Kimberly owns OldSpirituals.com. She's very grateful for the wonderful community and two outstanding contributors to help fulfill the site's mission of rescuing fascinating stories from obscurity.
Kimberly is the cofounder of Pivot Talent Development LLC, headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area. PIVOT offers workshops, training, consulting, and coaching to help professionals improve performance, drive business impact, and transcend limitations.
- Rhythm, Art, and Labradorite - 8 November 2026
- Personal and Goodwill Evolutions - 27 October 2026
- Supernatural in Blue - 25 October 2026
In 1908, the most famous magician in the world, Harry Houdini, stood at the Harvard Bridge in Boston, surrounded by a crowd of 20,000 onlookers and well-wishers.
A Boston police officer carefully chained the showman, handcuffing his hands behind his back. Houdini’s mission was to remove the manacles and escape his chains underwater.
Harry Houdini (LOC)
At a prearranged signal, a chained and handcuffed Houdini dove into the cold water.
The seconds ticked by… 10 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds. The crowd shifted uneasily. But at 40 seconds, Houdini burst to the surface, triumphantly holding the shackles aloft.
Harry Houdini’s public exhibitions of brave escapes brought him worldwide fame and endeared him to the public. Here is a video of a different underwater escape. While it lacks the special effects and suspenseful music a magician would employ today, Houdini also had no help or fail-safe measures.
The bravery and success of the world’s most famous daredevil undoubtedly inspired others to take on dangerous stunts as well.
But not everyone had Houdini’s abilities.
A few years later, on another continent, another young man was meditating on a glorious triumph. Franz Reichelt had invented a parachute. He was eager to debut it to the world in spectacular fashion.
On February 4, 1912, he stood atop the Eiffel Tower. So confident was the young inventor, he determined to put his own life on the line to show off his creation. Reichelt, age 33, proudly and foolishly donned his parachute. He waved off the spectators and a few friends who urged him quietly to use dummies to test his invention, like a sensible person.
“À bientôt !” he said cheerily to those around him. He grinned just before leaping to his death. Amazingly enough, this moment was caught on film.
No one else had Houdini’s particular combination of skills and showmanship. It’s a foregone conclusion that the excitement he created and the adulation he received would tempt others to follow in his footsteps. And that, not having Houdini’s supernatural abilities, the results could not be other than tragic.
Reichelt is not the only man who has ever been lulled into a false sense of confidence, though whether he was a fan of Houdini, I don’t know. But he at least managed to be immortalized in one short reel. The brief scenes of him smiling and tipping his cap just before he ascended the tower to make his ill-fated jump on that cold winter morning wring my heart. What might Franz Reichelt have gone on to do, had he not insisted on this theatrical jump?
“The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of a final moment; but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy.”
John F. Kennedy
That is a beautiful quotation!