In my Halloween post yesterday, I took a look back at The Final Houdini Seance, held the roof of the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel on October 31, 1936. While Houdini didn't ring any tambourines that night, legend has it that right after the seance a freak rainstorm suddenly broke out over the city that lasted just long enough to drench all on the roof. Some thought maybe that was a sign from Houdini, especially as short rainstorms such as this are an "unheard-of phenomena" in Southern California.
Well, last night, at around 11pm, almost exactly 78 years to the hour of the Knickerbocker rainstorm, a sudden and furious freak rainstorm broke out over Los Angeles that lasted only a few hours. Just long enough to drench the city.
So did Houdini return last night for those or us who understand his preferred method of communication?
Believe.
I'm not one for coincidences, but having another freak storm on the day and almost exact time as the last séance is too weird. If it really was Houdini, I applaud his methods; something exciting and theatrical and undeniably novel. I can't really picture him ever wanting to come back to do something as boring and smacking of fake mediums as ringing bells and shaking tambourines. I just wish for Bess's sake that he might have done something more during her lifetime.
ReplyDelete-Meredith
Didn't Houdini once command it to rain, or make it stop raining when he was alive? I believe he was asked to repeat that stunt but quit while he was ahead.
ReplyDeleteYes, at the home of Bernard Ernst during a party. I believe he did both start and stop the rain.
DeleteFirst, the Magic Castle fire on Halloween day, 2011...and now the brief Los Angeles rain shower last night on Halloween...
ReplyDeleteGo Harry, Go!
He seems to be trying to tell us something.
DeleteThere are so many weird happenings on the anniversary of his death. Perhaps Harry does return from time to time, just to let us know that he's still here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu1_TOiDDgs
DeleteThe Magic Castle Fire of 2011? Was Houdini getting back at Vernon for all those years of hits he took?
ReplyDeleteNow that was one scary Halloween. I was at the computer when all this went down: BREAKING: FIRE AT THE MAGIC CASTLE!
DeleteAt 2:47 PM on October 31, 2011 Michael Williams posted a story at Sevier County News. http://seviercountynews.com/houdini-museum ...
ReplyDelete"Today at 1:26 p.m. the exact moment Houdini died, a seance was held at the Houdini Museum in Scranton Pennsylvania. Did Houdini return? According to Dorothy Dietrich, director of the Houdini Museum, during the seance, the candelabra that was used, suddenly began to burn brightly. After the seance ended and the attendees left the museum, a hawk was sighted sitting on the chimney outside the museum. Coincidentally. Houdini used a hawk in his show shortly before he died. Was this a sign from Houdini? If so, it wasn't the first. Dietrich recounted another instance that occurred on the fiftieth anniversary of Houdini's death in a picture of Houdini performing his water torture trick fell from the wall. No one was near the picture when it fell."
Many witnesses were there to attest to the event. The flames burned extremely high. Devin Knight, one of the inner circle noticed it first. He asked Houdini to make the flames go higher and they did. It was at the exact same time as the fire was discovered at Hollywood's Magic Castle. Could the Magic Castle fire have been a sign from Houdini? A way of letting them know he took notice? Dorothy Dietrich said "I wouldn't think so. It is very sad. I guess it is just one of those many strange Houdini happenings that only seems to add to his legendary status. Houdini loved magic and magicians. Houdini was a visionary who took a small local magic club and opened branches all over the world. It was an idea no one had ever thought of. The fine magic organization still exists today with thousands of dues paying and contributing members worldwide, thanks to Houdini. Strangely just 15 years ago the Houdini Hall of Fame in Niagara Falls burned down that held Houdini's famous Water Torture Cell along with other props that Houdini, in his will, requested to be burned by his brother Theodore Hardeen. His brother sold them and yet somehow, Houdini got his wish." Museum co-director Dick Brookz said he had a call from someone who said "the fire could have been Houdini reprimanding magicians all over the world for, until now, not caring for his grave site as he did for others during his lifetime."
Dorothy Dietrich recently, in a story reported worldwide in The New York Times, along with Paranormalist Dick Brookz and Steve Moore, retired escape artist, had gone secretly into the cemetery where Houdini is buried and replaced his statuary bust that had been missing for 36 years. The three have come to be known as the "Houdini Commandos," with like minded followers joining throughout the world to do similar good work.
Dorothy Dietrich added "Previously on the 75th anniversary seance, that was televised, the candelabra burned hot enough to create a large wax drip on the side of the candles. When I asked Houdini to move something on the table, or make a noise, the large wax piece hit the table with a loud thud, and everyone at the table jumped. It was a very startling moment. And oddly this is not the first sighting of a hawk. In August this year, the Houdini Commandos were at Houdini's grave site cutting the grass and doing the final measurements needed to surreptitiously install Houdini's new statuary bust. A hawk flew in and perched overlooking Houdini's bust. The hawk stayed there watching for a long time until our cameras got too close, and it flew away."
However this Halloween, 2014, Houdini did not appear at our Original Houdini Seance, the only Houdini Seance dating back to Bess Houdini who passed to Walter B. Gibson who passed it to Dorothy Dietrich.