Over the course of 1899 Harry Houdini went from being an obscure circus performer to being one of the best known entertainers in America. He became known as the “Handcuff King” and made headlines challenging police departments to lock him in a pair of cuffs that could hold him. His rise to fame was aided by his savvy understanding of the media and an ability manipulate the papers. These manipulations would overtime become part of the Houdini myth. Houdini lived a life filled with misdirections. Is it possible he was secretly living a double life as a spy? Tune-in and find out how provincial “lunatic asylums”, mouth needles, and remarkably timed deaths all play role in the story.

Works Cited

Bell, Don. The Man Who Killed Houdini. Vehicule Press, 2004.

Christopher, Milbourne. The Illustrated History of Magic. Thomas Y Cromwell Company, 1973.

Houdini, Harry. The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin. New York Publishing and Printing Co, 1908.

Posnanski, Joe. The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini. Avid Reader/Simon and Shuster, 2020.

Rapaport, Brooke Kamin, and Alan Brinkley. Houdini: Art and Magic. Yale University Press, 2010.

Robert-Houdin, Jean. Memoirs of Robert-Houdin: Ambassador, Author, Conjurer. G.G Evans Publisher, 1858.

Silverman, Kenneth. Houdini!: The Career of Ehrich Weiss: American Self-Liberator, Europe’s Eclipsing Sensation, World’s Handcuff King & Prison Breaker–Nothing on Earth Can Hold Houdini a Prisoner! HarperCollins Publishers, 1996.