Timesuck with Dan Cummins - 21 - Ghosts & Magic: Houdini takes on Spiritualism

Episode Date: February 6, 2017

In the early 1920s, world renown escape artist and master magician, Harry Houdini, became obsessed with exposing seance-holding mediums as frauds and imposters, sometimes cancelling his own shows to attend their performances and debunk them. Who was Houdini and what drove him to discredit all who claimed they could speak with the dead? Find out in the biggest Timesuck so far!

Before this episode, I didn't know a lot about Harry Houdini. Mostly because I've never had much respect for magicians, and frankly, they've always creeped me out. Never had a lot of interest in magic, but I gotta say this episode changed me. Definitely find them somewhat less creepy now, at least some of them. A lot more respect for the masters of this craft, and no one was a greater master of the craft of magic than Harry Houdini. I'd obviously heard of him before, you know, I knew some kind of escape artist, and I knew that, well, that's actually about all I knew. I didn't realize how truly famous he was in his day.

You know, I didn't know that he was an illusionist in addition to an escape artist, or that his brother was also a well-known magician of his day, Tori Nezhardin. Sounds like a magician name. And I definitely didn't know that he devoted the final decade of his life to exposing mediums, psychics, clairvoyance, and other spiritualists as fake and fraudulent.

And why did he do this? Well, for a variety of reasons, but partly because he was a mama's boy, in the best way. He was extremely close to his mother, took great care of her after his father died, and when she died in 1913, he was virtually inconsolable. And his skepticism of those who advertised inability to contact dead, those who prayed on the sorrow of the grief-stricken it turned to hatred. He despised them. He would have loved to be able to contact Mama and know that she was out there somewhere,

know that she was okay. And he hated the pieces of shit who took this desire and tried to monetize that grief by pretending to contact the deceased. Many people were skeptical of spiritualists, but they didn't have his highly trained illusionist eye that could consistently reveal the tricks of their trade no matter how skilled they were at concealing them. Houdini became so obsessed with exposing these con artists that his final touring show was actually called Three Shows in One, Magic, Escapes, and Fraud Mediums Exposed. Show was actually called 3 shows and 1 magic escapes and fraud mediums exposed So let's get magical you time suckers. Let's get skeptical you spiritualist Put your Ouija board away and let's find out if any of you can escape the powerful pull of the great Houdini on today's time suck. Time suck.

Happy Monday fellow time suckers time to get sucked. Time to get your suck on. I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I know things are crazy in the world right now and some day, you know, I'm sure I'll dig into all the divisive events We're currently bearing witness to but not today not for a while No one's ready to understand the other side's arguments my opinion So whether you're you're getting your protest march on or whether you just you know stay in a home and and hoping or or waiting for the storm to pass Let time suck be a sweet little escape into a different world at least for the time being A big thanks time sucker,

Tessa Buyers for sending me down this week's Suck, Houdini and spiritualism. All right, when I saw that combo and her message, I was immediately intrigued. And thanks to everyone else who sent in suggestions this past week, they've all been added to the list. I look over before heading down some strange web hole. Most have come via email at adminattime suckpodcast.com where you can send some of your own topics if you

don't know where to message me. And thanks for all the kind messages, by the way, I received as well. Telling me how much you've enjoyed. This little creative endeavor we are all adventuring with. You guys the fucking best. All right, let's get into it. Houdani. The dude who used to sneak out of stray jackets

in shark tanks with some shit like that a long time ago, right? The object of hero worship of magicians everywhere. Who Dini? The guy Michael Paul Glazer, the original star skier of Star Skying Hutch played the 1976 ABC made for TV movie that no one watched called The Great Who Dinis. Who Dini?

The guy young Will Wheaton of later Star Trek fame played in a 1987 ABC made for TV movie called Young Harry Houdini that no one watched. After Will starred in one of the best movies of the 80s Stephen King's 1986 coming of age tale, stand by me. ABC loved making shitty movies about Houdini. Houdini! The man Jonathan Shek. Jimmy, from that thing you do, portrayed in the 1998 TNT made for TV movie called Houdini, that no one reviewed,

and only 21% of audience members barely liked him or even wrote in tomatoes. Houdini. The man Adrian Brody portrayed in the 2014 History Channel many series you probably never realized was ever made, you called, you guessed it, Houdini. Variety magazine set of the mini series long before the credits roll, it's hard not to wish Houdini would simply disappear. But not exactly a glowing review.

Well long before Houdini was the inspiration for a litany of terrible and forgettable television programming, the man for a litany of terrible and forgettable television programming, the man led a storied life, one that we should get familiar with before diving into the whole magician versus spiritualist battle that originally caught my attention. So behold, the wonders of a time-subtimeline. Shrap on those boots, soldier. We're marching down a time, time, time, line. Start with 1874. Harry Houdini was born Eric Weitz and Budapest hungry on March 24, 1874 to mayor Samuel Weitz, a rabbi and Cecilia Steiner. He was the middle child and a household of 7

children and in 1878 when young Eric was four, the family moved to a hotbed of 19th century Jewish culture. You guessed it, Appleton was constant. Of course they did. Appleton, AKA New Jerusalem. Hopefully, no, that's not true. Not true about the hotbed of Jewish activity. No, he did move to Appleton.

Mayor moved his family to this extremely white in Gentiles city, to be its first rabbi at the Zion reform Jewish congregation synagogue. That must have been a lot of fun for Eric and his siblings to constantly explain to locals that Jewish people, you know, do not in fact sacrifice Christian babies to the devil or celebrate helping Jesus, you know, get killed or control the world's finances or whatever other horribly anti-Semitic messages undoubtedly floated around town at that time. Now while many historians agree that Houdini's father moved to Appleton because of a job offer,

there is a far more interesting motive, rumor to be the reason Harry's family settled in America. Check this out. There's a lot of historical speculation that Harry's father had challenged a Hungarian prince to a sword duel for insulting him. And then they fight, he kills the prince, and he has to flee the country. That's right, a sword duel for insulting him and then they fight, he kills the prince

and he has to flee the country. That's right, fucking sword duel. How cool is that? As far as fetches, that sounds, sword duels were actually fairly common occurrence in the late 19th century Budapest, kind of the same way that gun duels were a somewhat common occurrence in 19th century American Wild West. So this version of the story says it says that the family hidden London before using family connections

to sneak away to Appleton, Wisconsin, because that's where the Hungarian monarchy is least expected to go look for Rabbi Appleton. Harry himself kind of liked the dual version, and I don't blame him. Hard to beat. You know, we had to move because my dad killed Prince with a sword in a sword fight.

That's top shelf dad story right there. I wish I had a sword story under my belt. So okay, so anyway, sword duel or no, four years later in December of 1882, when Erica's eight, his dad loses his job with the congregation, apparently mostly over an inability to speak English. Who knew, only speaking Hungarian and Yiddish,

maybe Lord German, would be enough to get by in 1870s, Appleton. Cat is crazy, right? Family heads to Milwaukee and enters what was not according to Houdini, the best period of his childhood. He says, in his words, one morning, my father awoke to find himself thrown upon the world, his long locks of hair having silvered in service

with seven children to feed without a position, and without any visible means of support. We thereon moved to Milwaukee, where such hardships and hunger became our lot, the less set on that subject, the better. Excuse me. The family lived in Milwaukee for five years, a period of young Harry's life he never liked to talk about. His father took whatever work he could find, and he and some of the siblings worked to support the family too. When Eric wasn't working as a bicycle

messenger or shoe-shiner, you know the exact type of jobs I picture poor kids doing at the end of the 19th century in America. He also had time to take some boxing lessons. Learn how to swim, hold his breath, then nearby river, begin to develop the athleticism he'd need to become a famous escape artist later in life. Sorry about the dry throat man. Always strikes me in the middle of an episode. Apparently he was a hell of a boxer, supposedly beating the ass of a young Mickey Riley.

A kid who would grow to become a respected prize fighter. Mickey Riley was the only person who four times clobbered the famous battling Nelson, the future lightweight champion of the world. And the young Harry whipped the man who whipped Nelson. There's a great quote from Patsey McCartan, the local boxer and a fireman who taught both making young Houdini'd fight.

Well, what a fucking great boxing coach name, by the way. Patsey McCartan, of course that dude taught boxers. Patsey McCartan doesn't work as a seamstress, you know? Hey, Patsey McCartan, Can you get that vest finished up? Uh-uh. He fights fires and he teaches kids to fight in the McCartan way. That's the McCartan way.

Fire and fist. If he had a place today, he'd have an Instagram account at fire and fist, Patsy McCartan. Trainor to the stars. Anyway, that's what he says about young Houdini. He says Nelson was so mean he'd fight for a ham sandwich. He tells a sports rider in the Milwaukee Sentinel, but he was afraid of Mickey Riley and Riley was afraid of that kid Eric Vice.

Eric Vice AKA Harry Houdini. It's easy to understand how Harry got the confidence to become a master showman. Dude, the dude was a badass. Well, young Harry was most likely first exposed to showmanship and entertainers in Milwaukee as well. Circuses were a big deal back then. Young Harry undoubtedly read about them a lot in the paper. I guess they were a big deal, mostly because, you know, TV hadn't been invented yet.

Once TV came along, a lot of people like, fuck the circus. People like myself. But anyway, he, they were big deal. He read about him, this paper he delivered, and he surely read about General Tom Thumb, the pint-sized two-foot 11-inch star of PT Barnum Circus, being saved from one of the worst hotel files, fires, in America's history, the New Hall House fire

in downtown Milwaukee, he was saved along with his tiny wife in early 1883. Over 70 people didn't survive that one. I don't know why I needed to add that his wife was tiny, but She was I wasn't being erroneous, but I could have just had wife But then I feel like I feel like I've already said wife Then you would have pictured this little two foot 11 inch guy with like a five foot seven inch woman And you'd be like how the fuck does that work? How did how did the mechanics of that work? They probably work fine. I'm probably the only one that would thought of that.

Okay, while he didn't talk about them a lot, Harry never forgot about his early Milwaukee years. When Houdini played Milwaukee in 1916, he gave a special show for 500 newsboys. That's awesome. I always love reading about stuff like that. You know, it gives back. Doesn't forget when he gets famous.

Harry also became an occasional street performer in Milwaukee, developing a two-man act with a young contortionist, Herman Krauss, who went on to star in the Follies Berger, under the name Adonis Ames. They performed for free, him and Adonis, on the Milwaukee Bridge over the Milwaukee River, and later at Jacob Litz, Die Museum. At age 9 and age 83, Eric and some neighborhood friends

established five-t 10 circus as well. Wearing red woolen stockings, he built himself as Eric, the prince of the air. Yeah, he actually tried out some trapeze stuff at that time, man. So, you know, he had big dreams as a kid. He had big dreams. And he was during the Milwaukee years

that he also stopped going to school so he could work more to help the family. Who didn't he had no formal education past the third grade, which makes him all the more impressive to me. Do you got a doctorate and kick an ass at life, only a third grade formal education. And I actually just found out a couple hours ago, after sharing this week's topic with my grandma, we were talking and I never knew her father, my great-grandpa, John Burman, Rick and Zydeho.

Well, that's where he literally used from Sweden, but he was also never educated past the I never knew her father, my great-grandpa John, John Berman, Rickens Idaho. Well, yeah, it's where he literally used from Sweden, but he was also never educated past the third grade. Moved himself from Sweden to America at the age of 18, provided for his family, bought himself a beautiful plot of land, and built a wonderful home in Rickens, became a foreman of the local sawmill,

the long since Berman to the ground, and gone away sawmill. Sparked my curiosity in the world around me when he gave me a National Geographic's to read in grade two. That's my best memories of my grandpa, John, is reading National Geographics. I would have lunch in his house just about every school day from third to eighth grade,

and they just lived a few blocks from the school. I actually probably listened to that actually probably a block about the distance. And I'd walk down, we didn't have blocks and regains if you're wondering why I'm confused about this. It's just a small town without a grid system. 500 people, the little canyon on the Stamman River, Nidaeho.

But yeah, to have lunch every day there, I'd sit in one recliner and read about, you know, stuff in the Astrographic or maybe in Almanac as he would sit in his recliner and do the same. And then we talk about it afterwards, you know, just a very curious intellectual man who just like, who didn't did he never, never made a pass to third grade.

Love stuff like that. So, you know, who did he, he may have been poor and somewhat miserable in Milwaukee, but the seeds of who'd he become, who he would later become, pretty much all planted in Milwaukee. And then in 1886, at the age of 12 years old, Harry leaves Milwaukee and search a better work

to properly help out his family. Now, no one knows exactly where he went. He didn't really like talking about this and his, you know, to biographers and such and just people in general. But Texas and Missouri pop up a lot of his probable places. He made it all the way from Wisconsin. And this should just blows me away.

Cause like, my 11 year old son, just one year than Harry when he did this, he wouldn't make it 12 hours on his own. Like, he would die of fright. He would just, he would be found in the fetal position and maybe like how did he pass? He was scared to death. Was it something trying to attack him? No, he was just so scared of being out on his own that he just curled up and passed.

Like he, he, he, he, I would have two at his age, you know? This is a kid still needs light in the hallway. You know at night to fall asleep because he scared of monsters. I have to practically beat him to go mose along. Then I worry about him cutting his hand off while he does because he's fucking space cadet. Constantly living in some daydream about football cards PS4 or playing with his dog. But Eric slash Harry had already been employed full time for a couple of years. Time he's 12 takes off on his own. Oh my God.

And again, there's, you know, the one thing I learned about this episode more than any other one I did is a very hard to nail down Staston's guy, but would be a lot of people that believe one way, a lot of people that believe the other. So I'd have to go to like, you know, four, five, six different websites to kind of try and verify what most likely happened, you know, try and

try and pull from biographers and more legitimate sources. But even, you know, like among historians, a lot of debate about what went on. And especially this time of his life, some people say he ran away, some people say he went to go work to support the family. Some accounts say he was gone for one year, some accounts say he was gone for two years. And again, Harry himself was very reluctant to talk about this period of life. He was kind of ashamed of the hardships he went through. What we do know is around 1887, Eric, a Harry, he's 13, and his family gets a huge break. Kind of like a fairy tale comes true. They receive some financial assistance from a rich uncle.

Like who hadn't had that dream at one point? Just wishing he had some rich uncle who could just like, you just like provide for you. And his uncle, he just began to make a killing in the yeast business. Yeah, making that yeast money, making that yeast cash, not kidding. His mom's brother-in-law, Simon Newman, owned a yeast company in Brooklyn and made a little scratch.

By 1888, he'd hooked up with some whiskey makers, started making that kind of yeast money, young yeast makers only dreamed about. Took everything I had, not to say he was making yeast dough. Every time I was talking, the last 30 seconds, I wanted to be like, make a new yeast dough, make a new yeast dough, rise, a lot of yeast puns. How often do you get to make yeast puns?

Anyway, sorry, I said to vomit that out there. By the 1890 Simon Newman's Atlantic Yeast and Old Colony Gin, were the only serious rivals to one of America's great business successes, the Fleischmann brothers. I don't know a lot about yeast, but even I know about Fleischmann yeast, right? So little square packets, I think they come in threes,

the grocery store. Not that I have a lot of yeast experience. Well, apparently Uncle Yeast helps Harry's family relocate to New York City where they then get jobs and Harry joins the team. His dad works at a sewing bench and Harry works as a tie cutter. Very old time he's sounding jobs, right? They just feel right. What do you do there, young sir?

Well, I'm currently gain fleeing blood as a tie cutter. Oh, good for you, young man. You continue with that industrial spirit and you'll have a fine life ahead of you. Right? Just feels right. Harry also finds time to kick a little more ass and athletics over in New York becoming a member of the past time athletics club, competing and winning some foot races, boxing matches again, bike races, swim races, even try it out for the Olympic team. Goddamn, dude, was a champion triathlete before the Retrath lawns, which began in their current form in 1974, by the way.

San Diego. Reading stuff like this always makes me feel a little bad about myself, you know, because I'd like to make excuses for my failures in shortcomings. Even the podcast, I'll be like, you know, in hindsight, I'll listen to a few of them, I'm like, yeah, well, I could have made a better one, but you know, if I didn't have a, take the dog out or pick up the kids from school. You know, I could have been a really good basketball player growing up. If only my parents would have pushed me harder. I could have gotten better

grades on tests, but I had to work to, you know, I'd work to do my library work study job. I could have could have had a sitcom. If only I had to went to LA earlier, but I had to stay in Spokane because I was married and my wife didn't want to play It's all excuses I could do all kinds of stuff but instead I spent hours you know getting really good to Street Fighter 2 on Super Nintendo Or watching four movies in a row in a Saturday afternoon instead of practicing something useful Like I'd be fluent in several languages if I could go back in time when I was about 11 or 12 and Just make it a strong

decision to put half the time I would spend jerking off over the next few decades into learning languages. I'd probably be like 12 languages. Harry though man, he put his time to good use, right? He attacked life like the young boxer he was, refused to let hardships beat him. Well the rest of us were, or the rest of us like a Sunday of back in time. All his peers were beaten off, he was beaten life. What if he would have said that during his speech?

That would have been so fucking great back in like 1910. As a young child, who I would many of my peers beat their winners, I beat life. People were like kind of inspired but kind of like really couldn't come up with a better analogy than that. You can see the intensity kind of directed his life It's like just in any picture taken to the dude. Like I have a bunch of pictures up with this episode, like I'm doing a lot with a lot of them at timescorkpodcast.com and the episode description and just look at the eyes, so focused, such a powerful gaze. Just that you know if you try to bullshit me I will know immediately kind of gaze.

And so while Milwaukee was where a young Eric slash Harry began to work as a street performer in New York City was the city that introduced him to magic. It's believed that during this period he had his first real encounter with magic literature. When he read the autobiography of Jean Eugene Robert Houdin, what a name. A French magician considered to be the first pioneer of modern day magic. And as a sign of respect to Robert Houdin Harry as an eye to Houdin and gives that as his last name starts to teach himself card tricks Starts performing with his work colleague and fellow tie cutter Jacob Hyman as the brothers Houdinia

Houdinia's brother Theo aka Dash later replaces Hyman in the act which you know makes sense You know, it's hard to beat out Houdin's actual brother to be in the brother Houdini. So that's how he got his last name of Houdini. And then the name Harry was an homage to another famous magician, the American magician, Harry Keller, extremely popular when Harry was young. So now, Eric Wights has transformed into Harry Houdini. And while messing around is the Houdini brothers,

Harry starts messing around with handcuffs, learning some escape tricks as well, the kind of tricks that would make him extremely famous a little bit later. And then the Houdini brothers, they get pretty good. They're learning some escape tricks as well. It kind of tricks that would make him extremely famous a little bit later. And then the, who do you need, brothers? They get pretty good. They get pretty good, pretty fast. Performing amusement parks, beer halls,

dime museums, I'd mentioned that earlier, dime museum. That was a 19th century kind of low brow entertainment center featuring shows that might include human oddities, technological marvels, magic, et cetera. Just, you know, whatever random, weird, kind of carnival type show. You know, a place where you could pay a dime to see something not as boring and hoydotodious

as a play, basically. 1892, Little Tragedy strikes the White's Family on October 5th when Harry's father dies of cancer. And apparently on his deathbed in the hospital, Harry's dad asked Harry to take care of his mom. It was no secret that Harry adored his mother and they were especially close. And Harry, as we'll see, makes good on that request.

Very good, in fact. 1894 is a big year in Harry's life, the Houdini brothers perform on a county island where young Harry meets Wilhelmina Beatrice Rainer, who thankfully went by best. Because Wilhelmina sounds like the daughter you only let out of the basement when you don't have company over. Just Wilhelmina! What did I say about coming upstairs and we have company? Back Wilhelmina.

Back, back to the basement. But I want you to biscuit father. I'm hungry father. He'll get your biscuit when I bring it to you, Wilhelmina. How dare you? You get the idea. Well best was a young beautiful showgirl in an act called the Floral Sisters who caught married.

Uh, oh, and then they got married after dating for just three weeks on June 22nd, 1894. Harry's 20, Bess's 18, and they will stay married until death later does them a part. So thanks for great for the young couple. I mean, I mean, mostly apparently Bess's mother was not happy that her Catholic daughter married a Jewish magician and actually didn't talk to the couple for several years. She was legitimately concerned that Harry was the devil, apparently. He was a magician, so there's strike one, and he was Jewish, so in the 1890s, there were two other strikes.

Oh, superstitious people. Always cracked me up. Think about how stupid this lady was. You know, in a common type of stupidity for that day. For years, she didn't talk to her own daughter because her daughter didn't marry another Catholic as she had wanted. She was so worried that her daughter was shacking up with an evil entity from the underground lake of fire

for fuck's sake. What an insane waste of energy, right? Makes us much sense, is loosensleep, because you're worried about your daughter dating a vampire or werewolf, nonsense. Okay, so later in 1894, 1894, best replaces Harry's brother Dash in the family show now called

the Houdinis. So it goes from the brothers Houdinis to the Houdinis and best will work as Harry stage assistant and just kind of overall helper and supporter for the rest of his life and for the next five years the couple who will never have kids speculation is that best was not able to become pregnant due to some type of medical condition They travel around the country working working odd venues, dime museums, beer halls, etc. Occasionally tour with the Welsh brothers circus where they sang and dance performed a trick called the Metamorphosis in which they switched places in a locked trunk. Harry's first big stage illusion. Well during this time, who just kind of works on the fundamentals of his craft,

who works on his voice and showmanship, always honing every angle of his career, leaving nothing a chance, and most important to his later career, he continues to work on handcuffs, escapes becoming quite the expert in that niche. And then in 1899, his hard work pays off. Harry gets his first big break, performing at a beer hall in St. Paul, Minnesota, Valdville, theater owner, manager, and theatrical booking agent Martin Beck. Saw Hoini do his handcuffed trick and was impressed enough to offer McGig at a theater instead of a beer

hall, which led to a lifetime of bigger and better gigs. Martin Beck, by the way, great agent name. Yeah? Hi, I'm Martin Beck. I book theaters across the country. Sounds a lot better than something like, hi, I'm Clifford Jenkins. Big time theater booker. Clifford makes you a little skeptical.

Anyways, Beck telegraphs Houdini when he got to his next stop at Chicago. He said, in the telegraph, you can open Omaha, March 26, $60. We'll see act, probably make you proposition for all next season. Well, according to Houdini's wife, best, this representative, Houdini's big break

and his professional career as performing magician, as Houdini wrote at the bottom of the telegram which he had carefully preserved and kept his entire life, this wire changed my whole life journey. Beck also encouraged Harry to focus on the scape acts which led him to become the escape artist legend we know of today.

So 1900 Europe and increasing fame. By 1900, Beck had connected Houdini to Booking Agent in Europe, where he was to a Booking Agent Europe, where he's built as the Han cuff king. And after escaping from some Scotland yards, Han cuffs in London and receiving huge publicity in the papers there for doing so, Harry lands a six-month run at the Alahambra Theatre

and Leicester Square making $300 a week, which today equates over $8 grand a week. That's over $200 grand for a six month run, not bad for a 26 year old guy with a third grade education. And after the Alejandro run, word of the handcuff king grew and he toured Europe extensively, setting box office records in places like Dresden and Berlin, dude was killing it.

Audiences, packing theaters to see what new trick he was performing. Hand cup escapes, those were his first big hits. Early on, he'd escape because of a key somewhere in his clothing. Who didn't even vent into belt, made out of flexible steel with special compartments and used to store tools he would need to escape. But other magicians were doing similar tricks, but where Houdini stood out from the pack was with the ease

and speed in which he escaped. He performed hundreds of successful handcuffs escapes, often within mere seconds of having the handcuffs put on him, and then he's got better. He really separated himself from the rest of the magicians by allowing himself to be strip-searched. And then when no key could be found in minimal clothing, still escape.

Who knew where he had those keys? There was no mention of anal cavity, or behind his ball sack, and any of the articles or excerpts I read. That's where he hid those keys. He never fessed up. Probably a good thing. The Handke of King way better nickname than behind the ball sack Harry or even worse Harry ball sack. You know, ladies and gentlemen tonight we have none other than the world's most famous escape artist. Fresh from conquering the crowds of Europe. I present to you Harry

Ballsack. Now, I like it. It's funny to me, but it probably wouldn't done well then. But he did hide them somewhere. The guy never claimed to use supernatural powers to escape. He took pride on being clever, focused, and just a fantastic showman. He was a master distractor like all good magicians. Harry also debuted his straight jacket escape early in his newfound fame, having his hands restrained inside the jacket meant Houdini could not escape, nearly as easily as he could from handcuffs.

Instead relied on his whole body to obtain slack and wiggle free. He would have first focus on bringing his arms to the front of his body, sometimes needing to dislocate his shoulder in order to do so. How crazy is that? Man, pulling a fucking male Gibson and lethal weapon. From here he used his teeth to loosen the jacket straps, who didn't learn to escape.

So skillfully he began performing the act for audiences while hung upside down, bound at the ankles, eventually cutting his escape time from 30 minutes down to just three. To further increase publicity, he began to jump into rivers and stuff while while handcuffed and chained in the cities he was gonna do theater shows in allowing the suspense to build who didn't would often remain underwater long after observers believed he could he could no longer survive only to rise up waving the chains above his head so 19 1904 who did he's famed grew he didn't forget his family he he brought his brother dash known now as the magician

and escape artist Hardin to Europe, bankrolled his brother's career. They kind of would play in that later, an act like Hardin was competing against his brother, but unbeknownst to the audience, they were great friends, and who he was actually helping financially his brother whenever he needed it. He then returns to America, do sold out theaters then,

he buys his mom a house in 1984, and he's been taking great care of his mom, been paying for her life, you know, ever since he started making any money is a magician. He buys her a house in the German section of Harlem so she can live around other people who didn't speak English. By one for like $25,000 was a big money at that time. How adorable is that? 1906, the dude was a master of publicity as well as escapes and he started doing bigger and bolder tricks out in public to advertise his skills and shows, capturing the imagination of people around the world. Like a New Year's Day in 1906, the infamous Houdini broke out of what was said to be the strongest

and toughest jail in Washington, DC. The 10th precinct boasted, quote, sales of the most modern and approved pattern. The doors of these sales are steelbod and have the most intricate combination locks. I feel like everybody talked that way back then. Wallentown to perform at Chase's Theatre, Houdini publicized his craving to show off his escape skills upon hearing this, police chief, major Richard Sylvester. Excitedly invited Houdini to visit the 10th, brings precinct. The only demand from Houdini was one he requested every place he went that he was allowed to examine the cell and locks prior to being handcuffed. Sylvester agreed at first, but then seconds before locking up his

new prisoner, he switched the locks with locks from a different cell. Oh, oh, slide dog still vestor. Slide dog Sylvester versus Harry Ball sack. What a matchup. Sounds like some bizarre a world wrestling match. Well, Houdini was stripped of his clothes, which were locked in the cell next to her handcuffed by special secret service cuffs placed in cell number three and locked behind five separate locks 18 minutes later? Who did he present himself amongst the guards and major Sylvester, fully clothed and smirking? He then let the chief major know that he'd escaped by growing one of his infamous, hard as tempered steel erections and using his ironcock to smash the locks and change it to pieces.

Okay, maybe that was not in the papers. He didn't do that, but maybe but he could have he could have because he never said Okay, he was secrets were never revealed on some of these things alright you guys Okay 1908 two years later Who do you need to abuse his famous milk can escape with the Columbia theater in St. Louis on January 27th January 27th 1908 to advertise with dramatic posters that proclaim failure means a drowning death. The milk can stunt was a big turning point for Houdini as a performer with the milk canna Houdini brought his death to fine feats which had previously been confined to outdoor events like bridge jumps into the theater now. In some cities Houdini accepted challenges

to escape from the can after it had been filled with beer, for example, by a local brewery. It's during one of those challenges. He has only a minute to happen when he passed out because of the fumes. Beer fumes, man. The one thing that could stop the handcuff king. 1908, he also introduced the weird weird weed chain tire grip escape on April 6th, New York City. Check out this description of the event from a flyer advertising, which will also be at Timesack Podcast.com. Although Houdini has earned universal fame as the Hankov King, it may not be out of place to briefly mention that this mysterious man has during his long career baffled police authorities and jailers of the civilized world. He has been locked in Siberian prisons, in dungeons, in modern heavily locked and barred cells, strong boxes, and without the assistance

of any description has always escaped imprisonment. Believing that they had formulated a plan that would provide against any possibility of escape, the weed chain tire grip company issued a challenge we print here with. So it goes on to print the challenge letter. Dear, sir, will you accept a challenge under the following conditions? We propose to amass you in a number of our weed chain tire grips. These chains have a series of loops on them and we wish you to put your head through one your arms and legs through others and finally lock the different chains about your body.

Locks to be furnished by us. We should also suggest that you permit us to further bind you in two steel rimmed automobile wheels. The tires used to be covered without chains. I think it was on a bit, you know, talking about how impossible it would be to escape from this. There's a few pictures of Houdini covered in all these tire chains the kind you would use to put on, you know, kind of like tires in icy road conditions. And he's also chained to two actual tires, and then it talks about how the challenge was accepted.

Describes the first escape attempt. The evening the performance took place found the theater to pack to the doors, with standing room in a premium. When Houdini came on the stage and was met by a committee, representing the Weed Chain Tile Grip Company, God damn it's a long name, who proceeded to amish him in six Weed Chains, which were wrapped about, and over his head, arms, and body. The two heavy steel rimmed automobile wheels were added. I love when they say automobile.

His arms handcuffed on each side to the wheels and chains in a pair of leg irons placed around his ankles all securely padlocked, with 24 Yale and town locks furnished by the committee. The combined weight of chains, wheel, iron, and padlocks was over 400 pounds. It took Houdini from 11 o'clock to 1130 to release himself. And when he finally escaped and appeared before the audience to answer their cheers, he could not speak or even publicly acknowledge the magnificent floor piece presented to him by his challenges. Ah! What's showing the son of a bitch to us? Man, I'll choked up by the triumph of

his victory. He just couldn't even talk, he guys. Oh man, I love this guy. I watched some videos with archival footage of him and some of his escapes and he he always made such a show out of it, man, really dramatic. But like, but like the perfect tone for those kind of escapes, he wasn't just some dude who was good at getting out of a tight spot, you know, the escape itself. Really isn't that interesting to watch sometimes and it just happens kind of fast. You know, like it'll be like a dude wiggling around for a while until he pops out of a straight jacket or pops loose from handcuffs You know emerges from the river or tank of water

But it was really he was good about the hype and the presentation and the buildup man You always played up the impossibility of the act, you know how the people tied him up They didn't want him to win the tire chain people don't want to see their sweet tire chains put to shame Do they know how could how could he get out? It's impossible He did a lot of death-defying stuff too, a lot of speculation. He reached out to these companies though about setting up the stunts rather than then challenging him. Like a lot of people speculate that, like, you know, he wrote a lot of these things instead

of having them righted up. What do I think is hilarious? Really just an early example of cross promotion in American business, you know, everybody gets their name out. So anyway, month after the tire chain escape, he jumps off Boston's Harvard bridge and the Charles River locked in handcuffs and shackles on April 30th, 1908, apparently they sell a plaque about this on that bridge today. Shit, man, I watch that.

That's insane. He didn't, uh, you know, he doesn't complete this, this trick in time, he, he drowns, right? What better way to promote an upcoming performance in Boston than to be locked up and chains to get 30 foot plunge into Charles River. Uh, he did this jump two weeks, you know, before performing at Keyes Theater in Washington Street and the man who made the impossible possible decided to take his talent of escape from handcuffs and chains step further by doing so underwater. Who denies to do the edge of the Harvard Bridge commonly referred to as the mass ab bridge, shackled

by a Boston patrolman, his hands were handcuffed behind his back, chained to a collar around his neck, according to a Boston Globe article chronically in the feet, a signal was tuted from a towboat, and who did he went overboard into the chilly waters below? Quote, there is always the possibility that I will be unable to free myself as no one can tell what will happen to a lock. That's who did he tell the paper. However, I am a good swimmer, have confidence in myself, and I hope to perform the speed successfully. People spoke so much more

precisely back then. The globe estimated some 20,000 spectators gathered to see who do you sleep, including the mayor of Boston and the mayor of Cambridge. They waited 40 seconds for the musicians to resurface, which he did with shackles in his hands. What a badass man. No wonder why we're still talking about him today. Honestly, the more research this guy, the more my opinion changes about magicians. The really good ones are mesmerizing. Now, like the cheese dip guy with the corny jokes, doing card tricks with the fucking roughly silk shirt, and some white gloves, maybe even a top hat.

Not interested in that guy. I have worked with some comedy magicians years ago who actually did dress like that. Not into it. And David Copperfield is famous, he as he bugs me too, man. He looks too much like a magician. He looks like he was built rather than born Like not entirely human like copperfield looks like some kind of Westworld robot magician You know, but Penn and Teller David Blaine love it and even more into it now

Not that you know incredibly successful bastards need my approval and even some of the really you know good close-up magic card trick Guys are good, you know a mess with your mind It I will say I've had those, you know, performed in front of me sometimes. It does mess with your mind when you watch them as close as you can, looking for what they're doing to trick you and you cannot for the life of you figured out. It's like your mind can't process it. Your brain just shuts down in a sense. You know, that in a way, you know, trick or not, it's truly magical. Okay, and so it went for the next few years of Houdini's life, more death-defined public escapes, thrown overboard from a boat in New York's East River

in 1912, hands in feet, manacled, put inside a wooden crate, this nailed shut and wrapped in ropes, waited to sink to the bottom of a river with 250 pounds of lead. He resurfaced his 57 seconds later, crates found intact, manacled still inside. Magic, ta-da! Several times, I would watch the video of these performances Crates found intact, manacles still inside. MAGIC TADA! Several times I would watch the video of these performances and like he'd escape from the

straight jack while suspended upside down, hanging from a hook on a crane. Several stories above large crowd that had gathered in the street below to watch him. Like he's really kind of up in the ante, you know. He's doing more intense things. He'd get a ton of Lindsey from a stunt like that and then he'd, you know, sell a ton more theater tickets and people would watch him get tied up, lower it into a vat of water, milk or beer, whatever, while manacled or put in a straight jacket and you'd get out of that. His main theatrical version of this type of stunt was called the Chinese water torture cell. In this escape, Houdini's

feet were locked in stocks. He was lowered upside down into a tank filled with water. The mahogany and metal cell featured a glass front through which audiences could actually watch Houdini's struggle underwater. The stocks were locked or under milk or whatever, the fuck he was swirling in. The stocks were locked to the top of the cell and occurred and concealed his escape.

In the earliest version of this torture cell, the metal cage was lowered into the cell. Houdini was in close inside of that, making it even more difficult, because the cage prevented Houdini from turning around in there, the cage bars. Also offer protection to the glass break.

The original cell was built in England and where Houdini first performed the escape from an audience of one as part of a one act play he called Houdini upside down. And he would do that in front of one person so he could copyright the effect and have grounds to sue imitators later when they stole it, which he did? Dude was a

solid businessman man. No one was going to take us down throne. And he did some illusions. Like I had mentioned earlier, wasn't all escapes. His most famous illusion was vanishing an elephant, Jenny the elephant, to be precise, at New York's Hippodrome in 1914. All that again on a third grade education. Fascinating dude. All right well, on July 17, 1913, little tragedy strikes in Houdini's fantasy of an adult life, his mom, who I've said he was extremely close to, Cecilia Steinewise suffers a massive stroke and dies instantly in New York

while Houdini is touring in Denmark. He was so upset when he received the news that he fainted, had to be revived, this brave, strong man who constantly gave death, he old middle finger was an emotional mess. He was inconsolable. When he regained consciousness, he was weeping, sobbing, those who knew him, so he was never the same man again, ever in his life.

He'd mourn for months. You know, he hears some excerpts from letters he sent his brother, Daster, in that time. The magician, Hardin, Daster, it's tough. I can't seem to get over it. Sometimes I feel all right, but when a calm moment arrives, I'm as bad as ever. And seven months after her death, he wrote,

I can write all right when I keep away from my heart the rendering subject. Wait, I can write all right when I keep away from the heart rendering subject. So we'll try and avoid it, if possible. But I have to write to my brother once in a while about her, whom we miss and for her, with whom I feel as if my heart of hearts went with her.

Whenever you put her there, he always put it in all caps. So really, really bummed, which, you know, it's terrible. As I'm historian speculated that it was this grief over his mother's death that led him to speaking out against mediums and clairvoyance, or at least that it got him to seek them out. And then when he found them to be frauds, he became obsessed with exposing them. But actually, he was well aware of mediums

in their fraudulent ways long before Mom passed away. In the book, Houdini and Conan Doyle, author Christopher Sanford, says that Houdini attended a series of sances at the age of 11 in attempt to communicate with his recently deceased half brother, Herman, which actually wasn't that weird. It sounds weird if you were to do that now. This was very common at that time. Like spiritualists, you know, they were, they were big in the 19th century. Later when his father died, Houdini sold his watch to attend a professional psychic reunion with

Rabbi Vice. Well, neither experience convinced him to speak into his brother or his father. Even at that young age, the boy who would become Houdini could sense fraud. Certainly, these experiences could be seen as some psychological ammunition for later hostility towards these mediums. Harry also had a personal involvement with spiritualism. He felt guilty that he had kind of helped do some of that himself when he was younger. He and his wife best dabbled in putting some say-on shows before his big break, and he wrote about that

Later in life he wrote at the time I appreciated the fact that I surprised my clients But while aware of the fact I was deceiving them I did not see or understand the seriousness of trifling with such sacred sentiment sentimentality and the painful result which inevitably followed to me. It was a lark I was a mystifier and as such my ambition was being gratified in my love for a mild sensation satisfied. I, for delving deep, I realized the seriousness of it all. As I advanced to ripe our years of experience, I was brought to a realization of the seriousness of trifling with a hallowed reverence of which the average human being bestows on the departed. And when I personally became afflicted with similar grief, I was chagrid

that I should ever have been guilty of such frivolity and for the first time realized that it had boarded on crime. I got that fucking guy had a better vocabulary with a third grade education that I would say 99% of college educated people today. My god! But anyway, Harry's mother, his mother's death, does factor into his determination to expose mediums as frauds. It just doesn't happen until much later. In June 17th, 1922, when his mom is supposedly channeled by lady Doyle, wife of his friend and author, sir Arthur Conan Doyle, more than that in a bit. Eventually, who did he does come out of formal grieving?

He continues to successfully tour, new escapes, new shows. You know, he begins to collect an immense library of books to educate himself, but as fully as possible as he could about the world around him, you know, he becomes friends with leading intellectuals, artists of the day. He had very little formal education, but was a voracious reader, constantly continued to educate himself. And with the rise of spiritualism, he read a lot about that subject. Also started to push himself into more dangerous stunts after his mom's death. He was a little more reckless, like his buried alive stunt. The first buried alive stunt he tried was near Santa Ana, California in 1915 and it almost killed him. Houdini was buried

without a casket in a pit of earth six feet deep. He became exhausted and panicked while trying to dig his way back to the surface called for help. When his hand finally broke the surface, he fell unconscious and had to be pulled from the grave by his assistants. Houdini wrote in his diary that the escape was very dangerous and the weight of the earth is killing. Fuck that. Oh, that's the one I'd had the least interest in trying, man. Drowning sounds like a terrible way to go. But I think I'd rather drown than be buried alive.

Stuck under, what, just, you know, hundreds of pounds adirt alone and thinking for hours about how you're gonna die and there's nothing you can do about it. No thanks. If anyone listening is a maniac who wants to kidnap and kill me, please, if you do catch me, do not bury me alive. Please do me that one favor. Well, despite the danger of being buried alive, who didn't use stuck with that trick until his death on October 31, 1926? Somehow fitting he died on Halloween, right? Who didn't

use final buried alive stunt was an elaborate stage escape that was to be featured in his full evening show. Who didn't use escape buried alive stunt was in a elaborate stage escape that was to be featured in his full evening show. Houdini would escape after being strapped in a straight jacket, sealed in a casket, and then buried in a large tank filled with sand. Sounds terrible. While posters advertising to escape exist, playing off the Bay Challenge by boasting Egyptian fake

goes out done, it is unclear whether Houdini ever performed buried alive on stage. And I'll likely, you probably pulled it off privately to copyright it as he would do. And then the stunt was to be featured in the 1927 season, but you know, he dies in 1926. The bronze casket Houdini created for the buried alive stunt was used to transport his body from Detroit to New York following his death on Halloween. So he's practicing it. And then there's his death. Let's get into that. Despite all his death to fine stunts,

Houdini didn't die attempting one, like some people believe. He did have an interesting unusual death, though. When Houdini was getting ready for a show on October 22, 1926 in Montreal, Canada, a couple of students from local McGill University visited him in his dressing room. Apparently, Houdini had delivered a lecture

at McGill University a little bit a few days prior, about exposing fraudulent spiritualists and mediums. And afterward, he stayed around a chat with various faculty members and some students. And one of these students was named Samuel J. Smilevich. And that student approached Houdini with a sketch he'd made of the escape artist, Houdini was impressed enough with the drawing,

to invite the young man to come back stage after one of his shows, and just to do a full portrait. Well, Smilevich took Houdini up on the offer, bringing along his friend Jack Price to meet the magician in the lobby of the Princess Theater, the morning of Friday, October 22. They followed Houdini to his dressing room and a few minutes later another McGill student name,

Jocelyn Gordon Whitehead, Knox on the door. What then occurred was later described by Jack Price and included in a book by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Houdini was facing us and lying down on a couch at the time reading some mail, his right side nearest us. The first year student Whitehead engaged Houdini more or less continually whilst my friend Mr. Smilevich continued to sketch Houdini. The student was the first to raise the question of Houdini. The student was first raised the question

of Houdini's strength. My friend and I were not so much interested in his strength as we were in his mental acuteness, his skills, his beliefs, and his personal experiences. Houdini stated that he had extraordinary muscles in his forearms and his shoulders and in his back, and he asked all of us present to feel them, which we did. Man, this guy was super talented,

but also super into himself. I mean, I get being proud of your body, but I've never understood the whole like, hey man, hey bro, come feel my muscles. I didn't realize Harry could be so broy, man, hey bro, hey bro. Come check out this bison. It's pretty nice, huh? So big and so tight.

Now, feel my traps, put your hands on my traps. Huh, how about those quadriceps? You rub my quadriceps, man. Rub them. Feel them. Feel the separation in those heads, man. I'll fool all of them. I'm 50 years old, bro. I'm 50 years old. I'm fucking yoked.

I don't know. Comes across a little homo erotic, a little bit midlife crisis. See to me? Anyway, maybe it's normal at the time. Back to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's written account. The first year McGill student asked to do any weather. It was true that punches in the stomach

did not hurt him. Houdini remarked rather unenthusiastically that his stomach could resist much, though he did not speak of it in superlative terms. Thereupon he gave Houdini some very hammer-like blows below the belt, first securing Houdini's permission to strike him. Houdini was reclining at the time with his right side nearest whitehead, and the said student was more or less bending over him. These blows fell in the part of the stomach to the right of the navel, and were struck on the

side nearest to us, which was in fact Houdini's right side. I do not remember exactly how many blows were struck, I am certain, however, of at least four very hard and severe body blows, because at the end of the second or third blow, I have verbally protested against this sudden onslaught on the part of this first-year student, using the words, quote, �Hey there! You must be crazy. What are you doing? Or words to that effect. But Whitehead continued striking Houdini with all his strength.

Houdini stopped suddenly in the midst of a punch, with a gesture that he'd had enough. At the time Whitehead was striking Houdini, the latter looked as though he was an extreme pain and winced as each blow was struck. Houdini immediately, after say to that he had no opportunity to prepare himself against the blows, as he did not think that Whitehead would strike him as suddenly as he did with such force. But that he would have been in better position to prepare for the blows if he had risen from his couch for this purpose. But the injury to his foot prevented him from getting about rapidly. Now some people disputed Heather, whatever Harry would ever ask somebody to punch him when

this story got out. But friends of Houdini had heard him brag about his fitness. You see pictures of this dude at 50, he was yoked, very muscular physique for a man in the 1920s. His escape attempts relied partly on that physical fitness. Remember, like for the straight jacket, he had to pump himself up to then have his muscles go slacked, have room to escape, some wiggle room. An artist friend of Harry's, Al Hirschfield, who had a great career doing caricatures and paintings

of celebrities that grace the covers of the New Yorker, New York Times, Life Magazine, etc. Did say that Harry would sometimes ask him to hit him in the stomach. He would say, I would say he could he could swell his stomach and shrink it and withstand blows. He would say to me, hit me as hard as you can. And I'd say, well, I don't want to. And he'd say, no, do it. And I would hit him with I would hurt my hand. I mean, before I'd hurt him. So he's really into fucking showing off his muscles. So some historians say he challenged audience members at his shows to punch him in the stomach to prove that he was standing below. Some say he didn't

do this. I'm going to go with sometimes you did. I think that was part of his thing. Even my daughter Monroe who bought me some Houdini her, I mean, I'm sorry, who I'd bought in some, my daughter's buying me Houdini stuff, White bot some kind of Houdini magic hit. She knew about a stomach. She literally said when I told her I was researching Houdini, he was a guy who could take a punch to the stomach, right? So I think, you know, might not have been his, his, you know, part of the posters,

but occasionally he would encourage people to do this. And I only make a big point of that because there was all the speculation after he died that he was poisoned by a spiritualist. Or that this guy was just some maniac to bring this up. He was like some assassin hired by a spiritualist. But now I just, he was just a fucking nut who would heard this about Harry. And what a dick.

Apparently Harry told this kid that he could indeed withstand the blow. But then before Harry could like fucking stand up and brace himself, this shit had hit him four times. Sounds like just above his junk, you know lower stomach now look Like I don't know a lot about fighting, but I've taken some martial arts classes off and on over of course my life And I've been even I've been used as a prop by instructors to demonstrate how to absorb a punch or a kick and I've been kicked in a stomach By a grown man hard enough to just kind of send me flying back four or five feet across the room with no patch Just straight kick to the stomach and I took it and I was fine because I was ready for it

I braced for it. I exhaled, let the blow push my body instead of resisting it. You know, I went with the direction of the blow, wasn't that big of a deal. But I've also had my 11 year old son when I wasn't ready for it, fucking hit me in the stomach on the couch and not fun, a way more painful, very upsetting.

We're not happy with him when he did that. Fucking hurts. Huge difference, preparation is everything. I will say there was some part of the blame though on Harry, though, too. He seemed a little too eager to impress these kids, you know, I don't know. Also, Jocelyn Whitehead seems like a huge douche.

Really just, maybe he was douche because his name was Jocelyn. Is that a fucking girl's name? I don't know. Anyway, Houdini apparently performs through a lot of pain that night in Montreal. And the next several nights, he's having trouble sleeping, his stomach hurts so much. And we'll find out later, his stomach hurt because, I mean, it's him, his appendix had

ruptured. When he finally sees a doctor in Detroit, a couple days later, he's found to have a fever of 102 degrees and acute appendicitis. He was advised to go to the hospital for immediate surgery, but he decides to complete his show as planned. By the time he arrives on stage, his fever is 104. He's tired and in pain, his assistants often had to step in and offer help. Audience members reported that Harry missed his cues, seemed in a hurry.

By the middle of the third act, Houdini asked his assistants to lower the curtain, he could not go on. Curtain closes, Harry collapses, and has to be carried to the dressing room. He continues to refuse medical care until the next morning, when best and still to go to the hospital, he finally relents has his appendix removed, but it's too fucking late. It already ruptured, doctors didn't have any hope for survival.

On October 31st, 1926, surrounded by his wife and brother, Harry Houdini dies of the infection caused by appendicitis. Now, Houdini's funeral was held on November 4th, 1926, in New York with more than 2,000 mortars in attendance. He's buried in Queens, in New York at the Masha Pela, I don't know, M-A-C-H-P-E-L-A-H cemetery with the crest of the Society of American Magicians and Scribdons grave.

In fact, the society continues to hold its broken wand, ceremony every November at Houdini's grave side. Best Houdini dies in 1943, not allowed to be buried alongside her husband, as she had requested, because she was not of Jewish descent. Some good old silly religious nonsense, all right? Oh man, can't let Christina be buried there. No, she knows, only for Jewish dead.

Guy doesn't want that. Look, look at guys, God is super interested in where dead humans are buried. He's very important to him. He's very, very important. He gets fucking pissed if you don't follow his death rights. You would think some omnipotent omnipresent, all-powerful, miraculous creator of the universe would be above such petty squabbles, but uh, um, separate cemeteries, you guys. Really important to me. Well, there was a lot of

speculation about Harry's death. Like I said, a lot of people believe you are poised by spiritualists, you're furious over exposing me. Well, there was a lot of speculation about Harry's death. Like I said, a lot of people believe he was poisoned by spiritualists, he was furious over exposing him. No, the German historians believe that. Other people believe white heads punches killed him. But that doesn't seem true either, not directly at least. It's highly unlikely, medically speaking, from everything I've looked into, that a white heads punch could have caused Houdini's appendix to burst.

What's much more likely is the appendix was already inflamed, possibly already bursting, and that then Houdini falsely attributed his stomach pain over the next few days to a bad couple of punches, as opposed to appendicitis. So maybe if he hadn't been punched, he'd have gotten to the hospital sooner and gotten checked out. The only thing that's certain is that Whitehead was a totally complete douchebag of a human being, who then was apparently racked with guilt over the event, White House became a recluse, and a hoarder dropped out of school after the event, eventually dying of malnutrition less than 30 years later

in 1944, which seems like a fucking horrible way to go. Malnutrition might be even worse than being buried alive. Alright. So let's march on out of this timeline and take a much closer look at all the spiritualist Tom Voolery that Houdini became wrapped up in. Good job, soldier. You've made it back. Barely. Okay, so let's really dig into this Houdini versus spiritualist. Now that we know a lot about Houdini,

let's find out when he got serious about it. The real genesis of Houdini's anti-spiritualism, or spiritualism, Crusade, is rooted in his friendship with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the guy who wrote Sherlock Holmes, amongst other things. After World War I, spiritualism was suddenly back in vogue, and Doyle, who had lost his son in the war, became a passionate champion of, quote, the movement. Houdini had a lifetime experience with tricks of the trade, so he and Doyle had a topic to discuss when they met in 1920. Now this was thrilling for Houdini. He always craved attention to the scholar and intellectual. Side note in spiritualism, spiritualism is defined as a belief that the spirits of the dead have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with living. Now there's more to it

than that, but for the purposes of today, that's all we need to know. All right, the communication with the dead is possible. Spiritualism itself could easily be a full episode. Okay, so, the decade of the 1920s, let's get into why spiritualism was so hot, like Hansel and Zoolander kind of hot. The decade of the 1920s began immediately after the greatest trauma the Western world had ever known. The first world war between 17 and 20 million people were killed in this horrible conflict and the turmoil of that war swept away the old Victorian quaint way of life.

It's hard for us to imagine the sense of shock and horror that set in after the guns fell silent on November 11, 1918, throughout the country's heavily involved in the war, especially Great Britain, Germany, France, Russia, and to an extent the US, the prevailing commonality of human experience was that of grief. In English-speaking countries, one of the ways this grief found expression human experience was that of grief. In English speaking countries, one of the ways this grief found expression was through the spiritualism movement. It was already around for decades before the war, but now it seemed more like a necessity than a novelty. All these grieving relatives needed closure. They needed to talk to the loved ones they'd lost, and while I'm

sure some mediums had the best intentions, I'm sure a lot of them were fucking scumbags, who saw a lot of dollar signs on all that grief. A medium by the way, just a person claiming to be able to contact the spirits of the dead and to communicate between the dead and the living. So Harry Houdini goes to visit his friend and author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the former doctor who created Sherlock Holmes and also wrote the Lost World, the inspiration for the Jurassic Park movie franchise. It's in this company of Doyle that a major link between Cecilia Weiss, his mother in spiritualism occurs.

On June 17, 1922, Lady Doyle, Sir Arthur's wife, the former Jean Leckay, gives Houdini a seance in which she channels his mother via automatic writing. Now automatic writing is writing said to be produced by a spiritual, occult or subconscious agency rather than by the conscious intention of the writer. Now, basically, that shit they do in horror movies, when whoever is doing the writing suddenly acts like they just had a seizure and their eyes turn white and the spirit uses them to communicate with living, right?

Because that makes sense. You know, that makes sense. You know, the dead just couldn't pick up peace of chalk right on the chalkboard. No, they got to make someone have to have a seizure. You got to make them do it. Well, well, into her automatic writing, Lady Doyle makes embarrassing mistakes like writing in English instead of German.

The German was what Harry's mother spoke. And making the sign of the cross, even though his mom was Jewish. So maybe Lady Doyle thought Harry's mom converted in the afterlife. Well, who do you need? He doesn't say anything at the time. Sir Doyle was a guy he wanted to be really good friends with.

And he's polite, and he just thoughts to himself. But then Sir Arthur takes this as a sign that Houdini was swayed to his side of the argument and its spirits were real and says so publicly, and this was Harry in an awkward situation, and which I totally get, was like we've all been with someone who says some crazy shit, and you don't immediately call him out

on it, because you know, you don't wanna start an argument. You know, at the end of the day, what do you care if they believe some more shit? But then if they start telling everyone else that you believe it to, well now you have to address it. Right now they put you in a bad spot. It's like I co-hosted a show once when it was a lady who told me she believed

in all kinds of crazy stuff. Some of you listeners have already heard about her like she told me she believed in lizard limonati. And when she would tell me stuff like that in my head, I was like, what the fuck are you talking about? How could you be that stupid? Like how are you honestly believing that nonsense? What is wrong with you?

But I didn't say that. I just kind of smiled. I was like, oh, really? Oh, wow, that's intense. You know, because I had to keep working with her. I just wanted us to get along. You know, when it's hard to get along with someone after you've just taken a dump on their beliefs

and made it clear that you think they're more on. But if she would have started telling everyone else that I also believe in Lizard Illuminati, well now I gotta fucking say something. Now it has to get awkward, because you've taken it too far, right? I'd rather have one person hate me than everyone else think about my goddamn mind.

So this is the situation Doyle puts Houdini in. And while Houdini didn't work with Doyle, he did again really value their friendship. But now he has to speak out on the topic and what he has to say is not complementary about spiritualism Doyle responds defensively and suddenly who do you need is in a public debate with one of the great intellectuals of the age and somebody He really wanted to be buddies with this is what drives him to then go after other mediums He's gonna win this fight at all costs. He's gonna prove that he's right that his side of the argument is right not Doyle

He's a super competitive dude. He also discovers that it makes fantastic theater, you know, 10 years after the mother, uh, death of his mother, Cecilia Weiss, who didn't he becomes America's foremost debunker of fraudulent mediums. How did he expose him? All right, how did he get these shifters? First, he disguised himself in a 10-one of their shows. And once he figured out what trick they were doing, uh, he'd often come back to the show with some journalists and some scientists so that, you know, they'd be torn apart in the papers, academic magazines, and have their career destroyed. Dude, not fuck around.

Let's look at the case. His most famous case of going after a medium. It's Houdini versus Mina Crandon, who is probably the most popular spiritual he'd bumped. Let's just show exactly how he kind of went after these people. July 23rd, 1924, Harry Duney, Harry Duney. Okay, really combine those names. Harry Houdini, trudged up the fourth floor, Seyance Room. Up the fourth floor, excuse me,

to the Seyance Room at 10 Lime Street in Boston to attend a Seyance held by renowned medium, Meena Crandon. Within were O.D. Munn, editor of Scientific American and an esteemed panel of scientists. They'd come to witness the psychic feats of the nation's most credible spirit medium, a pretty 36-year-old flapper with blue eyes and a bob. Followers called her Marjorie, detractors knew her as the blonde witch of limestone, which I heard a movie got greenlit about her

of the same title. We'll see what title it ends up with or if it even comes out. Marjorie was renowned for conjuring the voice of her dead brother Walter, who spirit wrapped out messages, tipped tables, even sounded trumpets. Even by ghost standards, Walter was unfriendly, answering questions and quoting scripture in a gruff disembodied voice. Marjorie by contrast was charming and attractive at least when she wasn't showing off her most convincing psychic talent, exuding a slithery viscous substance called ectoplasm from her orifices. The otherworldly substance flowed from her nose and ears, but mostly emerged from beneath a sheer kimono like a string of entrails, an ectomorphic hand that Walter used to carry out his commands.

Can you imagine seeing that shit in the 1920s before Hollywood special effects? Again, it's straight out of a horror movie. Between last week's Kirk's Pride of Silums and this week's spiritualist and ectoplasm, I feel like I'm uncovering the origins of at least 20 to 30% of every horror film ever made. Well, Harry not fooled. Unfortunately his old friend Sir Doyle is. Doyle recommends Marjorie to the editors of Scientific American who are offering a $2,500 prize to the first medium who could verifiably demonstrate to its six-man investigative committee a visual

psychic manifestation. This was no fly-by-night group of Spook Hunters. This is a scientific American's J. Malcolm Bird, chair of the committee, which included psychologist William McDougall of Harvard, Harvard, former MIT physicist Daniel Comstock, two members of the Society of Psychical Research, Hairword Carrington and Walter Prince. Uh, burden careington had already examined margin more than 20 times and they were ready to hand over the money. New York Times reported, uh,

the development with a straight face, quote, Marjorie passes all psychic tests scientists find no trickery in scores of sands with Boston medium. Can you imagine? Uh, reading that as a headline, be like, oh, shit,

if you're just a random person, like, oh my god, it's, it's real. They can do it. Houdini Not fooled still again He he to he was a guy who suggested creating this panel in the first goddamn place after the scientific American approached him to investigate Spiritualism not about to give her his stamp of approval Quick note here. How fucking dedicated was this guy to debunking these people?

I he didn't just watch him figure out they were full of shit and then tell all those fans He put together an anti-paradormal 18 constantly impressed by how thorough this guy was in life He didn't just watch him figure out they were full of shit and then tell all those fans. He put together an anti-paradormal 18 constantly impressed by how thorough this guy was in life It's like he would you know preview his tricks for very small private hand pick audience So he witnessed you know get a I witness account for the exact date They saw him first do it and then if another magician tried to do the trick later He'd soon and get that witness to testify

You know so they could stop performing the trick I'm so intense. I had a comic one steal a joke of mine, called him out and told him to stop doing it. Right, and they agreed. Then I heard they were doing it again, and I just, I haven't done anything. You know what? Because I don't want to spend that energy. Take them to court over whatever.

I'll write more jokes. Harry though, he would do that. Dude is inspiring, man. Find out what you love and pursue it with the energy of 10 men. Anyway, when Hoody Neat learns this committee was prepared to endorse Marjorie, he's outraged, man, this is the committee that, you know,

he put together to defrock these people. Now they're gonna hand over the money to somebody, some charlatan, and then have already exposed, he's already exposed the tricks of other celebrity mediums. Houdini was sure the committee was about to be duped once more, he cancels his own shows and heads to Boston. Again, imagine that, man, he's got theater shows,

sold out theater shows lined up, he's like, no that man. He's got theater shows, sold out theater shows lined up and he's like, no, fuck it. I got this is more important. I got to get Marjorie. So the show begins in Boston and Marjorie greets Harry and his panel of scientists and then takes her seat with a three-sided Chinese screen, the lights dimmed. Because you know, you need a Chinese screen to dim light, contact the dead. Everybody knows that. You can't just sit in a yard on a sunlit afternoon and talk to the dead. Everybody knows that. You can't just sit in a yard on a sunlit afternoon and talk to the dead. Everybody knows the dead. Hate picnics. No, the dead like the dark and Chinese screens. Because even though they're dead and somehow powerful enough to

talk with living, they're also very eccentric in particular. So soon enough, an eerie whistling fills the room because that's another thing the dead love. Whistlin. On cue, the spirit of Walter whispered his arrival. And even touching Houdini on the side of his right leg. After a break, he ordered an electric bell and closed in a wooden box, brought to Houdini's feet, then Walter levitated to Megafone and boomed, have Houdini terralled me where to throw it. Toured me, Houdini said, and then the Megafone flew through the air and crashed in front of him.

And that was just the beginning. Throughout the evening, Walter produced a sequence of metaphysical spectacles, ringing the bell box on command, tipping over the wooden screen. What a show this would be for everyone in the audience. Man, the most famous magician's last escape artist, and one of the most famous people in the world being antagonized by a spirit, a spirit brought into the room by America's hottest medium. It's like if John Edwards from Crossing Over would have taken on Chris Angel back in 2002

when people still gave a shit about those guys. Well, Houdini wasn't freaked out. He didn't believe in Walter. The man had done his homework. He knew the Dr. Leroy Crandon, Marjorie's husband always sat on her right. Houdini also guessed correctly that he would be seated at her left in the circle hand joints that Houdini would be seated at her left feet and legs touching in preparation for the evening Houdini wore a tight bandage under his right knee all day. It was so painful it made his skin tender to even the slightest touch. The heightened sensitivity paid off. He could feel Marjorie twist and flex in the dark as she moved her left ankle slightly to get the bell box under the table. Later he felt her shift again to get the bell box under the table.

Later he felt her shift again to tip the Chinese screen with her foot. The flying megaphone, stumped Houdini for a few hours, but he eventually figured out that Marjorie had placed it on her head, done's cap style, with a momentarily free hand. She then jerked her head in the direction to send it crashing to the floor. Jesus! Think of this guy as a detective or some trial lawyer. Man, how good he could have been at that. You did not get shit past this guy.

He wore a tight bandage on his knee all day to increase his skin sensitivity to help him detect her movements. That is insane. Again, third grade education. Man, talk about a self-made man. How far he went. What a great example of someone who chose to educate themselves when formal education wasn't an option, man.

You know his lack of formal education gave him a huge chip on his shoulder too. Let me drop it out, it was the best thing that ever happened to him. So, I've got her, he says, when the evening's over, all fraud. Every bit of it, one more sitting, I'll be ready to expose everything. So there's a second sayonce, at a Boston hotel, this one features a levitating table. Houdini reaches out in the dark, finds Marjorie's head, lifting the table from beneath. He again felt her legs move, as she reached to ring the bell box.

The slickest ruse I ever detected, ever detected, Houdini said later. But when he announced his findings to the committee, he was asked to hold off a public denunciation. The committee was conflicted. When it refused to award the prize after several additional sayances, the spiritualist became enraged as did the spirit.

Houdini you goddamn son of a bitch wall to roared at a say hunts. I put a curse on you that will now follow you every day for the rest of your short life. Bird and Carrington still firmly under Marjorie's deductive spell continue to report that she has supernatural powers. And October, Scientific American publishes an article describing the committee is hopelessly divided. Now this fucking, this article really pisses who'd any off. In November, he publishes a pamphlet called Houdini exposes the tricks used by the Boston Media Marjorie, complete with drawings of how she produced her manifestations. He says, quote, she certainly was clever in her maneuvering to pull the wool over the

eyes of the committee men. He says admitting the ingenuity of her techniques as he debunked their metaphysical nature, Houdini's pamphlet humiliated Marjorie, but he wasn't done yet. The scourge of spiritualism wanted to make her religion totally disappear. Before long, Houdini was reproducing Marjorie

so-called miracles to get laughter in performances across the nation. Jesus, man, he exposes her, then tours the country, adding to the mockery of her, just mocks her methods on stage in front of packed houses, laughing their ass off on how dumb she was. Man, that's hardcore. And since she really was full of shit,

she totally deserved it. So Marjorie does not get to scientific American $2,500 prize, but who didn't his efforts don't slow her down. Dr. Crandon pushes his wife to continue holding sands, inviting all daughters to a room at 10 Lyme Street. In 1925, the Harvard faculty formed an investigative team, which skeptically witnesses new manifestations of her talents, including a luminous jumping paper donut.

One investigator reported that he witnessed Marjorie reaching beneath her dress and pulling out strands of fake ectoplasm, which appeared to be But butchers oful which is worse than it sounds. It's the internal organs and entrails of dead animals. Dead animals. Who knew ectoplasm was just counter-testing. Meanwhile, Marjorie's supporters go on the offensive threatening to beat Houdini to a pulp rooting for his demise. The escape artists continued to defy death in his stage show, locked bolted chain and coffins, immersion, water, fuck, whatever. Each time he escapes, but Walter, Marjorie's angry spirit guide, knew better in August 1926,

the month before he dies, the spectre proclaims that the end was near. Quote, who Dini will be gone by Halloween? He says. Well, you know who Dini did die in Halloween. Marjorie's supporters, no doubt, love that, offered it as proof of her powers. But you know, really, you make enough proclamations you're bound to get a few of them right. It's like the Notre-Dame's method.

You say enough crazy shit, some of it's gonna end up sounding legit. So Arthur Conan Doyle then lives on for four more years, dies a believer. The author's spirit appeared to Marjorie often. As she sold her dawn through the depths of the Great Depression and her own alcoholism, but Houdini's debunking and taking his toll

by the time she died at her house on Lime's Treat, 1941, her reputation and the spiritual movement were in tatters. One of Walter's fingerprints turned out to be her dentists. One of her greatest supporters, Malcolm Bird, finally admits to helping produce Walter's actions at Sances, silly assholes. But the fascination with Marjorie

remains somehow even on her deathbed. Psychic researcher shows up, hoping for a confession, at least to hint how she pulled off from most famous tricks. Why don't you guess? She laughed bitterly. It was clear that the blonde witch of Lyme's treat wasn't done toying with him yet. You'll all be guessing for the rest of your lives.

Ha ha ha ha ha. Well, no, we're not. We're not guessing Marjorie. You were a scam artist, symbols app. When Marjorie wasn't the only scam artist spiritual as he denounced, he continued to expose others. Joaquin Agamacia, known as the Spaniard with X-ray eyes, claimed to be able to read handwriting or numbers on dice to closed metal boxes. But then in 1924 he was exposed by Houdini as a fraud, who didn't figure it out that he just peeked through a simple blindfold and was able to lift up the edge of the box so he could look inside.

And he did it without others noticing. He was basically just a magician. 1926, shortly before he dies, Harry Hedunia hired HP Lovecraft and his friend, CM Eddie Jr., to write an entire book about debunking spiritualists, which was to be called the Cancer of Superstition. HP Lovecraft will go on to gain post-Humus fame as an early writer of horror fiction, inspiring later on there, such as Stephen King.

Hedunia had asked Lovecraft to write an article about astrology also, which he paid 75 bucks for, the article did not survive. Lovecraft's detailed synopsis for cancer does survive as do three chapters of the treats he written by Eddie, who Deany's death did to reel the plans though, as the widow did not wish to pursue the project, so they didn't totally finish it. Craziest of all about this is how he debunked spiritualists after he himself died, this is intense. He gave his wife best a code phrase that only she knew, Roosevelt Belief. Roosevelt, being the name of their favorite song, she held a sands.

Every year, for a decade on the anniversary of his death, no medium was ever able to convey the phrase Roosevelt Belief back to her. One medium Arthur Ford claimed to have broken it, claimed to have said it but best confessed later that she had nudged him in the right direction out of desperation to contact the man she loved to miss so much. She said years later, quote, there was a time when I wanted intensely to hear from Harry. I was ill, both physically and mentally, and such was my eagerness that spiritualists were able to pray upon my mind and make me believe that they had really heard from him. The last official sands was held on October 31, 1936.

The final sands was uncovered by a radio and broadcast all over the world. It was covered by them. The medium called out to Harry to make himself known. However, after an hour, nothing had occurred and Mrs. Judy needed to turn off the light on her attempts to contact Harry. So, man, poor best, even though she knew more than almost anyone on earth how foolish she had these fake spiritualists were, she was so desperate for contact that she allowed herself to be fooled. And that's how they get you. That's how they get you. These phones, like John Edwards, they pray in your desperation, man, they feed on your sadness, their parasites.

Now just because I don't believe in mediums, I do want to make it clear that I do believe in the possibility of life, I also believe in the possibility of nothing after this life. No one knows, because no one has truly been dead and come back. I don't believe in near death experiences, you know, whatever those people see holds no more weight with me than like dream interpretation, you know, I had a dream last night that a giant beetle found its way into my bedroom. And then I turned to tell my wife, there was a giant beetle in the bedroom, it was a praying mantis, it was even bigger. And then while I was wondering how this big praying mantis got into my room and what else you do about it, I woke up and what does that mean? Fuck nothing.

It needed to some white light at the end of a tunnel. You know, why can't we just live on a form that doesn't connect with this world? Why can't there be some mystery that just isn't known to us? Also, I think being unsure about an afterlife makes me more protective of this life. Cherish every moment you can with your family. You know, because what if that's all there is? We all have responsibilities,

but life isn't gonna slow down for you to handle them. Be present for the people you love. You know, family, board game night, watch a movie together on the couch going camping. Those are my favorite moments. That's my heaven. All right, as deeply as I dug into Houdini, there was so much more to this life,

so much more of this episode. So, you know, it could be a five-hour episode. I know it's the longest one so far already, but it's almost over. But before we get to top five takeaways, let me throw some extra stuff at you that I'd left out some weird facts. Alright, first weird fact.

Who did he was one of the world's first aviators? In 1909, who did he became fast enough with aviation, purchased a 60 horsepower French. It sounds very light. Sounds like a lawnmower. French poison biplane for $5,000. He made his first flight at the Hoferin parade grounds at once pick near Hamburg Germany I'm from pronounce that right because I'm not fucking German On November 26, 1909 it said Houdini was the 25th person to ever fly a plane Few months later seen a chance to get in the record books Houdini embarked on an Australian tour with voice in

Toe, V-O-I-S-I-N for plain enthusiasts, maybe butchering that, Houdini's first attempts to fly at Digger's rest near Melbourne, were hampered by weather conditions, mechanical problems, and one crash. Worst was the appearance of a rival aviator Ralph C. Banks, who set up his new right flyer on the same field. But on Friday, March 18, 1910, around 8 o'clock in the morning, the weather clears and Houdini successfully takes flight. Houdini's historic first flight last only a minute, reached a high to no more than 25 feet, but it was witnessed by at least nine people, including Ralph Banks.

We probably was not real happy about that. They all signed a statement, even Ralph. He's a good dude that way. That's one thing I liked about Ralph was, you know, being a good loser. Houdini told a reporter on the ride back to Melbourne that he didn't need a ride anymore, he could fly. He was officially recognized as the first person

to ever make a controlled flight in Australia by the Australian aerial league and presented with an impressive trophy. All right, next thing was he was an actor and movie producer. Houdini was an early star of silent films doing two for Paramount Pictures, the Grim game in 1919, Terror Island in 1920. Now the Grim game was considered his best movie, widely considered to have been a lost film until a complete print of the film was acquired by Turner

Classic Movies from Larry Weeks, a former jugular from Brooklyn who obtained his copy from the Houdini estate restored, they then restored and aired it in 2015. a former jugular from Brooklyn who obtained his copy from the Houdini estate restored. They then restored and erred it in 2015. How does a jugular have enough money to buy the last copy of Houdini's best film? Apparently, he was incredibly successful, jugular. He was a vaudeville actor, a big headliner for a lot of years. Ah, man, that's still weird to me.

I've met a lot of jugulars. Weird dudes. I haven't met a lot. What do I say a lot? Yeah, just hang out with jugulars every weekend. I've met a couple of two. Anyway, after the two movie with Paramount, Harry became confident in his movie making abilities, and he formed the Houdini picture corporation where he wrote, produced, starred movies such as The Man From Beyond, and Hall-Dain of the Secret Service. He also started up his own film, Laboratory Business,

called the Film Development Corporation, using a new process for developing motion picture film. Houdini's brother Hardin left his own career temporarily as a magician and escape artist to run the company. Well, neither Houdini's acting career nor FDC find success and he gives up on the movie business entirely in 1923 noting that profits are too meager. However, years later, Houdini did receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. How good is your life when you stop starring in movies because it doesn't make you as much money as being a magician?

That's insane. Another weird fact, Houdini's postage stamp has a hidden image. The US Postal Service put a hidden image on their 2002 commemorative stamp with a special viewing lens that can be attained from the post office. That's how you're able to one can see this image of Hugh Dini wrapped in chains. The image representing the magicians art of deception. How cool is that? Not only do you get a commemorative stamp, you get one that requires a viewing lens. Another thing I thought was weird about

who Dini was his fascination with the macabre. Who Dini was fascinated with anything that had to do with death, even known for performing stunts on death row, he collected detailed information on murderers, purchased the first electric chair, also bought the writing desk of literary master of the Macabre Edgar Allen Poe. Man, the more I learn about him, the more I feel like who didn't even like this podcast. I definitely would have liked to meet him. Sounds cool, shit. Finally, the man had a strange sense of humor, which you know I love.

He and Bess were never able to have children. Their speculation that Harry was sterile, also speculation that Bess had a condition called primary, a menoria. This is a diagnosed if you turn 16 and haven't menstruated. It's usually caused by some problem in your endocrine system, which regulates your hormones. Anyway, so they could have a real child. They had an imaginary one, a boy named after Harry's father, Mayor, and they wrote about young Mayor many times

in letters to each other over the years. They would write about Mayor growing up and be so proud of him. They finally stopped writing about him once he became president of the United States. That's fucking great. They threw letter form, grew, and imaginary child into the president.

So Aviator, movie star, producer, honored with the coolest stamp in the history of the post office, collectored the macabre, father of an imaginary, very successful son, those are some weird facts. Buh-buh-buh, we heard the facts. Buh-buh-buh-buh. All right, so now I know everything I wanted to find out about Harry Houdini, Harry Houdini, and his battle with spiritualists.

I hope you do too. Let's quickly rehash the best parts with some top five takeaways. Time, shock, top five takeaway. Third grade education, Harry Houdini accomplished everything you heard about in this episode on a third grade education. The dude moved out on his own to find better work to support his family at the age of 12. Parents, feel free to point this out to your own to find better work to support his family at the age of 12 parents Feel free to point this out to your own kids when they bitch about their meager little chorellist

He can fight better than you can number two Number two is the man as a young kid outboxed other kids who went on to become boxing champions And he wasn't a big dude. He's five five as an adult that alone will be most people's claim to fame If I had beat up Floyd Mayweather junior as a kid, I wouldn't have this podcast now. I'd have a podcast called, hey, remember that time I beat up Floyd Mayweather Jr.? Each episode would essentially be the same episode. Just like, yeah, beat him up.

Here's what happened. Number three, Mina Krandin. He was able to figure out that famous medium. Mina Krandin was full of shit. Even though she had her arthand cone and oil convinced she was real. So he was a better detective than the guy who created Sherlock Holmes.

That's incredible. Number four, he died from pride. Man, a few punches didn't kill Harry, and appendicitis only technically killed him. In reality, his pride did. No one thinks you're a bad ass for not going to the doctor when you feel like shit. If you feel like you're dying and you have 104 fever,

and a doctor has told you to have surgery that you need it, go ahead and postpone everything else in your life and get it figured out. Get the surgery, right? No one thinks that's awesome. Number five, he was a Jewish magician who convinced a Catholic girl to marry him in America in 1894, three weeks after meeting him.

That might be his most impressive feat. People were way more racist than 1894 than they are today, and a lot of people, stupidly racist today. So that's saying a lot. Time, shock, tough, right, take away. All right guys, I hope you had as much fun on this one as I did. I so much you, Deenie.

So much, I know it was a big one. Hopefully it kept you entertained, and I tried to cut out so many things. I mean the guy just had like yeah Like no wonder they've tried to make so many movies about him. Hopefully they'll make a good one Because it's crazy like they've made a whole movies about aspects of his life and now you get it I mean, they was just so much, you know So much so thanks for listening and before I sign off a little little house cleaning I had some good corrections and some extra info about previous episodes coming from listeners this past week First off, I messed up regarding my tealette Keala grammar correction was talking about flat earth. This is from Haley

Via admin at timesuckpodcast.com. She says trust me. I'm not green I'm not a green with stupid come fuck tealette Keala here But on your flat earth theory episode you corrected her tweet grammar, but you corrected it incorrectly. I believe you quoted her tweet as quote, nobody's been able to prove to me that the earth is round. All she forgot was the apostrophe. Nobody's as N-O-B-O-D-Y apostrophe S, meaning nobody has been able to prove blah blah blah. You corrected it as nobody's, N-O-B-O-D-I-E-S, which is a different word entirely. Nobody's would be like, oh guys are a bunch of nobody's. Any crap, that's my rant. Grammar's kind of a huge deal to me. Love the show. Looking forward to the next episode, Haley. Yeah, I did fuck up. I, you know, I think sometimes I get in a hurry and sometimes I'm an idiot.

But yes, I do know that nobody's is But yes, I do know that nobody's is Multiple no-bodies and that nobody's with you know the possessive Apostrophe is you know belonging to one nobody But I am glad you pointed that out because that is and how Ironic that I would do that While I'm correcting someone else's grammar. What a back in hypocrite. I can be but I know I know that's not what you're even calling me But thank you I really do appreciate when you guys point stuff out, because this is about learning.

This is about learning fun stuff in a fun way, and I need to learn to my mistakes. Also regarding the flat-earth episode, this is from Kevin, via the Time Suck message boards. Just a quick snippet from the flatearthsociety.org, the flat-earth society along with previous notable flates such as Samuel, Shenton, and S. Robotham, believe that there's no end to the earth, and it continues indefinitely.

The only edge to the earth is the one you were standing on. So some math describing this can be found in our blog article, the mathematics of an infinite earth. So he says, it's either a giant ice wall protected by NASA or the earth actually never ends. Also, I tried to look at their theory of infinite earth math, but the website was hacked. Of course it was. So great, great info. Yes. And yes, the flat earthers can never agree on exactly how the edge works because it's fucking nonsense

and it's hard to get people to agree on gibberish. So they've gone back and forth, and that's where they're at now, but thank you for that. Also, Braden Gramling via email says, hi Dan, I'm a huge fan of yours, heaven for a long time. So happy you started this podcast. I listened to your recent podcast about the flat earth, nutters, society, whatever. I noticed the numbers you have towards the end didn't seem right. What I did say, I did say like, I don't know, I'm kind of guessing. So I decided to do a little math on your behalf. Thank you. Thank you very much. He says, Braden says, you suggested the circumference of their version of the

earth, maybe close to 35,000 miles. But if you envision the earth being pressed from the top into a disc, which is correct, to 35,000 miles. But if you envision the Earth being pressed from the top into a disk, which is correct, that's what I did. It is safe to assume the radius of the new disk is half the current circumference, which is 24,901. The circumference equation is C equals pi D, D being 2R. So C equals pi 24 times 24,901, do that equation and the news to conference is 78,228 miles.

So I'm gonna take your word for it, because I am not that good of math, not like that. Over double the original, that's hilarious. So that would mean, and he says, and would lead you to believe it would cost more than double your original estimate. Thus their theory is that much more bad shit than saying. Sure is, Braden. They're going to need double up on those NASA fucking ice security guards.

Well, thank you guys for that. Thanks for pointing out some stuff. And again, thank you to everybody for listening. And I would say thanks for the kind messages sent to admin at timesockpodcast.comcom Thanks for all the nice comments left on the common board time suck podcast.com Good messages on social media too, and if you want to see next week's episode I want to know what's gonna be about before Monday follow me on Instagram or Facebook It's Dan Cummins comedy is my handle on both at Dan Cummins comedy I'm gonna start posting what the episode is going to be about a few days before it comes out And if you want each episode the second it comes out of Monday's, it's new.

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It definitely happens on iTunes. It might take a little while for the new episode to pop up. So subscribe, and it's in your player right away. I make a real effort to have it come out exactly at noon on every Monday Pacific time. And thanks for all the iTunes ratings, everybody. You guys did the fucking best, kindest comments, 190 reviews as I record this.

So only 10 away from 200 in that bonus alien extravaganza episode. So if there are 200 or more this week before Friday, you get the bonus episode. If not, it's going to come out the week we do hit 200. And again, go to Instagram or Facebook, Dan Cummins, Comedy, and I'll be able to post that in advance as well. And finally, if you want to see me live, I'll be in downtown Chicago. I think I said finally before, this is the real finally. I'll be down to Chicago this weekend in Zany's Dallas, Tacoma, Raleigh, San Francisco, so much more coming up. Have a great week, everybody, and keep on sucking.