WILD ABOUT HARRY: This is J. Gordon Whitehead

J. Gordon Whitehead, the guy who punched Houdini, gets more hits on my site than all the other magicians combined. John Cox over at Wild About Harry has posted a photo of Whitehead if you'd like to see it. It's the only known photo of Whitehead.

WILD ABOUT HARRY: This is J. Gordon Whitehead: This is the only known photo of Jocelyn Gordon Whitehead, the McGill University student who punched Houdini in his dressing room at the Pri...

J. Gordon Whitehead-The Man Who Killed Houdini

Mt. Royal Cemetery Montreal Canada

Joscelyn Gordon Whitehead was not a magician. He was the college student (who was in his 30s at the time) who punched Houdini several times in the abdomen in his dressing room in Montreal. This led to a ruptured appendix and Houdini's eventual death on October 31, 1926. Investigations following Houdini’s death don't accuse Whitehead of any wrong doing, but in an affidavit to the insurance company Whitehead willingly admits to punching Houdini several times. Books continue to be published that point the finger at Whitehead and a possible conspiracy of Spiritualist Mediums who were out get Houdini for his exposure shows which revealed that Mediums were fake. I don't think any positive connection has been made so far, these are only theories.

Whitehead was an odd figure. After the Houdini incident he left college. He became a recluse and a hermit. He died of malnutrition in 1954. He is buried in Montreal Canada at the Mt. Royal Cemetery in an unmarked grave. The exact location is the Hawthorne Dale Annex Plot, lot # 188, grave 75. It is an unmarked grave.

J. Gordon Whitehead, today