Houdini Magical Hall of Fame

The Houdini Magical Hall of Fame was opened in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada in 1968 in a renovated meat-packing plant. It contained items from Houdini’s personal collection of magic.

Fire had tried to stop the owners from opening the museum from the outset, in a string of bad luck that some attributed to Houdini’s wrath from beyond the grave. Houdini had wanted the items he left to his brother Hardeen to be "burnt and destroyed upon Theodore's death." The museum was chased by freak accidents to its eventual location on the top of Clifton Hill in a century-old Victoria Park train station in 1972.

Sidney H. Radner allowed choice pieces of his collection, which he inherited from Hardeen, to be displayed there. Séances were also held every year at the museum on the anniversary of Houdini’s death, October 31 .

Fire swept through the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame on April 30, 1995, destroying many of the magician's artifacts, closing the museum for good.

Joe Nickell was the resident Magician at the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame for three years.

References

• http://houdinireappears.blogsome.com/2007/09/16/the-houdini-magical-hall-of-fame/
• On the inside at the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame by D.A. Hagarty (1960)