The October 8th Heller Project

Allah Shaw, Charles Carter and Houdini at the grave of William Henry Davenport

Houdini during his life used to visit the graves of magicians. He often paid for their upkeep and clean up. One documentary on Houdini said that he would visit the graves of the past masters like others might visit the grave of a dead saint. I've also heard it said that Houdini liked dead magicians more than those living, lol. One things for sure, he did visit these sites and it's very likely that we know about some of them today because of him. I seem to have developed that same fascination for finding gravesites for magicians and that fascination is now turning into something called The October 8th Heller Project.

Robert Heller's Grave

To the left is a photo of Harry Houdini standing next to the grave of Robert Heller (William Henry Palmer) the great Victorian Age Magician. He was buried in the Mt. Moriah Cemetery in Philadelphia PA. Houdini discovered the grave after much searching. Within a few years after it's discovery the grave site had fallen into disrepair and SAM Assembly #4 in Philadelphia took it upon themselves to raise money to get the grave cleaned up. In the 1940s, SAM #4 again took it upon themselves to help with the restoration of the Heller site.

2011 marks the 133rd Anniversary of Heller's death/burial at Mt. Moriah and the condition of the grave area is apparently very overgrown and poorly maintained. Actually, for several years there has been NO work done to the cemetery at all. It's a disaster basically. Mt. Moriah is a very large cemetery and along with Robert Heller is the grave of famed historical seamstress Betsy Ross. A group called 'The Friends of Mt. Moriah' have come together and organized a number of clean up days. They are seeking volunteers.  I have decided to help them and line up magicians to participate as well.

My goal is to clean up the Heller grave and possibly the surrounding plots. The date of October 8th has been set for this clean-up. If you are interested in participating, please contact me at carnegiemagic@me.com and I'll add you to the list of people and will contact you via email with all the updates and information you'll need. You don't have to be from Philadelphia, but logistically the closer you are the easier it will be for you to get there. I'll be coming from Washington D.C.
You're help is certainly appreciated. If you would like to get an idea of what we will be up against, click the following link for the cemetery. I'm hoping our section is NOT so overgrown, but as of right now, I don't know.
http://www.abandonedbutnotforgotten.com/mount_moriah_cemetery,_abandoned.htm

Houdini at the grave of John Henry Anderson

Hurricane troubles

Hi Everyone,

The recent Hurricane that hit the East Coast this past weekend knocked out my Internet. As of today I still have no access to the Internet on my computer. Once its back up, I'll be giving you some exciting news regarding a recent article on my blog and I'll be sharing some info on one of Houdini's relatives that you might not know about.
Stay tuned!

NEW Houdini Book

The books on Houdini just keep on coming. I had an enjoyable conversation with a fellow performer tonight who is working on a Houdini book and then I got off the phone and noticed yet ANOTHER performer has written a book on Houdini. This time Dixie Dooley, the Las Vegas magician, escape artist has written a book called "Houdini Question Reality".

The book is 146 pages and is self published through Lulu.com. Self publishing is a great way for a first time author to get their words out there. Plus with the up and down (mostly down) book market, it might also be a safer way to go. You can order the book through Lulu.com and if you prefer you can actually download it straight to your computer!

To order http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/houdini-question-reality/16611425

UPDATE: I decided to order the download version of the book. It takes a good 30 pages before you really get into Houdini stories and some of them are a little out of left field. Though Dixie makes no claim that they are true, just that he was told these stories. My favorite part of the book had to be Dixie describing his visit to the Houdini house in NYC. He is one of the few who got to go inside. It's a fascinating story to say the least. One downer though are the crude drawings of the interior that follow the story. I think perhaps having someone draft quality drawings of the floor plan might have been in order, or even doing it with a computer program. The hand drawn sketches are not the best.
Overall, it's an interesting book. A lot of things you've heard before, a couple things you might not have. It suffers from a number of grammatical and spelling errors and the photos leave a bit to be desired. But it's a quick read and proof that the Houdini stories just continue and continue!

SECOND UPDATE: I just heard from Dixie and he told me that the grammatical/spelling mistakes have been corrected. And he also said he added more photos! As a Houdini fan I enjoyed the book and honestly the story of his visit to the house alone is worth the price of the book.  If you haven't gotten it, please consider it. You can still get it as a soft cover book or as a .pdf download.