When the world’s most celebrated magician died unexpectedly on Halloween night in 1926, his wife made a solemn promise: she would wait for a message from beyond the grave. For the next decade, she kept that promise, hoping her husband would deliver one final illusion from the afterlife.
The magician was Harry Houdini, the Hungarian-born escape artist who became one of the most famous performers of the early 20th century. Known for his breathtaking stunts — freeing himself from handcuffs, chains, and sealed water tanks — Houdini was equally known for his skepticism toward spiritualists who claimed to speak with the dead.
Despite publicly debunking séances and psychic mediums, he made a pact with his wife, Bess Houdini, that whichever of them died first would try to send a coded message to the other from the spirit world.
The secret code Bess hoped to hear from her husband from beyond the grave, derived from their private language of magic and love, was “Rosabelle – answer – tell – pray – answer – look – tell – answer – answer – tell.” When decoded, the message spelled out the word “BELIEVE.”
Bess Houdini’s decades of séances
In 1894, Eusapia Palladino convinced scientists of invisible forces. Years later, Harry Houdini debunked spiritualism. After his death, Bess Houdini sought a sign from beyond, a promise unfulfilled. #paranormal #skepticism pic.twitter.com/D1DwzisbYO
— 𝐄𝐗𝐎𝐑𝐂𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐀(@theexorcista_) October 24, 2025
After Houdini’s sudden death from peritonitis, Bess vowed to keep the promise. Every Halloween, she arranged a séance in his memory: lighting candles beside his portrait, placing his old handcuffs on a velvet cushion, and inviting spiritualists and fellow magicians to join her. For ten years, she waited patiently for that secret message that never came.
The final séance took place on October 31, 1936, atop the roof of Hollywood’s Knickerbocker Hotel. As the clock struck midnight, thunder echoed through Los Angeles, and Bess asked one last time if her husband was present.
When no sign appeared, she made her final statement to the crowd and to the press: “Houdini did not come through… My last hope is gone. Spirit communication in any form is impossible. I now reverently turn out the light.”
In later interviews, she added a line that perfectly captured her heartbreak and humor: “Ten years is long enough to wait for any man.”
Even though the séance failed, the story of Bess and Harry Houdini’s posthumous pact became part of the magician’s enduring mystique — blending love, faith, and skepticism into one of Hollywood’s most haunting legends. To this day, Houdini séances continue around the world every Halloween, led by magicians who still “believe” that the greatest escape artist might someday find a way to return.
