[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-486914-105":59,"doc-detail-486914-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","harry-houdini-and-halloween","Harry Houdini and Halloween","","The text explains why Harry Houdini remains a central figure in Halloween: he died on October 31, 1926, and spent his later years exposing fake spirit mediums who claimed to communicate with the dead for money. Houdini attended seances in disguise to reveal hidden mechanisms and show that “ghostly” effects were ordinary tricks. He and his wife Bess used a secret code for one final test across ten Halloween seances, yet no message ever returned.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":15,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/harry-houdini-and-halloween/486914/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/harry-houdini-and-halloween/486914.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"acoobca","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-28","2026-09-30",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":29},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What surprising fact does the text point out about the day Houdini died?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Houdini died on Halloween, the very day his fans now remember him.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Why do people still gather for the “Official Houdini Seance”?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"They gather partly for fun and partly to honor Houdini.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How did Houdini plan to test whether there is life after death?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Houdini and Bess agreed on a secret code; if there was life after death, he promised he would send that exact message back to her.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},486914,1791202780,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":14,"category_name":15,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":29,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":34,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144},3985747870733,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_a8503ba1806abce46bf441b54a3ca4cd","Picture a man locked in chains, dropped into icy water, or sealed inside a milk can, escaping every single time. That was Harry Houdini, the most famous escape artist who ever lived, and he had a secret talent for slipping out of anything. But here is the real puzzle: the master who could escape from any trap died on the one day of the year he might have chosen himself. Houdini took his last breath on Halloween, October 31, 1926.  \nThat spooky timing is only the beginning of why his name still floats around every Halloween. Long before he died, Houdini spent his final years chasing something far trickier than handcuffs: fake spirit mediums. These were people who charged grieving families money, claiming they could talk to the dead during dark meetings called seances. Houdini, who missed his own mother deeply, wanted to believe them, but instead he discovered they were tricking everyone.  \nBecause he had spent his life fooling audiences, Houdini knew exactly how a good trick worked. He went to seances in disguise, then jumped up to reveal the hidden wires, secret taps, and floating trumpets the mediums used. A ghostly voice, he showed, was often just an assistant hidden in the dark or a hand freed from a loose knot. He was teaching people a powerful idea: before you believe something wild, look for the evidence.  \nTesting claims for evidence was so important to him that he planned one final experiment beyond the grave. Houdini and his wife, Bess, agreed on a secret code of words that only the two of them knew. If there really was life after death, he promised, he would send that exact message back to her. For ten years Bess held a seance every Halloween, waiting to hear the words, and every year they never came.  \nAfter a decade of silence, Bess blew out the candle and said her husband had given the spirit world a fair test. People still gather each Halloween for the\"Official Houdini Seance,\" partly for fun and partly to honor him. No one has ever delivered the code, which is exactly the result Houdini the investigator would have expected. The greatest escape artist of all time may have proven his final point by not escaping death at all.  \nHarry Houdini and Halloween  \nName:  \n\n| Solve each problem.\u003Cbr>Use the article to answer the question.\u003Cbr>1) What surprising fact does the article point out about the day Houdini died?\u003Cbr>A. He died on Halloween, the very day his fans now remember him.\u003Cbr>B. He died during one of his famous underwater escape acts.\u003Cbr>C. He died on the night of his very last seance with Bess.\u003Cbr>D. He died on the same day he first performed in public. |  |  |  |  | Answers\u003Cbr>1.  \u003Cbr>2.  \u003Cbr>3.   |  |  |  |  |  |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| 2) According to the article, why do people still gather for the \"Official Houdini Seance\"?\u003Cbr>A. Chiefly to raise money for magicians.\u003Cbr>B. Partly for fun and partly to honor him.\u003Cbr>C. Only to prove that seances are fake.\u003Cbr>D. Mainly to break one of his escape records. |  |  |  |  | 4.  \u003Cbr>5.  \u003Cbr>6.   |  |  |  |  |  |\n| 3) Why was Houdini especially good at catching fake mediums?\u003Cbr>A. He had studied for years to become a trained scientist.\u003Cbr>B. He hired detectives to secretly follow the mediums home.\u003Cbr>C. His own career fooling audiences taught him how tricks are done.\u003Cbr>D. He had once worked as an assistant at real seances. |  |  |  |  | 7.  \u003Cbr>8.  \u003Cbr>9.  \u003Cbr>10. |  |  |  |  |  |\n| 4) Why does the article say Bess believed she had given the spirit world a \"fair test\"?\u003Cbr>A. She had waited many years and the code never came.\u003Cbr>B. She had finally heard the secret words one Halloween.\u003Cbr>C. She had visited every famous medium in the country.\u003Cbr>D. She had asked scientists to check the seance for tricks. |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |\n| 5) How long did Bess hold a Halloween seance waiting for the message?\u003Cbr>A. For ten years, until she finally stopped.\u003Cbr>B. For twenty years, until her own death.\u003Cbr>C. For one year, righ","cbCaiqmcHrisn5Q8","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiqmcHrisn5Q8","pdf",115754,"English","# Reading Comprehension Questions\n## Evidence and Houdini’s Death\n## The “Official Houdini Seance”\n## Detecting Fake Mediums\n## Bess’s Belief and the Final Test\n## Key Vocabulary: Seance","[{\"question\":\"What surprising fact does the text point out about the day Houdini died?\",\"answer\":\"Houdini died on Halloween, the very day his fans now remember him.\"},{\"question\":\"Why do people still gather for the “Official Houdini Seance”?\",\"answer\":\"They gather partly for fun and partly to honor Houdini.\"},{\"question\":\"How did Houdini plan to test whether there is life after death?\",\"answer\":\"Houdini and Bess agreed on a secret code; if there was life after death, he promised he would send that exact message back to her.\"}]","Harry Houdini and Halloween | PDF",1790807422,11]