Harry Houdini built a career on vanishing, escaping and leaving audiences arguing about how he did it. A hundred years after his death, he is still doing it.

The centennial of the great escape artist’s death this Halloween weekend brought a newly published essay, a fresh fight over exactly when and how he died, and celebrations from Budapest to Hollywood. Here is what has people talking, based on reporting from The Associated Press and Fine Books Magazine.

A lost Houdini essay, finally in print

Houdini’s “An Interesting Scrapbook” has been published for the first time in the new issue of The Strand Magazine, which has also printed rare works by Mark Twain and Edith Wharton. The manuscript was found among his papers at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

In it, Houdini pays tribute to magicians who came before him and laments how little was recorded about them. He was inspired by old playbills shared with him by cartoonist Kin Hubbard, advertising 19th-century entertainers such as Robert Heller and H.J. Sargent.

“American magicians never were thought of enough to be placed in books or chronicle lists so that the future generation could read of the various old-timers,” Houdini wrote, as quoted by the AP.

Eric Colleary, curator of theatre and performing arts at the Ransom Center and author of the September book “Houdini’s Library,” told the AP that Houdini cared so much about earlier magicians that he visited their graves and even paid to maintain them.

Did he really die on Halloween?

The official story says Houdini died on October 31, 1926, from peritonitis after appendicitis, possibly made worse days earlier when a college student in Montreal punched him in the stomach to test his famous strength. No autopsy was performed, and alternate theories have flourished ever since.

A new book, “Houdini: The Man Who Died Twice” by forensic medical researcher Larrian Gillespie, challenges both the cause and the date. Drawing on medical records and his death certificate, she argues the real cause was an intestinal blockage and that he actually died on October 30. She points to a doctor’s affidavit listing October 30, and says his inner circle wanted his death to fall on Halloween “so he would always be remembered.”

Kirkus gave the book a starred review, calling it an “absorbing, argument-starting account.” Houdini’s great-nephew, George Hardeen, told the AP he found it “convincing and persuasive.”

Not everyone is convinced

Two Houdini experts praised in the book told the AP they had doubts. Scholar Bruce Averbook said the grieving family was “not thinking about legacy,” and that writings by Houdini’s personal assistant list October 31. “He had no reason to lie about this,” Averbook said.

Blogger and publisher John Cox said the book has “some very good new information” but that a second opinion is needed on the death. “Houdini’s fame, and why he’s remembered today, comes from his remarkable life,” he said.

A centennial party across two continents

The anniversary weekend brought a run of events. The AP listed a “Grand Houdini Centenarium” in his birthplace of Budapest, an auction of memorabilia in Hollywood and seances in cities he visited, including Chicago and Frederick, Maryland. His grave at Machpelah Cemetery in New York City has long been a Halloween gathering place.

Other centennial releases include a Houdini colouring book and an overview of his personal library.

Why the name still works magic

Houdini was born Erik Weisz in 1874, a rabbi’s son whose family emigrated to the United States. By his teens he was a professional magician, and by 30 he was an international star famous for escaping handcuffs, shackles and locked crates. He was also an author, film actor and recording artist.

Film historian Matthew Solomon summed up his staying power for the AP: many people could not pick Houdini out of a lineup, he said, “but they know that ‘Houdini’ is synonymous with magic, an ability to do the impossible, or get out of a tight spot.”

The final trick

A century on, Houdini still has us debating dates, theories and newly found pages in his own hand. For a man who loved a mystery, that might be the perfect tribute.

Image: Harry Houdini and Kellar, ca. 1915 by Standard Slide Corp. via Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain Mark 1.0