On Deception

By Harry Houdini and Derren Brown

Throughout his life, the world' s most famous escapologist strove to expose the methods and tricks of illusionists and sham spiritualists. Studying entertainers and criminals alike, Houdini investigates the tricks of the mind and sleights of hand that have deceived people throughout history. The magician' s writings caused a public sensation; legend has it that his book The Right Way to Do Wrong was bought in bulk by burglars in an attempt to guard the tricks of their trade. This collection also includes Houdini' s revelations about the methods behind some of his own most famous tricks, and articles he wrote to expose his imitators.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Independent Publishers Group
• Release date: Aug 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781843919940

Harry Houdini

Harry Houdini (1874–1926) was born Erik Weisz in Budapest, Hungary. He was a magician, escapologist and performer of stunts, as well as a sceptic and investigator of spiritualists. He produced films, acted, and penned numerous books.

Book preview

On Deception

on deception

Harry Houdini

Hesperus Press

contents

Foreword

Houdini on Houdini

Thieves and Their Tricks

Light on the Subject of Jailbreaking

Miracle-Mongers and Their Methods

Biographical note

foreword

The craft of the magician is to deceive; his art is to lead an audience into a place of wonder by transforming deception into drama. Houdini was the master of dramatic deception: at a time when economic shackles firmly restrained the imagination of his spectators, his symbolic escapes and defiant gestures must have touched upon something deeper than a mere pleasure in being fooled. The greatest magical conceits always seem to have resonated with their times: Selbit’s Sawing In Half of the early 1920s is difficult to separate from the emerging Suffragette movement, the Parisian Grand Guignol theatre of horror which was flourishing in London following the grim shock of the First World War, and the new role of the heroine-in-jeopardy being explored by film and theatre (fashions were changing, too, and it would be easier to bundle the slimmer dress of an Edwardian lady into an illusion box than one of those billowing, hooped parachutes favoured by any Victorian dame hoping to be divided). Dull magic is a collection of tricks: great magic should sting.

The name ‘Houdini’ is synonymous with grand deception, and even the name is not all it seems. Houdini’s real name was Erik Weisz: he took his assumed name from Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, a virtuoso clockmaker and the father of modern magic, a man with whom Harry had a tempestuous relationship. ‘Houdini’ means ‘Of Houdin’. Harry’s temperament sat at odds with the French conjuror’s flair for literary exaggeration (Robert-Houdin’s autobiography The King of the Conjurors is a sensational, semi-fictional romp and one of the greatest autobiographies ever written) and, ego oddly pricked, Houdini devoted much of his time to angrily exposing the ruses employed by his former hero.

Why should a magician wish to expose another’s deceptions? It is an odd tendency, still rife amongst magicians today. The false displays of power and ludicrous posturing associated with the magician – generally at heart a lonely type who resorted to tricks at a young age to compensate for a lack of social confidence – do not sit well with encouraging a spectator’s astonishment at a fellow (and potentially ‘rival’) magician. Rather than nurture the layman’s delight in a successful illusion, and therefore celebrate the wonder and impossibility of it all (which ultimately helps all magicians), the preference amongst most conjurors is to immediately let it be known that they themselves can produce the same feat; that it is far easier than it appears; that the magician in question is really not quite as talented as he might have appeared. In a profession where appearance and misjudgement are the principal currencies, this is rather a bizarre and shameful tendency, though perhaps understandable given the kind of flatulent ego needed to pose as a miracle worker in the first place. For those in doubt, read the pages that follow: this book is full of bitter self-aggrandising and petty point-scoring from probably the greatest magician who ever lived.

There is, at least, an unspoken contract between magician and audience, according to which deception is both allowed and expected. In other areas, artful deception is practised without such a contract, such as that of the fraudulent psychic or medium, whom Houdini attacks vociferously in other works. The loss of his own mother, to whom Harry felt enormously close (he says, perhaps a little self-consciously, in these pages that he never travelled to Australia because he could not bear to be so far from her), and the fraud and failure he discovered while attempting to reach her through mediumistic channels, again lent the sharp sting of bitterness to his crusade to publicly expose those mediums deceiving the public. The mediums of the time were far more noteworthy than the limply unpleasant cold-readers known to us through television and radio today. The rational, scientific agenda of the Enlightenment had left a gap for the arcane and spiritual to flourish, while still demanding ‘evidence’ from those offering new paths to knowledge. Hence, the popular mediums of the latter half of the nineteenth century both found their lacuna in society and were obliged to produce physical ‘proof’ of the spirit contact they promised. For many years, tables levitated in the lightless séance room, spirit hands and ectoplasm drifted through the darkness, until the use of infra-red photography exposed the tricks of the mediums and their ‘evidence’ gradually shifted to the purely verbal illusions and dodges of the modern practitioners. This lack of physical ‘proofs’ of the modern medium has made the frauds more difficult to expose, and has most likely brought about far more well-intentioned psychics who do not consciously deceive at all, but instead honestly come to believe in their own professed powers. The capacity for self-deception, rarely acknowledged or understood by those who offer us supernatural answers to our problems, is huge: as easy as it is to make a medium’s cold-reading statements ‘fit’ our own situation and come to believe that he must have some paranormal insight, it is hardly any more difficult for a would-be psychic with an average ego, upon hearing frequently positive feedback, to believe over time that he must be blessed with a special gift. It’s harder to think you’re doing it for real when you’re tossing tambourines in the dark or have ready-made ectoplasm stuffed into your mouth or bottom.

The psychic has no contract with the audience that permits conscious fraud; the stage or close-up conjuror generally has a clear contract that permits all deception to take place to produce the final effect; the mind-reader or escapologist exists between the two and decides for himself how honest he wishes to be with his audience. The mind-reader frequently offers a nervous disclaimer – ‘Everything you see is for entertainment only and I make no psychic claims’ – generally this is no more than a reluctant legal get-out clause, as generally seen flashed up on the screen at the end of the shows of television psychics, but its message may be lost in the quite contradictory implications of the act itself. Escapologists such as Houdini also employ deception, usually cartloads of it, but as the misleading of the public is less worrisome than with a medium, the issue is perhaps an artistic choice rather than a moral concern. But even with magicians, in whose case we expect to see (or, strictly speaking, not see) deception at work, we might feel that some contract of trust had been broken were we to find out that what was being presented as a card-sharp demonstration of virtuosic centre-deals and card-control was in fact an easy trick accomplished by far more mundane methods such as duplicate cards and so on. In a profession inextricable from deceit and whose end purpose is entertainment, there are no easy resolutions to these questions, and performers argue endlessly amongst themselves over what level of deception is permissible.

To all magicians (save perhaps those engrossed in the early career stages of mastering sleight-of-hand), the best deceptions are the biggest and boldest. Houdini betrays this delight in such stratagems when he talks with barely disguised admiration of the grand confidence tricks pulled off by some of

Reviews for On Deception

[bertilak_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This small book includes what appear to be articles written by Harry Houdini. Since Houdini had fiction written in his name by H. P. Lovecraft, these articles might also have been ghost-written. Unfortunately the editor does not provide information about when and where they were first published.The main subject of these articles is debunking psychics, mediums, and stage magicians who make false claims regarding their 'powers'. Of course, stage magic is deceptive, but claiming supernatural ability was going too far for Houdini.After a brief discussion of how he does his escapes, the author discusses tricks used by thieves, swindlers, and impostors. Then he circles back again to magic.His discussion of fire-eaters reveals some of their techniques for avoiding injury: this is not exactly deception, other than making their act seem more dangerous than it is. The discussion of sword swallowing does not fit the formula of the rest of these articles because their is no deception: the performers actually 'swallow' the swords. Houdini seems to admire these performers particularly because they are like him: their act is based on will and skill, not trickery.The payoff of the book for me (you might call it 'the prestige') is the biographical note at the end. The writer of the Foreword to this book does not note the discrepancy between the facts and Houdini's public autobiography except to mention that Houdini was born Erik Weisz. Let me pull aside the curtain and show the deception. In the autobiographical paragraphs of the article "Houdini on Houdini", Mr. H. says he was born in Wisconsin in 1873. The note at the end says correctly that he was born 'the son of a rabbi' in Budapest in 1874.So we have the intriguing paradox that the great debunker and revealer was less than candid about himself. I am not calling Houdini a liar. Taking a stage name was a common practice and helped to avoid antisemitism. For a public figure to puff his autobiography was also common. Houdini was not in the category of the fake psychics he exposed because he actually performed his tricks and did not claim to have supernatural powers. Nonetheless, one wonders if Houdini was projecting his feelings about his own fakery on others.

[aitken_ka · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A short but fascinating introduction to Houdini's writings. He was clearly a man with a very high opinion of himself, and a very low opinion of many, many other people. It was interesting to hear his own explanations of how he did things along side his disparaging descriptions of how his contemporaries faked what he did for real. I was however left asking myself if perhaps has was protesting too much?Whatever the truth of matters, if you are interested in magic and escapology then I'd recommend this book.

[brokenangelkisses · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is a book that I received free from Hesperus Press via LibraryThing. This is part of a series of books in which Hesperus Press aim to enlighten us on a particular topic by publishing a collection of writings on that topic by a particular writer. (You can read Freud ‘On Cocaine’, Hemingway ‘On Paris’ or Virginia Woolf ‘On Not Knowing Greek’.) It’s an interesting idea, but (while I certainly appreciated the free book) I have to admit that I didn’t really enjoy reading it. This is obviously a personal preference, but I didn’t feel that the book hung together very well, which is hardly surprisingly since it is essentially a selection of writing thrown together posthumously.It is a slim volume – only 76 pages, including the introduction by modern illusionist/ stuntman Derrren Brown – and is intended to be a kind of introduction/ basic set of ideas to outline common methods of deception. There are six sections, each of which is longer than the preceding section. The longest is thirty pages, but this is split into sub-categories. None of the sections took much time to read, so in that sense it was an easy read, but I personally found it rather dull. It was especially slow going for me at the start of the book, which meant that each longer section produced a groan and I read most of the book in one sitting, not because I was enjoying it but because I had been putting it off for a while after reading the first few pages.My first reservation was the fact that it was introduced by Derren Brown, who I know is generally well thought of but who I think is a bit of a twit. In it he discusses the contract between the magician and the audience, including (somewhat irrelevantly to Houdini) between the audience and the psychic. This does briefly contextualise Houdini, which is useful, and also prepares us for the odd relationship between Houdini and other practitioners of the art of deception. It is short and easy to read and likely to appeal to fans of Brown.The next section, ‘Houdini on Houdini’ introduces the writer talking about himself in what is initially an engaging manner due to his conversational style. He tries to have a dialogue with the reader, stating things like "I think I hear you ask". Ultimately, this section lacks focus and is perhaps a bit too short, although it certainly does give us some insight into how Houdini perceived himself, which is likely to be interesting to fans. Although if you are a fan, of course, you won’t learn anything new from this introduction. A bigger problem for me was the lack of context. There were three notes at the end of the book contextualising various period details, but absolutely no indication of where these writings were taken from. Surely a key object of an introduction is to refer you on to sources where you can gain further illumination? And surely a text with any academic pretensions (which this beautifully presented slim volume clearly has) needs to reference its source material?In the next section Houdini looks at thieves. He briefly identifies various tricks used by fraudsters of his time, but this is very list like and even the anecdotal stories of crimes committed are very short. There is no real sense of drama to the events described or any connection between them. He gives limited advice for how to avoid some of these scams (although I couldn’t help feeling like The Hustle does it better!) Ultimately I found this section too dry and brief, although glancing back over it I have to admit that the details catch my attention and I do find the description of the scams more interesting. Although some of the tricks are set in their era, others would be adaptable today and it did make me think that I would want to read more about the con artists of this period.Continuing in his quest to expose fakes and frauds, Houdini spends the final sections enlightening the reader about how various tricks are performed. If you’ve ever wanted to know how to swallow fire or knives, this is the section of the book for you. I did find this section much more interesting, although I found the autobiographical details sketchy and I would have preferred to read about these incidents in full.There was one entertaining account of a duel but ultimately it all felt a bit too list like. Personally, I wanted more from the articles. I would rather have an account of an act followed by an explanation of how it worked and some kind of scientific reasoning, but Houdini’s motivation in writing was simply to show his brilliance and denigrate others’ supposedly magical abilities. It does show in the disjointed nature of his writing. He is frenetic, shifting from snake poison (how to survive a snake bite) to eating hot coals, all in a quest to expose those he considered to be lesser than him. His arrogance does not (necessarily) make him less likeable, as the details are sufficient to intrigue, but I think it does result in a less polished read. Some accidental deaths are related to show the danger of the kind of tricks Houdini exposes and these were horrid to read, not because they were gruesomely written but simply because they were quite horrible ways to die!The book concludes with a brief biographical note (which in part contradicts ‘Houdini on Houdini’!) which summarises Houdini’s life. I felt that this was a useful overview.ConclusionsAlthough the subject matter was interesting, I felt that the book was poorly written and that this detracted substantially from my enjoyment, to the extent that I raced through the book just to finish it. This does not mean that other readers will not enjoy it and is a rather subjective criticism of a non-fiction book. There is a clear overview of a range of methods of deception, although obviously these are sometimes specific to the early 1900s when Houdini was writing. Unpicking how the tricks works does remove some of the magic if you are the kind of person who likes to watch ‘magic’ shows or shows like Derren Brown’s to be mystified. However, if you enjoy having ‘magic’ debunked then you may well enjoy this. If you’re a big fan of Houdini already I don’t imagine there’d be anything new here, but if you’re just developing an interest then this would be a good overview. Despite my complaints about the lack of ‘story’ and detail, this is intended to provide an introduction to the topic and the book does achieve that. It is a slim book and it only took me a couple of hours to read, but the RRP is £7.99 so unless you are sure you’ll enjoy this I would look for a second hand copy.A note on ghostsSome reviewers have suggested that these essays were actually written by a ghost writer. Was claiming credit for these articles simply a final piece of deception? I’d like to think a ghost writer would have produced a final product that was better written, but even if Houdini did not pen every word himself, you will still get an insight into his personality by reading the essays.

[mrjack_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This review is based on a Library Thing Early Reviewers' copy from Hesperus Press of On Deception (2009) by Harry Houdini.This is not a book on how to perform escapes or how to do magic tricks. It is an exposé of fakery with a good bit of autobiographical information thrown in for good measure. The book was first published in 1906 by a self-aggrandizing, 33-year-old Houdini, "Handcuff King" and "Prison Breaker." Humble he was not, as this book will clearly reveal.The unmaskings begin with exposés of the methods of thieves -- overcoat thieves, Venetian blind thieves, church thieves, wedding thieves, van thieves, satchel thieves, and diamond thieves -- tricksters of the worst sort. The book concludes with exposés of the methods of circus entertainers whose sensational performances endanger life and limb -- fire-eaters, sword-swallowers, and snake-handlers -- people to whom Houdini ascribes the less than flattering title of "Miracle-Mongers."In between his exposés of the worst and best deceivers among us, Houdini debunks the work of frauds of all sorts: divine healers, counterfeit doctors, spirit mediums, clairvoyants, astrologers, confidence men, fortune tellers, East Indian fakirs, magnetic healers, and Voodoo doctors.Occupying the space normally given to a book's preface is a short chapter entitled "Houdini on Houdini." In the spirit of exposing deception, I must point out that Houdini's statements about his birth date and birthplace are illusory. He wrote, "I am an American by birth, born in Appleton, Wisconsin, U.S.A., on 6th April 1873." Au contraire. In a biographical note appended to the last chapter of the book, we learn that "Harry Houdini was born Erik Weisz in Budapest, Hungary in 1874." That would make him 32 years old when he wrote this book, not 33, and an immigrant, not a natural-born citizen of the U.S.A.Despite the fact that Houdini did not write this book to tell his readers how to become escapologists, he nevertheless includes some of his own methods in his exposé. For instance, his secret to prison breaking and handcuff escaping calls for the concealment of master keys, skeleton keys, and lock picking implements. It's as simple as that. Escaping from straitjackets is another story. Physical strength, dexterity, and persistence are the requirements. No deception is needed.If you want to know what Houdini was about, this book will clue you in. He began his career in show business as a circus performer and ended his career as a debunker of spiritualist frauds. Along the way, he became the highest paid and most legendary Vaudeville performer in history.

[saroz_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is one in a series of "On" collections from Hesperus Press, which - in concept and design - are a really nice idea. Each little book includes a selection of essays or writings from famous writers "on a specific" topic, packaged in slick little deluxe paperbacks with glossy covers and fold-in tabs. They look great, they feel great to hold, and they're not in any way intimidating.This particular example, however, doesn't exactly work - and not much of that is actually Hesperus' fault. Based on the writings here, you would be forgiven for thinking the great escape artist Harry Houdini wasn't much of a writer. That's closer to the literal truth than you might assume. Most if not all of Houdini's books were ghost-written, many of them by William Brown Gibson, who created "The Shadow." They tend to be fairly thin in personality, devoted mostly to amping up Houdini's reputation and casting disregard on his competitors. Taking "Houdini's" writing out of context only makes its limitations all the more apparent.The particular contents of this volume - boasting only 75 pages, with the introduction - really fall into three categories. First, there's Derren Brown's introduction, which is reasonable but fairly uninteresting; I was dismayed to see him credit Houdini's giant ego but not, it seems, his capacity to hire ghost-writers. The first half of "Houdini's" own writing is largely given over to puffing up his own legend and looking down on other illusionists, and it gets a little tiring. The second half is by far the best, as "Houdini" reveals the secrets of sword-swallowers, fire eaters, and other miracle-workers.Overall, "On Deception" is a good little primer for the (supposed) writings of Harry Houdini, but it's a bit deceptive itself in not including any reference to the true nature of those writings. I enjoyed the book, but I would have reservations recommending it to others. I might, however, recommend others in the well-designed "On" series.

[clfisha · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A beautiful Hesperus edition containing a a tiny sliver (75pg) of thoughts from the master of escapism Houdini himself. It has a wonderful introduction by the unsettling Mentalist Derren Brown however the rest is a bit of a let down. Houdini's style is rather conversational yet does not flow very well at all He starts off in short, choppy bursts to uncovering some rather mundane scams and then explains some tricks of his trade unfortunately his descriptions can be somewhat confusing. It maybe down my poor visualising skills but I still have no idea how to get out of a straightjacket, lets hope I never need that particular skill eh? In fact it isn't until the latter half that this book starts to shine. The combination of Houdini's anecdotes and a fascinating brief history of acts such as fire eaters or snake defiers is a wonderful combination, allowing his huge personality to shine through. So although I will be on the look out for the other books in the "On" series, it is probably only of interest to die hard fans.

[robertpettifer · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I received this Hesperus Press copy of the book through the Early Reviewers scheme at LibraryThing.It's a very short work with an interesting introduction by Derren Brown. There are chapters on "Thieves and their tricks," "Light on the subject of jailbreaking," and "Miracle mongers and their methods" None of these are particularly relevant in 2010 only proving that there have always been charlatans, and always people silly enough to fall for their tricks.The remainder of the book describes such skills as fire-eating, sword-swallowing and becoming resistant to snake-bites.It's probably slightly interesting in a historical contect but the discussion of handcuffs, ways to fireproof your body and how poisons work are all so out of date and/or misguided as to be of very little interest. I certainly would not pay £7.99 for this book. Houdini's self-promotion and bragging also get slightly wearing after a while.

[bragan_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A collection of short essays by Harry Houdini, reissued by Hesperus Press with an introduction by Darren Brown. Specifically, it contains the following: "Houdini on Houdini," a brief (and somewhat disjointed) account of Houdini's career; "Thieves and Their Tricks," a look at various forms of theft and fraud, some of which today seem rather quaint and others of which are depressingly familiar; "Light on the Subject of Jailbreaking," in which he discusses methods of picking locks and escaping from handcuffs and straitjackets while disparaging his imitators; and "Miracle-Mongers and Their Methods," which offers detailed, fascinating, and somewhat horrifying descriptions of how fire-eating, sword-swallowing and snake-handling acts are done. (I'm highly dubious about his discussion of cures for snakebites, by the way, but the rest of that article seems well-researched and believable.)The entire book, at well under 100 pages, is slight enough that it's debatable whether the contents are worth the cover price, but I certainly found it worth reading, and it might make a nice little addition to the bookshelves of anyone with an interest in magic or skepticism.

[davidlaing-48598 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I found this slim volume to be a quite entertaining read. It is presented as a series of short essays written by Houdini, prefaced with a foreword from Derren Brown. Brown's section provides the reader with a little social context. This helps to put one into the viewpoint of a contemporary reader of Houdini's period. However, even without the historical context, there is still much of interest to the twenty first century reader. For example, many of the email frauds that are attempted today are descended from those that Houdini describes in one essay.This is a collection of writings, rather than a book - the writing has been assembled from a number of sources. This not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean that the work doesn't have the feel of a coherent whole. Houdini's writing style is easy to read, and while there are some details that probably make more sense in their proper historical setting, each essay has a pleasing flow to it.So, an interesting book, easy to read - I don't think I'd pay the cover price because of the slimness. I would borrow it from a library, though, and recommend that the interested reader starts there.

[dtw42 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

At barely eighty pages (inclusive of Derren Brown’s Introduction), this is a slight book, interesting chiefly as a historical curiosity. There are four general aspects to Houdini’s text. First, self-promotion: as a showman (and a show-off) he recounts tales of his own performances. How much faith we can have in the veracity of these accounts is debatable, given the man and the nature of the profession itself. Second, debunking the methods of others, primarily his rivals, and especially those who traded on his name or reputation. This is essentially a restatement that his escapes were done “for real” (that is, picking the locks of cuffs and shackles, and wriggling free of restraints) while others merely pretended to do so, whilst in fact simply unlocking the devices, having obtained the original keys or combinations by subterfuges such as the not-especially-cunning ruse of having an associate ask about/borrow them from their owners in advance.Third, a description of the methods used by professional decievers such as thieves and fake mediums. This aspect shows us that there is nothing new under the sun: today’s doorstep distraction robbers and email scammers are drawing on a long tradition.Fourth, a description of the methods of other “showman” types, such as might be associated with a travelling carnival or circus: fire-eaters, sword-swallowers, and the like. This aspect is peppered with extracts from earlier works, and this leaves another level of doubt in the reader's mind: if someone said, in some nineteenth-century work, that it was possible to make ones skin heat-resistant or ones body immune to snake poison by the use of some home-brewed chemical/herbal concoction, would YOU believe it? I'm not sure I would.Houdini goes into some detail about methods for escaping from various types of handcuff, though (a) some of these don't seem to quite make sense, and (b) one would hope that they'd be of academic interest only now anyway – presumably modern cuffs are somewhat more sophisticated. Similarly his description of his method for unloosing oneself from a straitjacket doesn't quite make sense.Nevertheless, an interesting curio. Given a cover price of eight pounds, I might suggest that it’s (to paraphrase Dr Johnson) worth reading, yes, but not worth paying to read.NOTE: those left wanting more anecdotes, by briliant men with large egos, on the subject of lockpicking, would do well to seek out the chapter ‘Safecracker meets safecracker’ in Richard P. Feynman’s Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!

[xavierp_75 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Firstly, many thanks to Hesperus Books for sending this copy through so promptly. My copy is the 2009 (2010 reprint) copy and has a foreword by Derren Brown. It is part of the "On" collection."On Deception" is Houdini's thoughts and findings on lock picking, escapology, magic and various methods of producing spirits and mediumistic apparitions. It is very short, some 74 pages, and is written in an extremely conversational format. Houdini jumps around from subject to subject and, as was fitting for his personality, he is not above pointing out his rivals' shortcomings. The book is supposed to give us an insight into how burglars and mediums do their thing - and it does, to an extent - but it is too short. Any one of the subjects could have filled a thick book by itself.I had heard much about this book and other books by Houdini. A magician, an escapologist, a self-promoter, a skeptic. Houdini was many things. Unfortunately, he was not much of an author. I suspect that he found it difficult to sit down and write owing to his many theatre commitments and this comes across in the book itself. It is useful to fill your collection. It is useful to see how thinks were done at the turn of the 20th Century. However, as anything other than this, it falls short - everything in the book has been covered since then many times and in much more detail.An interesting read, but the re-read value is low.