When he was nine, he joined a traveling circus and toured the country as a contortionist and trapeze performer. At a young age, he immigrated with his family to Appleton, Wisconsin, and soon demonstrated a natural acrobatic ability and an extraordinary skill at picking locks. Houdini was born Erik Weisz in Budapest in 1874, the son of a rabbi. The burst appendix poisoned his system, and on October 31 he died. Doctors operated on him, but to no avail. He fell ill on the train to Detroit, and, after performing one last time, was hospitalized. The magician hadn’t had time to prepare, and the blows ruptured his appendix. Suddenly, one of the students punched Houdini twice in the stomach.

Twelve days before, Houdini had been talking to a group of students after a lecture in Montreal when he commented on the strength of his stomach muscles and their ability to withstand hard blows. Harry Houdini, the most celebrated magician and escape artist of the 20th century, dies of peritonitis in a Detroit hospital.

Escape houdini