Lots of people will be heading up to the Edinburgh Festivals, and so I thought that it would be fun to put together a free, self-guided, magical tour of the city. It’s easy to walk through the streets, not realising you are surrounded by amazing stories about the history of magic and illusion. It forms part of the celebrations for the 80th Anniversary of The Edinburgh Magic Circle.
There are 13 locations in all (10 in the city centre and 3 at the nearby seaside town of Portobello). Along the way you will meet the famous escapologist Harry Houdini (no jail could hold him), The Great Lafayette (the illusionist who died twice), the amazing Charles Cameron (who helped to create a new genre of magic) and many more interesting characters and tales. Even if you are not coming to Edinburgh, click through and enjoy the stories.
One of my favourite (possibly apocryphal) stories surrounding Houdini apparently happened in a British prison. As the story goes, Houdini was locked in a cell and spent hours trying to pick the lock to no avail. Sweating and exhausted, he eventually collapsed against the door in frustration – only for it to swing wide open. It had never been locked in the first place! The great escapologist had been trapped purely by his own assumptions.
To whet your appetite for the walk, here is a rare photograph of Houdini outside Edinburgh’s Waverley Station!
My hope is that this project inspires others to map out similar walks in their own towns and cities. If you’d like to get involved, or know of any magic history in your area, please drop me a line (details here). Together, we could build a magical map of the entire country!
The link to the walk is here and I hope that you enjoy it.
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