Detroit marks 100 years since Houdini's death
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Houdini's ball-and-chain pool escape in Los Angeles in 1923. Photo: UPI/Bettmann via Getty Images
Locals are marking a century since renowned illusionist Harry Houdini died in Detroit on Halloween.
Zoom in: The escape artist was born in Hungary and grew up in Wisconsin, but had a deep connection to Detroit.
- He performed here 19 times between 1894 and 1926, according to the Detroit Historical Society.
- He also made the news by leaping handcuffed from the Belle Isle Bridge into the Detroit River in November 1906.
Houdini's last performance was at Detroit's Garrick Theatre on Oct. 24, 1926, during which he experienced abdominal pain and a fever.
- He died on Oct. 31 at Grace Hospital at age 52. Doctors suspected appendicitis and his ruptured appendix was removed, but infection had spread.
- Experts have debated whether the cause was getting punched in the abdomen days earlier.
If you go: To commemorate the legendary entertainer, the Detroit Historical Museum is hosting a strolling party 6-10pm Saturday called "Houdini 100: Magic and Mystery." Tickets are $125 or $100 for members.
- Expect food, drinks, carnival games, magic, history discussions and period costumes from Houdini's era.
🕯️ Contacting Houdini afterward
Here at Axios Detroit, we don't recommend trifling with seances or ouija boards, as we value our lives. But then again, we're no experts.
The intrigue: The American Museum of Magic in Marshall is hosting a sold-out seance to contact Houdini this weekend, at the exact time of his death.
- It follows many previous Houdini seance attempts over the past century, including by notable Detroit magicians in 1946.
- Houdini's wife, Bess, attempted to get in touch with him for about a decade after his death and then stopped, per the News.
The bottom line: "Ten years was long enough to wait for any man," Bess reportedly said.