Getting your questions ready
Getting your questions ready
Beat the crowd
10 questions No timer
50 free Harry Houdini trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Harry Houdini built his legend so carefully that half of what people know about him is wrong, and this quiz sorts the record from the myth. It starts with the boy born Erik Weisz in Budapest who claimed Appleton, Wisconsin, the trapeze act at nine, the French magician he named himself after and later attacked in print, his brother Dash and the girl they both courted. Then the rise: Martin Beck and the Orpheum circuit, the Handcuff King challenging police across Europe, a Siberian prison van in Moscow, a libel suit in Cologne, and the Daily Mirror cuffs of 1904 that may or may not have needed a kiss from Bess. The great escapes follow: the milk can, the Upside Down that posters called the Chinese Water Torture Cell, straitjackets dangling from cranes, a whale's belly in Boston, a vanished elephant at the Hippodrome, plus the sideline as Australia's first aviator and a run of silent films. The last stretch covers the war on spiritualists that cost him Conan Doyle's friendship, the casket in a hotel pool, the punch in Montreal, peritonitis in Detroit, the bronze coffin, the code word Rosabelle and the ten Halloween séances. Easy questions suit anyone who has heard the name; the expert tier reaches Werner Graff, the Voisin biplane and the will that ordered his props burned. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's article on Houdini, and the supporting sentence is attached to each question.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Under what name was Harry Houdini born on March 24, 1874?
Erik Weisz
The family Germanised the spelling to Weiss after emigrating, and Erik became Ehrich.
Q 02In which city was Houdini born?
Budapest
He later claimed to have been born in Appleton, Wisconsin, where the family settled.
Q 03Houdini's father, Mayer Sámuel Weisz, held what position in Appleton, Wisconsin?
Rabbi
The family arrived in the United States in July 1878, when Ehrich was four.
Q 04As a nine-year-old, Ehrich Weiss made his public debut as what?
A trapeze artist
He billed himself 'Ehrich, the Prince of the Air'.
Q 05Houdini took his stage name from which French magician, whose autobiography he read in 1890?
Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin
He later turned on his idol, publishing 'The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin' in 1908 to brand him a fraud.
Q 06Houdini later claimed the first part of his stage name honoured which American magician he admired?
Harry Kellar
More likely it came from 'Ehri', his family nickname.
Q 07In the early 1890s Houdini performed as 'The Brothers Houdini' with which brother, nicknamed Dash?
Theodore
Theodore later had his own escape career as Theodore Hardeen and kept performing the milk can escape into the 1940s.
Q 08Houdini's wife and stage assistant, married in 1894, was known as Bess. What was her full name?
Wilhelmina Beatrice Rahner
She had first been courted by his brother Dash before falling for Harry.
Q 09Which vaudeville manager gave Houdini his big break in 1899, booking him on the Orpheum circuit?
Martin Beck
They met in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the same year a pair of handcuffs had defeated Houdini in a Chicago dime museum.
Q 10On his European tour Houdini challenged police forces to lock him up and earned what nickname?
The Handcuff King
He gave a demonstration at Scotland Yard and toured the Netherlands, Germany, France and Russia.
Q 11In Moscow, Houdini claimed to escape from what, saying that failure would have meant a trip to Siberia?
A prison transport van
He said the only key was kept in Siberia itself.
Q 12In Cologne, Houdini sued a police officer named Werner Graff for claiming what?
That he made his escapes by bribery
Houdini won the libel case by escaping in court.
Q 13Which London newspaper challenged Houdini in 1904 to escape handcuffs said to have taken five years to make?
The Daily Mirror
He struggled for about an hour before a crowd of thousands; some suspect the whole thing was staged.
Q 21Houdini escaped from the belly of what that had washed ashore in Boston?
A whale
Other challenges included riveted boilers, mail bags, wet sheets and nailed packing crates.
Q 22Houdini is credited with the first powered aircraft flight in which country, in March 1910?
Australia
He made three flights at Diggers Rest, Victoria, one lasting three and a half minutes.
Q 23What type of aeroplane did Houdini buy for $5,000 for his aviation exploits?
A French Voisin biplane
He bought it from two Chilean aviators and hired a full-time mechanic, Antonio Brassac.
Q 14One theory of how Houdini beat the 1904 Mirror handcuffs holds that Bess passed him the key in what?
A glass of water
His manager reportedly admitted Houdini had been beaten and appealed to his wife for help.
Q 15In 1908 Houdini retired his handcuff act and introduced an escape from what?
A locked, water-filled milk can
He said imitators had forced the change; he later sued one of them, John Clempert.
Q 16Where did Houdini first perform the Chinese Water Torture Cell, on September 21, 1912?
Circus Busch in Berlin
He was lowered upside down, feet locked in stocks, into an overflowing glass-and-steel tank.
Q 17What did Houdini himself always call the Chinese Water Torture Cell?
The Upside Down
In the escape his ankles were locked in stocks and he was lowered head first into the water.
Q 18One of Houdini's most popular publicity stunts was escaping from a straitjacket while doing what?
Hanging by his ankles from a building or crane
In New York he dangled from a crane being used to build the subway and was free in two minutes thirty-seven seconds.
Q 19Why did Houdini stop performing his straitjacket escape behind curtains?
Audiences preferred watching him struggle
His brother Hardeen discovered the crowd was more impressed when they could see every wriggle.
Q 20At the New York Hippodrome, Houdini's most famous stage illusion made what disappear?
A full-grown elephant
He bought the trick from magician Charles Morritt; the elephant was named Jennie.
Q 24Houdini's first film starring role was in which 15-part 1918 serial?
The Master Mystery
It led to a two-picture deal with Paramount and, later, his own Houdini Picture Corporation.
Q 25Which two films did Houdini make for Famous Players–Lasky/Paramount in 1919 and 1920?
The Grim Game and Terror Island
He then produced and starred in The Man from Beyond (1921) and Haldane of the Secret Service (1923) himself.
Q 26In the 1920s Houdini devoted much of his energy to debunking whom?
Spiritualist mediums
He attended séances in disguise with a reporter and a police officer in tow.
Q 27Houdini's crusade against mediums cost him his friendship with which spiritualist author?
Arthur Conan Doyle
Doyle refused to accept any of the exposés and came to believe Houdini himself had supernatural powers.
Q 28Possibly the most famous medium Houdini debunked was Mina Crandon, better known as what?
Margery
He also served on a magazine committee that offered a cash prize to any medium who could prove supernatural powers.
Q 29Which magazine's committee, offering a cash prize to any genuine medium, included Houdini?
Scientific American
No claimant ever collected the prize.
Q 30Houdini was president of which organisation, whose crest is inscribed on his grave?
The Society of American Magicians
He used the office to uphold professional standards and expose frauds.