Bess Houdini Assistant and wife of Harry Houdini Country: USA

Biography of Bess Houdini

Bess Houdini, born Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner on January 22, 1876, in Brooklyn, New York, was the assistant and wife of Harry Houdini. She came from a German immigrant family, her father being a carpenter named Gebhard Rahner and her mother Balbina Bugel. According to reports, she met Houdini when he was performing at her high school in 1894. During the show, he accidentally spilled acid on Bess' dress. Feeling guilty and wanting to make amends, Houdini promised to have his mother sew a new dress for Bess. Captivated by Houdini's caring nature, she secretly left her home to spend the day with the magician at Coney Island. Later that same day, Houdini proposed to her, and they got married.

Together, Bess worked on stage with her husband, assisting him in his performances. Her involvement was undoubtedly essential to Houdini's success. Houdini passed away on October 31, 1926, and for the next ten years, Bess conducted seances on Halloween after her husband's death. In 1936, after a final unsuccessful seance on the rooftop of the Knickerbocker Hotel, she placed a candle next to a photograph of Houdini. In 1943, Bess declared, 'Ten years of waiting is a long enough time for anyone.'

Although she refused to attempt to contact her late husband herself, Bess reportedly asked the 'master magician' Walter B. Gibson to do so. Traditionally, on October 31st, a seance was held where Gibson, along with other 'magic history experts,' summoned Houdini's spirit at the Magic Towne House in New York. Before his death, Gibson had asked Dorothy Dietrich to continue this tradition. Dietrich has since conducted seances every October 31st at The Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on the day Houdini passed away. One of these seances was shown on the TV Land show 'Myths and Legends' and on the Biography Channel program 'Dead Famous-Houdini and Exploring the Unknown.'

Bess Houdini passed away at the age of 67 from a heart attack on February 11, 1934, on a train traveling from Los Angeles to New York, in Needles, California. Her family did not allow her to be buried next to her husband at Machpelah Cemetery in Queens, New York, as she was a Roman Catholic. She was laid to rest at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York.