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. :)

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  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.

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    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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