Friday, January 17, 2020

LINK: Houdini - Down on the Farm

Chuck Romano at My Magic Uncle has shared a story about how Houdini found farmers "harder to fool than city people." This was a story that ran widely in the months after Houdini died, but the article Chuck found is from 1925 and has something that I've not read before -- a story of how Houdini was once challenged to escape a "thief-proof barn" in Iowa. You'll note it's yet another variation on the unlocked door parable. That sure seemed to happen to him a lot!

So click the headline and have a read at My Magic Uncle. And don't be fooled by that pic of Farmer Harry. Something tells me that's made up as well!

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5 comments:

  1. Chuck RomanoJanuary 17, 2020 at 1:43 PM

    Thanks, John. And yes, that photo of farmer Harry was created by me. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tom and JohanJanuary 18, 2020 at 9:24 AM

    Thanks, Chuck and John, for sharing this. Nice Saturday morning giggle!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Leo HeviaJanuary 19, 2020 at 7:38 AM

    I seem to remember reading somewhere the safe door being accidentally left open when HH was challenged to open it during the slander trials in Germany.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. John CoxJanuary 19, 2020 at 8:45 AM

      Yep, it gets told with the Germany trail. (But I don't think HH wasn't even at the third trail. He was in the UK. I think it might have just been an appeal hearing with Graff and Houdini's lawyers.) Houdini would then sometimes say it happened in a UK jail. But he connected to many different locations and stunts, whatever fit the moment. It was a floating myth.

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