In 1894, while performing on Coney Island, Harry Houdini met Beatrice “Bess” Rahner, a young singer in a small act called The Floral Sisters. During her performance, she sang a song titled “Rosabelle.” It became the couple’s song — a quiet symbol of their bond.

When they married soon after, Bess had the word “Rosabelle” engraved inside her wedding ring.

Over the following years, Harry and Bess developed a stage mind-reading act, a popular vaudeville routine in which one performer left the room while the other appeared to communicate secret thoughts through seemingly telepathic cues. In reality, they relied on a strictly memorized code — a system of words, tones, and rhythms that each corresponded to a letter, number, or concept.

By stringing together these code words in the right order, they could spell out any message one letter at a time — undetectable to the audience, but instantly clear to the trained partner.

Before Houdini’s death, the couple agreed to use this very system as a posthumous test.

If either of them ever succeeded in sending a message from beyond, it would begin with their personal word “Rosabelle,” followed by a coded message that spelled BELIEVE — confirming that the contact was genuine.

The full coded phrase was:

“Rosabelle — Answer, Tell, Pray Answer, Look, Tell, Answer Answer, Tell.”

("Answer" = B, "Tell" = E, "Pray Answer" = L, "Look" = I, "Answer Answer" = V)

When Harry Houdini died on October 31, 1926, Bess began holding annual séances every Halloween, waiting for the code.

In 1929, a medium named Arthur Ford claimed to have received the exact message “Rosabelle, Believe.” For a brief moment, Bess accepted it as authentic — but she later retracted her statement after learning that details of their code had already been published, making the claim unreliable.

Ten years after her husband’s death, on October 31, 1936, Bess held one final séance on the roof of the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood. When no true message came, she extinguished the single candle she had kept burning beside Houdini’s portrait and said softly:

“Ten years is long enough to wait for any man.”

The words “Rosabelle, Believe” have remained one of the most enduring symbols of the Houdinis’ partnership — a fusion of love, trust, and the unbreakable bond between illusion and truth.

Harry Houdini birth name was not “Houdini.”

He entered the world as Erik Weisz on March 24, 1874, in Budapest, Hungary, the son of Rabbi Mayer Sámuel Weisz and Cecília Steiner Weisz.

When the family immigrated to the United States in 1878, their names were Americanized: Erik became Ehrich Weiss, and the family settled in Appleton, Wisconsin, where his father served as the town’s first rabbi. Houdini later referred to Appleton as his hometown, even though the family soon moved to Milwaukee and later to New York City.

As a teenager in New York, Ehrich Weiss became fascinated by magic after reading the works of the French illusionist Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin. In tribute, he adopted the name Harry Houdini — “Harry” from his nickname Ehrie, and “Houdini” from his idol’s name, meaning “little Houdin.”

From then on, the name Harry Houdini replaced Ehrich Weiss entirely, marking the birth of one of history’s most famous illusionists.

🎵 The Birthday Song of His Time

When Houdini was born in 1874, the song “Happy Birthday to You” did not yet exist.

At the time, the most common tune for celebrating someone’s birthday was “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow,” a cheerful song that had already become a popular tradition in English-speaking countries by the mid-1800s.

The melody we know today as “Happy Birthday to You” was only composed decades later — in 1893 — and did not gain its birthday lyrics until around 1912, when Houdini was already world-famous.

So while the modern world celebrates birthdays with “Happy Birthday,” it’s far more likely that during his lifetime, people would have raised a toast and sung “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.”

🧩 Bonus Easter Egg

If you want to hear the modern birthday melody "Happy Birthday to You", try entering the secret arrow code:

➡️↙️↗️⬅️⬇️⬇️↗️⬇️⬅️↗️⬆️

Below is a recording of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" by Tiny Hill and His Orchestra, Tiny Hill and Ensemble performed 1939.

Harry Houdini met Wilhelmina Beatrice “Bess” Rahner in 1894, when she was performing as part of a song-and-dance group called The Floral Sisters at Coney Island. He was immediately captivated — not just by her voice, but by her lively spirit. Only a few weeks later, on June 22, 1894, the two were married.

Their union was anything but ordinary. To honor both families, they reportedly held three ceremonies — one civil, one Jewish, and one Catholic — an unusual gesture at the time. From that moment on, Bess became not only his wife but also his stage partner. Together they toured the world as The Houdinis, performing daring escapes and illusions that would make them one of the most famous couples in show business.

Instead of the traditional “Here Comes the Bride,” their wedding was said to include the song “Rosabelle,” a tune that held deep personal meaning for them. The word Rosabelle was even engraved inside Bess’s wedding ring — a small secret the public never knew.

If you’re curious about what that song truly meant to them… try unlocking the “Rosabelle” Easter egg.

Below is a recording of the Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin, performed by the Metropolitan Quartet. Released 1913.

Harry and Bess Houdini had a long tradition of sending Christmas and New Year’s cards to friends and fellow performers. Several originals survive today, offering a rare look at their personal warmth behind the showmanship.

One of the most remarkable examples is their 1909 Christmas card, a full-length real-photo postcard showing the Houdinis together in a studio portrait — Bess seated gracefully in an ornate chair, and Harry standing beside her, resting his hand on its arm. The photo was taken during their European tour and later printed by Campbell Gray Ltd. in London.

That December, Houdini was performing at the Hansa Theatre in Hamburg, where he personally mailed the card. On the reverse, it bore a printed holiday greeting and was addressed in Houdini’s own handwriting to Sam Bailey, a magic dealer in Boston.

This small gesture, sent across continents, captures something rarely seen in his public persona — the thoughtful, loyal friend behind the daring escape artist. Even while dazzling audiences night after night, Houdini found time to stay connected with those who shared his passion for magic.

Harry Houdini died on October 31, 1926, in Detroit, following complications from peritonitis caused by a ruptured appendix. His body was transported to New York City, where his funeral was held on November 4, 1926, at the Elks Clubhouse on West 43rd Street.

The service was attended by family, fellow magicians, actors, and members of the Society of American Magicians, of which Houdini had been president. Eulogies were delivered by clergy and colleagues, and the ceremony included Masonic and Elks rituals, reflecting Houdini’s long-standing involvement in fraternal organizations.

Contemporary newspaper reports noted that “Nearer, My God, to Thee” was played during the service. The hymn was one of the most commonly used memorial pieces of the era, especially in English-speaking funerals. Bess selected it for the service, likely because it was widely recognized as a solemn expression of remembrance and farewell in the 1920s — a way for the public to grieve alongside her.

Houdini was buried in the Machpelah Cemetery in Queens, New York, in the Weiss family plot, beneath a monument bearing the name “Houdini.”

In October 1926, Harry Houdini was performing his tour in Montreal when he received a blow to the abdomen from a student who asked whether he could withstand punches. Houdini was already suffering from abdominal pain, which worsened as he continued to travel and perform.

By the time he reached Detroit, he was running a high fever, but insisted on performing at the Garrick Theater on October 24, 1926. After collapsing on stage, he was taken to Grace Hospital, where doctors diagnosed acute appendicitis that had progressed to peritonitis.

Houdini underwent emergency surgery, but complications had already set in. Despite medical treatment and several days in the hospital, his condition continued to deteriorate.

Harry Houdini died on Halloween, October 31, 1926, at the age of 52, with his wife Bess at his bedside.

Aftermath. News of the Halloween death quickly filled front pages, and Houdini’s body was transported to New York in the bronze “show casket” later used for viewing before the funeral. In the years immediately following, the Society of American Magicians established the now-traditional “Broken Wand” memorial rite at his graveside, and Bess Houdini marked the anniversary with annual Halloween séances, culminating in the nationally broadcast “Final Houdini Séance” in 1936—a tradition that others continue to observe each Halloween.

Houdini's final Show at the Garrick Theater on October 24, 1926:

“Jingle Bells” began life as “One Horse Open Sleigh,” published in 1857 by James Lord Pierpont in Boston. It wasn’t written as a Christmas carol at all—it was a lively winter sleighing song, meant for festive sing-alongs (often around Thanksgiving). A revised printing in 1859 put “Jingle Bells” in the title and helped the catchier chorus become the hook people remembered. Through the late 19th century the piece spread via school songbooks, parlor singing, and early band arrangements; only in the early 20th century—with growing holiday song collections, recordings, and radio—did it solidify as a Christmas staple.

Harry Houdini, born in 1874, would have grown up hearing it primarily as a general winter song rather than a specifically “Christmas” piece. In his early years it was still widely recognized by its original context—a sleigh ride in the snow—not by a fixed place in the carol canon. Later, as mass-market recordings and holiday programs standardized seasonal music, “Jingle Bells” completed its transformation from a jaunty sleighing tune to one of the world’s best-known Christmas songs.