“My brain is the key that sets me free!” ~ Houdini

“My brain is the key that sets me free!” This is a classic line Houdini often wrote when inscribing books and photographs for his peers and admirers. It is also the message we shared with young visitors to Fantasma Magic and its Houdini Museum of New York, which was open from 2006 to 2020. This article goes beyond Houdini’s “key” to reveal several of his closely guarded secrets—devices that have often been written about, but rarely shown in actual photographs.

HANDCUFF SECRETS!

As Houdini became increasingly popular, many imitators copied the Handcuff King’s approach to entertaining audiences by accepting challenges and performing death-defying escapes. In 1910, George Routledge & Sons in London and E. P. Dutton & Co. in New York published Houdini’s book Handcuff Secrets as an exposé of the methods used by his imitators. On the front cover, Houdini poses with a pair of Plug 8 handcuffs resting over his knee. Inside, the book reveals a highly unusual escape gimmick: a metal plate secretly strapped to the leg beneath the trousers. Certain handcuffs, when properly prepared, will spring open when struck against a solid object such as this plate. To the best of my knowledge, this is a unique, custom-made Houdini gimmick. It was obtained at a Houdini auction featuring the remarkable collection of the talented magician Doug Edwards in the fall of 2001.

BURIED ALIVE!

Houdini, with the help of his assistants, created many ingenious secret devices—or, as Al Flosso would say, “an affas gaffas.” The way Houdini concealed these devices was often as brilliant as the escapes themselves. Through careful misdirection, he could allow people to examine him without discovering a thing. One of the most popular challenges Houdini accepted was being locked inside a wooden packing box—or even a coffin—and buried alive. His secret was a small concealed pipe jack. The jack was positioned to exert equal pressure on both sides of the wooden box, helping to create an opening without cracking the individual boards. After escaping, and while the orchestra played loudly, Houdini could use the end of the pipe jack to nail or press the boards back into place. This unique piece of Houdini history was obtained from the late Jack Chanin in the 1990s. Chanin, president of the Houdini Club of Philadelphia, received the secret device and several handcuffs from Bess Houdini when she attended the club’s annual banquet. My thanks to the legendary John Gaughan, who identified this as an authentic Houdini pipe-jack escape device.

“1, 2, 3… IT’S ME!” — METAMORPHOSIS, AKA THE SUBSTITUTION TRUNK

This classic stage illusion, invented by John Nevil Maskelyne and performed as early as 1865, was made famous by Harry Houdini. Within my Houdini collection, this may be considered the crown jewel. Only a few other authentic trunks are known to exist, including one in David Copperfield’s extraordinary International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts in Las Vegas. Many magicians describe the trunk’s secret as either a “top loader” or a “rear loader.” The most fascinating part of displaying this trunk at my Houdini Museum—now relocated from New York City to Wayne, New Jersey, and open by appointment—is that even after I explain the type of trunk it is, magicians are still unable to discover exactly how it works. They can examine it repeatedly and still fail to release the trapdoor—allowing Houdini to have the last laugh nearly a century after his death.

The secret? A simple buttonhook is inserted into the rear of the floor panel and used to lift the false bottom forward. Only after the floor is raised can the back panel be opened, allowing the magician and assistant to exchange places in a matter of seconds. Without the buttonhook, the mechanism can defy detection and conceal its basic secret. This helps explain why people such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believed Houdini might be able to dematerialize and pass through the trunk’s walls.

The trunk has been featured in museums across the country, as well as in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and countless television specials. It also appeared in the 1991 television program Houdini: Unlocking His Mysteries, during which Charlotte Pendragon of the celebrated Pendragons experienced a costume-change mishap and remained inside the trunk. The trunk passed from Hardeen to Houdini’s accountant, then to Mike O’Dowd, John Gaughan, and finally to our Houdini Museum.

$10,000 CHALLENGE: “DO THE DEAD COME BACK?”

Contrary to what many believe, Houdini did not approach every séance as a skeptic. When attending séances—such as those conducted by Margery the Medium—he genuinely hoped that something might materialize. Houdini’s crusade against fraudulent spiritualists began around 1922. The debunking segment became an integral part of his stage act in late 1924 and reached its full expression in 1925 with Do the Dead Come Back? He even offered a $10,000 reward to anyone who could produce a genuine manifestation that he could not duplicate.

Thanks to David Haversat of Haversat & Ewing Auctions, I was able to acquire material from Houdini’s spiritualist-exposé act. One of my favorite pieces is a metal hand that came with other séance apparatus packed in a leather case bearing the letter “H” inside the lid. Many people have no idea how the hand was used—or how it enabled a medium to make things go bump in the night. The secret? Once the séance began, the lights were turned off and the medium instructed everyone around the table to grasp the wrist of the person beside them. The pliable metal hand could be formed around a participant’s wrist and maintain a firm grip. Once it was secured, the medium had one hand free to manipulate spirit rods, trumpets, and tambourines, creating ghostly movements and sounds.

Cheers, Houdini! Thank you for ensuring that the world remembers you—and the values for which you stood.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Roger Dreyer is the founder and CEO of Fantasma Toys, a leading global manufacturer of magic sets, and the owner of HoudiniRevealed.com, formerly the Houdini Museum of New York. He is recognized as the custodian of one of the world’s most significant private Houdini collections.