Mysterious Death of Harry Houdini: How did Houdini Die?
Born on March 24, 1874, in Budapest, Hungary, Ehrich Weisz, better known to the world as the Great Harry Houdini, is perhaps the greatest and best known magician and escape artist in history. Yet for being so famous, Houdini managed to surround his life with mystery. He claimed throughout his life to be born on April 6, 1874 in Appleton, Wisconsin. That and his death-defying escape acts gave him an almost supernatural personality. And yet, with all the mystery surrounding his life, Harry Houdini has come to have a controversial and mysterious death as well.
The Death Of Harry Houdini
The common idea of Houdini’s death goes that while he was relaxing on a couch backstage before a show, a couple of college kids asked if it was true he could withstand any punch to his torso without pain. Houdini said he was. He was used to being tested on this and started to rise but before Houdini had a chance to prepare himself, they gave him a punch to the gut that had him doubled over and ruptured his appendix. Despite his injury, Houdini hobbled onstage, and proceeded with his water-torture chamber escape attempt. Many people mistakenly believe that Houdini died during the attempt at the escape, due to the ending of the popular Disney movie biography of Harry Houdini’s starring Tony Curtis.
The truth is that Harry Houdini died several days later on Halloween afternoon, October 31, 1926, after doing several more shows, while suffering for days with stomach pains and a high fever. But it is also a misconception to believe that the punches to the gut caused his appendix to burst. Such a blow could not, according to doctors, cause a ruptured appendix, but in fact it would have been a separate problem. Although it probably made the blows to the stomach that much more painful. Houdini had simply been suffering through his illnesses and pain as he was used to. As a matter of fact, at the time, he also was ignoring a broken ankle despite doctors insisting he get treatment.
This has been the official story of Houdini’s death in most biography works to date. However, with a new biography out by Larry Sloman, The Secret Life of Houdini, new mystery and controversy has arisen surrounding not only Houdini’s life but his death as well. Sloman talks about Houdini’s possible career as a spy for Brittan during his travels through Germany and Russia, and sheds some new light on the cloudy life of Harry Houdini. But also, Sloman raises some questions about the death of Harry Houdini.
Was Harry Houdini Murdered?
In his biography, Sloman suggests that in fact, Harry Houdini may have had some enemies, and that his death is not so clear cut as previously thought. There was a lot of bad blood between Houdini and fraudulent spiritualists and mystics, due to Houdini’ driven hobby of exposing the fraudulent seances and other mystic practices that were often played upon the unsuspecting public.
One group in particular, who called themselves ‘The Spiritualists’, whose members included Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, had a grudge against Harry Houdini. Houdini was very outspoken in his opposition to such frauds and would often use his very popular shows as platforms for exposing and debunking various mystics. According to Sloman, Conan Doyle wrote a letter in 1924 claiming that Houdini will get his ‘just deserts’ and would have a ‘payday’ very soon.
One of the mystics, Mina Crandon, who went by the stage name Margery, was very famous at the time, exhibiting amazing effects in some of her seances, and was seemingly on the verge of winning a prize in a contest sponsored by Scientific American magazine when Houdini began a public campaign discrediting her, duplicating some of her tricks on stage, and even publishing a pamphlet describing how some of her performances were done. Houdini took a great interest in particular in discrediting Mrs. Crandon, perhaps due to her extreme claims and wide popularity, and his work in discrediting her is perhaps the most well known example.
Conan Doyle was a huge supporter of Crandon, and publicly clashed with Houdini over this. Conan Doyle believed Houdini had supernatural powers himself that he used to perform his acts, as well as to interfere with other mystics that he was discrediting.
All of this goes toward motive, which was substantial. But there was much that was suspicious regarding the circumstances surrounding Houdini’s death. For example, there is the suspicious coroner’s report that lists Houdini’s appendix as being on his left side, when the appendix is actually on the right side of the body. No autopsy was performed, and his body was buried before his death certificate was even filed. Add to that the fact that Houdini’s wife was simultaneously laid up in the same hospital as he with what was declared food poisoning, and the vehement hatred and threats layered upon Houdini by the Spiritualists and mystics community, and you can begin to see why rumors that Houdini was murdered by the Spiritualists have been around since his death. Within days of his death, some newspaper headlines were already asking, “Was Houdini Murdered?”
Houdini’s Body Escapes the Grave
Well those who have been asking that question for most of a century may soon have new answers to their questions. George Hardeen, Houdini’s great-nephew, and other relatives have recently announced plans to exhume the body of Harry Houdini and see if any evidence can be found of foul play. They hope to find evidence as to whether Houdini was poisoned in retaliation for his dogged exposure and debunking of the spiritualist community. Depending on the results of the testing, a new chapter may soon be added to the biography of Harry Houdini.
I guess the death of Harry Houdini is going to be just as much of a mystery as Harry Houdini himself.
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