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Thursday, March 13, 2025
LINK: The mystery serum is a mystery no more!
Our new friend Dr. Larrian Gillespie at the recently launched Houdinarian Society website has knocked it out of the park today with a post about the "mystery serum" Houdini was given during his final illness. Dr. Gillespie is a UCLA-trained urologic surgeon with expertise in urogynecology and holder of four pharmaceutical patents. She's also a collector and keen historian.
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Did it help or hurt Houdini after he took it?
ReplyDeleteHis temperature, pulse, and respiration never improved. Not the antibiotic they were hoping for.
DeleteThat’s what I thought. Did you read how low his pulse was? It was like in the 30 beats per second! That’s not good! 😢 - Abby Martin (cares a lot about this stuff)
DeleteBeats per minute. Not second. My bad.
DeleteI joined the Houdiarian Society website! I’m so excited that I did! At first I was hesitant because I thought they only had a facebook and I don’t have one (never wanted a Facebook either) but I did join the website! Yay! It feels official and very cool.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, this was a fascinating but also sad read. So the serum was in its experimental phases from the time when Houdini was going to die. And it was an antitoxin. This is the stuff that I have been waiting for! - Abby Martin
That was actually breaths per minutes...38...which shows he was hyperventilating as normal is around 20. I do not think his surgeons had ANY hope that he would survive peritonitis of that duration. This was more a CYA maneuver...cover your ass....to prove no stone was left unturned in trying to save Houdini. HAD it worked ( which was frankly not possible as multiple doses would have been needed over time to develop immunity like any vaccine) their reputations would have been seen as miracle workers and Parke-Davis would have certainly had press releases about their "secret serum" that was developed in their pharmaceutical laboratory. This company is now part of Pfizer.
ReplyDeleteYour medical insights are absolutely fascinating Doctor Gillespie!
DeleteI really enjoyed discovering the answer to that question. There are many more I am going to post after my discussion with John who encouraged me to make my investigations public. Always looking for other opinions especially if you have other insights.
DeleteKeep going Doctor! Your posts are educational and inspiring.
DeleteI just posted two articles on the site. One is about a letter between Sugden and Houdini owned by my friend Alanna Nash, and the other is my opinion about the final image of Houdini in the casket liner. I think you might find them both interesting.
DeleteYet another Houdini mystery solved! We need to find those Tatler cuffs and a detailed eye witness report on the Vanishing Elephant and my life is complete! Perry from NJ.
ReplyDeleteThe location of the Tatler Cuffs is known at this point. A Houdini collector has already thrown his hat in the ring and contacted the family that has it.
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