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.

Click the headline above or image below for the answer to this 99 year old mystery!

16 comments:

  1. Did it help or hurt Houdini after he took it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. His temperature, pulse, and respiration never improved. Not the antibiotic they were hoping for.

      Delete
    2. That’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)

      Delete
    3. Beats per minute. Not second. My bad.

      Delete
  2. I 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.

    Anyway, 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

    ReplyDelete
  3. 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.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your medical insights are absolutely fascinating Doctor Gillespie!

      Delete
    2. I 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.

      Delete
    3. Keep going Doctor! Your posts are educational and inspiring.

      Delete
    4. I 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.

      Delete
  4. Yet 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.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The 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.

      Delete
    2. Where was this announced? Last thing I read was the family of the magician Bess gifted the Tatler cuff had no idea of where it was located today. Was there an update I missed?

      Delete
    3. Yes there was an update that you missed. Not to worry Perry, here's the link to Joe Notaro's blog Houdini Circumstantial Evidence:

      https://harryhoudinicircumstantialevidence.com/?p=10702

      Delete
  5. Did I miss something in that link as reading it I understand the Tatler cuff is still unknown...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 1. Bess gives the cuffs to W.W. Durbin in 1934.
      2. Shortly thereafter, Durbin loans the cuffs to IBM secretary Theodore Heuber to exhibit in his IBM Museum.
      3. Durbin dies in 1937. Heuber never returns the cuffs to the Durbin family. He apparently kept all the museum artifacts that also included Kellar's wand.
      4. Heuber dies in 1974. The Heuber family in Pittsburgh has the cuffs. Particularly an older family member.

      Delete

Translate