The Bust That Keeps Escaping

The story as it is told

Houdini escaped from everything in his life but one place. Every Halloween, magicians gather in the dark at his grave in Queens to see whether he will finally break out, and so far, the story says, he has not.

But something keeps happening to his stone head. It is there, and then it is gone, and then it is back, and then gone again. Fans like to call it Houdini's last trick, the one escape nobody saw. Others repeat the idea that the bust offended the rules of a Jewish cemetery.

What we can confirm

Those are interpretations, not findings. The facts are about vandals and upkeep money.

Houdini is buried in the Weiss family plot at Machpelah Cemetery, 82-30 Cypress Hills Street, in the Glendale/Ridgewood area of Queens. The New York Times reported on November 5, 1926 that he was buried there the day before "with his head pillowed on the letters his mother had written him." The plot has a curved stone wall bearing his name, a grieving-woman statue, and the Society of American Magicians emblem. Houdini was the society's president from 1917 until he died.

For decades the plot had a bust of Houdini at its center. That is where the trouble began. The Times's City Room blog wrote in 2011 that the bust was smashed or stolen four times between 1975 and 1993. One theft became a small police story of its own: in March 2002 Nassau County police recovered a 2.5-foot bust from a home in New Hyde Park after a family dispute, and arrested a 43-year-old man for possession of stolen property. QNS (TimesLedger) reported the bust had vanished on August 14, 1983.

After 1993 the grave stayed headless, except when magicians brought a stand-in for their annual Halloween ceremony. On September 27, 2011, Dick Brookz, Dorothy Dietrich and Stephen Moore of the Houdini Museum in Scranton installed a heavy concrete reproduction. The Times said they did it without alerting the cemetery or the Society. The cemetery's chairman said the cemetery got no money for ongoing care: "Unless someone else pays for it, our hands are tied behind our backs." A Society official said, "We're delighted with it."

Who looks after it now? In June 2026 the Society's national president, Matthew Crabtree, said a nonprofit started in 2024 by Dietrich and Hank Feinberg had taken over care and restoration, and that Society money is earmarked to help pay for repairs. The nonprofit, the Houdini Gravesite Corporation, says it is a 501(c)(3) with a Hardeen family member on its board. A blogger's update that month said the grave had just been cleaned.

If you want to visit: call the cemetery first (718-366-5959, per the Queens Gazette). Two local papers say the cemetery closes to the public on Halloween.

The facts

• Burial at Machpelah, Cypress Hills, Nov 4, 1926 ("yesterday morning" in the Nov 5 story); head on his mother's letters. NYT, Nov 5, 1926, p. 21, via intervalmagic.com, intervalmagic.com (transcription, not the NYT scan)
• Bust smashed or stolen four times 1975-1993; Sept 27, 2011 Houdini Museum install without telling the cemetery or SAM; chairman David Jacobson quote; SAM's George Schindler quote; cost almost $10,000. David W. Dunlap, NYT City Room, Oct 24, 2011, archive.nytimes.com
• 2002 recovery in New Hyde Park; arrest; 2.5-foot bust; stolen Aug 14, 1983; SAM's John Bohannon "Welcome back, Harry"; magicians carry "a copy of a copy of a copy." Dustin Brown, QNS/TimesLedger, Mar 14, 2002, qns.com
• Address 82-30 Cypress Hills St, Queens, NY 11385; Houdini SAM president 1917-1926; more than 2,000 at the funeral; SAM gravesite fund. SAM, magicsam.com
• 2024 nonprofit by Dietrich and Feinberg has taken over care; SAM money earmarked for repairs (2023 National Council vote). Crabtree statement published by John Cox, Wild About Harry, June 21, 2026, wildabouthoudini.com (blog quoting SAM)
• Houdini Gravesite Corporation, 501(c)(3), incorporated 2024; board incl. George Hardeen. houdinigravesite.org
• Cemetery closed to the public on Halloween; call 718-366-5959. Queens Gazette, Nov 7, 2018, qgazette.com ; also Queens Chronicle, Oct 29, 2015, qchron.com (not confirmed for 2026)
• SAM Parent Assembly 1 ran a gravesite tour on Sun Oct 25, 2026, 1-4 p.m. ET. pa1magicclub.org

Related: What enters the public domain in 2027

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