Which well-known magician died on Halloween, Oct. 31, 1926?

The world's most famous escape artist met his final, inescapable end on October 31, 1926. While the official cause of death for the master illusionist was peritonitis from a ruptured appendix, the events leading to it are the stuff of legend. Days earlier in his dressing room, a college student asked if it was true the performer could withstand any blow to the abdomen. Before the magician could properly brace himself, the student delivered several powerful punches. He performed for a few more days in severe pain before collapsing.

This dramatic end capped a career built on defying death. He was renowned for his sensational escapes from handcuffs, straitjackets, jail cells, and locked trunks submerged in water. Beyond his work as an illusionist, he spent his later years on a passionate crusade to debunk fraudulent spiritualists and mediums who claimed they could contact the dead.

This mission adds a layer of profound irony to his Halloween demise. For ten years after his death, his wife, Bess, held a séance every October 31st. They had arranged a secret coded message that he would deliver from the great beyond as proof of an afterlife. The message never came, cementing the legacy of a man who challenged the supernatural (Review) and died on the day most associated with it.

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