The Argument
One hundred years after Harry Houdini died in Detroit on Halloween night, a small museum in Marshall is keeping the appointment his admirers have kept ever since. The American Museum of Magic hosts a special sĂ©ance on Halloween, Saturday, October 31, 2026, from noon until 3:00 p.m. at 107 E. Michigan Avenue — an invited circle of distinguished guests gathered around Houdini’s milk can escape, following the notes of the first Houdini sĂ©ance hosted by Bob Lund in 1978, in hopes of a visit from his spirit. Regular seating is available at $30 per seat, and as of the announcement, only regular seating remained.
What the Museum Announced
FACT (95.3 The Ticket, Oct. 23, 2026): The American Museum of Magic in Marshall will be hosting a special séance to try to conjure the spirit of Harry Houdini on the 100th anniversary of his death in Detroit, taking place on Halloween at noon until 3 PM at 107 E. Michigan Ave., with regular seating available for $30 per seat.
FACT (95.3 The Ticket): Houdini passed away from peritonitis at Detroit’s Grace Hospital on Halloween night in 1926, and his final performance took place on October 24, a week before his death.
A Michigan Death, a Marshall Tradition
COMMENTARY: Houdini sĂ©ances have been held on Halloween for generations, but the centennial gives this one unusual weight — and Michigan holds a genuine claim on the story. The world’s most famous escape artist did not die on a distant stage; he died in Detroit, on Halloween, after a final performance on October 24, 1926. A century later, the state’s own museum of magic marks the date not with a lecture but with the ritual itself, run from Bob Lund’s 1978 notes and staged around an artifact — the milk can escape — that belongs to Houdini’s most famous act. Whether or not anything answers, the room will be practicing a piece of American folk tradition exactly where it ought to be practiced.
The Milk Can at the Center
FACT (95.3 The Ticket, quoting the museum): Following the notes of the first Houdini Seance hosted by Bob Lund in 1978, there will be an invited circle of distinguished guests gathered around Houdini’s milk can escape in hopes of a visit from his spirit.
COMMENTARY: The choice of centerpiece matters. The milk can escape was Houdini’s signature impossible object — a sealed can, filled with water, from which he emerged — and gathering a sĂ©ance around it turns the event into a dialogue between the magician’s two legacies: the escapes he engineered and the spiritualism he spent his later years debunking. Houdini famously promised that if anyone could return, he would; a century of silent Halloweens has not stopped the trying, and the trying has become the tradition. Marshall’s museum, which exists to preserve exactly this history, is the right keeper of that appointment.
Noon on Halloween, On Purpose
COMMENTARY: A noon-to-3:00 sĂ©ance is a thoughtful piece of Halloween scheduling. It leaves the evening free for everything else Marshall and the region stage on October 31 — SkeletonFest’s final day downtown runs the same hours, blocks away — and it gives the sĂ©ance the daylight solemnity of a memorial rather than the theater of a midnight stunt. At $30 a seat with only regular seating left at announcement time, this is a small room by design. Anyone in Jackson or Albion weighing a singular way to mark the centennial of Michigan’s most famous Halloween death should decide this week; rooms built around a single artifact do not expand.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the Houdini séance?
Halloween, Saturday, October 31, 2026, from noon until 3:00 p.m. (FACT: 95.3 The Ticket).
Where is it held?
The American Museum of Magic, 107 E. Michigan Ave., Marshall, MI (FACT: 95.3 The Ticket).
What does it mark, and what do seats cost?
The 100th anniversary of Houdini’s death in Detroit on Halloween 1926; regular seating is $30 per seat (FACT: 95.3 The Ticket).
What happens at the séance?
Following Bob Lund’s 1978 notes, an invited circle of distinguished guests gathers around Houdini’s milk can escape in hopes of a visit from his spirit (FACT: 95.3 The Ticket).
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