happy birthday harry houdini - 137 years old in heaven today :D

harry houdini, then known as erik weisz (and later spelled ehrich weiss) was born on march 24, 1874, in budapest, hungry. he and his family emigrated to the united states 4 years later, and initially settled in appleton, wisconsin. in later years, for unknown reasons, houdini would claim that his birthday was april 6, 1874. he would also go on to claim that he was born in appleton, not budapest.

houdini, the easily the greatest showman of his day and age (magician, escape artist, movie star, writer, were just a sampling of his avocations), is more often remember for his death (at the age of 52) on halloween (october 31, 1926). annual seances are still held on halloween in an attempt to contact his spirit! his wife, bess, did so for the first 10 years after his death - and finally extinguished the candle, to use her terms, in 1936.

the better part of houdini's later years were spent debunking the spiritualist movement, and included a running feud with sir arthur conan doyle on whether there was an afterlife (and, if so, could we make contact with the spirits). he exposed fraudulent mediums at every opportunity - and even testified before congress on the need to protect the public from their predatory activities.

today houdini is best remembered as an escape artist and, to a lessor extent, magician. even so, he is still a household word 85 years after his death!

happy birthday harry houdini

harry houdini died on halloween, 83 years ago today :(

on halloween, october 31, 1926, harry houdini died from peritonitis - allegedly a result of heavy blows to his abdomen from a mcgill university student that ruptured his appendix. he was only 52 years old. while the punches to his abdomen may have contributed to the rupture, houdini had suffered from appendicitis in the days that lead up to the incident. but the blows may have accelerated the rupture.

so ended the amazing career of ehrich weiss - not only a magician, but also movie actor, escape artist, author, debunker of spiritualists, and an early aviation pioneer! if that list isn't long enough, add to it competitive runner! yes, in the 1890s the young ehrich weiss competed in road races in nyc!

every year, for the decade following his death, his wife, bess, held a seance on halloween to see if houdini would manage the impossible - communicate from the great "beyond." with no proof of any bona fide messages received from houdini, bess no longer continued the seances. but that didn't stop magicians and houdini fans from continuing the spooky tradition.