Houdini Seance Souvenir Address Book Cincinnati October 31, 1993 for Sale

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Houdini Seance Souvenir Address Book Cincinnati October 31, 1993 For Sale

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Houdini Seance Souvenir Address Book Cincinnati October 31, 1993:
$23.00

Houdini Seance Souvenir Address Book Cincinnati October 31,1993

From the archives of the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame in Niagara Falls, Canada.

Nice addition to a collection of magic memorabilia.

The photos you see here are photos of the actual item that you will receive. Many sellers online post using stock photos that often don’t resemble the item you actually receive.

Houdini seances have been happening since his death in 1926. One was held in Cincinnati, October 31, 1993.

When Houdini died on Halloween in 1926 at 52, his wife and fans waited for him to communicate from the grave, as he had said, if anyone were to communicate beyond the grave, it would be him.

Because of that line, an Official Houdini Seance has been held each year since his death in a new city and place of significance in Houdini's life. And it's that seance that brought Houdini back to the Queen City nearly 67 years after his death.

Or at least, that was what those gathered on the 16th floor of Downtown's PNC Tower hoped would happen.

The reason the 16th floor was chosen in 1993 was because it used to be the headquarters of Union Central Life, which held Houdini's life insurance policies.

27 people were involved, including Dorothy Kiamie, the last person to have worked with Houdini; Henry Muller, curator of the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame; Dr. Morris Young, Library of Congress consultant on magic; and Ken Klosterman, the CEO of Cincinnati's Klosterman Baking Company and an avid magic collector.

According to those there, the temperature dropped considerably, but still failed both tests for every seance since 1926: cracking the code from Doyle and unlocking a pair of handcuffs.

Seances are still held every Halloween in an attempt to speak to Houdini. Harry Houdini, the famed magician and escape artist at the turn of the 20th century, showed off his artistry to captive Cincinnati audiences and even The Enquirer.

Born in Budapest, Hungary in 1874, the magical master immigrated to Appleton, Wisconsin and by 1900, gained fame for being able to escape from a plethora of local police departments' manacles in the U.S. and Europe, according to History.com.

One account mentioned in the Jan. 6, 1906, edition of The Enquirer was his Washington, D.C. feat, where the police chief himself challenged Houdini to break out of the newly completed Fifth Precinct Station.

He was placed in a rear cell, stripped, searched and securely locked in another cell. Within 22 minutes, Houdini had returned, clothed and hatted, having released himself from his cell.

But before he was a master escape artist, in 1899, he wowed The Enquirer by revealing how he did the one trick that "couldn't be matched in Cincinnati."

The trick involved palming 25 cards, making them disappear altogether and then producing them one at a time from "apparent nothingness."

Not one to be duped, The Enquirer requested Houdini personally show the newspaper how to do the trick.

Houdini personally showed The Enquirer how to do one of his card tricks, Dec. 24, 1899.

"The drawings above are from photographs, and show exactly how the trick is done," The Enquirer caption reads. "Study them carefully, and you can do it yourself — after a little practice."

In less than a decade, Houdini was performing more dangerous feats, including escaping from an iron-bound chest dropped into a water tank or thrown off a boat, being bound and buried underground, or being hung upside down in a straitjacket.

The latter is the escape feat Houdini brought to Cincinnati 17 years after his more benign card trick. But, by then, he was a full-blown superstar celebrity of his time. A week before his visit to Cincinnati, he performed in Pittsburgh to a crowd of 20,000.

This time, Houdini was to hang upside down with his feet tied to a rope attached to the top of the Pickering Building on 5th and Main streets. All the while he would have a straitjacket on.

By 1931, the city agreed to pay the Pickering Building's owner $498,281 so the city could widen East Fifth Street by "carving" up the building. However, not much mention of the building can be found thereafter.

Houdini was also expected to perform at B.F. Keith's Theatre, which used to be at 525 Walnut Street, but is now the entrance to the Fountain Square Garage after being torn down in 1966.

The Enquirer reported at the time that Houdini declared the Pickering straitjacket escape "his most daring exploit" in his life. Such was the daring of Houdini, who had given up aviation because, as The Enquirer said, it was "too slow."

The Enquirer challenged Houdini to escape from a box on April 7, 1925.

Houdini would make another visit to the Queen City in April 1925 before his death in 1926.

Houdini was also known for being against charlatans, arguing his tricks relied on strength, dexterity and concentration, as a great showman. That particular facet of Houdini's legacy is what brought him to Cincinnati: He was going to challenge Laura Pruden.

Pruden was a well-known medium living in Price Hill, who had been "authenticated by Doyle." Doyle was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a longtime foe of Houdini since he believed in mediums and spiritualists.

During a stay at the Hotel Gibson for a three-act performance over a week, Houdini wrote a letter to Doyle and thanked him for the birthday wishes, according to Rare Book Hub, which is selling the letter for between $1,500-$2,000.

"Mrs. Pruden, the medium I am challenging here has been authenticated by Doyle? Bird et al," Houdini wrote in the letter.

Bird refers to Malcolm Bird, editor of Scientific American magazine, who also supported spiritualists.

Aside from attempting to discredit Pruden, Houdini also was going to perform another one of his escapes.

Once again, it was The Enquirer challenging the "Master of Magic," but this time to escape from a box, which was then "wrapped by three strands of heavy rope and tied." And those doing the imprisoning? The Enquirer's own "selected, trusted" staff, of course.