College Avenue in Appleton, Wisconsin is a quintessential slice of Midwestern Americana. Littered with cafes, boutiques, and pubs (per Wisconsin tradition), the innocuous street is quaint and familiar until you approach the 300 block. There, a Tudor-style castle looms large among the storefronts, rising from them like a giant among men. The Masonic Temple turned local history museum, complete with church-like doors, easily intimidates. Inside the History Museum at the Castle lives a rotating collection of exhibits and interactive experiences. Once you reach the castle’s peak, you’ll find a floor that honors the city’s most mysterious former resident—an exhibit appropriately called A.K.A. Houdini, a nod to the mystifying man’s ever-changing life.
The Museum at the Castle in Appleton, WI was originally built in 1923 and still includes many Masonic symbols on the inside and outside. Photo by Amanda Finn.
Harry Houdini, born Ehrich Weiss in Budapest, Hungary in 1874, lived in Appleton with his family after they immigrated to the United States.1 Although he lived in many places throughout his childhood, Appleton held a special place in Houdini’s heart.2 According to the museum’s chief curator Dustin Mack, “Houdini referred to Appleton as his hometown because this is where he spent the formative years of his childhood (ages 4-8) and the only place his family lived a comfortable lifestyle while he was growing up.”3 Because of this connection, the exhibit is dedicated to him. As any good Freemason like Houdini would appreciate, A.K.A. Houdini lives within a former Masonic Temple which has not been demolished but lovingly restored.4 The ceremony rooms in all their odd glory are fitting for an equally mysterious Houdini. One of his straight jackets, for example, is displayed in the “Egyptian Room.”
Houdini, lauded for many illusions in his lifetime, is known best for his daring escape artistry. He freed himself from straightjackets, escaped cages submerged in freezing water and even made an elephant disappear! His death defying tricks landed him among the greatest magicians of all time.5
Without much of an estate to speak of—Houdini and his wife, Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner, never had children—collectors have acquired much of Houdini’s possessions. So, when a big Houdini collector offered authentic pieces from The Great’s life, the museum scooped them up. The collector, Sidney Radner, was actually one of the world’s foremost collectors of Houdini memorabilia. The museum leased pieces from his collection for many years until Radner went out to Las Vegas to try and open his own museum, according to Mack. Though the museum does not have the entirety of Radner’s collection, they have pieces that make it their own.6
In the Egyptian Room visitors can experience some of Houdini’s most famous illusions for themselves. Photo by Victoria Lantz.
From a replica of Houdini’s casket to pieces of his illusions themselves, any magic buff would have a field day at this museum. Though aesthetically child friendly, in homage to the bright colors of circuses, the illusions themselves are eerie and, for some, challenging.
Mack said the exhibit stirred contention among the illusionist community when it opened in 2004 because of its revealing nature. Since so many pieces of the exhibit explain Houdini’s illusions in detail, magicians-at-arms threatened action against the museum for exploiting their livelihoods.
“It actually came to a head on the “Today Show,” Mack explained. “The executive director of the museum and David Copperfield were debating what was going to happen with this exhibit and [Copperfield kept] saying ‘you can’t do this’ [before] going on and on and on. It was covered in every major newspaper across the country. [It was] this big controversy. But then, when it actually opened, and they saw kids going through and how much they liked it, it was a non-story.” Because of the national attention kicked up by magicians like Copperfield, attendance for the exhibit jumped over 400 percent.7
Though some aspects of the exhibit are dark and bizarre, the environment is light. There are even photo ops like this lion’s open mouth for children (or kids at heart) to stick their head in. Photo by Amanda Finn.
At the top of the temple’s stairs you see the bright colors reminiscent of the circuses of yesteryear and your eyes fall upon an artist’s copy of Houdini’s casket. Beyond his grave you can try out Houdini’s illusions, safely, for yourself throughout the exhibit. From escaping a box or a jail cell to trying your hand (literally) at withstanding freezing temperatures, visitors can experience exhilarating pieces of Houdini’s artful mind. You might be surprised at what you can do. The cold hand experience, inspired by his escape from freezing water in a cage, asks how long you can hold onto a bitterly cold metal bar. Some can only hold on for 25 seconds while Houdini took three minutes to escape the cage. I made it 2:17 (I could have easily made the three minute mark) before going on just to keep the tour moving along. In another part of the exhibit, my photographer and museum companion Victoria was able to escape the jail cell while I was still in the middle of trying to find the hidden secret. While some may find the exhibit too Disney for their tastes, with lion photo stand-ins and kooky graphics, the illusions can be genuinely difficult to achieve.
After the exhibit opened, and the hubbub over its nature subsided, so too did the angry magicians, though they might be pleased to know that ghost hunters have paid more than one visit to the museum in the hopes of finding a benevolent Houdini haunting the halls.8 The exhibit has a special piece of memorabilia the likes of which cannot be found anywhere else in the world, and its history is as mysterious as the man it represents.
The last of the three Houdini busts. Photo by Dustin Mack.
“Houdini had three busts of himself commissioned while he was alive and they all looked the same,” Mack explained. “One was placed on his gravestone out in New York after he died and mysteriously tipped off and broke. The other one had been put in storage . . . but somehow it mysteriously fell off the shelf and broke. So, this is the only remaining [bust] of the three. We’ve had ghost hunters who’ve wanted to come in and check for the presence of Houdini’s spirit in here because (I believe) they think that Houdini was maybe pushing the other ones off.”
If Houdini is, indeed, lurking the rooms of his Appleton exhibition, it wouldn’t be a surprise for those who love his namesake séance in California.9 Though he was known for his dislike of the mediums of his day, believing they were charlatans, Houdini was not one to turn down a challenge. And for the world’s greatest illusionist, the greatest challenge would be a face-off with death.10
“Do spirits return? Houdini says no – and proves it 3 shows in one : magic, illusions, escapes, fraud mediums exposed.” Magic poster collection, McManus-Young collection of pictorial material relating to magic, Library of Congress.
“What’s ironic about these seances is that he told his wife that if anybody could escape from the beyond, [he was] going to be the one that did it,” Mack said. As the legend goes, Houdini told his wife that he would try to contact her every year for 10 years after his death. Obviously these seances never succeeded, but fans of Houdini have continued to search for his spirit. Appleton even attempted a seance in the mid-1980s at his family’s former home. Like all other previous attempts, the museum had no success in talking to Houdini, but apparently talked to Judy Garland, who said “Houdini was doing very well.”11
When it first opened, A.K.A. Houdini appeared to undercut the artistry of illusion. That’s what many magicians believed, anyway. But when exploring and engaging the exhibit, it is clear it inspires visitors to think through how Houdini, and magicians like him, create and execute their illusions. Visitors can see firsthand how feats like Metamorphosis are accomplished and why Houdini’s influence on magic is still felt nearly one hundred years after his death.
- Depending on the source, Houdini’s original name is sometimes spelled as Erik Weiss. Other times he is identified as Harry Weiss. “The Life of Harry Houdini,” Houdini: His Life and His Art, accessed July 20, 2020; Dustin Mack, interview by Amanda Finn, November 2019.
- Mack.
- Houdini’s father, Samuel Weiss, was the first Rabbi in Appleton and the family was part of the town’s middle class. After Rabbi Weiss lost his job, the family moved to Milwaukee and then New York City. They lived in poverty after they left Appleton which, in part, drove Houdini to fame and fortune. He wanted to provide for his family in a way that his father couldn’t. Houdini was a showman and self-promoter at heart, so he’d claim Milwaukee as his hometown when performing there and he’d do the same in New York. In other interviews and in private letters he’d consistently refer to his time in Appleton and call it home.
- Ehrich Weiss joined the Freemasons’ St. Cecil Lodge in 1923; “Harry Houdini: The Masonic Magician,” Scottish Rite, accessed July 20, 2020.
- “Magic,” Houdini: His Life and His Art, accessed July 20, 2020.
- Mack.
- Mack.
- Mack.
- The séance is hosted at The Academy of Magical Arts in Hollywood, CA. Founded in 1962, the academy is a private club for magicians and magic enthusiasts alike. In homage to Beatrice’s séances in her lifetime, the academy hosts up to a dozen people at a time to contact Houdini. The academy owns many pieces of Houdini memorabilia as well as the one pair of handcuffs the magician couldn’t open.
- Robert Love, “Houdini’s Greatest Trick: Debunking Medium Mina Crandon,” Mental Floss, October 31, 2013; Mack.
- Mack.
