Harry Houdini was born in Budapest in 1874 and died in Detroit in 1926. These basic facts are not in dispute – unlike the circumstances and cause of his death which are not so clear cut.
How did Harry Houdini die is a question that could be rephrased as WHY did he die, and could his death have been prevented?
To understand why there is any dispute about his death it is necessary to know something about his life.
Harry Houdini’s birth name was Erik Weisz. He was brought up in a religious Jewish family. He had six siblings and his father was a Rabbi. The family left Hungary for the United States in 1878 where they settled in Appleton, Wisconsin; his father became the Rabbi for the local reform Jewish congregation.
Erik entered the entertainment business at the tender age of nine as a trapeze artist. Later he extended his career and became a professional magician. He took the name “Harry Houdini” out of admiration for a famous French magician of the period, Eugène Robert-Houdin.
However, in 1908, Houdini published a book denouncing his former mentor as a liar and a fraud for claiming to have invented illusions which belonged to others. In later life he took issue with other magicians and illusionists, accusing them of fraud and deception.
Houdini attacked self-proclaimed psychics and mediums. His knowledge of magic allowed him to expose fraudsters who had successfully fooled many scientists and academics. He belonged to a Scientific American committee that offered a cash prize to any medium who could successfully demonstrate supernatural abilities. The prize was never collected.
The relevance of Houdini’s actions in creating many enemies will be explained later in respect of the “why” aspect of his death.
There is no question that Harry Houdini was the most well known and successful illusionist and escapologist of his time – perhaps of all time. Even to this day, his name is used as an analogy for escaping from seemingly impossible situations.
He led a high profile and colorful life, which is why the circumstances of his death are so strange and mysterious.
One version claims that a student in Montréal asked Houdini if his stomach was strong enough to take a hard blow. When Houdini replied in the affirmative, the student, without warning, hit Houdini very hard several times before he was able to tense his stomach muscles.
Houdini was not prepared for the attack because he was reclining on a couch at the time, having broken his ankle several days earlier. An eyewitness said that Houdini winced at each blow and stopped the student suddenly in the midst of a punch, indicating that he had had enough. There is no doubt that, had his ankle not been broken, he would have got up from the couch in order to brace himself.
Although in considerable pain, Houdini performed on stage the same night. Later, he was unable to sleep and remained in constant pain for the next two days.
For some reason, he did not seek medical help. When he did eventually see a doctor, Harry was found to have a fever of 102 °F (38.9 °C) and acute appendicitis, He was told to have immediate surgery.
He ignored the advice and decided to go on with the show. When Houdini arrived at the Garrick Theater in Detroit, Michigan on October 24, 1926, for what would be his last performance, he had a fever of 104 °F (40 °C). It was reported that he fainted during the show, but was revived and continued.
After the show Houdini was hospitalized at Detroit’s Grace Hospital where he died of peritonitis from a ruptured appendix on October 31, at he age of 52. Whether or not his death was a direct result of the blows to his stomach is disputed, since he had already been suffering appendicitis prior to the incident, and refused to seek medical attention.
In his final days, Harry Houdini optimistically believed he would recover, but his last words before dying were reportedly, “I’m tired of fighting”.
In a bizarre twist on the true reason for Houdini’s death, on March 22, 2007, Houdini’s grand-nephew George Hardeen, announced that he would apply to the court for permission to exhume Houdini’s body. The declared purpose was to investigate the possibility of Houdini having been murdered by those Spiritualists who he had exposed so long ago.
The family of Houdini’s wife, Bess, opposed the application saying it was simply a publicity ploy for the biography “The Secret Life of Houdini” by authors Kalush and Sloman. The application was not pursued.
So, how did Harry Houdini die? Natural causes? Involuntary manslaughter? Or was he murdered?
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