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On Sunday, October 31, 1926, at precisely 1:26pm, a man named Ehrich Weiss died in a hospital room in Detroit, Michigan surrounded by his siblings, his wife, and a few medical attendants. The world gasped when they heard the news because they knew this man by a different name: Harry Houdini.
But most wondered if death could hold him; for years, Houdini boasted of a plan to cheat the grave.
Harry Houdini was one of the first international superstars. In crowded shows around the world, he entertained the masses with sleight-of-hand tricks and death-defying stunts…and everything in between. Time and time again, the magician successfully escaped handcuffs, boxes, coffins, and various traps filled with water.
He became so good at “escaping” that he boasted of a plan to escape the final reality, death. He got the chance to put his claim to the test when he succumbed to complications surrounding a burst appendix at the age of 52. An entranced world, enthralled with the “spiritualism” that had captivated almost everyone in that day, waited on edge to see what would happen next.
A Baptist pastor named Arthur Ford met with the Houdini’s grieving widow, Bess, and claimed that he and his associates could contact Houdini via medium and séance. With thousands and thousands of practicing psychics during that era, his claim seemed as quack as the others. But Ford argued he could deliver a message to Bess that was known only to the two of them. In truth, Houdini and Bess did have an agreed-upon message known only to the two of them. The great magician had always promised his superstitious wife that if he died first, he would contact her from the other side and that he would verify himself by saying, “Rosabelle, believe.” It was a phrase that harkened back to the very first show they ever performed together.
In great dramatic fashion, with members of the press present, Arthur Ford conjured up the presence of Houdini. In painstaking detail, he repeated the silent conversation that Houdini was having with his wife. Down to the detail, everything was verified. The next day, the world was taken by headlines that read “Houdini Breaks Chains of Death!” and “Houdini Speaks from the Grave!”
There was just one problem. The whole event was as much a show as Houdini’s tours. Days later, it was revealed that the entire event was a sham and Bess eventually owned up to her deceit.
Finally, on October 31, 1936, ten years to the day after Houdini’s death, Bess employed more spiritualists in an attempt to contact her husband one last time. On top of the Knickerbocker Hotel in Los Angeles, with 300 people watching, and millions across the country listening by radio, Bess and other mediums tried to raise Houdini’s spirit.
They failed.
At the end of the séance, her manager and partner, Edward Saint, turned to Bess. “Mrs. Houdini, the zero hour has passed. The ten years are up. Have you reached a decision?”
“Yes,” Bess said sadly. “Houdini did not come through. My last hope is gone. I do not believe that Houdini can come back to me – or to anyone.”
Harry Houdini, the man who’d escaped from the most amazing traps ever devised, had failed to escape death.
What is your plan to escape death?
Resource’s Origin:
The Secret Life of Houdini by William Kalush and Larry Sloman. Atria Books, 2006, Page 557.
Topics Illustrated Include:
Afterlife
Beliefs
Celebrities
Death
Disappointment
Easter
Escape
Halloween
Hope
Lie
Magic
Prank
Resurrection
Wife
(Resource cataloged by David R Smith)
