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New York, UNITED STATES: Forensic specialist Dr. James Starrs addresses a news conference at the Center for Jewish History 23 March, 2007 in New York City during which it was announced that the families of legendary magician Harry Houdini will call for the exhumation of his body to determine if the performer was murdered. The Hungarian-born magician died in 1926 at the age of 52 in circumstances shrouded in mystery. While the official cause of death was peritonitis caused by a ruptured appendix, one theory has suggested he was poisoned. Houdini made some enemies by trying to expose mediums in the then-popular spiritualist movement, saying their claims to be able to contact the dead were bogus. The theory goes that they may have killed the magician. The escape artist is buried at Machpelah Cemetery in Queens, borough of New York. AFP PHOTO Timothy A. CLARY (Photo credit should read TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)