Showing posts with label Wild About Harry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wild About Harry. Show all posts

Thursday, February 26, 2026

WILD ABOUT HARRY hits 20 MILLION views (sorta)

WILD ABOUT HARRY has now clocked 20 million pageviews since going live in November 2010. At least that's what my stats say. But I believe in the dead internet theory, so I suspect most of these views are bots. I actually think I got more legit daily views back in the 2010s, when Google still showed personal blogs in its news feed, and the internet was more merit-based. But, hey, it sounds good!


Thanks to all you humans for supporting this blog over the years. And thanks to all you Chinese bots for doing whatever it is you're doing here.


Related:

Sunday, December 7, 2025

Escaping obscurity in 2025


It's time for me to wrap up 2025 and take my year-end break. It was another great year for Houdini, and for me personally with the release of Escaping Obscurity: The Travel Diary of Harry Houdini 1897-1899. I'm looking forward to continuing the story next year in Handcuff King: The Rise of Harry Houdini, the first book in my 3-volume Ultimate Houdini Chronology.

With more and more AI slop flooding the online space, I'm happy to be moving into the world of books, which is where I learned about Houdini in the first place. I hope you'll join me. But don't worry. WILD ABOUT HARRY will continue into 2026 and beyond.

Here's a look back at the year that was.

2025 in Review:
January (18 posts)
February (16 posts)
March (19 posts)
April (20 posts)
May (19 posts)
June (20 posts)
July (19 posts)
August (13 posts)
September (19 posts)
October (25 posts)
November (19 posts)
December (5 posts)

Most Viewed New Post of 2025

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Top image: Street advertising for Houdini's 1912 engagement at the Gayety in Washington, DC. Screen capture from The Truth About Houdini (1970).

Monday, October 27, 2025

The auction that launched a thousand blog posts

It was 20 years ago today that a rare Terror Island poster sold for $12,650 during Swann Galleries' auction of The Christian Fechner Collection of American & English Magic, Part I. Why am I reporting on such old news? It's because this auction ad started this website. 

2005

I had never seen this poster. Very few people had. So when I saw this ad in a Swann newsletter, I thought, "Wouldn't it be great if there were someplace that tracked all Houdini activity like this?" Instead of waiting for that to happen, I started doing it myself. First, a small electronic newsletter (2 issues), then a website www.houdini-lives.com, which ran for 5 years, and then WILD ABOUT HARRY, which will turn 15 on November 10th.

Today, this poster hangs in David Copperfield's incredible International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts in Las Vegas. Ironically, I'm able to be in the same room with it precisely because it inspired me to start a blog. So whenever I see it there, a part of me remembers that day in 2005.

Thursday, October 23, 2025

October surprise


Well, how about this? WILD ABOUT HARRY and I have received a tremendous honor from the New England Magic Collectors Association (NEMCA), an organization I greatly respect and admire. This was just posted to their Facebook group:

JOHN COX / WILD ABOUT HARRY NAMED NEMCA’S 2025 FOUNDERS AWARD RECIPIENT!
The New England Magic Collectors Association (NEMCA) is an organization of over 150 magicians, magic historians and magic collectors from around the world. It started in Boston, Massachusetts in 1980 with the purpose of preserving and promoting the history, artifacts and publications of the performers of magic and its allied arts.
In 2017 NEMCA created its Founders Award in honor of two of its founders, Ray Goulet and Ed Hill. The Award is used to acknowledge the contributions of people and organizations that exemplify NEMCA’s prime objectives of preserving and promoting the history and artifacts associated with magic and the allied arts. Previous recipients have included the American Museum of Magic, the Conjuring Arts Research Center (CARC), MAGICANA, and The Magic Circle.
It is our privilege to announce that the Board of Directors for NEMCA has unanimously voted to honor Wild About Harry and its founder, John Cox, as the recipient of the 2025 Founders Award.
This celebrates Cox’s many years of effort collecting and sharing information regarding Harry Houdini. Cox’s Facebook page, website (wildabouthoudini.com) in conjunction with the Patreon site, offers pictures and information available nowhere else. The publication of his book, Escaping Obscurity - The Travel Diary of Harry Houdini, 1897-1899, is a significant accomplishment and contribution to the community. It is these, and many other considerations, that supported the presentation of this honor.
Magicians around the world will celebrate Harry Houdini in 2026 recognizing one hundred years since the death of Houdini. NEMCA’s next Yankee Gathering will take place in early November and a portion of the conference will be dedicated to scholarship and celebration of Houdini’s memory.
John Cox, through his work on Wild About Harry, has done much to preserve the very rich history of magic and its practitioners, as well as to promote magic to newer generations. The Board of the New England Magic Collectors Association can think of no more deserving organization than Wild About Harry and its founder, John Cox, to receive its 2025 Founders Award. NEMCA congratulates him for all he has done, and continues to do, on behalf of magic history.

I'm excited to read that a portion of their 2026 "Yankee Gathering" will be dedicated to scholarship and celebration of Houdini’s memory. That sounds like my kind of gathering!

Thank you to the New England Magic Collectors Association and all its members. This is amazing.

Related:

Sunday, September 14, 2025

America: A History: Who is Harry Houdini?

Last month, I had the pleasure of being a guest on Liam Heffernan's America: A History podcast. Click below to listen on Apple or the website.


By the way, Liam says in his intro that Houdini "allegedly" went over Niagara Falls in a barrel. I had told him that was not true, and we had planned to debunk it in the course of the interview. But we never got around to it!

Friday, August 15, 2025

Summer break

This will be the last post of the month. I'm going to give myself a summer break to recharge my batteries, chamber some posts, and work on my projects. I will still be active on Patreon. Otherwise, see you in September!


Photo from Houdini His Legend and His Magic by Doug Henning and Charles Reynolds.

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

I hate AI and the feeling appears to be mutual

WILD ABOUT HARRY has just crossed over 16 million pageviews. You know who isn't impressed by that? Google. 15 years, 5782 posts, 21781 comments, and 16 million page views. Yet when I asked Google's generative AI to recommend a good Houdini blog, here's the list I got:


Hey, at least Joe Notaro's Harry Houdini Circumstantial Evidence made the list. I can't argue with that choice. And to be fair to Google, my blog does very well in the traditional links. It can even land at #1. Which makes the AI results even more bizarre. But as Houdini would say, "Such is life."

Thank you for visiting and supporting WILD ABOUT HARRY over the years. Even you bots!


Related:

Saturday, November 2, 2024

Catching up with Houdini on Halloween podcasts

Over the Halloween week, I had the pleasure of appearing on two of my favorite podcasts. First up is our friend Scott Wells and his very popular The Magic Word Podcast. Scott is now uploading his podcasts to YouTube, so if you can stand watching me, that is embedded below. But you can also get and subscribe to The Magic Word Podcast audio only at the official website or via your preferred podcatcher.


I also stopped in for a Halloween chat with my great pals Brian and Lauren at Transatlantic History Ramblings. Same drill. You can listen on their website or subscribe via a podcather. Brian wants me to warn folks that the first section of the podcast, in which he and Lauren discuss issues of the day, is NSFW. My interview starts at 36:00.


Related:

Monday, July 8, 2024

Summer break

I'm going to give myself a short summer break to recharge my batteries, chamber some posts, and work on other projects. I won't let any breaking news slip past, and I will still be active on my Patreon. Otherwise, see you in a few weeks!


Catch up on the WILD year so far:
January (23 posts)
February (20 posts)
March (20 posts)
April (20 posts)
May (21 posts)
June (19 posts)
July (6 posts)

Photo from Houdini His Legend and His Magic by Doug Henning and Charles Reynolds.

Sunday, April 21, 2024

Talking Houdini with S.A.M. Virtual Assembly #1

Tonight I'll be the guest of the S.A.M. Virtual Assembly #1. We'll be talking about, what else, Houdini!


While this is something that's offered to S.A.M. members specifically, non-members can join with the Zoom info, so here it is:

Topic: Assembly V1.1
Time: April 21, 2024. 7:30 PM Eastern / 4:30 PM Pacific

Join Zoom Meeting: 
[This meeting is now over]

 Hope to see you there!

Friday, February 23, 2024

Talking Houdini on The Macabre World Podcast

This week, I had the great pleasure of being interviewed by Raquel Digati on The Macabre World Podcast. "Rocky" had some great questions and we covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time. You can listen at the Dark Art Studio, Spotify, Amazon Music, or via your favorite podcatcher.

Monday, January 1, 2024

Back for more in '24


HAPPY NEW YEAR and welcome to another year of WILD ABOUT HARRY! 1924 was the year Houdini took the gloves off when it came to fraudulent spirit mediums. That means 2024 will see several spooky centenaries, including Houdini's spiritualism lecture tours, his famous encounters with Margery, and the publication A Magician Among the Spirits.

There's going to be a lot to talk about and share, so let's get started!


Thursday, December 7, 2023

Reflecting on a WILD 2023


I'm taking my year-end break a little earlier than normal because oh what a year this has been! So much has happened that I feel like I need to sit back and reflect on where I've been and where I'm going. As to where I've been...

I'm still reeling from the incredible time I spent inside David Copperfield's International Museum and Library of the Conjuring Arts in March and the role I played in making fresh transfers of the Houdini wax cylinders. To have been a part of this Houdini history is beyond an honor. I still can't believe it all really happened.

Speaking of honors, receiving the Milbourne Christopher Ambassador of Magic Award was just that for someone weaned on Christopher's work. My overnight stay at 278 during my self-proclaimed Ambassador's tour was a literal dream come true. My time in Cleveland was fantastic. Celebrating Houdini's 100th Masonic anniversary was a wild time. Being the Houdini historian at two events at the Houdini Estate in Laurel Canyon was a blast. And spending the year annotating Houdini's first known travel diary has been a daily thrill that I'm excited you will all get to experience next year.

There was also plenty of action right here on the blog. A few long-time mysteries were solved, including the baby photo, the checkered flag photo, the origin of Metamorphosis, the overboard box footage, and Hardeen's Metamorphosis. Crossing 10 million views was also pretty satisfying.

I'm especially pleased with my first full year on Patreon. My patrons were right there with me on my Houdini adventures this year. In fact, the support of my patrons made these adventures possible. I've also been able to share some terrific exclusive material and first looks. I'm looking forward to providing patrons with more terrific content in 2024, including this. (I will continue posting to Patreon during my break.)

Between the diary and all the correspondence I've read in the past 18 months, I really feel like I've come to know Houdini in a deeper and more personal way. And you know what? I like him! People may not believe this, but I've encountered NO sign of this massive ego one hears so much about. None. Instead, I've found him to be generous, funny, self-deprecating, philosophical, wistful, a lover of animals, a tireless worker, and a loving husband. He's a person deserving of the attention we give him. Meet your heroes.

Next year, expect more of the same. It's a big year for Houdini centennials. I will be working on a new book project while promoting the diary book. I'm looking forward to the Magic Collector Expo in Long Beach, more trips to Copperfield's, and more discoveries ahead. Because I'm still Wild about Harry! And so are you.

2023 in Review:
January (23 posts)
February (20 posts)
March (21 posts)
April (23 posts)
May (18 posts)
June (24 posts)
July (22 posts)
August (23 posts)
September (16 posts)
October (23 posts)
November (23 posts)
December (6 posts)

Most Viewed New Post of 2023

Up to my socks in the Copperfield collection.

Happy Holidays
See you in 2024

Photo at the top of this post from the McCord-Stewart Museum.

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

Wild About Harry on Patreon anniversary special

Today is the one year anniversary of my Patreon. To mark the occasion, I'm offering a special 7-day FREE trial for the next 10 new sign ups. That means you'll be able to view some of the great content I've posted over the past year and get this month's reward all for FREE. You'll have access to the site for 7 days, after which time you'll be billed $5 for another month unless you cancel. 

Just head on over to my membership page and click "Start 7-day free trial" under the Handcuff King level. But once we hit 10 people, the free option will vanish like Jennie the elephant!


A very big THANK YOU to my current patrons for supporting all that I do here on Wild About Harry and my upcoming Houdini projects.

Angels
Adamichi
Al Arch
Randall Bell
Tom Boldt
Dean Carnegie
Roger Dreyer
Erik Houdini
Houdini Tour, Museum, & Magic Show
David Merlini - The House of Houdini
David Muller
Jessica Jane Peterson

Scholars
Jeff Abraham
Russell Andrew
Ronald P Armstrong
Bruce Averbook
Scott Boyd
Art Bull
David Byron
Narinder Chadda
Eric Colleary
Colleen
Ronald Cox
Don Creekmore
Juli Crockett (of the Evangenitals)
Patrick Culliton
Janet Davis
Allesandre Davylle
Mark Dombroff
Leonard Hevia
Lindsey Hughes
Gary Hunt
JennyL
Tim King
Fred Kirchner
Robert B Kirkpatrick
Gary F Kriss
Steven Medwetz
Kristin Newton
Joe M Notaro
Massimo Polidoro
Paul Reardon
Keith Reynolds
Brad Ricca
Chuck Romano
Barry Spector
Daniel Stashower
Peter Stocking
Allan James Taylor
Tony the Magician
Ken Trombly
Joel Valentincic
Jimmy Vee
Jim Zoldak

Handcuff Kings
Sherry Abaldo
Erik Bartlett
CraigBob
Pat Fallon
Matthew Guzman
Joe Hanosek
Richard Hatch
Jeff Horton
Harry Houdini
Joshua Johnson
Jakob Jørgensen
Michael Kaufman
Jesse Leeds-Grant
Michael Mitnick
Scott Morley
Delmar Proctor
Dave Sikula
Frederic Steinbach
David Thornburg
Katie Timoney
Maija Urrelo
Vincent

Come hang with us!

Related:

Thursday, July 20, 2023

Wild About Harry crosses 10 MILLION pageviews

I'm thrilled to see that WILD ABOUT HARRY has just crossed 10 MILLION pageviews since the site went live back in late 2010. Thanks to everyone for your support. Houdini lives indeed!

Tuesday, May 16, 2023

Episode 146: A Voice from Beyond the Grave


I'm back on the always enjoyable Transatlantic History Ramblings podcast with Lauren Davies and Brian Young. This time I'm telling the story of the Houdini wax cylinders. This is the most detailed account of the entire adventure, so if you haven't had enough, or you don't yet know the story, this might be one to listen to. The interview starts around 28:15.


You can subscribe to Transatlantic History Ramblings on Apple, Spotify, Google, Anchor, or your favorite podcatcher. You can also follow them on Twitter @HistoryTA.

Thursday, May 4, 2023

Website maintenance

It appears some concerned citizen may have taken umbrage at my post in support of the Writers Guild strike and reported my site to Blogger. I'm now having to deal with hundreds of posts removed for content violation (mostly bad links). The good news is I know what links I need to remove and when I resubmit for review the posts are reinstated. But it's a process that might some time. I've also temporarily removed the Writers Guild post to take the target off my back. But this is just all the more reason to join my Patreon.


UPDATE: Thanks everyone for your kind words and support. I'm not suffering and, ironically, this turned out to be a positive. My site never gets tagged, but it needed a look. In the old days I would link to a lot more outside sites as sources. But over a decade some of those sites have gone away and their URLs are now occupied by pages that can spread malware, etc. So Blogger pulls these posts until you remove the links, which is easy enough to do. So it's nice to know where the problems are and fix them. It's also nice to know that Blogger/Google has no other problems with my site. So maybe we should thank our crabby friend for the complaint.

Oh, and...

Sunday, April 16, 2023

WILD ABOUT HARRY WEEKLY hits 100

My WILD ABOUT HARRY WEEKLY newsletter hits 100 issues today. To mark the occasion, I'm letting anyone view this issue online by clicking the image below.


How does one subscribe to WILD ABOUT HARRY WEEKLY? Thanks for asking! You can subscribe by clicking HERE. It's free and I don't share your email with anyone. Or if you're a member of my Patreon, I post a link and a PDF every Sunday. No sign-up required. Boy, that Patreon just sounds better and better, doesn't it?

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

No posts ahead

Just a heads up that there will be no posts for the next week or so as I will be focusing all my Houdini energy on a very special project. But I won't let any "breaking" news slip past. If you want to know what I'm up to, check out my Patreon. Stay wild!


Photo from the McCord Stewart Museum.

Friday, February 24, 2023

Hey look! I wrote a book. In French?

While doing my normal search for Houdini news online, I came upon this French eBook called Houdini: Magic Star written by...me? And here I didn't even know I could speak French!

What this appears to be are a collection of my blog posts translated by Jean-Pierre Hornecker. This is on the level. Jean-Pierre wrote to me a few years back asking my permission to adapt some of my posts. But I had forgotten all about it. So it was a pleasant surprise to see my name on this cover.

Houdini: Magic Star is free at the magic website e-magix.

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