Harry Houdini died on Halloween in 1926. A century later, the weekend before the anniversary, Village Preservation is walking the public through the parts of Lower Manhattan where the magician started out, and where the fight he spent his last years waging against fraudulent mediums played out. The free tour is Saturday, Oct. 24, at 2 p.m.

What the walk covers

The tour, Houdini in Greenwich Village: Dime Museums, Spiritualists and Seances, runs about 90 minutes and covers 1.2 miles. Village Preservation lists its highlights:

  • The turn-of-the-century dime museums on the Bowery, the cheap halls of curiosities and stage acts where Houdini got his start.
  • A site tied to what the organization calls Houdini's haunted legacy.
  • Places connected to the history of Spiritualism, the movement built around contacting the dead, and to Houdini's campaign to expose it.
  • The house where a well-known Houdini seance was held.

The route was designed with Boroughs of the Dead, a company founded in 2013 that runs macabre New York history tours, which co-sponsors the walk. Its tours are written and led by published authors and working artists.

The magician who went after the mediums

Houdini's fame rested on escapes, but in the 1920s much of his public energy went into debunking spirit mediums, attending seances in disguise and demonstrating on stage how their tricks worked. The tour connects that history to specific Village and Bowery addresses, which is the point of walking it rather than reading about it: the dime museums, the seance rooms and the neighborhoods are a short walk apart.

The timing is deliberate. Village Preservation scheduled the walk for the run-up to Halloween and to the 100th anniversary of Houdini's death.

How to sign up

The tour is free, in person and requires registration in advance through Village Preservation's events page, which links to its sign-up form. The meeting point is provided with registration rather than on the public listing, so register before heading out.

  • When: Saturday, Oct. 24, 2 p.m., about 90 minutes
  • Distance: 1.2 miles on foot
  • Cost: Free, with advance registration
  • Organizers: Village Preservation, with Boroughs of the Dead

More from Village Preservation

The organization, based at 232 East 11th Street, runs more than 80 programs a year, nearly all of them free and open to anyone: walking tours, lectures, book talks and neighborhood history programs across Greenwich Village, the East Village and NoHo. Its events calendar lists what is coming next.

For a second free outing in the neighborhood next week, NYC Parks hosts a Salsa Social at Garibaldi Plaza in Washington Square Park on Wednesday, Oct. 28, from 6 to 9 p.m.

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