Houdini’s Final Séance

On Halloween night in 1936, ten years after Houdini died, his widow Bess held a séance on the roof of a Hollywood hotel to see whether he would send a message from the dead. The Library of Congress holds the radio script for that night, and it shows the broadcast was planned line by line.

The story as it is told

Halloween night, 1936, ten years to the day since Houdini died. On the roof of a Hollywood hotel his widow, Bess, sits among believers and skeptics, waiting for her husband to keep his promise. The lights of Los Angeles glitter below. A pair of handcuffs lies ready, for him to open.

The hour passes and nothing comes. At last Bess gives up the vigil, says her goodnight, and turns out the light. Some retellings add a sudden thunderstorm at the end.

What we can confirm

The storm does not appear in the Library of Congress account or the 1936 papers opened here, so treat it as legend. The night itself was scripted.

Before he died, Houdini and Bess agreed that whoever went first would try to reach the other, and that ten years of silence would settle the question. Bess and friends held a séance for him every Halloween. The tenth, on October 31, 1936, was staged as the last.

The Library of Congress's rare book chief, Mark Dimunation, describes the scene: the roof of the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood at 8 p.m., a pair of locked handcuffs on a silk pillow, a trumpet and a tambourine on the table, and an invitation-only crowd of 300 in bleachers. The HOLLYWOODLAND sign was visible behind the set. More than 20 other séances around the country tried at the same time. Houdini had promised to come back with the coded message and to open the locked handcuffs.

Bess's manager and companion, Edward Saint, a former carnival showman, ran the evening. "Houdini... are you here?... Please manifest yourself in any way possible," he called. They played "Pomp and Circumstance," Houdini's stage music, and waited. Nothing happened.

Bess closed it herself, on the radio broadcast: "Houdini did not come through. My last hope is gone." She ended, "I now, reverently, turn out the light. It is finished. Good night, Harry!"

Two days later the Evening Star in Washington ran a Wide World photo of Bess and Saint with a caption saying she had "given up all hope of contacting her husband and will not try again." The Associated Press story in Alaska's Daily Alaska Empire added that Bess "emphasized that she is not a Spiritualist."

The detail Dimunation adds is the best one. The Library holds the radio script for the night, with stage directions such as "Pause. Speak slowly." The whole séance was written in advance. As he puts it, nobody on the stage expected Houdini to come through.

Séances for Houdini still happen every Halloween, and the centenary on Saturday will bring more of them.

The facts

• Knickerbocker Hotel roof, Halloween 1936, 8 p.m.; locked handcuffs on silk pillow, trumpet, tambourine; invitation-only audience of 300 in bleachers; HOLLYWOODLAND sign visible; more than 20 simultaneous séances; Edward Saint moderator; Judge Charles Fricke at the table; "Pomp and Circumstance"; Bess's closing words; the session was recorded; LoC Rare Book Division holds the radio script with speaking instructions. Mark Dimunation, LoC blog, Oct 30, 2020, blogs.loc.gov
• "the tenth and last of a series of seances atop a Hollywood hotel Saturday night"; "more than 200 of Houdini's friends" plus officials and press; "will not try again." Evening Star, Nov 2, 1936, p. 5 (Wide World photo caption), loc.gov
• AP, Hollywood, Nov 2: "not a Spiritualist." Daily Alaska Empire, Nov 2, 1936, p. 1, loc.gov
• About 300 people; "Ten years is long enough to wait for any man," said to Time. ABC News (Australia), Oct 31, 2025, abc.net.au

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