Pitting David Blaine - lying already about stunt

[fbmf]

Houdini had simply figured out what the upper limit was for the strenght of abdominal muscles and how much they could absorb. He worked very hard and strengthened those muscles to that upper limit. When he made them rigid they could absorb tremendous force.

<SNIP>

A man hit him before he expected it. He hit Houdini before he had the chance to rigidy his superbly trained muscles. Without the tensed muscles to protect them Houdinis vital organs were ruptured, and he died.

Apparently the man was quite surprised. He was sure there was a trick and Houdini was in no real danger.

Houdini is my hero. I’ve been studying him and doing reports on him since I was in the seventh grade. As a result, I have heard the story you recounted above numerous times, and I have a problem with it.

I’ve never heard of Houdini claiming he could take a hit to the gut from a sledgehammer and walk away smiling. I’ve heard people say he could, but I’ve never seen a poster say

COME AND SEE HOUDINI, THE MAN WHO WALKS THROUGH WALLS AND CAN TAKE A HIT FROM A SLEDGEHAMMER TO THE STOMACH

or, in the three biographies I’ve read, heard of Houdini himself making the claim.

No one disagrees that while in Montreal, students came into Houdini’s dressing room and he was BS-ing with them prior to his show that night. Furthermore, one of the students proceeded to, with no prior notification, assault Houdini, punching him repeatedly in the midsection.

My point is that nobody knows why the student lost his shit and started beating Houdini’s ass. Maybe Houdini did claim that he could take a shot to the abdomen, but that seems odd as their is nothing to suggest that prior to that time he ever made such a claim.

If I am wrong, please let me know, as I am turning in a report on Houdini tomorrow which pretty much makes the claim I lay out above.

Regards,
fbmf

[paulberserker]

i’ll watch the channel 4 Blaine thing tonight, although i dont know what i’ll expect to see other than him murmuring some crap to an audience comprised of idiots and then being whisked away in an ambulance.

i also notice on channel 5s greatest magic tricks ever they had his Vertigo thing at no 3, but the trick where he pulls some womens watch out of a jewelery shop window at 17 or something. sorry, where was the magic in standing on a pole for 3 days?

for once and for fucking all
ENDURANCE TESTS ARE NOT MAGIC OR ILLUSIONS!!

here endeth the lesson

[Tansu]

*Originally posted by London_Calling *
**That, and it being a different crowd. Those who went along in the early days got bored with it; after 6 weeks the whole thing is very old for most Londoners.

I think he did well to arange coming out on a Sunday evening; perfect time for the out-of-towners to have a nice day out in the big city followed by an opportunity to see The Mystic and be part of the televisual ‘finale’. Super! **

You’re quite right — the two things go hand in hand. All the pranks got done early on, and after that it got old fast. The crowd on Saturday afternoon seemed to me to be mostly European tourists.