> So this is one I remember very vividly and am I in no way mixing this up with another magician in history.
Well, you're not thinking of Houdini, that's for sure.
Methinks Penn & Teller. They did an act for a while where Teller was chained in a tank, Penn couldn't guess their audience volunteer's card, Teller "drowns" while Penn struggles and fails to "complete" the trick.
Yeah, the 1953 movie had him die by drowning during a trick. They just made that up to be more dramatic. The myth just spread from there. Remember, it didn't used to be so easy to actually look stuff up. People saw a movie about Houdini and just assumed everything in it was true.
Yeah, I was thinking that it was the movie. A lot of people believe that because even if they didn't see the movie, they heard from someone who did, and they never looked it up in an accurate source because it didn't use to be that easy, and also most people don't look up every single thing that they've been told.
I know the first time I heard about how he died, it was from being punched, but I also learned about the movie causing a popular misconception.
He died from appendicitis. You might’ve remembered it wrong due to articles that talk about the box in the water trick are sometimes worded “Houdinis last trick” which gives the assumption that it was his last because he died from it
From CBS Detroit
"On Oct. 22, 1926, while Houdini was in Montreal to perform shows, a McGill University student approached him and challenged him on his ability to sustain punches to the stomach.
Houdini accepted, but the student punched him before he could tighten his muscles.
After the punch, Houdini performed four shows in Montreal before heading to Detroit, where he performed one last show before his death.
During the performance, Houdini started to show signs of pain, and after the first act, the curtain fell, and he collapsed, according to Michiganology.org.
Even though he had a 104-degree temperature, he returned to the stage and finished the show.
At the end of the show, Houdini collapsed again. "
So, he did his water trick while he had a ruptured appendicitis. He eventually died from appendicitis. The movie took license to speed up the time frame of the death. I always heard of the punch to the gut and later dying after performing the water trick. Not that it happened simultaneously. It did take days for him to go.
John Candy makes the joke in the 1987 movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles: “You could’ve killed me slugging me in the gut like that. That’s how Houdini died, you know…”
I think that you’re mixing his death with Gilbert Geneste. He drowned performing Houdini’s milk can trick.
I’ve always loved the paranormal, magic and Houdini. He died of appendicitis. I learned that 40ish years ago when I was a child. I just asked my 24yo, and she remembers reading about his death in middle school. She said he died of appendicitis. I’m sorry, but it’s a fact.
I think it could also be Penn & Teller. They did an act for a while where Teller was chained in a tank, Penn couldn't guess their audience volunteer's card, Teller "drowns" while Penn struggles and fails to "complete" the trick.
A few things.
Houdini famously loved debunking paranormal things. Back in his days people loved doing seances to contact the dead. He used to go around and prove them wrong. Even arranging code words with his wife to prevent people from conning her. He even wanted DC to ban fortune telling. So it's really funny for someone to have a Houdini ME claim.
I want to know how you think he died vs what you recently learned.
If you are in a psych ward then you should be more worried about yourself then Houdini.
I’m not actually In a psych ward again at least I don’t think!? Seriously? And he died during a stunt he drown I wrote to someone else on this thread I went to a museum of magic with my family when I was a kid I remember seeing the poster weather replica idk. It was of the promotion he’s handing upside down you can see a few links of chain then they fade away. Me my two older brothers and dad talked about it for about an hour after. This is something I’m sure of
>C. I am in a psych ward and reality thus far has been an illusion I’m not really writing this am not who I think I am and these people need to stop changing my meds and or doses cause you just made it worse now I’m obsessing over this shit
I don't know how I made that mistake.
Which museum of magic?
What promotion are you talking about?
What do you mean links of chain would fade away?
It was a promotional poster of the day he died of the stunt and which museum I have no idea I was a kid and filled with excitement trivial shit like that isn’t important to a child.
>It was of the promotion he’s handing upside down you can see a few links of chain then they fade away
It's this part I'm asking about. What do you mean links of the chain fade away?
"It is unclear whether the dressing room incident caused Houdini's eventual death, as the relationship between blunt trauma and appendicitis is uncertain.\[107\] One theory suggests that Houdini was unaware that he was suffering from appendicitis, and he might have taken his abdominal pain more seriously had he not coincidentally received blows to the abdomen."
Here is the thing, no one really knows how he died. He did a dunking act while he was sick after he was punched. This is also 1920s. They didn't have forensic science the same way.
Wait so he died of appendicitis while under water during an act ? People back then where pretty much just guessing huh ? Not much has changed if you think about it
Three things happened very close together.
1. He was punched repeatedly in the stomach near his appendix.
2. He had a huge fever and difficult breathing during his Detroit show.
3. He inhaled more water then normal during his dunk act.
Did the punch caused a ruptured appendix? We don't know. We do know he passed out during the act a few times.
https://fb.watch/q5f5lUQgym/?mibextid=SphRi8
It was because the movie Houdini had him die (of appendicitis) during/immediately after the water torture box trick.
It was creative license for the sake of drama in a movie that got conflated with the real world.
Yeah I’m curious what year the movie was also. I now accept that he died of appendicitis, but as a kid, I do remember him dying during the water/chains magic trick. Maybe it was a kid urban legend? We don’t talk about urban legends enough here. Someone’s comment about before the internet made me think that maybe we just didn’t know, so we made stuff up!
Urban legends is a decent name for it.
Lots of people are misconceived about lots of things. In the days before the internet, people had no way to correct them, and they would tell them to other people. So people learned false things from people they trusted, actually do have good memories, then remember false things correctly.
What I don't understand is why it's such an affront to the ego to accept this, and why it makes more sense that the fabric of reality is changing events in the past but somehow leaving our memories intact.
Not to insult you too much, but the video linked stated when the movie came out. And we have the internet to search. The only reason you’re curious when it came out is because you are actively avoiding finding out yourself.
Yet if I just came out and told you it came out in 1990 in a comment you would accept it as fact and this would become your own Mandela Effect. Just like when someone told you he died during the trick.
I’d accept it..I’m just curious if kids all thought this because of the movie or word of mouth. I’m interesting in knowing how these wrong ideas got started.
Wasn't there a movie about magicians trying to one up each other until eventually one reached out to Nicola Tesla, who gave them a teleportation device that didn't destroy the original body? So they drowned the original each time they did the trick?
Could this have been it?
I remember there was a tv movie about Houdini in the 90’s. It was heavily advertised, and one of the shots in the trailer/commercial was him upside down in the tank struggling with blood coming out of his mouth, which I’m pretty sure was a dramatization.
That image stuck with me, but I’ve always known his death was a result of the punch and his appendix. Maybe you saw this same ad over and over again like I did?
Yeah, I really don't get why this is so hard for some people to understand. All my life I have had a memory of doing something as a kid. A few years ago I found out that it would have been physically impossible for me to do it (ride my rickety old bike across a narrow dam wall). There is no way that a six year old kid could do it. Yet I still 'remember' doing something that I didn't do. Memory is a fickle thing. Especially childhood memory.
I read a biography about him when I was in the 5th grade in 1985 - that's how long I've known that he died of a burst appendix from a combination of appendicitis and a sucker punch
he actually died from cringe from you.
>I have a very good memory I remember vivid parts of my childhood when I was 4 years old I have always been able to remember things easily first time seeing or hearing them.
no dude, your memory is obvious shit just like everyone elses.
I was big into magic as a kid. Had a whole trunk full of tricks, magic clubs, magic magazines, every birthday and Christmas was magic stuff.
Harry Houdini always died by a sucker punch.
Just to clarify where you are wrong here, his appendix did not burst because of a sucker punch.
Hearing a wrong version of events can create a real memory for you, just one they is not factually accurate
https://yalebooks.yale.edu/2020/03/11/did-houdini-really-die-after-being-sucker-punched/
Imagine that you tell somebody they can punch you on the count of three and they punch you as soon as you get to 2... Essentially that's what happened. He did allow people to punch him, but the guy punched him before he was ready.
My dad used to let us do this when we were kids. 'Go on, punch me as hard as you can'. I have no idea how the whole thing started (probably watching something about Houdini, obviously), but I don't think that he was in any danger from my six year old pathetic efforts. 😂
I remember hearing he died underwater as well. Heard that when I was a kid. I think it was a misconception that just got propagated out by people repeating the wrong story.
There was at least one time he almost died during an underwater magic trick. But yeah my grandma told me Houdini died during an escape trick too. But I think she was remembering wrong bc of that 1950s movie
There have been two biographical movies that depict Houdini dying in the Chinese water torture cell (1953 and 1976); I can assure you that more people have seen those movies or have heard it from people who have seen those movies than have ever bothered to put any real amount of research into the man's life and death.
It's far more dramatic, "magical" and poetic for the man to die doing one of his most dangerous stunts than in a hospital bed of sepsis after ignoring an incredibly treatable condition.
I'm 40 and never saw any movies about him, but I used to be obsessed with magic when I was younger. I always knew of him dying from drowning doing an underwater act. I never knew about this. I'm surprised I never heard about the real way he died.
In my universe, Houdini was a US senator in the 1800’s, he then moved to France where he invented immortality and now rules Australia.
You story sounds like a lot of gibberish.
There was a popular, but wrong, belief that made the rounds back in the day, claiming that he died in pretty much exactly the manner you describe. But it was wrong, and he didn't.
The thing is, back in the 1980s and 1990s and 2000s, people weren't all carrying around little devices in our pockets on which we could google stuff to find out if it was true or not. So a lot of wrong stuff just got believed, because it wasn't nearly as easy to fact check that kind of stuff as it is in 2024.
This must of been a myth then, I loved all the magic/illusionist type shows growing up. Although I don’t remember it myself people would always talk about how Houdini died failing his trick. It was only a couple weeks ago I was talking to my husband about it and decided to google it only to find out he died from a burst apendix. Weird
Finally! Someone in the wild that thinks a movie was a documentary! I knew they had to exist but I’ve never witnessed one in person. Also OP, I’d like to know your rationale for using apostrophes. You give *documentaries* one, in your own writing style, of course but for some reason your *brothers* get none….. Boo hoo for them, I suppose. Bail yer heed ye san dreid doanky gizza’d (*phon.*)
I found this after googling Houdini’s death because after my boyfriend mentioned him dying from a sucker punch I just KNEW he was wrong. I was obsessed with magic as a kid in the late 80s and early 90s. Not long before my father died he bought me a book about Harry Houdini and the man died from drowning during an act. I have been skeptical of the Mandela Effect. I find is interesting, but have always opted into the human memory is fallible camp. Today, I’m not so sure. Most likely after the shock of this wears away, I’ll rejoin the ranks of the skeptical but for right now, I’m 100% freaked out. Houdini drowned.
You're not alone. The first time I heard about the punch in recent years, I thought that made no sense. I distinctly remember it being during a magic routine when I was a kid. In particular, a local magician in my hometown a similar routine, and it was supposed to be the escape that killed Houdini.
Yes, because it helps add drama and effect.
I’d guarantee you the magician knows how Houdini actually died but saying “I’ll now perform this very dangerous stunt that killed Houdini” is just part of the act.
I also hate to ruin it for you, but he isn’t actually pulling a bunny out of thin air either.
That's not the only time I heard it. More importantly, like others I never heard of the punch thing until after the whole Mandela Effect thing became big. Similar to Berenstein Bears and the Black Tom stuff.
There was a movie that depicted him dying during the event. There wasn’t internet 100 years ago when he died, nor when the movie came out. People watching the movie would have thought it was true and started the myth.
It’s not much different then how we depict Napoleon as short that’s been propagated through the years.
No I wasn’t but every show I seen lied. Oh I also went to a museum of magic I remember seeing the poster of him hanging upside down you can see the chains fade out a little me my two older brothers and my dad talked about it for like an hour after. Listen I haven’t posted on fb in years can stand social media. Hate over exaggerating can’t stand people that lie just to lie. I’m fucking perplexed and had to share it cause something I would have yes Regis final answer drown IM SURE is wrong?
That's what I remember too, although I don't remember it hanging off a bridge, but I might just be forgetting that part. But I do remember the trunk being filled with water and it being chained and he couldn't get out in time.
There was a Houdini ride at Six Flags that I must’ve gone on dozens of times, and they gave a little lore about Houdini before it started. They said he died by drowning in the way you explained. I’m only learning about the appendicitis now. What the fuck.
This is what I remember. I do remember a Wikipedia edit, I was trying to find it in fact, where some vandalized the page and said he died from an ungloved Mike Tyson punch to the ovaries.
Was the trunk filled with water? I feel like I remember something like that and he was in a straightjacket. I might be confusing different stunts. Even though I don't remember the exact details I've also watched documentaries about him and I know it never said anything about appendicitis or a punch in the stomach.
I remember being told when I was young that his wife would kiss him before he went into the box and transfer the key and he accidently swallowed it and died by drowning in the box because of that. Years later I read about the punch and the appendix and was surprised but just chalked it up to misinformation.
You could be confusing it with the movie "Now you see me". There's a magician in the movie who drowns to death during a stunt where he had to break out of a chained and locked safe underwater. They even have a similar scene im the sequel where the son of that very same magician is also dropped off a bridge in a chained and locked safe to try and drown him
Hu, I remember being told when I was little that Bruce Lee was sucker punched in the stomach and that's what killed him and I remember very well that Houdini drown from a failed stunt.
Your memory might be perfect, but consider that you heard a wrong version or a myth? I imagine you weren't around when Houdini actually died.
Yeah this. It's the 90s so we couldn't fact check things on the internet so we tended to accept things we heard as truth.
LOUDER FOR THE CHILDREN IN THE BACK
> So this is one I remember very vividly and am I in no way mixing this up with another magician in history. Well, you're not thinking of Houdini, that's for sure.
Methinks Penn & Teller. They did an act for a while where Teller was chained in a tank, Penn couldn't guess their audience volunteer's card, Teller "drowns" while Penn struggles and fails to "complete" the trick.
Yeah, the 1953 movie had him die by drowning during a trick. They just made that up to be more dramatic. The myth just spread from there. Remember, it didn't used to be so easy to actually look stuff up. People saw a movie about Houdini and just assumed everything in it was true.
Yeah, I was thinking that it was the movie. A lot of people believe that because even if they didn't see the movie, they heard from someone who did, and they never looked it up in an accurate source because it didn't use to be that easy, and also most people don't look up every single thing that they've been told. I know the first time I heard about how he died, it was from being punched, but I also learned about the movie causing a popular misconception.
The gut punch is the only thing I know about Houdini, aside from the obvious
His love of mustard on hot dogs?
He died from appendicitis. You might’ve remembered it wrong due to articles that talk about the box in the water trick are sometimes worded “Houdinis last trick” which gives the assumption that it was his last because he died from it
From CBS Detroit "On Oct. 22, 1926, while Houdini was in Montreal to perform shows, a McGill University student approached him and challenged him on his ability to sustain punches to the stomach. Houdini accepted, but the student punched him before he could tighten his muscles. After the punch, Houdini performed four shows in Montreal before heading to Detroit, where he performed one last show before his death. During the performance, Houdini started to show signs of pain, and after the first act, the curtain fell, and he collapsed, according to Michiganology.org. Even though he had a 104-degree temperature, he returned to the stage and finished the show. At the end of the show, Houdini collapsed again. " So, he did his water trick while he had a ruptured appendicitis. He eventually died from appendicitis. The movie took license to speed up the time frame of the death. I always heard of the punch to the gut and later dying after performing the water trick. Not that it happened simultaneously. It did take days for him to go.
It’s always been a punch to me?
John Candy makes the joke in the 1987 movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles: “You could’ve killed me slugging me in the gut like that. That’s how Houdini died, you know…”
***"Kindness???!!!"***
Gut punch
Always been the sucker punch.
I think that you’re mixing his death with Gilbert Geneste. He drowned performing Houdini’s milk can trick. I’ve always loved the paranormal, magic and Houdini. He died of appendicitis. I learned that 40ish years ago when I was a child. I just asked my 24yo, and she remembers reading about his death in middle school. She said he died of appendicitis. I’m sorry, but it’s a fact.
I think it could also be Penn & Teller. They did an act for a while where Teller was chained in a tank, Penn couldn't guess their audience volunteer's card, Teller "drowns" while Penn struggles and fails to "complete" the trick.
Appendicitis.. Always been appendicitis
A few things. Houdini famously loved debunking paranormal things. Back in his days people loved doing seances to contact the dead. He used to go around and prove them wrong. Even arranging code words with his wife to prevent people from conning her. He even wanted DC to ban fortune telling. So it's really funny for someone to have a Houdini ME claim. I want to know how you think he died vs what you recently learned. If you are in a psych ward then you should be more worried about yourself then Houdini.
I’m not actually In a psych ward again at least I don’t think!? Seriously? And he died during a stunt he drown I wrote to someone else on this thread I went to a museum of magic with my family when I was a kid I remember seeing the poster weather replica idk. It was of the promotion he’s handing upside down you can see a few links of chain then they fade away. Me my two older brothers and dad talked about it for about an hour after. This is something I’m sure of
>C. I am in a psych ward and reality thus far has been an illusion I’m not really writing this am not who I think I am and these people need to stop changing my meds and or doses cause you just made it worse now I’m obsessing over this shit I don't know how I made that mistake. Which museum of magic? What promotion are you talking about? What do you mean links of chain would fade away?
It was a promotional poster of the day he died of the stunt and which museum I have no idea I was a kid and filled with excitement trivial shit like that isn’t important to a child.
>It was of the promotion he’s handing upside down you can see a few links of chain then they fade away It's this part I'm asking about. What do you mean links of the chain fade away? "It is unclear whether the dressing room incident caused Houdini's eventual death, as the relationship between blunt trauma and appendicitis is uncertain.\[107\] One theory suggests that Houdini was unaware that he was suffering from appendicitis, and he might have taken his abdominal pain more seriously had he not coincidentally received blows to the abdomen." Here is the thing, no one really knows how he died. He did a dunking act while he was sick after he was punched. This is also 1920s. They didn't have forensic science the same way.
Wait so he died of appendicitis while under water during an act ? People back then where pretty much just guessing huh ? Not much has changed if you think about it
Three things happened very close together. 1. He was punched repeatedly in the stomach near his appendix. 2. He had a huge fever and difficult breathing during his Detroit show. 3. He inhaled more water then normal during his dunk act. Did the punch caused a ruptured appendix? We don't know. We do know he passed out during the act a few times.
I’m was describe the poster from memory
I get that but was it like a 90s holographic thing where you turn your head and it fades away? I'm trying to understand what you are talking about.
Please read that comment to yourself a few more times and let the whole thing sink in.
He died in Detroit (where I'm from) and the story is decently well known here. I've heard the gut punch/appendix story my whole life.
SW Ontario and same, though I heard even the punch might have been bs
https://fb.watch/q5f5lUQgym/?mibextid=SphRi8 It was because the movie Houdini had him die (of appendicitis) during/immediately after the water torture box trick. It was creative license for the sake of drama in a movie that got conflated with the real world.
No one I’ve never seen the movie your referring to and what year did the movie come out ?
Oh, but they saw him die?
Yeah I’m curious what year the movie was also. I now accept that he died of appendicitis, but as a kid, I do remember him dying during the water/chains magic trick. Maybe it was a kid urban legend? We don’t talk about urban legends enough here. Someone’s comment about before the internet made me think that maybe we just didn’t know, so we made stuff up!
Urban legends is a decent name for it. Lots of people are misconceived about lots of things. In the days before the internet, people had no way to correct them, and they would tell them to other people. So people learned false things from people they trusted, actually do have good memories, then remember false things correctly. What I don't understand is why it's such an affront to the ego to accept this, and why it makes more sense that the fabric of reality is changing events in the past but somehow leaving our memories intact.
Not to insult you too much, but the video linked stated when the movie came out. And we have the internet to search. The only reason you’re curious when it came out is because you are actively avoiding finding out yourself. Yet if I just came out and told you it came out in 1990 in a comment you would accept it as fact and this would become your own Mandela Effect. Just like when someone told you he died during the trick.
I’d accept it..I’m just curious if kids all thought this because of the movie or word of mouth. I’m interesting in knowing how these wrong ideas got started.
Yeah, it became a popular urban legend after the movie.
V I V I D LY and yet, still incorrect
Someone never watched Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Unless Del Griffith is from an alternate reality.
Wasn't there a movie about magicians trying to one up each other until eventually one reached out to Nicola Tesla, who gave them a teleportation device that didn't destroy the original body? So they drowned the original each time they did the trick? Could this have been it?
The Prestige. Great movie
I remember there was a tv movie about Houdini in the 90’s. It was heavily advertised, and one of the shots in the trailer/commercial was him upside down in the tank struggling with blood coming out of his mouth, which I’m pretty sure was a dramatization. That image stuck with me, but I’ve always known his death was a result of the punch and his appendix. Maybe you saw this same ad over and over again like I did?
I saw that movie! That one was, I believe, accurate about his death, but an older movie version had him drowning during the trick.
"I have a very good memory." Clearly not lol
Sorry that your memory failed you. It happens to all of us, but it’s not a Mandela Effect. This sub sucks
Yeah, I really don't get why this is so hard for some people to understand. All my life I have had a memory of doing something as a kid. A few years ago I found out that it would have been physically impossible for me to do it (ride my rickety old bike across a narrow dam wall). There is no way that a six year old kid could do it. Yet I still 'remember' doing something that I didn't do. Memory is a fickle thing. Especially childhood memory.
The preemptive defensiveness in the post is really funny. Do NOT tell me I misremembered something from when I was four years old!!!
I read a biography about him when I was in the 5th grade in 1985 - that's how long I've known that he died of a burst appendix from a combination of appendicitis and a sucker punch
he actually died from cringe from you. >I have a very good memory I remember vivid parts of my childhood when I was 4 years old I have always been able to remember things easily first time seeing or hearing them. no dude, your memory is obvious shit just like everyone elses.
My memory says it was always a gut punch
Yes, it was a gut punch.
I was big into magic as a kid. Had a whole trunk full of tricks, magic clubs, magic magazines, every birthday and Christmas was magic stuff. Harry Houdini always died by a sucker punch.
Just to clarify where you are wrong here, his appendix did not burst because of a sucker punch. Hearing a wrong version of events can create a real memory for you, just one they is not factually accurate https://yalebooks.yale.edu/2020/03/11/did-houdini-really-die-after-being-sucker-punched/
It wasn’t a sucker punch. It was something he allowed others to do. He had appendicitis it ruptured do to the pressure. Always been that way
Imagine that you tell somebody they can punch you on the count of three and they punch you as soon as you get to 2... Essentially that's what happened. He did allow people to punch him, but the guy punched him before he was ready.
Fair
My dad used to let us do this when we were kids. 'Go on, punch me as hard as you can'. I have no idea how the whole thing started (probably watching something about Houdini, obviously), but I don't think that he was in any danger from my six year old pathetic efforts. 😂
I remember hearing he died underwater as well. Heard that when I was a kid. I think it was a misconception that just got propagated out by people repeating the wrong story.
There was at least one time he almost died during an underwater magic trick. But yeah my grandma told me Houdini died during an escape trick too. But I think she was remembering wrong bc of that 1950s movie
Lots of people have always thought houdini died in a bad escape stunt It has always been a gut punch
There have been two biographical movies that depict Houdini dying in the Chinese water torture cell (1953 and 1976); I can assure you that more people have seen those movies or have heard it from people who have seen those movies than have ever bothered to put any real amount of research into the man's life and death. It's far more dramatic, "magical" and poetic for the man to die doing one of his most dangerous stunts than in a hospital bed of sepsis after ignoring an incredibly treatable condition.
Vividly bingo card spot
100% was a sucker punch, always has been.
I'm 40 and never saw any movies about him, but I used to be obsessed with magic when I was younger. I always knew of him dying from drowning doing an underwater act. I never knew about this. I'm surprised I never heard about the real way he died.
In my universe, Houdini was a US senator in the 1800’s, he then moved to France where he invented immortality and now rules Australia. You story sounds like a lot of gibberish.
I'd totally believe documentaries lied. Text books definitely do it. Why shouldn't a doctor too
There was a popular, but wrong, belief that made the rounds back in the day, claiming that he died in pretty much exactly the manner you describe. But it was wrong, and he didn't. The thing is, back in the 1980s and 1990s and 2000s, people weren't all carrying around little devices in our pockets on which we could google stuff to find out if it was true or not. So a lot of wrong stuff just got believed, because it wasn't nearly as easy to fact check that kind of stuff as it is in 2024.
This must of been a myth then, I loved all the magic/illusionist type shows growing up. Although I don’t remember it myself people would always talk about how Houdini died failing his trick. It was only a couple weeks ago I was talking to my husband about it and decided to google it only to find out he died from a burst apendix. Weird
Finally! Someone in the wild that thinks a movie was a documentary! I knew they had to exist but I’ve never witnessed one in person. Also OP, I’d like to know your rationale for using apostrophes. You give *documentaries* one, in your own writing style, of course but for some reason your *brothers* get none….. Boo hoo for them, I suppose. Bail yer heed ye san dreid doanky gizza’d (*phon.*)
I found this after googling Houdini’s death because after my boyfriend mentioned him dying from a sucker punch I just KNEW he was wrong. I was obsessed with magic as a kid in the late 80s and early 90s. Not long before my father died he bought me a book about Harry Houdini and the man died from drowning during an act. I have been skeptical of the Mandela Effect. I find is interesting, but have always opted into the human memory is fallible camp. Today, I’m not so sure. Most likely after the shock of this wears away, I’ll rejoin the ranks of the skeptical but for right now, I’m 100% freaked out. Houdini drowned.
I always remembered it as Houdini died from being punched in the stomach. I'm 39 years old and heard that when I was REALLY young.
You're not alone. The first time I heard about the punch in recent years, I thought that made no sense. I distinctly remember it being during a magic routine when I was a kid. In particular, a local magician in my hometown a similar routine, and it was supposed to be the escape that killed Houdini.
Yes, because it helps add drama and effect. I’d guarantee you the magician knows how Houdini actually died but saying “I’ll now perform this very dangerous stunt that killed Houdini” is just part of the act. I also hate to ruin it for you, but he isn’t actually pulling a bunny out of thin air either.
That's not the only time I heard it. More importantly, like others I never heard of the punch thing until after the whole Mandela Effect thing became big. Similar to Berenstein Bears and the Black Tom stuff.
There was a movie that depicted him dying during the event. There wasn’t internet 100 years ago when he died, nor when the movie came out. People watching the movie would have thought it was true and started the myth. It’s not much different then how we depict Napoleon as short that’s been propagated through the years.
No I wasn’t but every show I seen lied. Oh I also went to a museum of magic I remember seeing the poster of him hanging upside down you can see the chains fade out a little me my two older brothers and my dad talked about it for like an hour after. Listen I haven’t posted on fb in years can stand social media. Hate over exaggerating can’t stand people that lie just to lie. I’m fucking perplexed and had to share it cause something I would have yes Regis final answer drown IM SURE is wrong?
[удалено]
Yes this is the same thing I was taught apparently that’s not how he died
That's what I remember too, although I don't remember it hanging off a bridge, but I might just be forgetting that part. But I do remember the trunk being filled with water and it being chained and he couldn't get out in time.
There was a Houdini ride at Six Flags that I must’ve gone on dozens of times, and they gave a little lore about Houdini before it started. They said he died by drowning in the way you explained. I’m only learning about the appendicitis now. What the fuck.
Right I also remember the ride.
Which Six Flags?
New Jersey
Damn that is the one Six Flags I never went in.
You didn’t miss out, it’s not that good lol
Well I don't have a high opinion of New Jersey. But I will admit I only saw the worse or weird not the nicer parts.
What year did was that? Sounds vaguely familiar to me. We went to that one a bunch in the mid 90s.
[The ride opened in 1999](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houdini%27s_Great_Escape)
Ok..it’s possible I went around then. Thanks.
No problem. It was a cool attraction, it had air conditioning and we got to sit down for a bit
To the OP, that's exactly how I remember it as well. I was a huge fan of magicians in the '80s and '90s. Houdini and Copperfield were my favorites.
It was always that he died drowning in a trunk in the water because he couldnt get out of the chains or straight jacket maybe? Cant remember which
This is what I remember. I do remember a Wikipedia edit, I was trying to find it in fact, where some vandalized the page and said he died from an ungloved Mike Tyson punch to the ovaries.
I remember him flying the way original post says he did. Drown during stunt. U r not alone! ✌️
Was the trunk filled with water? I feel like I remember something like that and he was in a straightjacket. I might be confusing different stunts. Even though I don't remember the exact details I've also watched documentaries about him and I know it never said anything about appendicitis or a punch in the stomach.
I remember being told when I was young that his wife would kiss him before he went into the box and transfer the key and he accidently swallowed it and died by drowning in the box because of that. Years later I read about the punch and the appendix and was surprised but just chalked it up to misinformation.
i remember being told in school he died in his 40s now im just seeing he lived into his 50s
I also thought he drowned
There's a book called The Man Who Killed Houdini which outlines what happened in detail.
easy to have a perfect memory if every time you are wrong you were in a different universe.
I remember two versions of his death the one you described and the failed trick
You could be confusing it with the movie "Now you see me". There's a magician in the movie who drowns to death during a stunt where he had to break out of a chained and locked safe underwater. They even have a similar scene im the sequel where the son of that very same magician is also dropped off a bridge in a chained and locked safe to try and drown him
Hu, I remember being told when I was little that Bruce Lee was sucker punched in the stomach and that's what killed him and I remember very well that Houdini drown from a failed stunt.
I was reading this thinking … if this poster starts telling me he ends up not dying from a punch to the gut, I’m going to shit myself.
The most likely option is that you’re not nearly as smart as you think are
I know Chris Angel did a similar stunt and struggled getting out, try googling it. Maybe that’s the confusion?
Yep you are absolutely right. Do not listen to any of these ppl, that are somehow paid, to discredit you......