1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,960 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:11,120 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:14,720 Speaker 1: a show that reveals a little bit more about history 4 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:20,000 Speaker 1: every day. I'm Gabe Lousier and in this special episode, 5 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:23,360 Speaker 1: we draw our Halloween week to a close with a 6 00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 1: look at the life and death of Harry Houdini, one 7 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:30,600 Speaker 1: of the finest press didigitators to ever wave a Wand 8 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:43,680 Speaker 1: the day was October one, in room four oh one 9 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:48,199 Speaker 1: of Grace Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, Harry Houdini dies of 10 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:53,720 Speaker 1: complications from a ruptured appendix. The renowned magician an escape artist, 11 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: was fifty two years old. Nearly a hundred years later, 12 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:02,120 Speaker 1: Houdini remains one of the most famous and esteemed performers 13 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 1: of the twentieth century. His death, defying stunts and mystifying 14 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 1: stagecraft captivated the world, and many of his acts continued 15 00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:14,880 Speaker 1: to inspire the magicians of today. The boy who had 16 00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: become Harry Houdini was born Eric Weiss in Budapest, Hungary, 17 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy four. At age four, he and his 18 00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 1: family immigrated to Appleton, Wisconsin, where he soon took an 19 00:01:28,240 --> 00:01:33,160 Speaker 1: interest in such routine pastimes as acrobatics and lock picking. 20 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:37,240 Speaker 1: At the ripe old age of nine, he began performing 21 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:40,960 Speaker 1: with a traveling circus as a trapeze artist and contortionist. 22 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:44,560 Speaker 1: He also won some early fame when he expanded his 23 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: act to include daring escapes. In eighteen ninety one. He 24 00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 1: became a professional magician at age seventeen and adopted the 25 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:57,840 Speaker 1: stage name Harry Houdini. The Moniker is said to have 26 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:01,120 Speaker 1: been a tribute to two of his personal heroes, the 27 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:06,080 Speaker 1: American magician Harry Keller and the French magician Jean Eugene 28 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:11,240 Speaker 1: Robert Houdin. After striking out on his own, Houdini performed 29 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: card tricks and small town theaters. He eventually made his 30 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:18,560 Speaker 1: way onto the vaudeville circuit, where his escape acts earned 31 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:22,080 Speaker 1: him the nickname the Handcuff King for his ability to 32 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:26,680 Speaker 1: slip free from any restraint. This act became such a 33 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 1: big part of Houdini's identity that he later changed his 34 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:34,760 Speaker 1: legal name to Harry Handcuff Houdini, a fact we know 35 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:38,160 Speaker 1: because it's written on his World War One draft card. 36 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:43,600 Speaker 1: In nineteen hundred, the magician embarked on his first international tour, 37 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:48,760 Speaker 1: performing all over Europe. Audiences loved Houdini's act not only 38 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:52,000 Speaker 1: because he was an expert showman, but because he always 39 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:57,680 Speaker 1: played fair. His escapes weren't tricks. The chains, handcuffs, and 40 00:02:57,720 --> 00:03:01,520 Speaker 1: strait jackets he was bound in were all real. Instead 41 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:06,880 Speaker 1: of employing trickery, Houdini based his performances on feats of strength, agility, 42 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:12,120 Speaker 1: and concentration. This reliance on physical and mental ability meant 43 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:15,960 Speaker 1: that the danger and Houdini's stunts was also real, which 44 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:18,880 Speaker 1: is exactly what made them so allerting to his fans. 45 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:24,320 Speaker 1: As Houdini wrote, quote, I knew, as everyone knows, that 46 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 1: the easiest way to attract a crowd is to let 47 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:29,520 Speaker 1: it be known that at a given time and a 48 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:33,440 Speaker 1: given place, someone is going to attempt something that, in 49 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: the event of failure, will mean sudden death. As his 50 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: fame grew, Houdini had to keep one upping himself by 51 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 1: adding new and more dangerous stunts to his act. In 52 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:50,559 Speaker 1: addition to manacles and mail bags, Houdini also escaped from boilers, 53 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:54,520 Speaker 1: wet sheets, and even milk jugs. One of his most 54 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:58,840 Speaker 1: notable stunts debuted in nineteen twelve, when Houdini escaped a 55 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:01,800 Speaker 1: locked box at the bottom of New York's East River. 56 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:07,960 Speaker 1: Even Scientific American magazine was impressed, proclaiming it quote one 57 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:12,600 Speaker 1: of the most remarkable tricks ever performed. But Houdini didn't 58 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:16,560 Speaker 1: stop there. Later that same year, he debuted his famous 59 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:20,599 Speaker 1: water torture cell, which saw him suspended upside down in 60 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:24,680 Speaker 1: a locked glass and steel tank filled with water. The 61 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 1: tank was then obscured from view with a cabinet as 62 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:32,080 Speaker 1: the magician tried to free himself before he drowned. Nervous 63 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:36,000 Speaker 1: audiences held their breath along with Houdini as the seconds 64 00:04:36,040 --> 00:04:41,400 Speaker 1: ticked away. Finally, after about two minutes, the magician appeared 65 00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:46,040 Speaker 1: triumphantly from behind the cabinet, soaked and exhausted, but still 66 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 1: very much alive. Amazingly, the tank was still full of 67 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:55,440 Speaker 1: water and the six padlocks on its lid were still fastened. 68 00:04:56,040 --> 00:04:59,560 Speaker 1: During Houdini's lifetime, no one ever figured out how he 69 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:03,039 Speaker 1: had mean edge to escape. A lesser known side of 70 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:06,839 Speaker 1: Houdini's career was the time he spent exposing con men 71 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:10,679 Speaker 1: who used tricks of his trade to dupe the trusting public. 72 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:14,799 Speaker 1: Following World War One, there was a surge of interest 73 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:19,280 Speaker 1: in spiritualism. Many people had lost loved ones during the war, 74 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:23,120 Speaker 1: and they turned to seances and other aspects of magic 75 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 1: as a way to seek closure. As for Houdini, his 76 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:30,240 Speaker 1: interest in the occult came from the death of his 77 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:34,840 Speaker 1: mother in nineteen thirteen. They had been extremely close and 78 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:38,440 Speaker 1: her death affected him deeply. Although he was the son 79 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:41,760 Speaker 1: of a rabbi, Houdini was not a religious man and 80 00:05:41,839 --> 00:05:44,799 Speaker 1: didn't put much stock in the idea of an afterlife. 81 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:48,640 Speaker 1: But in this case, Houdini was willing to try anything 82 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:52,400 Speaker 1: to speak to his mother one last time. He visited 83 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:55,760 Speaker 1: a medium to try and contact her, but the seance 84 00:05:55,839 --> 00:05:59,200 Speaker 1: that ensued didn't bring in peace of mind, In fact, 85 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 1: just the opposite it. In the darkened room, Judini witnessed 86 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:06,440 Speaker 1: parlor tricks that were meant to convince him that spirits 87 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 1: were present. Most customers were amazed by this kind of 88 00:06:10,279 --> 00:06:14,840 Speaker 1: fraudulent magic, but Rudini was a stage magician himself. Not 89 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:17,480 Speaker 1: only could he tell the effects were fake, he knew 90 00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:21,720 Speaker 1: exactly how they were done. Udini was furious that someone 91 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:24,240 Speaker 1: would use the tools of his art to rip off 92 00:06:24,279 --> 00:06:27,360 Speaker 1: people who were hurting. From then on, he made it 93 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:31,080 Speaker 1: his mission to expose these charlatans to the public, which 94 00:06:31,080 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 1: he did by making it part of his act. One 95 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:36,720 Speaker 1: of his full shows would treat audiences to a bit 96 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:40,640 Speaker 1: of magic, followed by some daring escapes, and finally a 97 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:45,479 Speaker 1: mock seance where the fraudulent methods used by mediums were revealed. 98 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:49,960 Speaker 1: In this way, Judini worked to ensure that other bereaved 99 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 1: people wouldn't be misled by the false hope of contacting 100 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:58,120 Speaker 1: the dead. And speaking of death, you're probably wondering how 101 00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:02,239 Speaker 1: exactly Rudini met his own end. The groundwork was laid 102 00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:05,600 Speaker 1: several weeks before his death, when he began suffering from 103 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:10,480 Speaker 1: appendicitis but didn't seek treatment. Then, on the Fateful night 104 00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:15,200 Speaker 1: of October twenty, Udini performed at the Princess Theater in Montreal. 105 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:20,400 Speaker 1: After the show, a college student named Joscelyn Gordon Whitehead 106 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:25,480 Speaker 1: came backstage to meet Houdini. According to witnesses, Whitehead asked 107 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:28,480 Speaker 1: if he could test Hudini's claim that he could take 108 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:32,840 Speaker 1: any punch above the waist without injury. Houdini agreed to 109 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:35,880 Speaker 1: the request, but before he had a chance to tighten 110 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 1: his stomach muscles in defense, Whitehead delivered three quick blows 111 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:44,600 Speaker 1: to the magician's stomach. Four days later, with a fever 112 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:48,280 Speaker 1: of a hundred and four degrees, Houdini took the stage 113 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:51,240 Speaker 1: at Garrick Theater in Detroit for what proved to be 114 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:55,440 Speaker 1: his final show. Later that day, he was admitted for 115 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:59,600 Speaker 1: surgery to finally have his appendix removed, but during the 116 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:04,200 Speaker 1: procejer doctors discovered his appendix had already ruptured and that 117 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:08,480 Speaker 1: the tissue of his abdominal organs was badly inflamed, a 118 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:13,800 Speaker 1: condition known as paraitonitis. One week later, on Halloween Night, 119 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:19,160 Speaker 1: Harry Houdini died. But before you blame Joscelyn Whitehead, it 120 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:22,840 Speaker 1: should be noted that one way or another, Houdini's appendix 121 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:26,880 Speaker 1: was always going to burst. Whitehead's punches may have sped 122 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:30,400 Speaker 1: the process along. They definitely didn't help, but he wasn't 123 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:34,599 Speaker 1: directly responsible. So please, if you summon the spirit of 124 00:08:34,679 --> 00:08:38,120 Speaker 1: Joscelyn Whitehead tonight, don't give him a hard time about it. 125 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:42,360 Speaker 1: As for Houdini, although he went on a crusade against 126 00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:47,480 Speaker 1: dishonest mediums, psychics and others who claimed to have supernatural abilities, 127 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:51,640 Speaker 1: he never ruled out the possibility of real communication with 128 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:55,320 Speaker 1: the spirit world. In fact, he was so interested in 129 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:58,320 Speaker 1: the idea that he made a pact with his wife, 130 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:02,440 Speaker 1: Bessie Houdini, and with they're close friends. They said that 131 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:05,760 Speaker 1: whichever of them died first would try their best to 132 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:10,520 Speaker 1: make contact from the great beyond. A few of Houdini's 133 00:09:10,559 --> 00:09:15,200 Speaker 1: friends passed away before him, but he never heard from them. Then, 134 00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:18,640 Speaker 1: after his own death, Houdini's wife held a seance and 135 00:09:18,679 --> 00:09:22,480 Speaker 1: hopes that he might try to contact her. She tried 136 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:26,840 Speaker 1: again and again each Halloween on the anniversary of his death, 137 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:31,920 Speaker 1: but shortly before her own death in she made peace 138 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:35,600 Speaker 1: with the idea that no response was coming, but that 139 00:09:35,720 --> 00:09:39,800 Speaker 1: hasn't stopped other people from trying to connect with Houdini. 140 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:43,720 Speaker 1: Thousands of fans and true believers have kept the tradition 141 00:09:43,760 --> 00:09:48,120 Speaker 1: alive for almost a century. The main attempt is through 142 00:09:48,160 --> 00:09:53,360 Speaker 1: in official invitation only seance that changes location but has 143 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:57,559 Speaker 1: always held on Halloween. There's also a long running ceremony 144 00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:01,640 Speaker 1: held each year in early November at Houdini's final resting 145 00:10:01,679 --> 00:10:06,440 Speaker 1: place in New York City's mock Pela Cemetery. Members of 146 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:11,160 Speaker 1: the Society of American Magicians gather there to reenact a 147 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:15,360 Speaker 1: portion of Houdini's funeral by breaking a wooden Wand and 148 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:20,320 Speaker 1: reciting the following line. The curtain has at last been 149 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:26,320 Speaker 1: wrung down. The Wand is broken. So far, after all 150 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:30,160 Speaker 1: this time, none of the rituals have succeeded in making 151 00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:34,920 Speaker 1: contact with Houdini. But you never know. The magician may 152 00:10:35,000 --> 00:10:39,400 Speaker 1: have one last trick up his sleeve, and tonight could 153 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:45,880 Speaker 1: be the night. Happy Halloween, everybody. I'm Gaye Lousier and 154 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:49,360 Speaker 1: hopefully you now know a little more about history today 155 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:53,040 Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. If you enjoyed this week's shows, 156 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:57,040 Speaker 1: consider following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at t 157 00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:00,720 Speaker 1: d I HC show. You can also leave us a 158 00:11:00,760 --> 00:11:03,959 Speaker 1: review on Apple Podcasts, or you can send your thoughts 159 00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:07,240 Speaker 1: directly to me at this Day at I heart media 160 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:11,440 Speaker 1: dot com. Thanks as always to Chandler Mays for producing 161 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:14,559 Speaker 1: the show, and thank you so much for listening. I'll 162 00:11:14,559 --> 00:11:17,640 Speaker 1: see you back here again tomorrow for another Day in 163 00:11:17,760 --> 00:11:28,400 Speaker 1: History class. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit 164 00:11:28,440 --> 00:11:31,080 Speaker 1: the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 165 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:32,000 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.