“Did you know about the House of Houdini here?”

And so began a fascinating, eye-opening adventure. We were on a family “back to the roots” trip to Hungary with my three daughters, their spouses and nine grandchildren when my son-in-law who had been walking ahead of us on famed Castle Hill in Budapest surprised me with that question. I was a bit taken aback because I consider myself to be somewhat of an expert on Houdini. I knew, of course, that he had been born in Budapest and lived there till the age of four when the family emigrated to Appleton, Wisconsin where his father had found a job as a rabbi. But I had not heard of any House of Houdini. Obviously, we made a beeline.

It wasn’t hard to find since “House of Houdini” was emblazoned in large letters in English above the much smaller Hungarian lettering. As I quickly learned, this was the only museum in Europe dedicated to Houdini. I couldn’t understand how I had not heard of this truly remarkable collection of Houdini memorabilia. We quickly signed up for the guided tour and entered the museum, passing by a life-size wax figure of Houdini, the man whose name has become synonymous with magic and escapes. Our young guide expertly described the handcuffs, lock picks, photos, posters, Houdini’s personal letters and the remarkable family Bible signed by Houdini with his real name, Erich Weiss. There were also props used in the 2014 miniseries about Houdini filmed in Budapest starring Adrien Brody, who is also of Hungarian descent.

After having marvelled at the displays, we were guided into a........

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