Harry Houdini : The Man, The Myth, The Spy, The Secret Service Agent

A lot of people love reading about Harry Houdini the magician, the Handcuff King the escape artist but did you know that he was a spy & a Secret Service agent? I can prove it with one book & a few well versed words here. The book I am talking about is one I am just over half way through & it is entitled "The Secret Life of Houdini : The Making of a Superhero."

This book is awesome & I encourage everyone to read it and enjoy the story of Harry Houdini from beginning to end. It tells about the man, the myth, the spy, the Secret Service agent who was a performer who made the world love him & his shows & continually conquered his every demon, including his own self loathing while continually re-creating himself for the world at large.

Yes, while this is a conspiracy website & this book is not so much an actual conspiracy it still fits into this world of the wide web that is the internet. The book is all about how all of Harry Houdini's having been a major instigator in World War I in the propaganda & success of America while Harry Houdini, or some may know him better as Ehrich Weiss, a Jewish man who changed his identity to fit better into the world and to better sell himself to the world as an entertainer at large for War World I in the rise of Germany the first time it came to power.

The fact that the book is from archival data and letters both from & to Harry Houdini is what makes this book so intriguing. Please feel free to enjoy the book & I would love to hear anyone else's opinion & thoughts on this subject. A lot of people do not know that the Secret Service was a spy agency at one time and was connected to the spy world like the C.I.A., N.S.A., D.I.A. & the rest of the alphabet Intelligent Agencies.

Harry Houdini taught our American Dough Boys how to escape from handcuffs, being tied in ropes, & how to escape from torpedoed ships by being on stage in an ampitheater & having actually being a teacher of the American military.

The Secret Life of Houdini : The Making of A Superhero

[edit on 17-5-2007 by SpartanKingLeonidas]

I heard somwhere that Houdini was not Italian. Is that true? He sure sounds like he has an italian name though.

He had a weird life and his death is strange too, being killed by a blow to his midsection that he was not able to prepare for.

Houdini was not Italian at all, the name is from the origin of Robert Houdin, Harry Houdini took the name from his mentor in order to make himself a bigger selling to the world stage since he was Jewish and the world was heading towards World War I and he knew that Jewish people were not widely accepted even at that time in the world stage before the beginning of World War II and the rise of Nazi Germany.

Houdin with the addition of the "i" at the end means "Like Houdin", which would mean Harry Houdini taking on his mentor's cape with a flourish to enter the world stage.

Just checking to see if anyone out there has any more comments on this topic. I really would be interested in hearing people's opinions.

This is my personal opinion, but I find it very hard to believe that Houdini dies from a punch to the stomach. The human body is stronger than that.

In one account, he died of a ruptured appendix which was already inflamed at the time of the punch. Guy hit him before he could set himself. He quickly recovered and offered the guy another chance after setting his abs.

Failed to get treatment and it burst. There's no clear evidence if it burst as a direct or an indirect result of the blow.

Another account says there were several blows made to a reclining Houdini by a McGill University student, and after Houdini protested, several more. His insurance concluded it was death due to this incident and paid double.

McGill archives suggests aggravation of a pre-existing condition by the punch(es).

See: The Man Who Killed Houdini by Don Bell, Vehicule Press, 2004.

While I can see that Houdini dieing from a punch or appendicitis is somewhat on the topic of this thread, the original post was about him being a Secret Service agent and spy when during World War I, the Secret Service actually had an influence in the spy world.

Just reading today about Houdini he admitted was a Mason while he was testifying in order to influence a law to stop charlatan "pyschic's" and the spiritualists of the day. He found out that spiritualists and mediums, that would be pyschic's of the day had already invaded the White House and the majority of the Senate.

Harry Houdini being a spy, Secret Service agent, and Mason, now that explains alot about the man, the myth, the Mystifier.

Anyone else out there interested in this subject or am I wasting My time?

Just checking to see if anyone has read this post about how Houdini was a spy for the Secret Service during the time the Secret Service had intelligence agency capabilites at the turn of the century. Anyone got any thoughts on this?

I wonder if this is true today....

I guess if I had magical powers like Houdini I would use them to thwart psychics.

Does he provide any evidence of the psychics in the government, because that would be an interesting discussion?

Have not read the book. Looks interesting though. I never read much about Houdini to begin with, as I am not too much into magicians/illusions/etc. I will research him, though

From what I understand of the book and his life Houdini actually demonstrated all of the tactics of the pyschic's and charlatains and showed through the illusion so that they would better be able to stop them in the future. He got passed what's called the "Houdini Laws", I've got a friend who is a psychic, she explained the definition of a psychic is "All-Seeing."

It's a nice way to say that a psychic is a profiler, who then takes advantage of a dupe.

Was this in the book?

Where did you read that, do you have any links?

Thats funny.

That part about the White House and all of that are specifically in the book.



Here's the link to the book on Amazom :

The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero

By the way, for all of ATS'ers information, this book is as thick as a phone book, so it's packed with Houdini facts and history.

If you think THAT is interesting, you might be happy to know that Pee-Wee Herman and Bozo the Clown were KGB and MI6 agents, respectively.

Um, you're kidding, right? Was that a joke? Because I was serious. The Houdini book is as thick as a phone book and is based from detailed letters, stories and information collected about Houdini's entire life.

Read the book or don't, but don't patronize Me. I deserve more respect than that.

reply to post by SpartanKingLeonidas

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Houdini died in 26 right? If so, how could he be connected to the CIA when it wasnt created until 1947, or the NSA when they werent around until 1952? Even the OSS wasnt created until 1942...

Im confused...

Okay, I never once stated Houdini was in the CIA, NSA, or OSS. I said this exactly here, with now added emphasis.



I've gone back and either bolded, italicized, or underlined the key words in My original post



Okay, so maybe you got lost in the last that I was comparing the Secret Service of Houdini's day to the other spy agencies, which are in our day and age. If I wasn't specific enough, then I apologize. I was in the original post and I will clarify that intent here, stating that the Secret Service was connected to the spy world at the time Houdini was alive. The spy world then consisted of differing spy agencies then that it does now.

I was using a comparison through all of those agencies that they are all spy agencies and that the Secret Service at one time was a spy agency with spy agency powers, policies, protocols, and procedures similar and if not more powerful than today's C.I.A., N.S.A., and the 1930-1940's O.S.S.

Essentially said in all of this, the Secret Service clandestinely approached Houdini to do some spying, as it states in the book, again the book is as thick as a phone book. Later on, Scotland Yard approached Houdini, clandestinely, to do some spying work. The reason they approached him clandestinely is because they could not put Houdini on the payroll, and that his role as a magician was the perfect plausible-deniability cover to do clandestine work for them without being seen as a potential spy.

Last thing I will say here, read the book, or do not. Your choice.




[edit on 13-3-2008 by SpartanKingLeonidas]

Interesting theory although I think incorrect. The Secret Service has always been an organization focused toward the Treasury Department i.e. counterfeit money, fraudulent claims against the government in terms of credit card fraud land fraud etc. Later to the protection of the President later the protection of former presidents and later to foreign dignitaries. Yes they have gone "undercover" in cases to investigate a group or individual perpetrating these crimes. In 1908 some Secret Service agents were transfered into the Department of Justice to start up the FBI. I will check into this a bit more but pretty sure at this point no he was not a Secret Service Agent. Hope this helps.

edit for fat fingers

[edit on 13-3-2008 by drift393]

Interesting fact about houdini.

He spent most of his life trying to expose the fraud of psychics and paranormal phenomenon. He was a hardcore skeptic.