Harry Houdini

Birth Name:
Erik Weisz
Birth Date:
March 24, 1974
Birth Place:
Budapest, Austria-Hungary
Death Date:
October 31, 1926
Place of Death:
Room 401, Grace Hospital, Detroit, Michigan
Age:
52
Cause of Death:
Peritonitis secondary to a ruptured appendix after a physical beating
Cemetery Name:
Machpelah Cemetery
Claim to Fame:
Other Entertainers
Harry Houdini is most often remembered as an escape artist and a magician. He was also an actor, a pioneering aviator, an amateur historian, businessman and performance artist of such great success that his name will live in perpetuity.

Fun Fact

So what ever happened to the college student who punched Houdini several times in the stomach resulting in the great magician’s death nine days later?

According to the Dead Conjurers website, Joscelyn Gordon Whitehead was not a magician. He was the McGill University college student (who was in his 30s at the time) who punched Houdini several times in the abdomen in his dressing room in Montreal. This led to a ruptured appendix and Houdini’s eventual death on October 31, 1926. Investigations following Houdini’s death don’t accuse Whitehead of any wrong doing, but in an affidavit to the insurance company Whitehead willingly admits to punching Houdini several times.

Whitehead was an odd figure. After the Houdini incident he left college. He became a recluse and a hermit. He died of malnutrition in 1954. He is buried in Montreal Canada at the Mt. Royal Cemetery in an unmarked grave. The exact location is the Hawthorne Dale Annex Plot, Lot # 188, Grave 75. It is an unmarked grave.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Machpelah Cemetery

8230 Cypress Hills Street

Flushing, New York, 11385

USA

North America

Map:

Map of Machpelah Cemetery in Queens, New York
Map of Machpelah Cemetery in Queens, New York

Grave Location:

Weiss Family Plot

Grave Location Description

Hidden in plain sight is the Machpelah Cemetery, which has nothing but a small metal sign on a fence that identifies it. The gates are locked and building at the main entrance has been torn down. The only access is through the cemeteries that border it.

However if you can find the site of the former office (the foundation is still there) at the old entrance on Cypress Hills Street, Houdini’s grave is about 75 feet straight in front of the old entrance.

Grave Location GPS

40.69365031179931, -73.88472510215564

Visiting The Grave:

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FAQ's

Harry Houdini was born on March 24, 1974.

Harry Houdini was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary.

Harry Houdini died on October 31, 1926.

Harry Houdini died in Room 401, Grace Hospital, Detroit, Michigan.

Harry Houdini was 52.

The cause of death was Peritonitis secondary to a ruptured appendix after a physical beating.

Harry Houdini's grave is in Machpelah Cemetery

Read More About Harry Houdini:

Videos Featuring Harry Houdini:

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The Great Lafayette

popular name: The Great Lafayette

date_of_death: May 9, 1911

age: 40

cause_of_death: Theater fire

claim_to_fame: Other Entertainers

best_know_for: Sigmund Neuberger (aka The Great Lafayette) was a master illusionist and one of the most highly paid entertainers in the world in his era. Sadly, on May 9, 1911 a devastating fire broke out at the Empire Palace Theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. Performing to a sell-out crowd when fire erupted on stage, with the fire safety curtain descending to the front of the stage and all the backstage exits locked to prevent freeloaders, all 3000 members of the audience escaped unharmed. However, those on stage and behind the scenes were less fortunate. The Great Lafayette perished along with 9 members of his troupe, his horse and his lion.

Chung Ling Soo

popular name: Chung Ling Soo

date_of_death: March 24, 1918

age: 56

cause_of_death: Accidental gunshot wound to the lung during his stage act

claim_to_fame: Other Entertainers

best_know_for: At the beginning of the 20th century, audiences across Europe were wowed by a Chinese magician who drew on ancient Asian mysticism to perform illusions and contact the spirit realm. But he was, in fact, none of these things, as “Chung Ling Soo” was actually William Ellsworth Robinson, an American of Scottish ancestry who built a phony, racist Chinese persona and magic act based directly on that of another magician, Chung Ling Foo (who actually was Chinese). Yet audiences looked past the obvious identity theft as Chung Ling Soo was actually a great magician.

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popular name: Irene Castle

date_of_death: 01/25/1969

age: 75

cause_of_death: Heart failure

claim_to_fame: Other Entertainers

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