That said, it has been speculated that the pain from Whitehead’s punches may have served to mask the true seriousness of the condition, with Houdini perhaps assuming he was suffering non-life threatening pains from the blows.
This was a reasonable diagnosis at the time, but today it’s generally thought that this likely did not play a direct role in his appendix rupturing as such cases are exceptionally rare and from accounts, it’s thought Houdini was already suffering from the onset of appendicitis at the time of the blows. In fact, the conclusion made by the life insurance company, who then had to pay double indemnity because of their findings, was that the punches to Houdini’s abdomen had ruptured his appendix. At the time, it was speculated that the aforementioned blows to his abdomen may have been the cause of his appendicitis. Once at the hospital, it was established that Houdini had peritonitis due to a ruptured appendix. William Stone, over the phone, he finally gave in an agreed to go to Grace Hospital in Detroit to have an emergency appendectomy. Houdini was still not keen on the idea, but after consulting with his personal physician, Dr. The conclusion was that Houdini needed immediate hospitalization and surgery. He made it through the first act, but his conditioned worsened and he was forced to have his assistant finish the show.Īfter the show was over, Houdini headed back to his hotel to rest up, but his wife, Bess, reportedly “threw a tantrum” that he wasn’t going to the hospital and so a physician was called in to examine him yet again. He began the performance with several vanishing acts, culminating with making a woman disappear and conjuring a flowering shrub in her place. The doctor diagnosed Houdini with acute appendicitis and recommended he head immediately to the hospital for surgery. He was running a high fever and, though refusing to go to the hospital, was nevertheless examined by a physician before the show. Despite the extreme physical pain that continued even after Whitehead ceased punching him, not to mention his broken ankle, Houdini insisted the evening’s scheduled performance must go on as planned.īy the time Houdini was heading for his next show in Detroit, his condition had deteriorated badly. The punches inflicted more pain than Houdini anticipated, and after a few fists to the gut, he motioned for Whitehead to stop. Whitehead immediately took a few jabs at Houdini’s mid-section while the magician was still reclining (he had recently broken his ankle in his famous Water-Torture Cell escape) and supposedly didn’t have a chance to prepare for the blows from the over exuberant Whitehead. Houdini assured him it was true and gave him permission to see for himself. However, the general story seems to be that Whitehead asked Houdini if the claim that he could withstand any punch to the abdomen had any truth to it. It’s difficult to determine exactly what happened from here as accounts from eye witnesses are slightly conflicting. Two days before this, Houdini had been resting in his dressing room prior to a show in Montreal when a college student named J.
When Harry Houdini and his entourage arrived at The Garrick Theatre in Detroit, Michigan on October 24, 1926, the Hungarian-born magician and escape artist was running a fever of about 102-104 degrees Fahrenheit.
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