We go now to.... Hugh Bodsillean...

Thank you Jay... Hugh Bodsillean reporting from Hollywood.

One of the busiest nights at the Magic Castle is Halloween, as you might imagine. Over the years they have planned for all kinds of themes and shows to promote the event.  Last nights theme was.. "INFERNO...The Castle will be on fire for Halloween".  The evening was cancelled because, you guessed it, the Magic Castle caught fire, an irony, which I am sure, is not lost on those of the Magical persuasion.  As far as I know this is the first Halloween night the Magic Castle has been closed since it opened in 1963.  

I still maintain that it was the ghost of Harry Houdini who did it in an attempt to communicate from the "other side".  He said he would try to send a message to the living if he could.  There were annual Houdini Seances on Halloween night for many years after his death, but even his wife gave up after ten years. The last Houdini Seance was broadcast live on the radio from the roof of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.  Bess Houdini was there along with 12 other guests including a noted medium of the time. After an uneventful seance, Bess Houdini rose from the circle and said, "Houdini did not come through. My last hope is gone. I do not believe that Houdini can come back to me, or to anyone...The Houdini Shrine has burned for ten years. I now, reverently... turn out the light. It is finished. Good night, Harry!"

Perhaps it took the 85 years since his death to come up with the best way to communicate. After all why would a legendary conjurer known for his spectacular and dangerous stunts be satisfied by ringing bells or rattling tambourines in a darkened seance when he could make headlines setting fire to the Magic Castle on the anniversary of his death? Also, with my basic knowledge of eternity it seems to me that ten years is not even a nano second to a ghost.  Eighty-five seems to be time enough for him to come up with this trick. 

But here is the most convincing evidence of Houdini's involvement in the fire.  You will notice on the left that Houdini underlines his signature atop the number... 11.   Houdini would have been 137 years old last night. If you take those numbers and add them up with numerology you get 11. He died at the age of 52 on Oct. 31.  If you add 52 and 31 you come up with 83 which reduces to 11. Today is 11/01/11 and it was Halloween 2011 last night.  Smoke was noticed by some employees at was 11:11 AM, the fire alarm was sounded at 12:35 PM.  Again using numerology 12:35 adds to 11.  Both of his professional names started with  H which is made from two vertical lines that look like 11. If you add the number of the letters in Houdini's name they come to 12,  take the number of those letters as they appear in the alphabet ( A is one, B is two etc.) and add them up you get the number 69 for Harry and the number 70 for Houdini. Subtract those numbers from each other you are left with 1, and one from twelve is... don't freak out... 11.

So there  you have it... proof of life after death and all thanks to Harry Houdini setting fire to the Magic Castle.  This is Hugh Bodsillean.... back to you Jay.

Thanks Hugh.... interesting and persuasive evidence.

As you were,

Jay