- Houdini was not born in the United States, but in Budapest, Hungary.
- Houdini had five brothers and a sister, but had no children of his own.
- Houdini (born Erich Weiss) took his stage name in honor of French magician Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, but later wrote the book The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin, and exposed many of the great magician's methods.
- Houdini was a movie producer and actor, a magician, an escape artist and an exposer of fraudulent mediums.
- Houdini was one of the first people to pilot an airplane in Australia, and he held a U.S. patent for a diving suit.
- Houdini was the star of a very early motion picture, a French film made in 1901 by cinema pioneer Charles Pathé.
- Houdini owned his own movie studio, the Houdini Pictures Corporation.
- Houdini was the one who gave Joseph "Buster" Keaton his memorable name.
- Houdini became the most famous escape artist of all time, but he was not double-jointed, as is sometimes reported. He was, however, an exercise enthusiast and was exceptionally physically fit.
- Houdini served as president of the Society of American Magicians from 1917 until his death in 1926; no other person has served for more than one year to this day.
- Houdini used the pen name " N. Osey" when he acted as Overseas Correspondent for the magazine Mahatma. N. Osey = Nosey. Get it?
- Houdini's house in New York City is still standing, and still sports the custom inlaid floor tiles with Houdini's HH initials.
- By 1921, Houdini's name was such a household word that Funk and Wagnall's New Dictionary turned his name into a verb, "Houdinize", which was defined as "to release or extricate oneself from confinement, bonds or the like, as by wriggling out."
- Houdini did not die while performing the Water Torture Cell illusion, but died of peritonitis from a ruptured appendix (the same condition that killed movie star Rudolph Valentino).
- Houdini died in Grace Hospital in Detroit on Halloween.
- The Broken Wand ceremony was conducted for the first time at Houdini's grave on November 4, 1926. It is a tradition that still continues today.
- Houdini is the invited guest at séances held every Halloween, the anniversary of his death.
- Houdini's brother, Hardeen, was a Leap Year Centennial baby- he was born on February 29, 1876, one hundred years after the Declaration of Independence.
- Houdini is still today one of the ten most recognized celebrity names in the world.
- Houdini has been given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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