Did Harry Houdini mother die recently? What effect did her death have on Harry?
When not traveling, Harry and Bess lived in a large house they purchased in New York. The couple had no children, but Harry’s mother lived with them. Houdini was very close to his mother, and her death in 1913 was the greatest tragedy of his life. For weeks after her death, he made almost daily visits to the cemetery, sometimes lying on her grave to speak to her. “My mother was everything to me,” he said in a speech to the Magician’s Club. “It seemed the end of the world when she was taken from me…All desire for fame and fortune had gone from me. I was alone with my bitter agony…” Eventually, Houdini was able to return to work, but he continued to mourn his mother for the rest of his life. Sources: http://www.apl.org/history/houdini/biography.
