100 Years After Houdini Died in Detroit, His Death Certificate May Still Be Hiding Secrets

Harry Houdini performed his final show in Detroit with a 104-degree fever and a ruptured appendix. He refused to cancel. A week later, on Halloween, he was dead — in a Detroit hospital, at age 52. One hundred years on, the city that witnessed his last act is marking the centennial with events and exhibitions, even as a new medical investigation argues that the death certificate recording that famous exit was itself a deception.

The standard account of what killed Houdini begins in Montreal, days before that final Detroit performance. A college student visiting him backstage asked whether it was true he could withstand a blow to the stomach. Houdini said yes — and before he could brace himself, the student threw not one but a series of punches. Most experts have long believed those blows aggravated a pre-existing case of appendicitis, leading to the rupture and the peritonitis that killed him.

But surgeon and medical researcher Larrian Gillespie, whose new book is titled 'Houdini: The Man Who Died Twice,' says the death certificate tells a different story — or rather, conceals one.

There's something very wrong with this death certificate. I see numbers were copied and then rewritten over. This was a cover-up.— Larrian Gillespie, surgeon and medical researcher

According to Gillespie, what actually killed Houdini was an intestinal blockage and an unreported last-minute surgery — not simply the ruptured appendix. She argues Houdini's team had a financial motive to favor the stomach-punch narrative: Houdini held a double indemnity insurance policy that paid an additional sum — worth roughly $500,000 in today's money, according to CBS News — if his death was ruled accidental.

Houdini had a double indemnity policy. The first policy would pay for his death, but if he died from an accident, it paid an additional – in today's money – $500,000.— Larrian Gillespie, surgeon and medical researcher

Gillespie goes further, challenging even the date. Based on documents she examined, she contends Houdini died on October 30 — not October 31.

I can put forth a very strong case that he died on October 30th and not the 31st. By moving the date over to the next day, every time Halloween came up, you would remember that Houdini coincidentally died that day.— Larrian Gillespie, surgeon and medical researcher

Even so, Gillespie does not think any of this diminishes the man. 'Houdini was gifted, and that will never change,' she said.

Born Erik Weisz in Hungary in 1874, Houdini immigrated with his family to Wisconsin at age four. He built his career from sideshow magic tricks through handcuff escapes that baffled police forces across the world, to elaborate death-defying stunts — including escaping from a straitjacket suspended from a crane and from a locked water tank while submerged upside down. Houdini historian Roger Dreyer, who owns one of the world's largest collections of Houdini artifacts, notes there is no record of Houdini ever failing an escape.

He would be put in a cell, virtually naked, shackled. He'd come out 20 minutes later holding the handcuffs. The specialists were called out of their corners to produce the most complicated locks for him. He'd lick it every time. There's no record of his failure.— David Denby, New Yorker staff writer

Detroit's connection to Houdini runs deeper than his death. He performed in the city repeatedly over the decades, including a jump from the Belle Isle Bridge in 1906. As the centennial arrives, the city is hosting Halloween events and presentations. A timed séance is also planned elsewhere in Michigan.

Séances have been part of the Houdini tradition since his death. In the final years of his life, Houdini had pivoted from escape artist to debunker of fake spiritualist mediums — exposing the tricks they used in darkened rooms to exploit grieving families, particularly women trying to contact loved ones lost in World War I. Yet Houdini himself made a pact with his wife Bess: if there was any way to communicate from beyond death, he would try. For ten years after he died, Bess held an annual séance on the anniversary. Fans have continued the ritual every Halloween since.

If Houdini was around today, he still would be a household name, because of what he signified: the idea of hope, escape, the power of possibility, the idea of becoming an immigrant going from poverty to stardom to fortune.— Roger Dreyer, Houdini historian

Why it matters — A century after Houdini's death in Detroit, new medical scrutiny of his death certificate raises the possibility that even the story of his final escape — from life itself — was shaped by the people around him, for money.

Sources differ on Date of Houdini's death: October 31, 1926 (Halloween) (clickondetroit.com, cbsnews.com (official record)) vs October 30, 1926 — per Larrian Gillespie's analysis of documents (cbsnews.com)

Reported by cbsnews.com, freep.com, clickondetroit.com, nytimes.com, detroitnews.com