Page 106 - Gibson W.B. "The complete guide to knots"

98
Houdini's Knot Mystery

Here is Houdini's version of the
"spooky knots" on a larger scale, that
actually baffled persons familiar with
the original trick. You can do it your-
self, under the proper conditions,
which are as follows:
Show your friends a rope measur-
ing thirty feet or more — and say that
you will have the spooks tie some
knots in it. To prove that some such
force is necessary, you tie one end of
the rope around a person's waist and
the other end around a second per-
son's waist. The main portion of the
rope is lying coiled on the floor
between your two volunteers (fig. 1).
It is impossible to get at the rope and
tie knots in it; that is, impossible for
anyone except the friendly "spirits"
upon whom you call. Since spirits
work only in the dark, the lights are
turned off.
You then tell the two volunteers to
move to opposite corners of the room
so the spooks will have space in
which they can operate. You call for
lights and "mysteriously" the rope is
stretched taut between the two

fig. 1