Detroit Marks Houdini’s 100th Death Anniversary

Harry Houdini performed in Detroit 19 times, from 1894 through his last career performance ever held in 1926. The escape artist built a career on stunts involving handcuffs, straitjackets and underwater escapes, drawing large crowds to the city during its boom years.

Some of his best-known feats took place in Detroit. He plunged from the Belle Isle Bridge into the river while wearing police restraints and once hung from the Fife Building above Grand Circus Park. Stories later embellished the bridge escape, including claims that Houdini had leapt beneath ice, though accounts from the time said the river was not frozen.

Houdini’s final performances came after he was injured in Montreal. A college wrestler punched him in the abdomen before he had prepared to brace himself, and he became severely ill. Despite doctors’ advice to rest, Houdini traveled to Detroit to meet his performance commitments. He managed one show before being taken to a hotel and then Grace Hospital, where doctors found a ruptured appendix. After two operations, he died on October 31, 1926.

The Detroit Historical Museum’s Halloween event will revisit Houdini’s local career and legacy. The theater where he performed, his hotel and the hospital where he was treated are no longer standing. His wife, Bess, held séances for years in an effort to contact him, but later said she had received no sign from her husband.