Harry Houdini

Harry Houdini (March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was the stage name of Ehrich Weiss (born Weisz Erik in the native Hungarian), one of the most famous magicians, escapologists, and stunt performers of all time as well as an investigator of spiritualists.

Death

Houdini's last performance was at the Garrick Theatre in Detroit, Michigan on October 24, 1926. The next day he was hospitalized at Detroit's Grace Hospital.

Related Topics:
Garrick Theatre - Detroit, Michigan - October 24 - 1926 - Grace Hospital

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Houdini died of peritonitis from a ruptured appendix on Halloween, October 31, 1926, at the age of 52. Houdini had sustained a blow to his abdomen from McGill University boxing student J. Gordon Whitehead in Montreal two weeks earlier. A long-standing part of Houdini's act was to ask a member of the audience to punch him in the abdomen, but Houdini was reclining on his couch after his performance, in this instance, and was struck several times, without the opportunity to prepare himself for the blows. http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1098957546429 Despite popular belief, the appendicitis and not the blow was the cause of his death -- the pain inflicted by the blows probably 'masked' the pain of the appendicitis, preventing the performer from seeking treatment. http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/houdini.htm

Related Topics:
Peritonitis - Appendix - Halloween - October 31 - 1926 - Abdomen - McGill University - J. Gordon Whitehead - Montreal - Appendicitis

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Houdini's funeral was held on November 4 in New York, with over two thousand mourners in attendance. He was interred in the Machpelah Cemetery, Queens, New York, with the crest of the Society of American Magicians inscribed on his gravesite. The Society holds their "Broken Wand" ceremony at the gravesite on the anniversary of his death to this day.

Related Topics:
November 4 - Queens, New York - Society of American Magicians

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