Final installment of the ‘Houdini’s My Homeboy’ mini-series. Here’s photographs taken from Fall 2009, at the annual Broken Wand ceremony.
The term ‘broken wand’ is used when a magician dies. Since Harry Houdini was a president of the Society of American Magicians (S.A.M.), the organization continues to gather at Machpelah cemetery every year to mark his passing.
The broken wand ceremony for Houdini is usually held sometime around Halloween. The exact date itself varies because Houdini was Jewish. Therefore S.A.M. follows the Jewish calendar in honor of him.
The exact ceremony itself only takes a few minutes. A small speech is said, then silence as the wand is symbolically snapped in half.
At the time these photos were taken, the original bust of Harry Houdini’s head was missing. Due to the bust being vandalized four times, S.A.M. kept their own copy. Their bust would only be taken out and put on Houdini’s burial site during special occasional such as this. Since then, a new replica has been made, and discovery of another Houdini bust came to light.
If you’re curious about burial grounds in the outer borough of Queens NY, here’s another link. Dated June 2013:
I first became intrigued by Harry Houdini back in elementary school. My fourth grade teacher assigned everyone in the class a book report. As we searched the school library, I came across this biography of Houdini. It was written for grade school children of course, but that’s how I became interested in the magician.
Over the years I would hear about people gathering around every Halloween at Houdini’s resting place. Then around 2009, I moved to the Ridgewood area. As my luck would have it, I would be living within walking distance to Machpelah Cemetery.
As it’s been reported, Machpelah Cemetery is a rather sad place. The cemetery itself has not been properly maintained. In fact, the whole entire area is in disarray. It’s certainly an eyesore next to the other surrounding cemeteries. Whenever I’ve paid a visit over the years, I’ve seen two maintenance men at the location only once. If they were maintenance men – they didn’t seem to be doing their job.
This Jewish cemetery would have been forgotten if Houdini hadn’t been buried there. Over the years it’s gotten the occasional relief. David Copperfield, one of the best known contemporary magicians has donated $15,000 to the Society of American Magicians. Other donations came in to keep towards the upkeep. Despite this, conflicts between Machpelah’s manager, David Jacobson and the New York chapter of SAM (Society of American Magicians) occurred. In recent years, the Houdini Museum from Scanton, PA stepped in.
Ever since doing book report on him during elementary school, I’ve been slightly fascinated by magician Harry Houdini. Houdini and the rest of his immediate family are buried in Machpelah Cemetery, located in Ridgewood, Queens (although it’s really closer to Glendale).
Machpelah Cemetery 8230 Cypress Hills Street Ridgewood Queens NY 11385
There is a supposedly a telephone listed with the address, but don’t bother calling it. As you can tell by the photos, the office hasn’t been in use for quite some time.
As I was leaving Machpelah Cemetery, I noticed a sign screwed into one of the nailed up doors. The sign states that the Houdini site is solely cared for The New York chapter of the Society of American Magicians. The sign’s statement ends with a quote “We never pay the bill.”
When I got home I did some research to discover the entire exact quote.
“Turns out, someone does come and shape up the grave once in a while. The New York chapter of the Society of American Magicians has a Houdini Gravesite Committee, and a Brooklyn man named George Schindler is the committee chairman. He said that the bust of Houdini that once adorned the grave site was often vandalized and is now kept in storage by the committee, whose members bring landscaping tools to the cemetery and tidy up the grave site several times a year.
“Houdini paid for perpetual care, but there’s nobody at the cemetery to provide it,” he said, adding that the operator of the cemetery, David Jacobson, “sends us a bill for upkeep every year but we never pay it because he never provides any care.”
Machpelah Cemetery is right next door to other Queens cemeteries, all which are way better maintained that the one Houdini is buried in. However, despise Machpelah’s negligence, the final resting place for Harry Houdini still hold much more mystery.