Me and some buddies are going to spend a day soon visiting and paying our respects to mentalists/magicians buried in and around NYC.

I have already been to Houdini (and Bess upstate), Alexander Herrmann and Signor Blitz (whom I believe I was the first to rediscover in the 1980s).

Anyone know of any others we might visit such as Al Baker, etc?

Thanks,
Bobby

I would guess De Biere, Scarne and Dunninger are less than 5 miles away from NYC in NJ.

You might take a map and a camera with you and take snapshots of the graves as well as pinpoint the locations on the map. It would make a nice guidebook or a web-site information space for future generations to follow.

Hmm, these are just guesses, but, Al Flosso, Slydini, Louis Tannen?

Thanks everyone for the info. I believe that Flosso is buried in Uniondale, Long Island and Slydini is in NJ. Will keep looking.

If any others occur to you, please let me know!

Thanks,
Bobby

You said Bess (upstate). Where is she?

And BTW, a few years ago we were in NYC and Donna wanted to take me to Macpelah (sp?) Cemetery to visit Houdini, but the place was closed "for security reasons," and you needed to make an appointment. Do you know if that's still the case?

Tampa is buried in NJ about 10 miles from the Outerbridge Crossing. Al Flosso is probably buried in NY as is Lou Tannen. If you pull up their obits it will probably tell you where.

Bess is buried in "Gate of Heaven" cemetery in Valhalla, N.Y. Will check in on the security issue for Houdini - as I remember he is very close to the gate on the highway and you can almost see him from the road.

Bobby

The Great Black Herman (Benjamin Rucker), one of the greatest black magicians in American history, is buried at the Woodlawn Cemetery.

Thanks, Bobby. I never knew Bess wasn't w/ Harry. We lived in Albany up until '03 and occasionally went down to Hyde Park or Hudson, so a little extra jaunt would have been fun.

Actually, I spent a lot of time in Poughkeepsie some years back on an architectural project, so I could have taken a detour then too. Oh, well.

My understanding is that the reason she was not buried with Houdini, despite him buying plots for both of them, was because it was a Jewish cemetary. Bess, being a Catholic, could not be buried next to her husband.