Hacker Remix

Was Houdini a Spy? (2021)

48 points by carlos-menezes 1 day ago | 15 comments

ggm 23 hours ago

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jasper_Maskelyne

A bit of flim-flam but I would argue he was better placed for his skills. Not an escapologist but in the room next door on stage doing misdirection.

His war record is a bit mixed. I think he may have been a human version of "carrots help night vision"

pogue 17 hours ago

Here's a copy of The Official C.I.A. Manual of Trickery and Deception mentioned in the article. It's 179 pages and sounds interesting [1].

[1] https://archive.org/details/cia-manual-trickery-deception-20...

megadata 22 hours ago

Good 3 part podcast on Houdini: https://timharford.com/2025/03/cautionary-tales-houdini-magi...

jherdman 20 hours ago

I just finished this too! It really brought back my childhood fascination with the man.

rmason 23 hours ago

Houdini died on Halloween right after performing at the Garick theatre in Detroit. As a result he is remembered on each Halloween. When I was a kid there would be magic shows on that day.

wahnfrieden 23 hours ago

He has a cool museum in Appleton too