Not sure what the story is now…Ī number of Houdini’s relatives are buried on the plot… In recent years, the cemetery has been prohibiting anyone from entering around Halloween for fear of vandalism. Houdini and his wife Bess had worked out a coded message to be passed on, but in ten years of seances, she never received it. I also love the weeping woman on the bench…įor years following his death, a seance was conducted here on October 31st to contact Houdini. What really amazes me, though, is that this beautiful mosaic has survived for over 84 years in such beautiful condition. Pictures on Flickr from 2009 show a bust in place, but it was gone when I visited. Oddly, the stolen bust from 1983 was later found in 2003, after the thief complained to police that his son-in-law had stolen his power tools, and the son-in-law tipped them off to the Houdini head in his basement. A replacement was made by the Society of American Magicians, only to be stolen in 1983.Īnother replacement was made, but it was eventually removed after frequent vandalism. Unfortunately, in 1975, vandals crushed the bust with a sledgehammer. Originally, the grave was topped off by a life-size bust of Houdini. However, I was disappointed to see that Houdini himself had disappeared. I was really impressed with just the size of Houdini’s plot, which stretches about 20 feet in length and contains several benches and a fountain.
A New Yorker for most of his life, Houdini was interred here at the Machpelah Cemetery after his death from a ruptured appendix on October 31, 1926.
I was afraid I had a sizable search ahead of me to find what I was looking for, but luckily, it was visible from the entrance…īorn in Hungary in 1874, Erik Weisz rose to magic stardom under the stagename of Harry Houdini. The beautiful cemetery office is completely abandoned, with “unsafe to enter” symbols spraypainted all over the outside… The two front gates were closed but unlocked, so I parked my car and quickly went in…
To be honest, I wasn’t sure if it was even open. I was out there recently to scout graveyards, and made a point to stop at Machpelah Cemetery, a Jewish cemetery dating to the 1800’s. Cypress Hills Street might as well be called the Graveyard Highway.Ī wide, four-lane thruway located in Glendale, Queens, it cuts through The Cemetery Belt – a sprawling collection of cemeteries established after the State Rural Cemeteries Act of 1847 forbade the creation of any new cemeteries in Manhattan.
0 kommentar(er)
