Magician and escape artist, Harry Houdini, made a fortune from seemingly extricating himself from the clutches of death time and time again, but the true cause of his death in 1926 remains shrouded in mystery. Now, eighty years later, his nephew George Hardeen, wants his body exhumed to verify rumors that Houdini was poisoned by Spiritualists.
The tale most commonly told about how Houdini came to die is that his appendix ruptured after a McGill university student approached him after a show and repeatedly punched him in the stomach to test his claims of extraordinary strength. Houdini had no time to tighten his stomach muscles and experienced extreme pain from the blows. He carried on and performed two more shows before being forced to go to the hospital and have his appendix removed. After two operations, Houdini died in Detroit at the age of 52 on Halloween night.
It’s likely that Houdini died from an already existing appendicitis, aggravated by the punches, but many people believe he was murdered via poisoning by a group known as the Spiritualists. This sect believed in the possibility of contacting spirits from the afterlife and regularly conducted public séances to raise the dead. Houdini turned to these mediums and psychics, after the death of his mother, hoping for a reunion with her. It soon became obvious to him that they were using standard magic tricks to make money off their gullible customers and he was outraged that they would milk people‘s misery, Houdini began to research them and exposed their fraud to the public in his own performances.
Apparently evidence exists that he may have been poisoned by arsenic or another deadly substance, and the Spiritualists are his most likely enemies. The other oddity noticed by a doctor is that Houdini’s death certificate notes his appendix as being on the left side, rather than the right. The truth about the “Handcuff King”’s demise could come forth through the exhumation of Houdini’s body. Such an investigation has been requested by the great-grandnephew of Houdini, George Hardeen.
Maybe Houdini will reveal his last secret.
