This Halloween marks the 100th anniversary of the death of the legendary magician Harry Houdini.He earned his reputation by freeing himself from traps that seemed impossible for a mere mortal to survive.But Houdini couldn't escape the ultimate fate waiting for him in Detroit on Oct.31, 1926, and his spirit still haunts the Motor City.Houdini performed in Detroit 19 times between the early days of his career in 1894 and the final show of his life in 1926.The trajectory took him from being a bottom-of-the-bill act to one of the most famous entertainers in the world.He escaped obscurity by declaring no set of handcuffs or jail cell could hold him.
He dangled upside down from office buildings wearing a straitjacket, dramatically removing them in full view of those raptly watching below.Sometimes the buildings housed a local newspaper, ensuring free publicity for Houdini's upcoming stage shows.In 1906, Houdini jumped two dozen feet from Detroit's Belle Isle Bridge into the frigid river below, bound with two sets of police handcuffs.
He emerged unscathed, but the legend around it grew.The escape artist had leaped into a hole in ice covering the river, the story went, finding air pockets to breathe in before finally surfacing.Reports from the time show the river was not actually frozen.
But that didn't stop movies decades later from portraying it that way.As his fame grew, and a series of other magicians began copying his escapes, Houdini ramped up the stakes, stacking one increasingly death-defying feat on top of another.By 1914 he had unveiled his signature stunt, the Water Torture Cell, a coffin-sized box, filled with water.Houdini was lowered into it head first, both his ankles and the top of the box locked.A curtain was raised to hide the magician's method of escape from the audience.Even Dorothy Young, who toured with Houdini as a stage assistant when she was 17-years-old and had seen the act many times, had goosebumps."Mrs.
[Houdini] always stood in the wings be...