Houdinis Secrets

Houdinis Secrets

There was “THE RUMOR” that Harry Houdini had, in his last will and testament, decreed that his secrets be revealed fifty years after his death.

Apparently “THE RUMOR” ranks right up there with the purported albino alligators that reside in the New York sewer system.

The fiftieth anniversary of Houdinis death came and went in 1976….so much for “THE RUMOR”.

None of Houdini’s plans for his more spectacular effects has ever come to light—apparently he took them with him.

So we may never know—for sure—how Houdini escaped after being lashed to the arm of a windmill in Holland, or stuffed down the gut of a dead “sea monster” in Boston, or sealed in a giant envelope in Chicago (he got out without making a tear), or, my personal favorite, sewn up inside a giant football by the University of Pennsylvania varsity squad.

However, Houdini left most of his apparatus to his brother, who toured for a few years after Houdini’s death under the name “Hardeen.” Houdini’s will stipulated that all the tricks and manuscripts be burned after Hardeen’s death, but some of the material has survived in private collections.

There were two main schools of thought on Houdini’s escapes. One held that Houdini was a mere contortionist, who could expand his muscles while restraints were being placed on him, then later relax and slip out of his bonds.

The other explanation was offered by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, who claimed that Houdini was a full-fledged medium, performing his escapes with the help of the spirit world.

The truth, not surprisingly, seems to be that Houdini was merely an extraordinarily accomplished showman, who knew how to milk a few basic techniques of stage magic for all they were worth. Today, professional magicians say that most of Houdini’s tricks could be reproduced, but his performances could never be.

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