Fitzharris: Magic and mystery.
Everyone knows of Harry
Houdini.
In a trailblazing
30 year career,
he achieved
unparalleled success,
pioneering astounding illusions
unmatched to this day.
But then, at the
top of his game,
he suffered a bizarre
succession
of broken bones, physical
attacks and appendicitis.
In just a few weeks,
Houdini goes from peak
health to his grave.
Posnanski: There's no question
that the death was weird.
Fitzharris: Nearly
100 years later,
the fate of the
master escape artist
is still shrouded in mystery.
Dreyer: I personally think it
might have been poison.
Fitzharris: What, or who,
k*lled Harry Houdini?
I'm Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris.
I'm a medical historian
and best selling author,
with a PhD in the
history of science
and medicine from
Oxford University.
I've written about the
pioneering days of surgery,
about syphilis,
plagues and pandemics,
and even books
made of human skin.
Some might say I'm obsessed
with the macabre and with
death.
But I think the way people die
tells us a whole lot
about how they lived.
I'm going to explore some of
history's most famous lives
by looking at them through
their extremely curious deaths.
This is my investigation room
and here is my science lab
where Dr. Raychelle Burks
will be doing tests
and experiments for me.
And here is where my
crime solving partner,
former scotland yard
detective, Brian Hook,
helps me piece together
my investigations.
Call it biography with a twist.
A biography from the morgue.
I've always been
fascinated by Houdini,
the world's greatest showman,
and in particular
how he met his end.
When he died in 1926,
he'd been an international
celebrity for three decades.
Posnanski: At the very
height of his fame
he was more famous
in more countries
than any entertainer on Earth.
Here we are almost 100
years after his death
and he's still the most famous.
Lynch: Houdini was
the first Batman,
Houdini was busting bad guys
that pretended to have powers,
he was escaping from coffins,
he was starring in
movies with robots.
Houdini was legitimately the
first superhero in America.
He was one of the rare
people that has been able
to make their name
synonymous with their craft.
Posnanski: He was very
athletic,
that was really his
calling card.
He was a runner, he was
a swimmer, he was a boxer
who always claimed he could
have won a couple
of great titles.
Fitzharris: By 1926, the
year of his death,
Houdini is 52 years old,
still as physically
strong as ever,
and he's on tour of theaters
across North America.
So, when he dies unexpectedly
from appendicitis,
his legions of fans
are left in shock.
Appendicitis is most
common when you're young,
between the ages of 5 and 20.
Houdini is 52.
So, why does he get it
so get so late in life?
The problem is, no autopsy
and no medical investigation
is ever done to see how the
appendicitis was triggered.
This mystery has
led to a century
of m*rder conspiracy theories.
And I'm going to
start my investigation
in a rather curious way.
I've had this replica
body created out of gel
which behaves just
like a human body
and it's fully loaded with
a skeleton, blood,
and internal organs.
I'm going to be using the body
for some tests and experiments
to analyze what was
happening inside Houdini
during his last weeks alive.
So, what do we know
of the death itself?
What are the facts of the case?
This is death
certificate number 14840,
filed on November 1st 1926,
with the state of Michigan
Department of Health.
It states here that the "actor
and lecturer Harry Houdini
dies of diffuse peritonitis".
Peritonitis is an infection
of the stomach lining
and in this it's case caused
by the ruptured appendix.
But, because he
died so suddenly,
rumors of foul play have been
stirring up
controversy ever since.
I've asked my
chief investigator,
former scotland yard
detective, Brian Hook,
to put together an
investigation board for me.
Looking at all the
various allegations,
the first one that
stands out to me involves
a set of powerful
people in high places.
We know that Houdini dies
of a ruptured appendix.
Hook: Plain and
simple appendicitis.
It ruptured and he died.
Fitzharris: Okay, so why
have rumors persisted
that Houdini may
have been k*lled?
Hook: He had a long-running
feud with
a group of people called
the spiritualists.
Dreyer: The spiritualists,
who were they?
Well, that all started in
Hydesville,
in New York, in 1848.
A couple of sisters
Margaret and Kate Fox
convinced neighbors
that they were able
to speak to the
beyond, with spirits,
taking money from people
that lost their loved ones.
That started the
spiritualistic movement
to the point where
it became a religion.
And Houdini actually
called these spiritualists,
well, they're nothing
more than crooks.
Fitzharris: So, the
spiritualists are in the frame.
But there's another
suspect, Bess, his wife.
Brian's been looking into
her part in this mystery.
By all appearances, he
had a good marriage.
Why would bess be
a suspect here?
Hook: Money.
Plain and simple.
There's a theory that she stood
to gain from the insurance.
Fitzharris: The oldest motive
in the world.
How much was he insured for?
Hook: Reportedly $25,000.
Round about $350,000
in today's money.
Fitzharris: There are loads
of myths and legends
that conceal the secrets
of Houdini's death
as if behind a
magician's curtain.
I want to go back to
see if his early life
can throw up any clues.
Posnanski: So many of
the things we know
about Harry Houdini
today are not true.
He always told people he was
born in Appleton, Wisconsin,
and he was not, he was
actually born in Budapest,
and did not come over to the
States until he was four.
His name was Ehrich
Weiss at the time.
His family was very, very poor,
his father was a rabbi
who could not find work.
So, Houdini dropped
out of school
to make money and
help the family.
Then his father died
when he was 18 years old
and that was about the time
that
he discovered magic
and first went on tour.
It was incredibly difficult.
He was doing a couple of
tricks, 20 times a day.
So, it was very hard
work to the point
where he was ready to quit.
Fitzharris: I'm fascinated by
what drives him to keep going.
What is it about
Houdini's character
that makes him push
himself even further?
Lynch: Being an immigrant child
of a father who was poor,
he really felt that he needed
to take care of his
mother and become famous.
Houdini has this quote
that when I read it
I always get a little like,
like a little teary.
He would always
tell his mother that
he would pour gold in her apron
and I think he always
had that drive in him.
Fitzharris: But before he
hits the big time,
it's a long slog for Houdini.
Years of hard work on
the vaudeville circuit
performing with a
variety of other acts
in theaters now springing
up across America.
Posnanski: In 1899, he caught
his lucky break.
He met a man named Martin Beck
who was a great vaudeville
person of his time
and Martin Beck bluntly
said stop with the magic,
the magic isn't working for
you, you need to escape.
You have to get out of
handcuffs
and get out of jails
and get out of chains.
That's the stuff you do
that blows people's minds.
Beck told him if you do
escapes,
I'll find you
theaters to perform.
And from there he started
working his way to
the top of the act
and by the end of 1899 he
was already a bit of a star.
Fitzharris: To help me
understand Houdini's MO,
I need to meet an escape
artist.
Dave Goulding has spent years
researching Harry's
most hazardous stunts.
Dave, it's not every
day that I come across
someone carrying a
straitjacket.
I understand that Houdini would
take this out onto the street,
this wasn't done in a theater.
Goulding: Absolutely.
Houdini would get out of this
to generate publicity to sell
tickets for his theater shows.
He'd usually do it outside
a newspaper office.
Fitzharris: Wow.
Goulding: Quite often
hanging from their roof.
Fitzharris: And this helps
grow his reputation.
Goulding: Absolutely.
He was proving he could do
the impossible with
people watching.
Fitzharris: The ultimate
publicity stunt.
Goulding: Thousands of people
would turn up to see the shows.
Fitzharris: So, how
does it work?
Goulding: How about you try it?
Fitzharris: Well, this is gonna
be a first for me.
You can't help but
think of a straitjacket
when you think of Harry
Houdini.
But what of this strange
garment's dark and
sordid history?
One reference to a straitjacket
dates as far back as 1772.
It was used in the infamous
insane asylums of the period,
where people were treated less
as patients and
more as prisoners.
Many doctors considered
the straitjacket
more humane than the
traditional use of ropes or
chains
but on occasion, straitjackets
could also be deadly.
In 1829, a patient at the
asylum in Lincoln, England,
was found dead
from strangulation
after being strapped to
his bed in a straitjacket
and left unsupervised
overnight.
This tragedy
prompted authorities
in Lincoln to abolish
straitjackets.
Other asylums underwent similar
reforms in the 19th Century
as attitudes towards
mental illness
and care of the mentally
ill began to change.
Even as it began to fall from
favor in mental institutions,
the straitjacket continued
to live in the
public's imagination,
which is why it became such
a powerful symbol in
Houdini's repertoire.
Nowadays, you might see one
in a Harry Houdini-inspired
magic show
but thank goodness, certainly
not in a medical setting.
All right, here I am.
Where do I go from here?
Goulding: Turn around slightly,
cross your arms.
Fitzharris: Okay.
Goulding: I'm not going
to do this
quite as tight as
we normally would.
There we are.
That is nice and secure.
Turn round again.
Fitzharris: All right.
Goulding: How do you think
you take it off?
Fitzharris: You can't pull
it over your head,
it feels like one of
those finger traps
that gets tighter the
more you push against it.
To really be in one is
extremely claustrophobic.
I mean, I can't imagine being
in this for hours at a time.
It's horrible.
It's really horrible.
I'm just glad I'm not hanging
upside down over broadway.
Fitzharris: Although Houdini
regularly performed
the straitjacket stunt,
today there's only a few
people willing to attempt it.
Is that okay?
-Goulding: Yeah.
-Fitzharris: All right.
Luckily, dave is one of them.
Goulding: First of all,
I'm gonna try and
establish a bit of slack.
I'm gonna try and ease this
over my shoulder
and over my head.
Now, I have to try and
dislocate my shoulder.
One, two, three.
Fitzharris: Ow.
Goulding: Undo the neckstrap.
Fitzharris: Wow, well done.
All right, so how is it done?
Goulding: There's no trick
it was all visible.
It's a lot of practice,
a lot struggling.
Houdini used his concentration,
his powers and his hard
work to get freedom.
Fitzharris: Do you really have
to dislocate your shoulder?
Goulding: It's the only
way I know of doing it.
Fitzharris: What a performer.
Houdini defies logic.
He makes people feel
that, just for a moment,
the impossible is possible.
And he's the best at it.
Posnanski: He was very
different from other magicians.
Other magicians
for the most part
would show you something
that was obviously impossible
and you don't need
an explanation.
But with Houdini, all
of his great illusions
he'd be sitting in
front of you saying,
"I have brought
this thing with me,
I'm going to escape from it
and you're gonna be amazed".
Fitzharris: Houdini
took great pride
that he wasn't pretending
to have magical powers.
One defining moment
early in his career
shaped this lifelong principle.
Posnanski: When Houdini was
struggling and young,
he performed as a
medium a couple of times
with his wife bess
in a medicine show.
He would go to
the local cemetery
and try to read the tombstones
to learn information
about different people.
He was very smart
and shrewd and worked
and he made some
real money doing it.
But he hated it,
he felt like it was deceiving
people for the wrong reasons.
This is taking
advantage of people,
this is giving
people false hope.
Fitzharris: Now I understand
where his fight with
spiritualism began.
Posnanski: Later in his life
he spent so much time
unmasking mediums
and fighting spiritualism
and talking about
what frauds they were
and what fakes they were.
Fitzharris: And it's
his obsession
with exposing fraudsters
that would lead Houdini
on a collision course
with his most nefarious
enemies.
Posnanski: Houdini was
obsessed with death.
He believed in the
afterlife for sure.
But he did not
necessarily believe
that there was a real way
to connect to the afterlife
but he was fascinated
by the idea of it,
especially after
his mother died.
Fitzharris: Mediums are
charging huge fees to hold
seances
where they claim spirits can
communicate with the departed.
One of its leading disciples
is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
author of the Sherlock
Holmes mysteries.
Devastated by his own
son's death in World w*r I,
he never gave up hope of
communicating with him.
Houdini and Conan Doyle
had been close since 1920.
Posnanski: Houdini loved being
friends with Arthur Conan Doyle
because he was famous.
But Conan Doyle was
an absolute believer,
I mean,
like a complete believer.
Dreyer: He and Houdini had
an amazing rivalry,
Houdini, he would
say just admit it,
the way you're able to get
out of certain restraints.
You were just, kind of,
were able
to dematerialize right
through the walls.
Houdini said "Balderdash,
it's just a trick".
No, Conan Doyle says,
"My wife, lady Doyle,
will have a seance, we'll
bring back your mother".
Fitzharris: Houdini
had serious doubts,
but agreed to go
along with lady Doyle
and attend her seance.
Posnanski: She was saying
that she was writing
a note directly from his mother
but she wrote it in English.
Houdini's mother never
spoke to him in English,
she always spoke
to him in German.
So, he knew it was fraudulent.
Dreyer: Houdini was outraged.
No one should be
deceived that they think
they're talking
to their deceased
when it was just a
bunch of magic trickery.
Posnanski: Their friendship
broke up pretty hard.
You would never think that
of the inventor
of Sherlock Holmes
but even at the time a lot of
people thought he was a kook.
Fitzharris: So, Houdini's
public w*r with the
spiritualists
had its roots with his
private grief over his mother.
Hook: Well, you can see why
they wanted him out of the way.
They were making an
awful lot of money.
Fitzharris: So,
Houdini's challenge
was a real threat to them.
Hook: He was relentless in
his pursuit of them.
Posnanski: Houdini found a
whole other level of fame
unmasking mediums and
fighting spiritualism.
He would talk about
how they do it
and how they're deceiving you.
Hook: Houdini offered up
a reward of $10,000
to any psychic that
could prove him wrong.
It's reported that he spent
$40,000 of his own money.
And he went to congress to try
to outlaw fake spiritualists.
Dreyer: The only thing
that it got Houdini
was a lot of people wanting
to see him disappear
from this planet.
Hook: A high
society spiritualist
known as Madame Marcia,
accosted Houdini after
the congress hearings.
And she said to him, "When
November comes around,
you won't be here".
"How's that?". Replies Houdini.
And she says, "You'll be dead".
Dreyer: By 1926, various
spiritualists
were predicting that
Houdini will die.
In fact, Houdini
always made sure
he was carrying a
g*n at that time.
Houdini was really
concerned that,
yes, people were trying
to see him k*lled.
Fitzharris: Okay, this is
really interesting
but does m*rder actually
fit the medical facts?
How would they have done it?
Hook: Well, there is a
possibility, poison.
Dreyer: The spiritualists were
known to poison their enemies
and Houdini was
definitely an enemy.
That's what happened back then.
You messed with the
spiritualistic world,
you're gonna see death.
Hook: Even sir
Arthur Conan Doyle
said "You will get
your just desserts".
Fitzharris: But wanting someone
dead and doing it
are two very different things.
Hook: He had lots and
lots of death threats.
There's this woman
here, Margery Crandon.
She was a medium who apparently
had the paranormal ability
to talk to her dead brother.
She held dozens of
seances every year.
Houdini, undercover, went
along to some of them
and exposed her as a fraud
and that developed into
a long-standing feud.
Margery went public
with her death threat.
She said, "I put
a curse on you now
"that will follow you every day
for the rest of
your short life".
Fitzharris: It was back in
the summer of 1926,
at a New York charity
show organized
by a friend of Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle,
that Houdini's life
starts to unravel.
First, he damages
his right kidney
attempting to beat his
straitjacket escape record.
Later that same day,
Harry begins complaining
of stomach aches.
The pains become severe enough
for him to cancel engagements.
At the time, it was
blamed on food poisoning.
But there may have
been not just one,
but two other explanations.
The onset of his appendicitis
and the spiritualists'
favorite poison, arsenic.
Arsenic, odorless,
tasteless, deadly.
The perfect poison with which
to dispatch your enemies.
Criminal activity
associated with poison
dates all the way
back to the romans.
In 82 B.C., the statesman
Lucius Cornelius Sulla
passed the first-known
law against poisoning
in an attempt to end a
spate of assassinations.
What's surprising
about arsenic, though,
is that it used to be
considered quite safe in small
doses.
It was even trialed as a cure
for bubonic plague at one
point.
And during much of
the 19th Century,
it was used in cosmetics
and as a vibrant green dye
for wallpaper and fabrics.
The royal pharmaceutical
society claimed
that "it was
possible to purchase
arsenic as easily
as Epsom salts".
While cheerfully using the
poison as a colorful additive,
the Victorians also used it
for more nefarious activities.
Women, especially,
seemed fond of poisoning
unwanted family
members who stood
in the way of handy
life insurance policies.
This was such a
problem that arsenic
was dubbed "the
inheritance powder".
In 1851, during a debate in
the British house of lords
on the arsenic act legislation,
they even tried to forbid just
women from buying arsenic.
My expert analytical
chemist, Dr. Raychelle Burks,
has been exploring the mystery
of Houdini's stomach pains.
Burks: Identifying what
poison or infection
is inside a body can
be really difficult.
Fitzharris: Why is that?
Burks: The human body is
full of thousands
and thousands of chemicals
and we could potentially
be looking for just one.
Fitzharris: And in this case
there's no autopsy report.
Burks: There isn't
but there's other information
that can provide good clues.
If Houdini was suffering
from food poisoning,
he would possibly
feel abdominal pain
which could be quite severe,
fever, possibly vomiting.
Fitzharris: What if he
was suffering
from a deliberate
poison, say arsenic?
Burks: Well, arsenic
poisoning is interesting.
If administered in toxic doses,
the clinical features
of arsenic poisoning
initially relate to the
gastrointestinal system.
These are all the
symptoms that Houdini
said that he had and
was suffering from.
Fitzharris: So, is it possible
that the arsenic poisoning
could also have triggered
his appendicitis?
Burks: Nausea, vomiting, all
the classic signs of
appendicitis.
Fitzharris: So, appendicitis
caused by arsenic?
Burks: Exactly.
Fitzharris: Well, remember,
with Houdini
we don't have the
autopsy reports,
so I don't think we
can rule out anything.
Burks: Well, a properly
trained doctor
would have been able
to spot the difference.
Problem is Houdini
refused to see a doctor.
Fitzharris: So, Houdini is
already sick with what could be
deliberate poisoning and
the onset of appendicitis.
I want to take a closer look
at the next key date on
Houdini's stage tour,
October 11th, 1926.
It's just 20 days
before he dies.
Because now, weakened by
his chronic stomach illness
Houdini suffers
a serious injury.
It was the first time in 30
years of performing
that he has an accident caused
by equipment failure.
Already ill with a persistent
stomach ailment
and a painful kidney, 20 days
before the imminent death
the spiritualists
predicted for him,
Houdini is in Albany, New York,
where he as the next in a
series of bizarre misfortunes.
This time a disaster involving
his most notorious invention.
-Ah, Dave, there you are.
-Goulding: Hello again.
Fitzharris: What is this?
Goulding: This is a
water t*rture cell.
This was invented by Houdini
as a really nasty escape.
This was a sealed unit.
There was no false bottom.
It had water in it
maybe up to here.
Houdini would be shackled
by his ankles into the lid.
Locked securely.
He would then be hoisted
high, upside down.
Fitzharris: So, he's
chained he's lowered
into this tank full of water,
and then he has to escape.
Goulding: Absolutely.
The curtain draws across.
And so, the struggle begins.
He would ask the audience
to hold their breath,
see how long they could do it.
You'd hear gasps from
the audience after 30 seconds,
a minute, two or three minutes.
The audience would be
whipped into a frenzy.
They'd be demanding
that the two stage hands
with big axes go and break in.
Release him.
Houdini's gonna drown.
Posnanski: For years and
years and years,
people thought
that's how he died,
in the water t*rture cell.
But that is a complete myth
invented by the movie,
"Houdini", in 1953
with Tony Curtis.
Man: The
incomparable Houdini
who amazed the world with
his fantastic exploits.
Posnanski: The director
famously created a better death
for him.
In that movie he dies in
the water t*rture cell.
Fitzharris: The water cell
may not have k*lled him,
but like most of his tricks,
it was incredibly dangerous.
Posnanski: He actually
was doing things
that were very much
on the cutting edge.
There was real risk
but he mitigated
almost all of that risk by
being smart and planning ahead,
and being very exacting in
how he did his illusions.
Fitzharris: So, here
we have the lid.
How did he do it?
Goulding: This is my take on
it.
As he was lowered in and
the lid was put on top,
his two assistants
made the secret move.
If you look at the hinge
there, there's a pin.
And you can just ease it out.
Pull it out.
Fitzharris: Look at that!
The curtain would then drop.
Fitzharris: Okay.
Goulding: Houdini could
push with his feet.
It lifts.
He could climb out.
Close the lid behind him.
Fitzharris: Impressive,
really impressive.
I mean, him holding his breath
wasn't a trick, though.
Goulding: No, not at all.
And having the
agility and suppleness
to be able to turn around
in that small confined space
takes some doing as well.
Fitzharris: Yeah.
Goulding: And then
have the strength
remaining to pull yourself out.
Fitzharris: Absolutely.
It is incredible.
Lynch: Houdini, after
figuring out that,
he could fail at
some of these tricks
and that could
cost him his life,
usually built in fail safes
so he would always have
like kind of a way out,
so he usually had a backup plan
if he couldn't escape
from something.
The water t*rture cell, that
could cost him his life.
There are a lot of ways
things can go wrong
even if you do have a fail
safe.
Fitzharris: How does this work?
I assume you pull this up.
Goulding: Yes, please.
The last time he
performed this trick,
crucially, he was injured.
Fitzharris: How
does that happen?
Goulding: Houdini was lifted by
his assistants a couple
of feet off the floor, the
hoist mechanism had started.
Something went wrong
and it dropped.
This weight dropping onto
your ankle is gonna break it.
Fitzharris: Yeah.
That's one trick I
don't want to try.
Houdini once said, "The
easiest way to attract a crowd
"is to let it be known that
"at a given time
and a given place,
"someone is going
to attempt something
that in the event of failure
will mean sudden death".
It turns out that
trying to copy Houdini
is a really dangerous
thing to do.
In 2019, the indian
magician Wizard Mandrake
attempted a trick
inspired by Houdini.
He was shackled and lowered
into the Ganges River.
His final words, "If
I can open it up,
then, it will be magic, but if
I can't, it will be tragic".
Tragic it was.
He died performing this trick.
And here's a couple
of near misses.
British escapologist
Antony Britton attempted
the buried alive stunt that
nearly k*lled Houdini in 1915.
Britton's team was
forced to dig him out
and pull him to the
surface unconscious
after he failed to emerge
within nine minutes,
under six tons of earth.
Some in the audience
were in tears
as helpers cleared soil from
Britton's mouth and throat
before paramedics
administered oxygen.
In 2007, Japanese
magician Princess Tenko
became a human pin-cushion
when she was pierced
by 10 swords.
She failed to escape
her magic box in time.
Tenko was left with a
broken cheek and ribs.
Her manager said that
one of the blades
"would have struck her
in the eye
if it were just one
centimeter higher".
Some food for thought for any
budding magicians out there.
Following a barrage of death
threats from spiritualists,
Houdini has suffered his
first ever on-stage accident.
So, why did the water
cell cables twist
before he was dropped,
causing the broken ankle?
I found a clue in this letter
that his old friend
Gertrude Hills wrote
to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
after Houdini's death.
She clearly says that Houdini
was feeling ill at the time,
possibly causing weakness
in his famed core strength,
strength that's needed to keep
his body rigid and
the cables taught.
Most people with a
seriously broken ankle
would cancel the tour
but for Houdini,
the show must go on.
Posnanski: You know, at that
point he was very famous
and he was very rich and
he had proven everything
he needed to prove to
almost anybody but himself.
And for himself going
on stage was his life,
he could not break away from
it.
Fitzharris: He continues
traveling from Albany
to the next stage of
his tour, Montreal.
Before the show,
Houdini lectures students
at McGill University
where he delivers a fierce
attack on psychic charlatans.
Now events take
another dramatic turn.
This time at the hands of an
oddball named Gordon Whitehead.
Posnanski: So, Houdini was in
Montreal backstage
doing an interview
with college students.
There was one there drawing
a little portrait of him
and this other student
is 6'5" and awkward
and a little bit gawky
and he starts asking Houdini
about a challenge that
he had apparently made
that he could withstand
a punch from anyone.
And Houdini is trying very
hard to change the subject.
But the student keeps
asking him, again and again.
So, Houdini finally
relents and says "okay"
and he starts to get up
and on the way up the
student punches him
hard in the stomach
as many as seven times
until finally Houdini raises
his hand and says that will do.
Dreyer: The artist there says
"What are you, mad?"
They pulled off
Whitehead off of Houdini,
now what happened?
Was that a mere coincidence
that he was just trying to see
if Houdini can
withstand the blow
or did the
spiritualistic movement
send Whitehead there to
cause harm to Houdini?
Posnanski: The punches
themselves are still
a moment incredibly
shrouded in mystery.
And everybody's
filled in the blanks
with their own
theories about this.
Fitzharris: What's
really curious is
that in most accounts,
Whitehead landed his punches
at Houdini's right side,
exactly where he'd
been suffering
from his recent kidney damage.
But it's also where the
appendix is located.
Either way,
it seems uncanny to me
as if he'd been
instructed where to aim.
Then, it turns out that two
years after the Montreal
attack,
Gordon Whitehead was jailed
for shoplifting books about
spiritualism and clairvoyance.
But the really strange
thing is that when, in 1933,
he's committed to a
mental institution,
all his belongings are
removed by a wealthy heiress,
Lady Beatrice Marler,
who just happens to be a
leading medium and
spiritualist.
At the time of the punches,
no one connected Whitehead
to the spiritualist movement.
Coincidence or not, we now
know that this weird man
was closely linked
to a psychic world
that had repeatedly
threatened Houdini's life.
And that the chain
of coincidences
is about to get more
mysterious and more deadly.
October 22, Montreal.
In the week before his
untimely death
while wrestling backstage
with his broken ankle,
Houdini has been viciously
punched in the stomach,
he's in a lot of pain,
we know from the
death certificate
that he died from a
ruptured appendix.
What isn't proven is
whether there's a connection
between these punches
and his appendicitis.
Raychelle, I'm intrigued
by this idea that a punch
could cause damage to a small
organ like the appendix.
Burks: I've been
looking into it.
Based on eyewitness statements,
what we need to do is model
the possible impact of a
punch in forensic detail.
Fitzharris: So, what
are we looking at here?
Burks: Here we have
a model of the human body,
with all its internal organs.
Let's try out a
fast punch traveling
at around 60 feet a second.
This is like a punch delivered
by a heavyweight boxer
to a relaxed body.
Gordon Whitehead was a big guy.
That's a very pronounced
effect on the intestines
and accumulating behind
the sternum, too.
The punch seems to affect
the whole abdominal cavity
and the organs beyond
the point of contact.
Fitzharris: And the fact that
Houdini is reclining
makes him more susceptible
to damage, too.
Well, could a punch
really cause organ damage?
Burks: Yes.
Cases of traumatic appendicitis
are extraordinarily rare.
One study found a couple dozen
cases in the last 20 years.
But it's a possibility.
In 1926 a diagnosis like that
would have been generally
accepted.
Posnanski: What is certainly
true is Houdini
was in incredible pain
after this happened
and almost immediately went
into developing a
fever and the chills.
But he was Houdini
and there was no way
he was gonna go to the
hospital.
That would be to go against
everything he stood for.
"It'll go away, I'm Houdini,
"nobody can hurt me,
nobody can stop me.
I'm invincible".
Fitzharris: His next
destination, Detroit.
Despite a damaged
kidney, broken ankle,
and a highly suspicious
attack on his stomach,
Houdini won't cancel the tour.
Dreyer: But then Houdini
that next night
when he was departing
to go to Detroit,
bam, bam, bam, someone
else in the hotel lobby
went ahead and punched
Houdini again in the stomach.
Fitzharris: This as*ault
is even more suspicious.
A second round of
punches believed to be
from yet another mcgill student
to the same injured spot
suggesting a planned attack.
Still, Houdini
struggles on to Detroit.
But the damage has been done.
This will be his last
performance ever.
Dreyer: On his last
show on October 24th
in the Garrick Theater,
Houdini put the pain beside him
but he collapsed
after the first act.
Fitzharris: An ambulance is
waiting for him.
Houdini, being Houdini,
he hails a cab and
returns to his hotel.
But when a surgeon is
called at 3:00 a.m.,
Houdini's temperature
and blood pressure
are found to be critical.
He's diagnosed with
acute appendicitis
and rushed to a hospital to
undergo emergency surgery.
Posnanski: They removed
his appendix
and the doctors immediately
knew
that he was not gonna make it.
Fitzharris: The surgeon later
recalled that the appendix,
usually around three
and a half inches long,
was so swollen it reached
from one side of his
hips to the other.
And how when he
cut Houdini open,
puss spilt out all
over the floor.
In an age before antibiotics,
95% of patients with
septic poisoning died.
But this is the man
who can defy anything.
Posnanski: He survived five
days after that.
Every day the newspapers would
write Houdini has
survived again.
Houdini planning his
greatest escape ever.
There was definitely this
notion that Houdini couldn't
die.
And that Houdini was someone
who could escape any situation.
Fitzharris: Then,
something very weird
happens in the hospital.
Dreyer: A homeopathic doctor
wanted to try this
experimental drug.
What was in that drug?
No one really knows.
Fitzharris: The novel
drug was supplied
by a detroit
pharmaceuticals company
who had built their reputation
on homeopathy treatments
made from exotic herbs
some of which were later
found to be highly toxic.
What's curious is
that homeopathy
and spiritualism
share a world view.
Arthur Conan Doyle,
although a trained doctor,
was a staunch advocate of both.
What we'll never
know is if the serum
was delivered by a
fellow spiritualist
and intended to halt
Houdini's remarkable recovery.
What we do know is
that the serum failed.
And that the surgeons then had
to operate on Houdini
for a second time.
Overwhelmed by
peritonitis poisoning,
Houdini's dying words
were said to have been,
"I can't fight anymore".
He dies before November,
just as the spiritualists
had predicted.
Posnanski: There's no question
that the timing was weird,
the death was weird.
This was the height
of spiritualists
writing very openly that
Harry Houdini will die
and you know predicting
dates when he would die.
Fitzharris: Harry
Houdini's funeral is held
on November 4th,
1926 in New York.
Dreyer: At the time the
press were so obsessed
with the great Houdini is
dying,
the great Houdini and
now Houdini is gone.
But there was a lot of
questions after Houdini's
death.
Fitzharris: It wasn't
long before rumors
began circulating that
he'd been m*rder*d.
We know about his w*r
with the spiritualists,
but there's another theory
and that the motive was money.
After Houdini's sudden death,
theories soon emerge
that his demise in no accident.
As the months pass,
his wife bess becomes
a focus of attention.
Houdini left her facing
huge legal battles.
Dreyer: At the time of
Houdini's death,
he supposedly had over
a million dollars worth
of slander lawsuits by
various spiritualists.
Fitzharris: So, suspicions
are raised when Bess
launches a protracted dispute
over a substantial
insurance policy
payable on Houdini's death.
Dreyer: Houdini had a double
indemnity insurance policy
and the insurance
people were trying
to convince the
world that Houdini
had a medical issue before
the blow to the stomach
in order for them to pay less
money to the widow, Bess.
Fitzharris: As a former
homicide detective,
Brian has had a
lot of experience
investigating cases
of suspicious death.
Hook: She stood to gain
from the life insurance.
If he died accidentally,
that would double.
Fitzharris: What do you
mean by accident?
Hook: Well, basically the
punch.
Fitzharris: So, we're
back to the punch?
Bess stood to benefit by
proving
that her husband's
death was accidental?
Hook: The insurance company
are carrying out
their investigation.
They found witnesses that say
he was unwell before the punch.
Even the theater
manager in Montreal
confirmed he arrived in the
city with a trained nurse.
Fitzharris: And so,
in December 1926,
the insurers conclude Houdini
was ill before the punches
and reject the double payout.
But two months later,
Bess refiles her claim.
She secures new affidavits
from members of
Houdini's stage crew
and from one of the students
who witnessed Houdini
being punched.
They all now swear Houdini was
not ill before the punches.
In mid June of 1927,
the insurers reverse
their earlier decision
and declare Houdini's death
was an accident
caused by the blows.
Dreyer: They were unable
to prove that Houdini
might have had some
type of medical symptoms
before the actual blow
given by Gordon Whitehead.
Fitzharris: After Bess
wins the extra payout,
she sends gifts to the
students.
Rather conveniently,
a judgment of accidental death
also gets Gordon Whitehead off
a potential manslaughter rap.
And his connection
to the spiritualists
is therefore never
investigated.
So, Bess did get
double the money.
Hook: In the end they do
have to pay her $50,000.
Now in today's money that's
nearly three quarters
of a million dollars.
Fitzharris: Do you
really think that Bess
could have had her husband
k*lled for the money?
Hook: There is nothing
specific,
nothing that anybody
could tie down
to actually be able to
produce any evidence in court.
Fitzharris: Maybe nothing
concrete, but there's
plenty of speculation.
If Bess didn't do
it for the money,
there might be another reason.
A woman scorned?
Houdini had a passionate affair
in 1918 with Charmian London,
the widow of famous
author Jack London
who recorded lurid details
of her magic lover
in her private diary.
Also, by all accounts,
Houdini wasn't an
easy man to live with.
Posnanski: Bess really did not
like that life on the road.
He was Harry Houdini
every minute of every day.
He spoke of himself
in the third person
whether he was on stage or
whether he was with Bess.
He was egotistical.
There was certain
kindness that he had,
but he also could be a bully.
Fitzharris: Her unhappiness
sparked theories
that she could have been in
league with the spiritualists.
Dreyer: What's really
interesting is
how after Houdini died
Sir Conan Doyle tried to
befriend Bess in a way,
trying to have bess make
certain confessions,
make certain
admissions that Houdini
did have spiritualistic powers.
Fitzharris: Any grounds for
thinking Bess might have been
colluding with the
spiritualists were eventually
dispelled
when Bess appeared as herself
in the 1938 film
"Religious Racketeers"
in which she denounced spirit
communication with the dead.
So, despite all the
circumstantial evidence,
Bess the k*ller doesn't
ring true to me.
If she was in league
with the spiritualists,
or was going to m*rder
her husband for money,
or because Houdini was
unfaithful and a chauvinist,
then she could have
done it years earlier.
Posnanski: What is very clear
is after he died
she took it as her personal
mission to keep him alive
and she was a relentless
promoter of him
the way he was of himself
and that went on for really
the rest of her life.
Fitzharris: So, we're
left with Houdini's
most tenacious enemies.
The quest to discover
new evidence of poisoning
got fresh impetus in 2007,
when a petition was
filed by George Hardeen,
Houdini's great-nephew,
to dig up his body
and subject his remains to
a toxicology examination.
Dreyer: They want to go ahead
and exhume the body
to do an autopsy to see
if there was poison
in the dna of Houdini.
Fitzharris: The appeal
fails when other
relatives block
Hardeen's request.
So, for now, at least,
we can't be sure
if Houdini's death
was the result of poisoning.
But some experts
do think there's
a solution to the
other medical mystery.
Posnanski: One of the great
arguments of the time was,
and to this day, did
the punches themselves
cause the appendicitis
that he had?
I tend to believe that he
did have appendicitis already
and that the punch
exacerbated it, made it worse.
Fitzharris: And then, by
ignoring the warning signs,
and allowing his
appendix to burst,
I think Houdini contributed
to his own death.
Posnanski: Certainly removing
an appendix, even in 1926,
was not considered a
particularly dangerous
operation
and his life could
have been spared.
In many ways his death
tells the story of his life
and there's no question that
when you look at the last
week or so of his life,
you learn who Harry Houdini
was.
Fitzharris: Houdini's
was certainly a
curious life and death.
I like the poison proposition.
We've seen that there is
a compelling case for it.
But so many people
got close to Houdini,
we can't be sure who would
have administered it.
And the punch is a serious
and violent blow, too.
But I'm still not sure
it leads to his death.
I've seen that Houdini
believed in mind over matter.
He continued to perform on
stage
when he was clearly suffering.
It may well be that
Houdini didn't realize
the pain he felt in his stomach
was more serious
than he thought.
So, my verdict,
the k*ller is his
relentless ambition,
ambition that pushed him on
when
what he really needed was
urgent medical treatment.
Had he gone to his physician
before the punches,
then, who knows, he may have
lived to fight another day.
But for Houdini, the
show just had to go on.
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01x05 - Harry Houdini
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A team of experts analyze the deaths of notable people while examining their lives.
A team of experts analyze the deaths of notable people while examining their lives.