Nestled next to the late Lewins, Blums and Levys in a spooky old cemetery in New York City lies the final resting place of America’s most legendary magician, interred under a granite monument that bears his stage name in bold letters: Houdini.

It is an impressive tribute to the man who grew up as Ehrich Weiss and died on Halloween of 1926 of complications from appendicitis. Over the years, the site has been venerated, vandalized, thieved and forsaken, but a group of magicians now wants to officially end the mystery of who will care for the grave.

“Houdini was a visionary. He was an inventor, an escape artist, and he gave back to society in so many ways,” said Dorothy Dietrich, a magician who runs a Houdini museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania. “It’s the least we can do to give back in some small way for all he’s given to us.”

Dietrich serves on a national Society of American Magicians committee working to raise money to restore Houdini’s gravesite and allow for the permanent care of the monument at Machpelah Cemetery in Queens. It will cost about $1,200 annually to maintain the grounds, plus thousands more for restoration.

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