The life and times of America's greatest magician

There is no question that Houdini is the most famous magician in history. His name is synonymous with escapes; his ability to get out of seemingly impossible situations- and his knack for publicizing these events- made him a legend in his own time. The Houdini myth is about to be examined, and truth really is stranger than fiction!

Houdini was a skeptic on the subject of spirits returning from the dead to speak to the living. He battled spiritualists in court, the most famous being the Boston medium named Margery. He duplicated the same "ghostly" phenomena as the mediums in a special Spirit Cabinet built for both courtroom use and for his stage shows. He argued at length with friend and ardent supporter of psychic phenomenon, author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Houdini's Secret Message

Despite his skepticism, Houdini and Bess devised a secret message that was to be used to test the validity of any so-called spirit message coming from either of them, should one or the other pass.

The message was based on both sentimentality and an old vaudeville mindreading routine. The message was, "Rosabelle- answer- tell- pray, answer- look- tell- answer, answer- tell". Bess' wedding band bore the inscription "Rosabelle", the name of the song she sang in her act when they first met. The other words correspond to a secret spelling code used to pass information between a magician and his assistant during a mentalism act. Each word or word pair equals a letter. The word "answer" stood for the letter "B", for example. "Answer, answer" stood for the letter "V". Thus, the Houdinis' secret phrase spelled out the word "BELIEVE".

Houdini Speaks! Or Does He?

Bess began the tradition of holding a séance to see whether Houdini, the Man No Jail Could Hold, could escape from death. These séances, of course, provided rich publicity, and Bess was dedicated to promoting the Houdini name.

In early 1929, a very ill Bess was approached by "Rev." Arthur Ford, a young and eager medium. Within weeks, Ford triumphantly announced that he had successfully delivered the correct message to Houdini's widow. It did not take long for the press to discover that Ford's claim was a hoax; and that Bess had inadvertently revealed the message to several reporters a full year before.

The 1936 séance was the last one that Bess conducted. Ten years was enough, and she admitted that she had never received the message from Houdini.

The magic fraternity quickly took on the task of the annual séances, with numerous notable magicians heading the table, including Walter Gibson, Houdini's ghostwriter.

The photo of the 1948 séance appearing here shows Walter Gibson at the top center, with Sidney Radner, Bob Lund, Litska Raymond and Chrystal Dunninger at the table as well.

Despite all of the effort, attention and interest, Houdini has apparently not spoken to anyone since he breathed his last earthly words to his brother Hardeen on Halloween night in 1926.