One of the most remarkable artifacts on display in
Houdini Unchained: The Legacy of Harry Houdini at
Muzeo Museum and Cultural Center is a 2-page letter written by Bess Houdini during the final weeks of her life. This is when Bess, ill with tuberculosis and weighing only 72 pounds, was convalescing at the
Cedar Lodge Sanatarium in Los Angeles. In the letter Bess describes her surroundings:
It is a glorious place – huge pools with gold fish – fountains – and beautiful patio with swings and sun shades – then the awful horrors – half dead men and women in wheelchairs – nurses – doctors and sick people – that's all I see all day.
Bess then goes on to deliver what I consider to be a bombshell:
I did manage to navigate to the bathroom by myself until this morning – then I fell – now I've got a nice big egg on my head – and a scolding from my nurse. Even that did not "squash" me until I saw a big huskie put an oxygen tent next to my bed – I screamed – I saw my beloved Houdini – then Ed Saint die whilst using this – and the memory was too much for me.
Some interpret this as Bess saying she saw a vision or even the ghosts of Houdini and Ed Saint, but that's not what I read. What I read is she is recalling the very real memory of the deaths of Houdini and Ed and that they both died in oxygen tents.
So Houdini died in an oxygen tent!!!
This is the only mention of this that I've ever heard and it certainly creates an entirely different vision of Houdini's final days and hours. Below is what an oxygen tent looked like in the 1920s.
You can read the full, heartbreaking, Bess letter at
Houdini Unchained: The Legacy of Harry Houdini at
Muzeo until January 22, 2023. Or you can read it as a member of my Patreon by clicking below.
Speaking of Houdini Unchained, on Sunday, October 30, I will be at Muzeo giving impromptu tours and answering questions from 12:30pm to 3:30pm. So if you're in the Anaheim area and haven't yet seen the exhibition, come on by!
