If we ever
meet, I would very much like to perform some magic tricks for you. I would, but
HA! I don’t know any! But speaking of magicians, Harry Houdini was one of the
all- time great magicians and escape artist. He died on Halloween in 1926, you
know the story, and for many years, there was a gathering held to see if he
would try to contact others from beyond the grave. Houdini had campaigned
against mediums, mind readers, and other charlatans who claimed supernatural
talents but depended on trickery. Yet, he was deeply interested in spiritualism
and made a pact with his wife and friends that the first to die would try and
communicate with the world of reality from beyond, the spirit world if you
will. Several of these friends died, but Houdini never received a sign from
them. Then, on that fateful Halloween in 1926, Houdini himself died at the age
of 52. His wife waited for a communiqué from the spirit world. A late night seance was held to see if he
would try to contact others from beyond the grave. They waited for a ghost… a
gust of wind… the ringing of a bell perhaps…but, alas there was nothing. She
declared the experiment a failure shortly before her own death in 1943. It
appeared that Houdini had run into the ultimate magic trick and escape that
even he couldn't perform.
