The great escape...

Well, I took those mourning dove pictures just in time – they flew away this morning. They were still there when I woke up, and I was watching them right before I left to get coffee – the mom mourning dove was feeding the babies, and they were all doing this really funny “bob and weave” sort of thing. It was like a silly little bird hip hop dance. And then when I got back from Seattle’s Best with my coffee, I went to the window to see if they’d progressed to country line dancing or salsa, and they were all gone. They flew away really fast. The phoebes on the back porch sometimes take all day to figure out how to fly…

Anyway… moving on… I watched a really interesting documentary about Harry Houdini yesterday. (This is not to be confused with boring, vague, poorly-researched documentaries such as Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, which I also watched a few days ago and which provoked a reaction of, “seriously? This thing won an Oscar? SERIOUSLY??” But that’s an entire blog post in itself…) But Harry Houdini – very interesting guy. Not only could he break out of just about anything, but he freely admitted there was no “magic” involved – only his own abilities. And he was greatly annoyed by sub-par copycats and people who DID claim to use “magic” or “psychic power.” He especially reviled spiritualists and mediums – anyone who tried to con people into believing they could “speak” to the dead. Houdini would challenge any spiritualist he crossed paths with – and, inevitably, he would easily expose their trickery and be able to recreate their “proof” of communication with the spirit world.

The documentary reminded me of a class I was required to take back in high school. When I was a sophomore, we all had to take a half semester of “death and dying.” Such a cheery subject for a bunch of fifteen-year-olds. I guess they just wanted to remind us of our own mortality before they set us loose with the driver’s ed cars (we were required to take this class right before we were required to take driver’s ed…). Toward the end of the semester, we were all given different topics to write about for a final paper. My project was to research how several different famous people had died. I could choose any famous people I wanted… I can’t remember who else I wrote about, but one of the people I chose was Houdini. Houdini died from a ruptured appendix – possibly aggravated by repeated blows to the stomach. And he was not hit out of malicious intent – he allowed a young fan to hit him in the stomach, because apparently Houdini was known as an “indestructible” kind of guy. He would allow people to hit him in the stomach, just to prove how strong he was. Of course, this time he was already silently suffering from appendicitis (I guess “strong” guys don’t admit pain?), so even if the blows to the stomach didn’t actually cause the appendix to burst (most doctors think it had probably already happened at that point), it could NOT have been a pleasant experience. But stubborn Houdini refused any medical treatment, even after passing out in the middle of a performance, with a 104 degree fever. He came to, actually FINISHED the show, and only then did he seek medical attention. But of course at that point it was too late. Back in 1926, there was really nothing that could be done for a massive infection of that type.

It’s interesting that this man who could escape anything – chains, ropes, handcuffs, underwater coffins, boxes of any shape or size – finally succumbed to a silly, little, useless vestigial organ. I mean, if he had died from drowning or falling off a bridge or suffocating in a box, it would’ve made perfect sense. And, in fact, many people mistakenly assume that Houdini must’ve died performing one of his death-defying tricks. But nope – he continually defied death with his tricks. He only met his match in that pesky appendix.

What’s really funny is that every year since his death, fellow magicians and Houdini fans have gathered to perform a séance in an attempt to contact his spirit. What’s even funnier is that he died on Halloween – this man, who spent much of his career debunking the “powers” of psychics and mediums, is now the object of their search. And, ironically, he died on the one day of the year when people are most likely to assume they can speak to the dead. He’s never shown up, of course. And honestly – even if he COULD speak from beyond the grave, do you think he really would? Like he’d want to admit he was wrong about the whole “psychic contact with the great beyond” thing…

At the end of the documentary, a famous magician (whose name escapes me at the moment) demonstrated how a person can work their way out of a straightjacket. Useful information, if, like me, you assume you’ll be committed some day. I’m ready now… bring on the men in the white coats…