Welcome to the weirdest essay I have ever written. I have always known that Harry Houdini, history’s greatest escape artist, died doing a magic trick. Upside down. In a tank of water. Dramatic, tragic, perfect. I surveyed several people, and every single one said the same thing. Then a trivia question said he died on Halloween of appendicitis, and I said, “Excuse me, what?”

Naturally, I assumed I had slipped onto the wrong timeline. Now, I have a man who loves me, so I’m not trading timelines. But I needed answers. One person I surveyed had a husband who said we were all remembering The Prestige. That’s a great movie, but it’s not a Houdini documentary. And I’m almost 43, so there’s a real chance my memory is toast, and I’m 100% wrong.

Turns out, I’m wrong, but in a very understandable way. Houdini really did perform the famous Water Torture Cell, hanging upside down in a tank of water. So the image in my head must have come from somewhere. It’s even in the 1953 Houdini movie, which let him die in the tank, because Hollywood loves a splash. The real story is much less glamorous. He performed in Detroit on October 24, 1926, then was rushed to the hospital with what was believed to be appendicitis. A week later, on Halloween, he was gone. A stomach issue took out the man who spent his career cheating the jaws of death. Very anti-climactic for a magician.

So is it a Mandela effect? Honestly, it’s less “we’re on a different timeline” and more “we all watched the same movies and trusted our gut.” (Which, ironically, is the thing that killed him.)

Sorry, Harry. You could escape handcuffs, straitjackets, locked trunks, and a tank full of water. But the one thing Harry Houdini could not escape: death.

Thank you for listening. Have a good night, bye!