Debunking the myths behind Harry Houdini's life—and death

National Geographic

20-03-2025

(How does a magician trick other magicians? We went to find out.)
These cards and card trimmer belonged to Harry Houdini, a lifelong collector of effects, props, and locking devices that he learned how to pick.
Alamy/Cordon Press
His desire for success grew stronger when his father fell sick. In 1883 Ehrich set up an improvised circus along with boys from his neighborhood and performed as a trapeze artist. In a glimpse of his future flair for self-styling, the nine-year-old crowned himself Prince of the Air.
Having tried and failed to work as a rabbi, Ehrich's father moved the Weisses to a New York slum. The young boy's early love for illusionism and tricks offered the chance of freedom from the fate that awaited so many young immigrants at that time: the lifelong drudgery of the garment trade. As if in preparation for the feats ahead, the stocky Ehrich trained by lifting weights, swimming, and boxing while taking on a variety of manual-labor jobs to make ends meet.
A friend introduced Ehrich to the memoirs of 19th-century French magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, considered the father of modern conjuring. In the 1890s, Ehrich added an i to Houdin to make his new last name, and his career, "like Houdin." He also gave himself a new first name in homage to American magician Harry Kellar. Under this stage name, Harry Houdini set up a traveling circus with his younger brother, whose stage name was Theodore 'Dash' Hardeen. The brothers featured high-wire acts, snake charmers, and belly dancers.
The duo reached their long-sought acclaim with what became their signature act, Metamorphosis, first performed at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. Dash tied Houdini up and put him in a sack, which was placed inside a chest. Once the curtain was pulled, Dash was revealed to have replaced Houdini, the speed of which astonished the crowds.
Unrestrained
One of Houdini's most iconic stunts was his straitjacket escape. First performed in Kansas City in 1915 in front of thousands, and always staged near newspaper offices, it involved Houdini dangling from a crane by his feet. Wriggling himself free from the straitjacket, shown here, he then
spread his arms wide to the frenzy of the crowd.
Bridgeman/ACI
Within a year, Dash was superseded by young singer and dancer Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner, or Bess, who Houdini had married within three weeks of meeting and made his new partner in magic. They went by the Houdinis, and Bess became his stage assistant for the rest of his life. Although their performances, also consisting of traditional magic tricks, were popular, earnings were scant. Houdini knew he had to maximize the sensationalism to pull in the crowds.
The handcuff king
Experience as an apprentice locksmith gave Houdini the founding idea of his career. Arriving in a town, he'd alert the press. He would then call a police station and ask to be handcuffed and locked in a cell. Within minutes, he'd walk free.
Harry Houdini moments before being lowered into his water torture cell in 1913.
Bridgeman/ACI
The media coverage from these stunts helped promote the Houdinis' shows. In 1899 entrepreneur Martin Beck offered Houdini a contract to perform in his theaters. Houdini now had a substantial income, and new horizons suddenly opened. He was performing in Britain in 1900 and Russia in 1903.
His popularity led to an avalanche of copycats and doubters, forcing him to push his limits and defend his name, even winning a lawsuit in 1902 against a German newspaper that called him a fraud.
Starting in 1908, his signature act was being locked in a milk can full of water. In 1912 he replaced the milk can with the water torture cell, where he was bound in chains and padlocks and submerged upside down. Public fascination with his daredevilry won Houdini star roles in early cinema. The plot of the 1919 movie The Grim Game centers on an escapologist played by Houdini.
Public fascination with his daredevilry won Houdini star roles in early cinema, like the 1919 movie The Grim Game, shown in this poster.
Alamy/ACI
The shadow of death
'My chief task is to conquer fear,' Houdini said of his acts. He made himself undergo 'tortuous self-training' to avoid panic. Biographers have wondered what drove Houdini to such extreme acts. Some suggest it was to resolve the trauma of being a poor outsider. A target of anti-Semitic insults, Houdini seemed to have aligned himself with the emerging idea of the muscular Jew to counter the prevalent stereotype that Jewish men were physically weak.
(Harry Houdini's unlikely last act? Taking on the occult.)
Houdini was fiercely critical of spiritualism, a hugely popular practice at the time. He regarded it as fraudulent. One reading of his career is as extreme rationalism in the face of death. Yet for a man always prepared to die, the nature of his demise took his admirers, and the country, by surprise.
During the height of his career, in October 1926, Houdini was in Montréal to perform at McGill University. A student asked about his abdominal strength and whether he could withstand punches. When Houdini replied he could, the student punched him in the stomach. Houdini seemed to have been unprepared for the blow, which caused him a great deal of pain. Days later, on October 31, 1926, he died in Detroit at age 52. The cause of death was peritonitis, caused by appendicitis.
French poster of the 1918 movie The Master Mystery, starring Harry Houdini.
Alamy/Cordon Press
Debate continues to rage over whether the punch had indeed been fatal, or if Houdini succumbed to an unrelated intestinal condition caused by his ruptured appendix. In his will, he left his effects and props to Dash, requesting they be burned upon Dash's death.