Nearly a century after his death, iconic illusionist Harry Houdini has reached a sort of mythical status in our pop culture zeitgeist. Yet much like the famous illusions he created, some of these tidbits are nothing more than smoke and mirrors — just ask the historians tasked with documenting his spectacular life.
From his important status in Australian aviation history to the way he actually died, here are 19 facts about Harry Houdini to liven up any seance.
1
“Upon Harry Houdini's death, his magic equipment was inherited by his brother Theodore on the condition that it be ‘burned and destroyed’ upon Theodore's death. Instead, the equipment ended up in the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame, a museum which burnt down in 1995.”
2
“In March of 1910 Harry Houdini was the first aviator to fly over Australian soil. He is also the first aviator to have film documentation of his flights. After his Australian tour, Houdini never flew again.”
3
“Harry Houdini was also an actor and appeared in [The Master Mystery] one of the first films depicting a powered exoskeleton.
4
“Harry Houdini's wife wanted to be buried next to her husband, but her Catholic family didn't want her to be buried in a Jewish cemetery, so she did not get her wish.”
5
“Harry Houdini had a younger brother named Theodore Hardeen. Hardeen was also a magician and billed himself as the ‘brother of Houdini.’ Hardeen was the first magician to conceive escaping from a straitjacket in full view of the audience.”
6
“In 1924, H. P. Lovecraft was hired to ghostwrite a story for Harry Houdini about Houdini's supposedly true escape from an Egyptian cult. Lovecraft lost the only copy on the way to his own wedding, and spent much of his honeymoon rewriting it with his wife's help.”
7
“Magician Dai Vernon once challenged Harry Houdini to solve one of his card tricks, the latter boasting he could solve any trick after three tries. After seven times, Houdini still couldn't solve it and Vernon came to be known as ‘The Man Who Fooled Houdini.’”
8
“Harry Houdini once ‘played Jonah’ and escaped from the belly of a ‘sea monster’ that had washed up on a Cape Cod beach.”
9
“The official cause of Houdini's death on Halloween in 1926 was diffuse peritonitis; this is the result of a burst appendix. J. Gordon Whitehead's sucker punch did not cause his death because Houdini died 6 days later after the punch, and it was caused from a bacterial infection.”
10
“[Sherlock Holmes creator] Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini were friends at one point, however Doyle refused to accept Houdini performed using trickery and believed he had supernatural powers. Their friendship ended after Houdini exposed séance mediums who claimed to have powers to talk to the dead.”
11
“Harry Houdini wanted to prevent people from copying his ‘Chinese water torture cell’ trick, but didn't want to patent it, as that would require explaining how it works. So he gave a performance of the trick as a one-act play before an audience of one, and then filed for a copyright on the play.”
12
Historians have long debated whether or not Harry Houdini was a spy, with several arguing that he may have spied for Britain or the United States. Yet according to magic historian Richard Kohn, Houdini wasn’t a spy in “the James Bond sense,” but rather an “observer who passed along observations,” per the CIA.
13
“Harry Houdini's wife kept a candle burning beside his picture for ten years after his death because, as a skeptic, he'd promised that he'd communicate the message, ‘Rosabelle believe,’ if he found it possible to communicate after death.”
14
“Harry Houdini once sued a police officer who accused him of making his escapes via bribery. He won his case by opening the judge's safe.”
15
During World War I, Houdini taught American troops how to escape from sinking ships, ropes, handcuffs and other predicaments.
16
“The 1953 movie Houdini is widely responsible for people thinking Harry Houdini died performing one of his stunts.”
17
My Chemical Romance wrote their 2006 song, “This Is How I Disappear” about the seances Harry Houdini’s wife would hold attempting to contact her late husband.”
18
“Harry Houdini was respected in the scientific community and used science to expose fraudulent psychics and mediums.”
19
“The Red Hot Chili Peppers recorded their album Blood Sugar S-x Magik in the mansion Harry Houdini allegedly once lived in, as the band wanted to record in an unusual setting to enhance their creative output. Drummer Chad Smith was convinced the house was haunted and refused to stay in the house.”
