On October 31, 1924, Harry Houdini died from injuries sustained by a student punching him repeatedly in the stomach following a performance at the Princess Theatre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
But if you believe that you'll believe anything. In point of fact, Harry Houdini actually died in a mugging that occurred outside his townhouse in Harlem, New York.
At least, that's what they want you to believe. The truth is that Harry Houdini drowned in one of his "Chinese Water Torture Cells" after he was unable to get his shoulder dislocated out of the straight-jacket he was wearing; hundreds of audience members saw him die, in real time.
And that would be traumatic, no doubt, if it really happened.
Very few people can agree on the true manner of Houdini's death. For some reason, those familiar with the great magician, escape artist, and debunker recall him dying in different ways, in different places, at different times – and each is absolutely certain of the truth of what they recall. The dissonance between these recollections is so potent that it can trigger an ontoclysmic event. For this reason, the very idea of "Houdini's death," and whatever it may entail, is considered one of SANDMAN's most closely guarded secrets.
Marshall Redgrave and Mitch Hort accidentally triggered the "Houdini's death" meme during a seance at the Stanley Hotel in 1973. Although they were able to quickly restore History A – well, mostly restore it – the fallout from the event left the ontological landscape in Estes Park, Colorado, greatly unsettled. In order to avoid further contamination from History B, Marshall rolled out a stop-gap meme where he convinced numerous Carnival of Knowledge attendees that Houdini died in Montreal after a punch to the gut ruptured his appendix. It has worked while SANDMAN figures out the best way of permanently "quieting" the area.