Overview
- On Friday, Oct. 30, a performer calling himself Houdini II completed an upside-down straitjacket escape suspended about nine stories above the Magic Castle in Hollywood, a stunt organizers and some outlets said was done without an airbag beneath him.
- The Detroit Historical Society marked the 100th anniversary with museum events recalling Houdini’s Oct. 24, 1926 Garrick Theatre performance, his collapse, and his week-long hospital stay at Grace Hospital that ended with his death on Oct. 31, 1926.
- Historical accounts reported in local coverage continue to cite appendicitis and peritonitis as the medical cause of his death while noting the disputed claim that a Montreal student’s punches days earlier may have worsened his condition.
- Magic Castle organizers and long-standing aficionado groups kept ritual observances this weekend, with Rob Zabrecky and others leading planned séances and gatherings that magicians have held since the 1940s.
- The centennial has driven renewed public interest in Houdini’s life and stunts, boosting museum programming and high-profile reenactments while no new forensic evidence has emerged to change the century-old medical account.