100 years later, Harry Houdini's death still haunts Detroit
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death → haunt → Detroit
This Halloween marks the 100th anniversary of the death of the legendary magician Harry Houdini.
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Halloween → mark → magician
He earned his reputation by freeing himself from traps that seemed impossible for a mere mortal to survive.
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mortal → earn → traps
But Houdini couldn't escape the ultimate fate waiting for him in Detroit on Oct. 31, 1926, and his spirit still haunts the Motor City.
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spirit → escape → City
Houdini performed in Detroit 19 times between the early days of his career in 1894 and the final show of his life in 1926.
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Houdini → perform → 1926
The trajectory took him from being a bottom-of-the-bill act to one of the most famous entertainers in the world.
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trajectory → take → world
He escaped obscurity by declaring no set of handcuffs or jail cell could hold him.
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set → escape → him
He dangled upside down from office buildings wearing a straitjacket, dramatically removing them in full view of those raptly watching below.
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He → dangle → those
Sometimes the buildings housed a local newspaper, ensuring free publicity for Houdini's upcoming stage shows.
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buildings → house → shows
In 1906, Houdini jumped two dozen feet from Detroit's Belle Isle Bridge into the frigid river below, bound with two sets of police handcuffs.
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Houdini → jump → handcuffs
He emerged unscathed, but the legend around it grew.
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legend → emerge → it
The escape artist had leaped into a hole in ice covering the river, the story went, finding air pockets to breathe in before finally surfacing.
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story → leap → pockets
Reports from the time show the river was not actually frozen.
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river → show → time
But that didn't stop movies decades later from portraying it that way.
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that → stop → it
He even scared his assistants
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He → scar → assistants
As his fame grew, and a series of other magicians began copying his escapes, Houdini ramped up the stakes, stacking one increasingly death-defying feat on top of another.
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Houdini → grow → another
By 1914 he had unveiled his signature stunt, the Water Torture Cell, a coffin-sized box, filled with water.
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he → unveil → water
Houdini was lowered into it head first, both his ankles and the top of the box locked.
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ankles → lower → box
A curtain was raised to hide the magician's method of escape from the audience.
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curtain → raise → audience
Even Dorothy Young, who toured with Houdini as a stage assistant when she was 17-years-old and had seen the act many times, had goosebumps.
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she → tour → goosebumps
"Mrs. [Houdini] always stood in the wings because they had a secret code in case he couldn't get out," Young said in a 2004 interview with NPR.
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Young → stand → NPR
"I always watched because it was very exciting!"
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it → watch → ?
Houdini's final show
Young was the last surviving person to have worked with Houdini before she, too, died in 2011.
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she → survive → 2011
A few years before her death, Young recalled how many movies exaggerated the circumstances of Houdini's demise.
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movies → recall → demise
He did not, as at least one movie depicts, dramatically struggle to escape the torture cell.
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movie → depict → cell
Houdini's death likely stemmed from an incident just before his arrival in Detroit.
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death → stem → Detroit
Houdini routinely boasted that he could withstand any blow to his stomach.
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he → boast → stomach
In his dressing room at a show in Montreal, a college wrestler accepted that challenge and punched him several times before Houdini could tighten his muscular midsection.
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Houdini → accept → midsection
"One time he showed me that he had a way of doing it," Young said.
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Young → show → it
"And to think those boys didn't give him a chance to get himself protected."
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himself → think → chance
Houdini was in severe pain, and doctors advised him to rest.
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doctors → advise → him
But he refused to cancel a series of shows already scheduled in Detroit.
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he → refuse → Detroit
Houdini was under financial pressure to fulfill his contract, according to Jeremy Dimick, a curator at the Detroit Historical Museum.
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Houdini → fulfill → Museum
Dimick said Houdini only made it through one performance.
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Houdini → say → performance
"He doesn't have the strength to put his makeup on before the show, and he's kind of collapsing during the intermissions of the show," Dimick said.
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Dimick → have → show
"And then he has to be literally carried from the Garrick Theater back to his hotel."
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he → have → hotel
Houdini was taken to Grace Hospital, where doctors found he had ruptured his appendix.
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he → take → appendix
Several days and two surgeries later, on Halloween, Houdini breathed his last.
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Houdini → breathe → last
Houdini's Detroit haunts have vanished
Now the theater, the hotel, even the hospital are gone.
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theater → vanish → ?
The Detroit funeral home that embalmed him became a girls' art school, which also eventually shut its doors.
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which → embalm → doors
…and 32 more, not listed.
The Aporia
