10/31/2026
Life Worth Remembering: Harry Houdini
Behind the world's greatest escape artist stood a man devoted to something far less flashy: the truth.
Today, we're featuring Harry Houdini, who passed away ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO EXACTLY, October 31, 1926. Also on Halloween, fittingly, for a man whose life seemed to defy the ordinary rules of death itself.
He built his legend on death-defying stunts and impossible escapes, but in his later years, Houdini turned that same relentless skill toward exposing fraudulent spiritualists — protecting grieving families from being exploited by fake mediums who claimed to speak with the dead.
More than 2,000 mourners gathered in New York on November 4, 1926, to say goodbye. His body traveled from the Hamilton Funeral Home in Detroit in a bronze casket with a glass lid — a final touch of the showmanship that defined his life. He was laid to rest at Machpelah Cemetery in Queens, New York, where his grave bears the crest of the Society of American Magicians, a tribute to the art form he helped transform forever.
His legacy reminds us that even the most extraordinary lives are built on something simple: the courage to seek truth, and the will to protect the people who need it most.
