Abracadabra: How Michigan Became a Magic Haven
Although Houdini’s name has become synonymous with the word “magic,” many may recall the legacy of Harry Blackstone Sr. Often billed as “The Great Blackstone,” he was a stage magician and illusionist known for such acts as the vanishing bird cage and floating light bulb.
 Blackstone is credited with bringing magic to Michigan. Following a visit, he and his wife decided to purchase property in the Colon area. Each summer, as theaters closed due to heat conditions, Blackstone, his family and numerous apprentices would come to Colon. And with the 20-30 residents on Blackstone’s property, came magicians from all over to visit the renowned Blackstone.
“He set up shop and other magicians would come to visit him,”Jeff Taylor, American Museum of Magic (AMM) director, said of Blackstone in Colon. “He’s a big name so (magicians) would make the effort to travel to this tiny little town.”
One man who came to visit Blackstone was Australian magician Percy Abbott. During his visit, Abbott fell in love with a local girl and decided to stay. He and Blackstone joined in a business venture; a company named Blackstone Magic, but shortly failed. After going back on the road performing, Abbott and his wife decided to finally settle in Colon.
With his settlement, Abbott began his own business in 1934, still around today called Abbott Magic Company. This is where Colon "becoming the magic capitol really begins," noted Taylor.
“Abbott Magic Company began holding this Get Together,” Taylor continued. “Every year they hosted a party and convention for magicians. All of the big names would come there, and it’s still that way. Every major magician has visited Colon and performed at the Get Together.”
On Aug. 1, 2012, the 75th annual Get Together will begin. This traditional event continually draws more than 1,000 magicians from across the world to the small town of Colon.
 “It’s really quite an event,” Taylor said. “If something went on like that in Lansing or Detroit, it might get lost. But the fact that it takes place in this tiny town is pretty impressive.”
Colon embraces its magic heritage. Surrounding the Get Together is Magic Week in Colon, the high school mascot is the Magi – a white rabbit, and perhaps the most-awaited stop is Lakeside Cemetery.
Lakeside is the final resting place of numerous great magicians and enthusiasts, including the Lunds, founders of the AMM. The museum, located in Marshall, is the largest public museum devoted to magic in the U.S.
When Blackstone retired from performing, he sold his property in Colon and moved to Los Angeles. However, when he passed away, he was brought back to be buried in Colon. Since then, other magicians have wanted to be buried close to Blackstone.
“It’s just incredible," Taylor said. "These other magicians, they’ve been to Colon and gone to the (Get Together). But come back to be buried there, just to be buried next to Blackstone.”
Other magicians and enthusiasts buried at Lakeside include: Don Alan, Bill Baird (The Magnificent Fraud), Harry Blackstone Jr., Harry Blackstone III, Recil Bordner (part-owner of Abbott Magic Company with Percy Abbott), and Karrell Fox.
Blackstone’s gravesite is marked with carved white stone. Rather than flowers left near the grave, playing cards, a light bulb and fake dove keep company. Pennies adorn the base of the monument, left by its many visitors.
Near Blackstone’s grave is a memorial gravestone for his former wife, Inez Blackstone Kitchen, who’s epitaph reads: “She, with Harry Blackstone Sr. brought magic to the village of Colon.”
Houdini’s Michigan Fame
 Like any performer of the time, Michigan was a common stop for Houdini. He visited Grand Rapids in 1897 as a young man performing handcuff escapes. Between 1898 and 1926, Houdini frequented Smith’s Opera House and the Empress Theatre in Grand Rapids, as well as the Temple, Grand and Garrick theatres in Detroit.
In November 1906, Houdini jumped from the old Belle Isle Bridge into the Detroit River while in handcuffs. One newspaper from that day said he “freed himself from the handcuffs while under water, then swam to a waiting lifeboat, passed over the unlocked and open cuffs and clambered aboard.”
Accounts of this event have varied greatly. Some believe Houdini had jumped into a hole cut into the ice of the frozen river. After freeing himself, a current carried Houdini away from the hole and he had to swim around looking for it.
“(The ice story) was generally accepted as true until Bob Lund (AMM founder) went back and investigated it,” Taylor said. “Even in November, there’s no ice on the river.”
Twenty years after the bridge jump, Houdini would arrive in Detroit for what would be his final performance. Although he had a temperature of 104 °F, Houdini performed Oct. 24, 1926 at the Garrick Theatre in Detroit. Following the show, Houdini was admitted to nearby Grace Central Hospital.
Just seven days later, on Halloween, Houdini died of peritonitis caused by a ruptured appendix. It’s rumored that a plaque noted Houdini’s death in Room 401, but the hospital was torn down in the late '70s.
In the immediate years following his death, it is believed that hospital staff allowed Houdini’s wife, Bess, and a small group to perform a séance in Room 401 on Halloween with hope of hearing from the “Handcuff King” once more.
Colon Today
As it was before Blackstone arrived, Colon remains a small town. Magic lost its following with changes in entertainment, and for the last 20 years, Las Vegas has become the hot-bed of magic.
“Michigan sort of lost that presence,” Taylor said. “It was just sort of a natural fading. Touring shows declined, some markets declined, and so it just sort of lost its way.”
However, Colon still, and may likely always, remain “Magic Capitol of the World,” with magicians and those aspiring to be returning to Colon for the next Get Together.
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