She has a growing cult in Mexico and the United States that often draws worshippers from society’s most downtrodden and dispossessed, including the very poor, the transgendered, drug dealers, and prisoners. Santa Muerte, sometimes called the “Skeleton Saint” or the “Bony Lady,” is a Mexican folk saint who is considered the personification of death. On a recent visit by Atlas Obscura staff, a Santa Muerte candle was perched at the top of the plot next to a grieving female figure cast in stone. Today, Houdini’s grave is decorated with pebbles, coins, and playing cards left by well-wishers. Donations for the restoration reportedly came from David Copperfield, a fitting tribute since Houdini paid for the restoration of several other magicians’ graves while he was alive.Ī Santa Muerte candle & playing cards left at Houdini’s monument (photograph by Allison Meier) The plot was restored thanks in part to the local chapter of the Society of American Magicians, of which Houdini was president when he died. Vandals have repeatedly attacked Houdini’s family plot at Machpelah, smashing the granite benches and crypt covers and damaging the tomb foundations. Monument to Houdini at the cemetery (photograph by Allison Meier) Magician Tarot card at Houdini’s grave (photograph by Allison Meier) Bess also began a tradition of holding Halloween séances in an attempt to contact Houdini’s spirit, a tradition that continues today in several locations around the globe. (Though he crusaded against fraudulent mediums, Houdini was more than willing to countenance the idea that something of the mind survives beyond the grave.) For years, Bess would shut herself in her room on Sundays at the hour of her husband’s death, staring at a photo of him and awaiting a sign. Poster for a 1908 Houdini performance at the Circus Busch in Berlin (via Library of Congress)īefore his death, Houdini left secret codes with family and friends - messages that if heard during a séance would prove Houdini was trying to say hello. As the coffin was lowered into the ground at the Machpelah Cemetery in Queens, one pallbearer whispered to another “Suppose he isn’t in it?” Houdini had asked to be buried in a bronze casket purchased for one of his acts, with his beloved mother’s letters placed in a black bag and propped beneath his head as a pillow. Over 2,000 mourners crowded into the Elk’s Lodge ballroom on West 43rd Street in Manhattan for the funeral.
Houdini died in his wife’s arms, with the name of a famous lecturer on agnosticism - Robert Ingersoll - on his lips. The Houdini family plot in Machpelah Cemetery (photograph by the author) Having come so far using his iron will to control his physical self, he was loath to give in to the needs of his body even when it might have saved him. The magician stoically ignored his pains, assuming they were from injury rather than a condition that required immediate medical attention. Some reports say the student’s blows killed Houdini, although several biographers note that it’s more likely that Houdini was already suffering from appendicitis when he arrived in Montreal. Once in the operating room, pus flowed from his abdomen and dripped onto the hospital floor Houdini’s appendix had ruptured and turned gangrenous. It was only after his wife Bess threw a fit that he came under a doctor’s care. Later that day, Houdini began suffering from pain in his stomach, but refused to go to the hospital. Houdini was nursing a broken ankle and lying down on a couch, not standing in the tensed position he usually held when someone wanted to test his abs of steel. Told yes, the student rained sharp blows upon Houdini’s abdomen until some other students begged him to stop. On the day of a show at the Princess Theatre in Montreal, a student at McGill University came backstage and asked if it was true Houdini could withstand a blow to the stomach. Houdini met his end on Halloween in 1926. Houdini preparing for an overboard box escape in 1912 (via Library of Congress) Though the magician had earned his fame fighting straitjackets, locks, and sealed chests thrown into the East River, in later life he turned to combating fraudulent Spiritualists, whom he thought were duping the populace into believing in false proof of life after death. “If I die, don’t be surprised if the phony spiritualists declare a national holiday,” Houdini said during one of his last meals. Grave of Houdini (photograph by Allison Meier) 31 Days of Halloween : On Atlas Obscura this month, we’re celebrating Halloween each day with woeful, wondrous, and wickedly macabre tales all linked to a real locale that you can visit, if you dare.
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