Harry Houdini on an unidentified bridge in 1912. [Library of Congress]

90 years ago on Halloween, Harry Houdini died in Detroit

Master illusionist and escape artist Harry Houdini was in Detroit when he stepped onto a stage for the last time. He would die a week later — on Halloween, no less, giving an eerie twist to the life of a man steeped in mystery.

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Courtesy Burton Historical Collection at the Detroit Public Library

Belle Isle Bridge

Even before the famed final performance, Detroit had an important place in the legend of Harry Houdini. In late November 1906, Houdini came to the city for a two-week string of performances at the Temple Theatre, during which time it's believed he pulled off one of his most epic stunts ever: jumping off the original Belle Isle Bridge (pictured), handcuffed and with legs bound, into the Detroit River.

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Courtesy of the Burton Historical Collection at the Detroit Public Library

The Belle Isle Bridge stunt would become one of the most memorable pieces of Houdini lore, with some accounts claiming the river was frozen over and that Houdini jumped into a hole cut into the ice — a detail that still remains a mystery (but was nevertheless dramatized in the 1953 film Houdini).

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Inside the Temple Theatre. Photo via Library of Congress

On that trip to Detroit, Houdini performed at the Temple Theatre: a vaudeville theater in Campus Martius that closed in 1928.

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Image via Library of Congress

Twenty years later, on Houdini's fateful trip to Detroit, he stayed at the Statler Hotel — the hotel in Detroit at the time, located in Grand Circus Park, just a few blocks from the Garrick Theatre, where he was scheduled to perform. He came to the hotel by train from Montreal, where, after delivering a speech about "spiritualistic tricks," he'd been punched in the stomach several times by a student. During the train trip to Detroit, Houdini began complaining of abdominal pain, so the onboard nurse wired a Detroit physician, who was waiting for Houdini in the city when he arrived.

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A 1911 photograph of the Garrick Theatre. Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University

The Detroit physician diagnosed Houdini with appendicitis, but Houdini refused to cancel his show at the Garrick — a high-class venue on Griswold Street in Detroit where, as it turned out, Houdini would step onto the stage for the last time. During what would be his final performance, on Oct. 24th, it was reported that he was suffering from a fever of 104 degrees and that he passed out several times during the show.

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Courtesy Burton Historical Collection at the Detroit Public Library

After his pained performance at the Garrick, Houdini went back to his room at the Statler, where he was attended to by "the best [physicians] Detroit could furnish," a New York Times story later said. When his condition did not improve, he was taken to the city's Grace Hospital, a small hospital (demolished in the late 1970's) in what is now Midtown.

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Library of Congress

Houdini's appendix had ruptured, and he'd developed peritonitis: a bacterial infection of the membrane lining the abdominal cavity. He remained in the hospital for a week, undergoing two surgeries that failed to help him. "The physicians who attended him say he was the best patient they ever had," the New York Times reported.

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Image via Archives of Michigan, SeekingMichigan.org

Harry Houdini died in Room 401 of Grace Hospital, at the age of 52, due to the peritonitis as a result of the ruptured appendix. His death certificate (pictured) is now part of the Archives of Michigan.

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A Google street-view image of the chapel.

Houdini's body was taken to the W.R. Hamilton & Company Funeral Home on Cass Avenue, where it was prepared to be taken by train to New York for burial. The funeral home's chapel, now vacant, still stands.

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Image via HistoricDetroit.org

The final landmark involved in Houdini's death was Detroit's behemoth train station, Michigan Central Station, in the city's Corktown neighborhood. It was from here that Houdini's body was loaded onto a train, accompanied by Houdini's wife, and taken to New York, where he was buried on Nov. 4 with thousands of mourners in attendance.

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Library of Congress

For 10 years after Houdini's death, his wife, Bess, held an annual seance on Halloween in an attempt to establish contact with him. Others continued the tradition, as seen here in this 1946 photo from a Halloween seance in Detroit, where magicians gathered around a pair of handcuffs, two candles, a book, and a portrait of Houdini.

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Image via Wikipedia

Emily Bingham | ebingham@mlive.com

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