A Houdini Seance

Things are definitely starting to get otherworldly.

His Madness and I, together with our son Andy and his wife, Kristin spent an afternoon visiting the History Museum at the Castle in Appleton, a city just a few miles north of us. The main reason was to see their current exhibit on guitars but also to view the collection of artifacts and contraptions used in the performances by the famous illusionist, Harry Houdini.

In addition to performing as a magician, Houdini was a master illusionist and famous for his dangerous stunts and death-defying escapes - all while being handcuffed, restrained with ropes and chains and sometimes buried alive!

While being suspended from a crane, upside down, Houdini could escape from this type of straitjacket in just three minutes.

Let's just say he really knew how to draw a crowd!

Although he was born in Hungary, he lived in Appleton as a child and considered it to be his hometown. At the age of seventeen he started a career as a magician and later as moved onto performing as an escape artist, he was known as Harry "Handcuff" Houdini. He toured around getting police forces to lock him up and then escaping within minutes.

When he wasn't hanging around cheating death, Houdini made a practice of debunking fake mediums and spiritualists. Being an illusionists himself, he could recognize the tricks of the trade. He  promised his wife Bess that if there was a way for the dead to contact the living he would try. They agreed on a special code so she would know it was really him. Bess gave up after a decade but every year since his untimely death on October 31, 1926 many people have held a seances in the hope of contacting him.

His Madness, with the help of Burt and Ivy attempted to contact Houdini in the great beyond. He did promise to stay in touch!

When traditional means of conducting a seance didn't produce the desired results it was time to consult with the most magical orb.

Still no response. Looks like someone threw a curve ball and it might be time for the beer frame. 

As for that other exhibit at the museum it was interesting enough. However, the monster in the room was this Gibson Flying V, the world's largest playable guitar.

Of course we all had to take a turn at playing the beast. Since Andy actually earned a degree in guitar performance, he managed to get the loudest sound out of it - and that was really scary!

Although, not enough to wake the dead.

Thanks for stopping by!