“The challengers decided to leave the monster bottom-up, so that Houdini could get a little air by pressing his lips against the chain.”Īccording to reports, a red cabinet was placed over Houdini and the turtle.

“Eyelets had been made, and a heavy chain was threaded through and carried around to the hard-shelled back, in the center of which, a good yard from Houdini’s hands, the chains were locked,” the Globe reported. Once Houdini was inside, they closed the turtle up. He spritzed the inside of the turtle with a strong perfume, one report said.ĭespite its rumored size, the turtle was described by the Globe as “a tight squeeze.” He left the stage to get changed, and when he returned, he was strapped into handcuffs and leg irons and helped inside the turtle by his assistants. Houdini agreed, saying “he was willing to take a chance.” The paperwork said that because the turtle had been embalmed in arsenic, the group of challengers accepted no responsibility if Houdini were to get sick - or perhaps worse, not come out. Philips dared to be chained into the turtle and escape.”Īs Houdini finished reading the terms of the dare, one of the men who posed the challenge jumped up from his seat, the report said, and asked to read a legal document he had drawn up.

The challenge “stated practically that John F. When the curtains went up for the grandiose show, the turtle was “reclining gracefully in the center of the stage.”Īfter he was greeted by Lieutenant Governor Louis Frothingham, Houdini read the proposed challenge aloud to spectators, who packed the theater so tightly that they “filled the house and seven deep at the back.” Boston PostĪccording to the Globe’s account, the turtle was moved from the wharf to Keith’s Theatre using a large truck.

A clip from the Boston Post in 1911, which drummed up excitement for Houdini's latest feat.

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