My Original Invention - Bonus

PLEASE WATCH VIDEO FIRST!!!

What you saw above is my own original invention. No, it's not a video shot in reverse, it's actually an example of reverse escapology. Though I'm not the first to think of the effect. My inspiration was reading a story in Ricky Jay's book Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women. I don't have the book in front of me so I can't quote from it. However, I recall the chapter had to do with a performer who created a sort of reverse escape act. Rather than getting free from things, he would have the props locked up and he would end up inside, while they remained locked.

So my idea was to take a piece of rope, place it in a bag and reach into the bag with both hands. A moment later when the hands are removed, the performer (me) is found to be tightly bound by the rope. In fact, the routine I created has more to it than that, and for now I'd rather not give away anything else. But I would like to give a bit of history.

I developed this routine around 2001. The first person I showed was a buddy of mine and he was 100% fooled. This guy knew magic and I never expected him to be fooled, but he was floored. I began to discreetly show it around and it got the same reaction. I think the strength of it is in the fact that it's so unusual and so different from what you might expect. There are several ways to finish the effect: 1. You can be cut out of it. 2. You can have someone untie you out of it. or 3. You can use my ending, which I'm not revealing here.

Since the creation of this effect, I have found at least two instances in the Houdini literature regarding an effect like this. One is in Houdini's Escapes and Magic by Walter Gibson called The Self Tie. I'm not sure if Houdini ever did it, but it was in his notes and appears in the book.  My method is different, but all methods have similarities and of course, the end result is the same, you end up instantly tied, a truly impossible predicament. So the reason I posted it is that it gives you yet another example of Houdini's magic. I somewhat jokingly say 'my original invention' as it's a play off of Houdini's line from the USD. It's highly likely I just reinvented a technique long forgotten, one used by spirit mediums in days of old. I hope you liked it!

Houdini and His Ghost Houses

Houdini and ghosts are connected by way of the spirit mediums, spirit photography and all things associated with the haunted genre. But there is another connection. Something he traveled with and relied upon for years. That something was called his 'ghost house'.

The ghost house was the small cabinet he would often use to escape from handcuffs. He would kneel inside the house and it prevented people from seeing exactly what he was doing, but wasn't so large so as to hide an accomplice who could secretly let Houdini free.

Ghost house can be seen on the left.

The first mention of the 'ghost house' in a Houdini bio would be in the Kellock biography, when he describes the Mirror Handcuff Challenge. But I think perhaps one of the best descriptions comes from the more recent biography, The Secret Life of Houdini by William Kalush and Larry Sloman. They describe an event that took place June 27th, 1900 in London and the report comes directly from Inspector Melville's Diary. The event took place at the Alhambra, and the manager Dundas Slater had invited and encouraged members of the press to come and bring their own restraints to try and defy Houdini. I'll spare you the various details of his escapes however, this is how the ghost house is described, "a small waist high enclosure consisting of metal piping and black fabric that hid Houdini on three sides and could shield him totally by drawing a curtain in the front." This quote says the 'ghost house' was made of black fabric. However, Pat Culliton mentioned that he thought the 'ghost house' was red. I also found reference to the red fabric in the book, The Great Houdini by Derek Tait.

In a newspaper article from The Pittsburgh Daily Post May 19th, 1907, a reporter says to Houdini, "the secret in your powers lies in the fact that you are probably the most expert locksmith in the world, does it not?" Houdini answered, "Practically yes, but not entirely. I can open the ordinary handcuff by simply rapping on the floor. I understand the mechanism so thoroughly that I know exactly how to tap it to make it open. For such easy tricks, I don't mind for the spectators to watch me. It is when I have something particularly difficult to perform that I retire to my 'ghost house' to preserve my secret."

There is an interesting article in a Sept 26th 1906 article from The Washington Times that describes a challenge Houdini faced by escaping from a packing crate on stage. According to the article, the ghost house was placed over the top of the crate and then he began his escape. Later, the article mentions the 'red curtain' obscuring the box from view. This account makes me think that perhaps in this case, it was not his ghost house, but rather another fabric cabinet of a larger size, like the curtained cabinet for the Metamorphosis for example.

A similar escape from a Paper Bag also describes Houdini's ghost house, but again, I think this was a larger version again. In the Silverman book, there is a description of the Milk Can escape, and again they mention bringing in the ghost house to cover the can.

I believe that Houdini called all his cloth cabinets 'ghost houses', as a throwback to the old spirit cabinets that mediums used. A Spirit Cabinet began with the Davenport Brothers as a large wooden cabinet, usually several feet off the ground on saw horses or mounted on 4 legs. Over time it was replaced with a large curtained cabinet. But the use was the same, this is where the mediums would do all their dirty work to cause various supposed manifestations of spirits. Houdini was using it for a different sort of dirty work, to escape. And I believe he had more than one. The small fabric cabinet for handcuff challenges. And then the larger red ghost house for the Milk Can, and any challenge where he would require more room, or more space. I also believe these ghost houses were likely gaffed to the hilt, to use magic jargon. The larger red ghost house may have even had a roof on it to prevent folks in the balcony looking down into the cabinet. Either that or it could have been quite tall, but I'll bet it just had a covering/roof.

Sadly, I do know if any of the ghost cabinets survive today. My guess is they do not. The only picture I know if is the one above of the Mirror Challenge that just happens to have the small ghost cabinet in the picture.

UPDATE: I can't believe I missed this initially. Houdini's Escapes and Magic by Walter Gibson actually has a chapter on Houdini's Cabinets. The first thing I read really stands out, "The cabinet must not only be unsuspicious in appearance; it must stand an examination by committee members, who go through it before the escape takes place." YES!!! Besides being easily portable, easy to construct, they also had a perfect innocence to them, at least in their appearance. Forgive me, as I do not like to give out secrets here, so I will be stopping short before I give away too much. I will add though, that Houdini described several different cabinets, some were quite elaborate and it doesn't look as if he ever constructed the more elaborate cabinets. What he had worked for what he needed.

Houdini Month Contest 3b

The previous Contest 3 didn't seem to garner any interest, OR the question was too hard. (If you're interested, the answer could be found in Pat Culliton's book, Houdini The Key.)

So to make it simple, I'll just take the 31st entry. The winner gets a brand new Houdini Mug, pictured above, still in it's original packaging.

CONTEST STARTS OCT 29th (NOW)

• Only 1 entry per person
• To enter: Send me an email, with the subject heading 'Houdini Contest 3B' to info@carnegiemagic.com    
• Please include your full name in the email. 
• On Saturday Oct 31st, 2017, I will announce the winner.

We have a winner. C. Nicholson of Sterling is the winner. Thank you to everyone who participated. 

104 Years Ago Today In The Life of Houdini

used with permission of John Hinson

This very large punchbowl/trophy was given to Houdini by his assistants on his 30th Anniversary as a performer, Oct 28, 1913. 30 years before that would have been 1883, and Houdini was born in 1874 so according to the assistants he was 9 when he became a performer. Using standards I should be celebrating my.......oh never mind. 

The names engraved on the punch bowl below to his assistants: F. Kukol, J. Vickery, J. Collins and one name not family J. Zwettler. I began to try and dig up information on this unknown assistant. There is a brief mention of him in the book Houdini Laid Bare, page 164 item 25. It mentions that Josef Zwettler swore an oath to be an assistant on Nov 30, 1912. Below is the oath:

I hereby swear by God the Almighty , not to reveal in any manner to 
anyone, no matter who it might be, nor even to give the smallest hint
of the secrets, instructions, plans, apparatus, constructions you have
confided in me in reference to the execution of your numbers.
Should I any manner directly or indirectly act against this oath you will
have the right at any time to begin court action against me for perjury.
In addition, the above mentioned oath above also refers to the following:
that even should I leave my position with you, I will nowhere and never
permit myself to copy any of your numbers...or even work as an assistant
in [an act] similar to yours. 
(from Houdini by Kenneth Silverman)

I can find no other mention of Josef Zwettler. He was hired in Germany during Houdini's tour in 1912-13. He may possibly be pictured among the magicians on the top of page 244 in Houdini The Key by Pat Culliton. But beyond the above I've come up pretty much empty. World War 1 broke out the following year 1914, and it's possible this is the reason we don't hear any more from Zwettler. Though, there is a huge brewery in Austria with the name of Zwettler, so maybe he is connected to that some how? We may never know.

By the way, the punch bowl trophy is owned by Houdini's great nephew John Hinson.

Houdini's Money Was Always Safe!!!!

One of Houdini's unique strategies to get people interested in his escapes was to offer a money challenge. He'd offer a certain dollar amount as a reward to someone who could find, discover, or uncover something related to his escapes. A perfect example is the poster above for the Prison Cell and Barrel Mystery. Look closely at the wording at the lower part of the poster (see below)

100 pounds Will Be Paid To Anyone Finding Traps, Panels, Or False Doors In the Cell. And I'm sure there were none, otherwise he would not have risked a financial loss.

The flyer to the left is interesting. It actually contains two monetary challenges. But it's also different from most of Houdini's offers of this kind. In this poster, his first offer is $100 to anyone who can release themselves from all the cuffs that he carries, and from which he releases himself. This is pretty bold and like many of his challenges covers himself fairly well. He points out that he allows the key holes to be stamped and sealed and will bring out all the cuffs interlocked, proving he does not slip the cuffs of his wrists without unlocking them.

He further ads, he carries a very rare curious and costly collection of torture, antique and modern handcuffs. This line is likely to deter any would be takers. Finally, at the end Houdini offers a second challenge of $50 to anyone who can escape from the Bean Giant cuff with those cuffs strapped behind the person's back. This challenge is not quite as safe as the previous, so the reward is less.


One of his most unique money offers was with the Water Torture Cell. The exact wording on the poster, "...Reward To Anyone Proving That It Is Possible To Obtain Air In The UP-SIDE-DOWN Position In Which Houdini Releases Himself From This Water-Filled Torture Cell"

In England the reward was 200 pounds. In Germany, the reward was 5000 marks, In the United States it was $1000.  And the truth was, he could have offered any amount of money as the money was never in any danger of being lost. The reward doesn't say to prove it's possible to obtain air while inside the cell, it says prove its possible to obtain air IN THE UPSIDE DOWN Position. That's the key phrase and it's the one that keeps his money safe!

The allure of winning money is a very power motivator for people. Look at all the people who buy lottery tickets. Well, Houdini wasn't gambling with his money. He clearly worded things very carefully to keep his money safe.

Houdini didn't restrict his Money Challenges to his act. Below is an ad for his movie, The Grim Game where he offers yet another reward. This time, it's a $1000 reward to anyone who can prove that the airplane accident in the movie didn't take place.

Later in life, he did step it up a bit. When he launched his campaign to fight fraudulent spirit mediums the offer became $10,000 to any Medium who could produce any Physical Phenomena that he cannot reproduce or explain by Natural means. Houdini's wife Bess kept this $10,000 challenge going after Houdini's death. According to Joseph Rinn, friend of Houdini's and fellow paranormal skeptic, Bess Houdini offered the reward to any medium able to prove, to her satisfaction, the survival of her husband in the spirit world. It looked like in 1928 Arthur Ford might have won the reward after revealing the Houdini code. Even Bess came out and said it was genuine. But days later, after the media fire storm, they began to debunk it, along with Dunninger and others, Bess finally recanted saying there were ways Ford could have discovered the code. She continued doing her Seances to reach Houdini until the Final Houdini Seance in 1936. After that, fans and friends of Houdini have picked up the ball, and though no reward is offered, Houdini has yet to show up.