Albany show injured magician Harry Houdini 20 days before death
Michael Reyes, a graduate of Columbia University, has spent over a decade reporting on Albany's economic landscape. His previous roles include business journalism at the Daily Gazette and freelance work for several financial publications. He specializes in uncovering the effects of local policies on small businesses and entrepreneurship.
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ALBANY, N.Y. (WNYT)- October 31 marks 100 years since the death of world-famous performer, Harry Houdini. Known as an escape artist, illusionist and magician, Houdini stunned audiences with his performances. Houdini created a Chinese Water Torture Cell performance in which he would be submerged in water and suspended by his ankles, according to History.com. It was this feat that he performed in Albany on October 11, 1926, 20 days before his death. While he was being shackled into the Chinese Water Torture Cell, he was hit in the leg with a piece of faulty equipment which broke his left ankle, History.com said. Although Houdini wasn’t the first challenge-escape artist, he was the first to add suspense and anticipation to the act. Houdini prolonged his simple escapes by playing up the drama to the point where the crowd thought his death was imminent, the Michigan History Magazine wrote in 200 according to Michiganology.org. Houdini traveled to Montreal after his Albany p