I researched this book mainly by reading lots of books about Houdini, such as Houdini!!!: The Career of Erich Weiss by Kenneth Silverman, The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America’s First Superhero by William Kalush and Larry Sloman, Houdini: The Man Who Walked Through Walls by William Lindsay Gresham, and The Magician and the Spirits: Harry Houdini and the Curious Pastime of Communicating with the Dead by Deborah Noyes, to name a few. I also visited the Houdini Museum in New York City (houdinimuseumny.com), and watched newsreel footage and several silent movies Houdini starred in (available as Houdini: The Movie Star, a box set). If you want to know more about the man, search for his name on the Internet and it will keep you busy for weeks. If you happen to be near Scranton, Pennsylvania, visit The Houdini Museum. There’s also lots of Houdini memorabilia at The History Museum at the Castle in his childhood hometown—Appleton, Wisconsin. It’s a few blocks from Houdini Plaza.
Finally, I spent a lot of time in Houdini’s old neighborhood. He really did live at 278 West 113th Street in New York City. I wasn’t born there, but I live just eight blocks away and I walk by Houdini’s old house frequently. In fact, that’s what gave me the idea for this story.
I can easily imagine Houdini climbing the stairs in Morningside Park, visiting the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and hanging out in Riverside Park. All these locations in the story are real, as is the Freedom Tunnel (the gate is locked, I tried it), the original Hippodrome (where Houdini famously made an elephant disappear in 1918), and the current Madison Square Garden of course.
Some biographies describe Houdini as a bit of a selfish egomaniac who demanded constant attention and adulation. I wouldn’t call him a bad man, but if Houdini had the chance to text from the grave and switch places with a modern-day kid in order to pull off the ultimate escape act, I suspect that he would take it.
The stuff I made up? Harry Mancini, his mother, and his friend Zeke do not exist. And make no mistake, you cannot communicate with dead people by text message. Don’t bother trying.
However, it’s absolutely true that many people believed Houdini’s escapes were so amazing that he must have had supernatural powers, and that if anybody could come back from the dead it would be him. Houdini was fascinated by death. In the 1922 silent film The Man from Beyond, a character played by Houdini was brought back to life after being frozen in Arctic ice for a hundred years. In fact, Houdini promised his wife and a number of friends that if there was a way for him to communicate with them after he died, he would do it. And to this day, every Halloween, séances are held all over the world with people gathered together trying to receive some kind of a message from his spirit.
Unfortunately, Harry Houdini has not been heard from since 1926. It’s true that he was punched in the stomach and died of peritonitis (an inflammation of the abdomen) nine days later, on Halloween. He was just fifty-two years old.
Houdini is buried in the Hungarian section of Machpelah Cemetery in Ridgewood, Queens. A steady stream of visitors come to pay their respects at his large stone horseshoe-shape grave site. Often they leave playing cards, coins, and handcuffs on the gravestone. In this way, his memory is kept alive. Harry Houdini may not be able to communicate from “the other side,” but he will never be forgotten.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dan Gutman has written many books for young readers, such as the My Weird School series, the Genius Files, the Flashback Four series, The Kid Who Ran for President, The Million Dollar Shot, The Homework Machine, and his Baseball Card Adventure series. Dan and his wife, Nina Wallace live five minutes away from Harry Houdini’s house in New York City. You can find out more about Dan and his books by visiting his website (dangutman.com) or following him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
