DETROIT (WWJ) -- Nearly 100 years ago, Harry Houdini gave his final performance at a theater in Detroit while in excruciating pain with a fever of 104 degrees.
Several days later, Houdini would take his last breath in a Detroit hospital room on Halloween at the age of 52. But the spirit of the famed escape artist and magician continues to live on…possibly in more ways than one.
On this special spooky edition of The Daily J podcast, WWJ’s Zach Clark and Annie Scaramuzzino reflect on how Harry Houdini’s death in Detroit on Oct. 31, 1926 solidified his career-spanning connection to the city, and the ways in which his presence is still felt here to this day.
Many feel as though they are familiar with the story of Houdini’s untimely death, but there are several misconceptions about the days leading up to his passing.
While in Montreal for a performance on Oct. 22, 1926, Houdini was approached by a person — some say a student named J. Gordon Whitehead — who requested to strike him in the stomach to test his infamous physical strength.
The blows left Houdini in severe pain, though some have claimed he hadn’t been feeling well prior to the incident.
Despite his poor health, Houdini boarded a train from Montreal to Detroit for an upcoming performance. Many believe his last show took place at the Majestic Theatre on Woodward Avenue, but it was actually the since-demolished Garrick Theatre where Houdini took his final bow.
On Oct. 24, a very sick Houdini struggled through his performance at the Garrick, which was located at 1122 Griswold Street. Reports say the audience could tell something was off about Houdini that night, but he had insisted on finishing the show.
The showman was then taken back to his room at the Statler Hotel, and later to Grace Hospital, where he underwent an appendectomy on Oct. 25.
After days of fighting, Houdini ultimately died on Oct. 31, 1926 at 1:26 p.m. in room 401 at Grace Hospital in Detroit.
The cause of his death has come under question through the decades, partially due to the fact that Houdini had, in recent years, made a great deal of enemies in the Spiritualist community by embarking on a mission to debunk fraudulent mediums, who claimed they could communicate with the dead.
As a result, those who he spoke out against claimed credit for prophesying his death, with some even suggesting he’d been poisoned by an adversary.
Still, the official cause of death listed on Houdini’s death certificate was peritonitis, the result of a burst appendix — which historians say had nothing to do with poisoning, and perhaps wasn’t even directly related to the stomach-punch he’d endured days prior.
After his passing, the body of Houdini was taken to the W.R. Hamilton and Co. Funeral Home on Cass Avenue to be prepared for forthcoming funeral services. That building still stands to this day in the Cass Corridor.
One story says that Houdini was then placed in a coffin that he had planned to use as a prop for one of his escape acts. He was then taken by train from Michigan Central Station in Detroit to New York City for his widely-attended funeral.
Despite his crusade to expose frauds in the Spiritualist community, Houdini was said to have been a believer in the beyond. The year after his death, Houdini’s wife Bess began holding an annual séance in an attempt to make contact with her late husband’s spirit.
In the decade that followed, séances were held each year on Halloween, but no significant contact was ever made with Houdini. Bess then decided to put an end to the séances, allegedly saying, “Ten years is long enough to wait for any man.”
Still, séances continue to be held by admirers of Houdini around the world on Halloween — having taken place locally at Detroit’s Masonic Temple, and the American Museum of Magic in Marshall, Mich.
Indeed, Detroit played a pivotal role in Harry Houdini’s history, and he performed in the city many times throughout his career, as it was a crucial stop on the vaudeville circuit.
In fact, his potentially most-infamous stunt was performed in Detroit in November of 1906, when he jumped off the Belle Isle Bridge into the Detroit River in a riveting endeavor later chronicled in the 1953 biopic “Houdini,” starring Tony Curtis.
Both the Detroit Historical Society and the American Museum of Magic and have honored Houdini’s connection to the city with programming throughout the years, the latter of which is hosting special lantern tours this Halloween weekend in commemoration of Houdini's passing.
In life and in death, Harry Houdini’s ties to Detroit remain strong — so much so that many still believe his soul still lingers on in the city.
Some have reported his spirit lurking in the halls of the Majestic Theatre, where he is said to have performed.
There have even been stories of his ghost appearing at the W.R. Funeral Home in the Cass Corridor, which was turned into the Detroit Art Center Music School in the 1980s, before ultimately closing its doors several years ago.
So this Halloween in Detroit, keep your eyes peeled for a sign from arguably the greatest showman of the last century.
Who knows? Harry Houdini might have one final trick up his sleeve after all…