The Great and Terrible Harry Houdini: 7 magician’s hoaxes that shocked the world

Of course, nowadays Houdini’s magic tricks have their own simple explanation. But in those years, spectators fainted from excitement and worry.

Harry Houdini was brilliant and extraordinary in everything. And, alas, there was always a curse hanging over him. For example, even the birthday of Eric Weiss – so really called the future “great and terrible Harry Houdini” – is associated with tragic events that can only be explained by the intervention of supernatural forces.

So seriously believed Rabbi Meyer Samuel Weiss – the father of the unsurpassed magician, legendary illusionist, whose tricks still cause genuine interest. The basis for this statement was the fact that on March 24, 1874 in Budapest, when Harry Houdini was born, his two older brothers died suddenly.

Harry Houdini, 1919

The little magician

The move of the large family to America, where it settled in the small town of Appleton in the state of Wisconsin, became for Eric Weiss fateful. It is from this remote place will begin his new life, full of wonderful discoveries, future unrivaled so far unrivaled tricks and magic tricks.

The inquisitive boy pestered the adults with questions, often without an answer. The stern father, who did not seem to be interested in children at all, only persistently changed the locks of the cupboard. Much to his surprise, the candy stored there was greatly reduced each time. If he had known that Eric was stealing candy all the time, the latter would have been in trouble.

The boy was already well versed in the various mechanisms, and it was not difficult for him to open a lock with the most complicated secrets. In this respect, he could outdo any experienced “bear-snatcher”.

Harry Houdini, 1918

Eric’s sharp and inquisitive mind absorbed knowledge. One day he worked in a locksmith shop for several months. At the end of the term, the local craftsman, who was famous for his art, only waved his hands. Eric Weiss beat him to the punch and made a miracle lock pick. It could be used to open any door.

At 11, Eric Weiss dropped out of school, and at 16, he left home for good. The family breathed a sigh of relief: an extra mouth in dire poverty created a lot of problems. Stuffed with knowledge from “Memoirs of Robert Goodin, ambassador, writer and magician, written by himself” – Eric with his head rushed into the whirlpool of a new life. By the way, decades later he would call this opus a hymn to charlatanism. And the author himself – an insignificant deceiver. However, remade in his own way stage pseudonym – Harry Houdini – will keep until the last days.

Debut

The first performances in public did not bring much success. Disappointed Harry Houdini, literally sparkling with brilliant ideas, suddenly came to a conclusion. It turns out that it is not enough to work on yourself, perfecting tricks and tricks. It is necessary to create in front of people to create the magic of sorcery, exciting to the point of fainting. However, Houdini was well aware that in this business, full of all sorts of secrets, it is impossible to do without advertising and PR.

Thanks to journalists, now the demonstration of tricks gathered crowds of people. “The Man Who Walks Through a Wall”, “Chinese Water Torture Chamber”, “Release from chains and handcuffs from a tightly tied bag” and other famous tricks of Harry Houdini became in our time unraveled classics. But at the time, they inspired a genuine awe for the mystical.

Wilhemina – the great illusionist’s beloved wife – mentally buried him every time he performed risky tricks. Constant anxiety for the life of her extraordinary husband made her existence extremely difficult. Despite the fallen on the poor couple of great wealth, luxury, world fame, she felt miserable. Harry Houdini walked a razor’s edge, testing fate. And many of the acts he performed were characterized by recklessness.

We have collected the most famous tricks of the great and terrible Houdini, which have become classics in the world of magic and tricks.

“Jailbreak”

It must be said that often Harry Houdini’s tricks stumped even seen kinds of illusionists. In 1903, the commandant of the gloomy Peter and Paul casemate convinced the great magician that he would never be able to escape from the local cell. To the amazement of the Russian general, 20 minutes later Harry Houdini in prisoner’s clothes already greeted the commandant. It was only many years later that it turned out that during the long, farewell kiss, the faithful Wilhemina had managed to give her husband a barely perceptible, very tiny lockpick.

Harry Houdini, 1898

“The Man Who Walks Through the Wall.”

The wall was built right in front of the audience on stage. Assistants laid bricks and invited the audience to check the strength and absence of cracks, loopholes and passages. Harry found himself hidden from the eyes of the audience by the brickwork.

Yes, the wall was indeed deaf and solid. Then it was covered with screens – like curtains on both sides. And throughout the number, Harry would miraculously find himself on one side of the screen or the other. But how could he do it? It was impossible to get around the wall. It felt like he was walking through it.

Funny, but the audience did not notice one important element of the number. It was the carpet on which the wall was built. Underneath it was a floor hatch. Harry would go down it and come out the other side of the wall!

Tangled himself out of his straitjacket

“You’d think his hands and feet were thinking beings with their own will and vision,” contemporaries said of Houdini. He was called the “plasticine man” who completely owns his own body, performing the most complicated tricks with it.

In Kansas City, a crowd of people watched with bated breath as Harry Houdini in a tightly closed straitjacket, suspended by his legs at a decent height in front of the post office building, got out of it in two minutes. The disgraced chief of the city police, who claimed that such a thing had never been done in the world, was at a complete loss. In addition, he had to pay a large sum of money for the lost bet.

Harry Houdini, 1915

“Liberation from the box under water.”

It is worth noting that Harry had an excellent physical shape and practiced sports. Strength, flexibility and agility allowed him to pull off such complicated tricks. And he was also an excellent inventor and himself designed all the necessary devices for the numbers. About the secret locks, latches and other tricks knew only he and only a small fraction of the closest people.

In 1912, Houdini demonstrated a public trick on a barge near the East River. First, Harry was shackled (both hands and feet), placed in a wooden sarcophagus, nailed to it, wrapped in heavy chains and… thrown overboard. A few minutes later, a triumphant Harry swam to the surface with his arms and legs free. The audience cheered!

Later, Harry’s secret was revealed. He had made air holes in the box, and the bottom of the sarcophagus was secured by a latch, which Harry could undo with a single movement. The magician had used his famous lockpick to open the shackles while he was still on land. All he had to do was drop the handcuffs in the box, unlock the floor, and swim out.

Harry Houdini, 1912

“The Disappearance of the Living Elephant.”

Harry Houdini was not a bad psychologist and once demonstrated with his own eyes what a visual deception is. In 1918 at the racetrack in New York, he led a five-ton elephant Jenny in the enclosure. Houdini’s assistants threw a white blanket over the elephant. The famous magician fired a gun into the air. A second later, the cloth was pulled off the enclosure – and the audience gasped in amazement!

It was as if the elephant had vanished into thin air. The secret of such a trick was simple. The shot distracted the attention of the audience, and the blanket turned out to be double: under the white cloth there was a black one, which merged with the general background. And Jenny, hidden from human eyes, but you could say in full view of them, was peacefully munching on a banana.

Jumping off a bridge in handcuffs.

One day in Detroit, Houdini decided to shock the crowd once again. Handcuffed, Harry jumped off a bridge into a river. And did not even pay attention to the fact that the water surface since morning was covered with thick ice. It took Houdini eight minutes to get out of the bottom of the river, each time bumping his head on the ice armor.

Poor Wilhemina was already dropping bitter tears when he finally appeared before her eyes alive and unharmed. And some zealous journalists were already rushing to write obituaries. The incident shocked people. The world began to say that Harry Houdini was just a magician who could not be killed.

Harry Houdini, 1923

Out of the grave

In the fantastic career of Harry Houdini there is another story when, according to the famous illusionist, he truly panicked and almost fainted from fear.

In Los Angeles, the unrivaled magician bet that he would get out of the deepest grave in a matter of minutes. At first, everything went according to plan. But then Harry Houdini, covered with sand, suddenly began to gasp for breath, his consciousness became hazy, and hallucinations appeared. Only by an incredible effort of will he took control of himself to free himself from captivity.

Once Houdini admitted to journalists: “In all cases, the main thing for me – to defeat fear. No matter whether I am stripped naked and shackled, whether placed in a securely locked box and thrown into the water or buried alive in the grave, I must maintain absolute calm and composure. At the same time, I have to work literally lightning fast and with the greatest precision. If I panic for a second, I will die.

Last years

Harry Houdini was talented at everything. He opened his own movie studio, starred in movies. Harry was fabulously rich and spent money with amazing speed, helping everyone who needed help. It would seem that he achieved world fame, next to his beloved wife Wilhemina, his mother, whom he arranged a truly royal life, so that she forever forgot about the former poverty.

Alas, the famous wizard could not have children. It was said that the blame for this was the experiments on him Leopold’s brother Leopold – a famous radiologist. And, probably, increased doses of radiation led to infertility. It was a real tragedy for Wilhemina and Harry.

Harry Houdini and his wife Wilhemina, 1913

The death of the great illusionist was ridiculous and unexpected. While on tour, Houdini was approached by a student – Gordon Whitehead, a college boxing champion. The guy bet with the magician, say, whether Harry really has impenetrable abs that will withstand any blows.

Houdini barely had time to answer in the affirmative, as Gordon landed crushing blows in the area of the magician’s abdomen. Caught off guard, Houdini stopped the student, tensed his abs and offered to strike again. Harry won the argument. A couple of days later, he was urgently hospitalized.

Unfortunately, what happened to him provoked acute peritonitis. After the operation, Harry Houdini lived a few more days. He died on October 31, 1926 in Detroit at the age of 52 years. And although his coffin was followed by thousands of people, – all waited for a miracle. What if it was just another Harry Houdini trick. And he watches the funeral procession with a skeptical smile, shuffling among those walking down the street.

“No man is great while he lives. Because on the last day before he dies, he may do something that will nullify all the greatness of his career,” said the great and terrible Harry Houdini in his last interview.