made many enemies, which has led some to speculate that one of them might have been responsible for his demise. Historians have conjectured that his death might have been orchestrated by someone connected to the spiritualist community, a movement deeply at odds with Houdini.

The timing and circumstances of Houdini's death, including the punch to the abdomen he received shortly before falling ill, have led some to speculate that he was poisoned or otherwise targeted by spiritualists seeking revenge.

Authors William Kalush and Larry Sloman indicated a potential connection between Houdini and a crime group within the spiritualist community that made veiled threats against skeptics. They propose that Houdini's death could be linked to poisoning by this group, known to rely on such methods for covert violence.

Theories suggest a mysterious figure named J. Gordon Whitehead, who punched Houdini, may have been working with or on behalf of spiritualists like the medium Marjorie, who Houdini had publicly humiliated.

A student named J. Gordon Whitehead, who disappeared soon after Houdini's death, is at the center of these theories. There are suggestions that he may have been motivated by an interest in spiritualism and enraged by Houdini's public debunking of mediums, including Marjorie. S ...