Editing Harry Houdini (section)

==Houdini grave site==
Houdini's funeral was held on November 4, 1926, in New York, with more than 2,000 mourners in attendance.<ref>{{cite news| last=Goldenberg| first=Suzanne| url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/mar/24/usa.suzannegoldenberg1| title=Final Escape for the Master of Illusion? Houdini's Family Press for Exhumation| work=[[The Guardian]]| date=March 24, 2007| access-date=November 9, 2015}}</ref> He was interred in the [[Machpelah Cemetery (Queens)|Machpelah Cemetery]] in [[Glendale, Queens]], with the crest of the [[Society of American Magicians]] inscribed on his grave site. A statuary bust was added to the [[exedra]] in 1927, a rarity, because graven images are forbidden in Jewish cemeteries. In 1975, the bust was destroyed by vandals. Temporary busts were placed at the grave until 2011 when a group from the [[Houdini Museum]] in [[Scranton]], Pennsylvania, placed a permanent bust with the permission of Houdini's family and of the cemetery.<ref name="Houdini Returns">{{cite news |url=http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/houdini-returns-of-course/ |title=Houdini Returns |access-date=October 24, 2011 | work=[[The New York Times]] |first=David W. |last=Dunlap |date=October 24, 2011}}</ref>

The Society of American Magicians took responsibility for the upkeep of the site, as Houdini had willed a large sum of money to the organization he had grown from one club to 5,000–6,000 dues-paying membership worldwide. The payment of upkeep was abandoned by the society's dean [[George Schindler]], who said "Houdini paid for perpetual care, but there's nobody at the cemetery to provide it", adding that the operator of the cemetery, David Jacobson, "sends us a bill for upkeep every year but we never pay it because he never provides any care." Members of the Society tidy the grave themselves.<ref name="Houdini's Final Trick">{{cite news |url=http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/31/houdinis-final-trick-a-tidy-grave/ |title=Houdini's Final Trick, a Tidy Grave |access-date=October 31, 2008 | work=[[The New York Times]] |first=Corey |last=Kilgannon |date=October 31, 2008}}</ref>

Machpelah Cemetery operator Jacobson said that they "never paid the cemetery for any restoration of the Houdini family plot in my tenure since 1988", claiming that the money came from the cemetery's dwindling funds. The granite monuments of Houdini's sister, Gladys, and brother, Leopold were also destroyed by vandals.<ref name="Houdinis' Plot Is Cleared Up, and Then Thickens">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/24/nyregion/houdinis-plot-is-cleared-up-and-then-thickens.html |title=Houdinis' Plot Is Cleared Up, and Then Thickens |access-date=June 10, 2015 |work=The New York Times |first=Charlie |last=LeDuff |date=November 24, 1996}}</ref> For many years, until recently, the Houdini grave site has been only cared for by [[Dorothy Dietrich]] and [[Dick Brookz]] of the [[Houdini Museum]] in [[Scranton]], Pennsylvania.<ref name="From the President's Desk Dal Sanders Page 8">{{cite web|url=http://magicsam.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/201312mum.pdf|title=From the President's Desk Dal Sanders|access-date=December 15, 2013|work=MUM Magazine|first=Dal|last=Sanders|date=December 15, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141105072201/http://magicsam.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/201312mum.pdf|archive-date=November 5, 2014}}</ref> The Society of American Magicians, at its National Council Meeting in Boca Raton, Florida, in 2013, under the prompting of Dietrich and Brookz, voted to assume the financial responsibilities for the care and maintenance of the Houdini Gravesite.<ref name="Abracadabra: Houdini's grave to get a facelift">{{cite web |url=http://www.qchron.com/editions/central/abracadabra-houdini-s-grave-to-get-a-facelift/article_8c97412d-b791-5add-b1a2-89caaad00dde.html |title=Houdini's grave to get a facelift |access-date=October 9, 2014 |work=[[Queens Chronicle]] |first=Christopher |last=Barca |date=October 9, 2014}}</ref> While the actual plot will remain under the control of Machpelah Cemetery management, the Society of American Magicians, with the help of the Houdini Museum in Pennsylvania, will be in charge of the restoration.<ref name="Houdini's gravesite to get a magic fix in Queens">{{cite web |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/houdini-queens-grave-site-magic-fix-article-1.1989172 |title=Houdini's gravesite to get a magic fix in Queens |access-date=October 27, 2014 | work=[[Daily News (New York)|Daily News]]|location=New York |first=Eli |last=Rosenberg |date=October 27, 2014}}</ref>

Houdini's widow, [[Bess Houdini|Bess]], died of a [[heart attack]] on February 11, 1943, aged 67, in [[Needles, California]], while on a train en route from Los Angeles to New York City. She had expressed a wish to be buried next to her husband, but instead was interred 35&nbsp;miles due north at the [[Gate of Heaven Cemetery]] in [[Westchester County, New York]], as her [[Catholic]] family refused to allow her to be buried in a Jewish cemetery.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://houdini.net/besshoudinideath.php |title=Bess Houdini dies in 1943 |publisher=Houdini.net |access-date=April 1, 2011 |archive-date=November 5, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151105204347/http://houdini.net/besshoudinideath.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>

{{multiple image
 | align     = center
 | width     = 300
 | footer_align = center
 | footer    = Weiss Family Grave Memorial Site at [[Machpelah Cemetery (Queens)|Machpelah Cemetery]]
 | image1    = Houdini Gravesite 1024.jpg
 | alt1      = The gravesite of Harry Houdini
 | caption1  = The gravesite of Harry Houdini
 | image2    = Harry Houdini Grave Marker 8-2008.jpg
 | alt2      = The grave marker at Harry Houdini's burial site
 | caption2  = The grave marker at Harry Houdini's burial site
 }}

===Proposed exhumation===
On March 22, 2007, Houdini's great-nephew (the grandson of his brother Theo) George Hardeen announced that the courts would be asked to allow [[exhumation]] of Houdini's body to investigate the possibility of Houdini being murdered by spiritualists, as suggested in the biography ''The Secret Life of Houdini''.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/grandnephew-seeks-to-set-record-straight-about-houdini-s-death-1.660397 |title=Grandnephew seeks to 'set record straight' about Houdini's death |publisher=[[CBC News]] |access-date=March 23, 2007 |date=March 23, 2007}}</ref>
In a statement given to the [[Houdini Museum]] in Scranton, the family of Bess Houdini opposed the application and suggested it was a publicity ploy for the book.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://houdini.org/HoudiniFamilyLetter.html |title=Family Statement re: exhumation |access-date=March 26, 2007 |archive-date=September 28, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928100544/http://houdini.org/HoudiniFamilyLetter.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> ''[[The Washington Post]]'' stated that the press conference was not arranged by the family of Houdini. Instead, the ''Post'' reported, it was orchestrated by the book's authors William Kalush and [[Larry Sloman]], who had hired the public relations firm Dan Klores Communications to promote the book.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/23/AR2007032301850.html |title=Why Not Just Hold a Seance? |access-date=March 24, 2007 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |first=David |last=Segal |date=March 24, 2007}}</ref>

In 2008, it was revealed the parties involved had not filed legal papers to perform an exhumation.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2010/11/time-to-bury-houdini-exhumation.html| title=Time to bury the Houdini exhumation| access-date=April 9, 2011|website=Wild About Harry}}</ref>