Today's
birthday boy has one of the best job titles ever: he was an
escapologist!
An
escapologist?
One who escapes from chains and handcuffs, sometimes
under water—maybe even upside down and under water! Houdini
regularly escaped from handcuffs inside a sealed over-sized milk can
filled with water. The milk can was sometimes locked inside a wooden
chest, as well, or inside another sealed milk can, or chained and
padlocked.
Another popular Houdini escape act was really weird:
Houdini was strapped into a straitjacket and then suspended by his
ankles from a tall building. He would make his escape in front of a
crowd of people on the street—and when I say “crowds,” I mean
crowds that sometimes numbered in the thousands! These crowds would
spontaneously gather as more and more people ran to see what was
going on; and, of course, any time you get a crowd of thousands of
people, there is going to be a huge traffic jam! In New York City,
Houdini sometimes brought blocks worth of cars to a standstill.
Aside
from all the fantastic escapes, Houdini was a magician, stunt
performer, actor, film producer, and aviator.
But
an even better job title was this:
GHOSTBUSTER!
In
my opinion, Harry Houdini's most important, and most admirable, role
was skeptic. He set out to expose frauds who pretended to be in touch
with dead people, also known as the “dearly departed.” Psychics,
mediums, and spiritualists claimed to be able to reach the dead
relatives of grief-stricken people, and they charged a lot of money
for these services. Houdini's training in magic helped him to figure
out how these so-called psychics were able to trick customers and
even scientists. He debunked so many frauds who were supposedly in
touch with ghosts, that he became known as the ghostbuster.
Cool,
huh?
Houdini
would disguise himself so that the medium or psychic wouldn't
recognize him, and he would go to a séance with a police officer and
reporter. He would figure out the psychic's tricks and then expose
the fakery to all.
Here
you can read about an amazing magic trick, or illusion, that Houdini
once performed on his one-time friend, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who
was the author of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries.
Here
you can see a straitjacket escape by Houdini.
Here
is a picture of a 2002 Houdini postage stamp, along with some
interesting biographical info on the world-famous magician.
Oh,
by the way...
- “Harry Houdini” was a stage name. Houdini's real name was Erik Weisz, later changed to Ehrich Weiss.
- Houdini (then Weisz) was born in Hungary on this date in 1874, and he came to America when he was four years old.
- Houdini died on Halloween Day!
Also
on this date:
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