On a November 1926 night, four days after the Halloween death of Harry Houdini, about 2,000 people gathered at the famed magician’s gravesite in Machpelah Cemetery in Queens, NY, as a wand was broken over his grave.
The magic held in the wand, the ceremony symbolized, had left, lost to all but history and memory.
The Broken Wand ceremony, however, never left, and generations of magicians since have had similar ceremonies when they died. While the ceremony’s heyday was in the 50 years after Houdini’s death, the ceremony is still performed for magicians everywhere, according to Matthew Crabtree, the national president of The Society of American Magicians.
“Over the last 50 years, it has dropped off,” Crabtree said. Still Crabtree estimates that 10 percent of magicians have the ceremony performed at their funeral services. Magicians clubs perform it much more often at their meetings when a member dies.
“Almost every famous magician has had a broken wand performed,” Crabtree added.
John E. Waters, a longtime Monmouth County resident, was one of those 10 percent. When he died in March 2026, he had one wish for his funeral–a Broken Wand ceremony, his daughter, Sharon Waters, said.
Sharon Waters said her father never wanted to discuss funeral arrangements, but decades ago he mentioned the Broken Wand to his daughter.
“He made that request years ago, and I filed it away in my head because it was his only ask,” Waters said.
John Waters came to magic late in life, his daughter said, and he learned tricks for what is likely the best of reasons.
“Magic was a way for him to entertain his grandchildren,” Sharon Waters said. “My father's magic was simple–he really only needed to stay a step ahead of the comprehension level of a small child–but he always performed his magic with love and flair.“
Sharon reached out to magician Mitch Geier, whose name she discovered in her father’s email, and asked for his help with the Broken Wand. Geier readily agreed and recruited others to help as well.
Geier, an experienced magician who has appeared on stage in Las Vegas and has known many of the top magicians of our time, said he knew John Waters personally. John had started a magic club, and Geier and some of his friends attended.
“We came to participate and teach,” Geier said. “It’s more about the brotherhood and the fraternity.”
The four magicians who participated in the ceremony were more advanced than her father, but they “talked about my dad with admiration for his unique approach to magic, and his love of the craft.” Their comments were “both touching and funny,” Sharon said.
Experience doesn’t matter when it comes to magicians, Geier said. Every magician brings something to the table, he said, “honoring the art form in your own way.”
“The Broken Wand is a sign of respect, from magicians to other magicians, for their art,” Geier added.
Sharon Waters had alerted people that a special ceremony would be taking place before the religious service. The room, she said, was packed. Her brother and sister, who knew of the ceremony but not what it would entail, were surprised and pleased. And Sharon said her father would have loved it, too.
“My father loved interacting with people, and magic was a vehicle to do that,” she said. “He had an offbeat personality, and he was never afraid to do something different.”
Ginny Sanzo, a Past President of the New Jersey State Funeral Directors Association, worked with the Waters family on their father’s arrangements. She had never heard of the Broken Wand ceremony when Sharon Waters talked to her about it.
“I was so excited when she mentioned it,” Sanzo, a certified celebrant, said. “I told her, ‘This is great!’”
The ceremony represented a “significant touchpoint in his life and the joy he brought,” Sanzo said. When the idea was brought up, Sanzo said, “it really touched my heart.”
Care was taken to separate the wand ceremony from the religious service conducted by a priest, Sanzo and Sharon Waters both said.
Sharon said she shared the prepared remarks of one of the magicians with Sanzo to show her this would not be some kind of “weird ritual.”
Crabtree said the ceremony is designed as nonsectarian and can be used for any magician “regardless of his or her religious affiliation.” There are four different scripts, two long and two short. Two are for the actual Broken Wand ceremony and two are for a wand-passing ceremony, where the wand is given to someone else.
While her role as a celebrant was not employed in the ceremony (Sanzo herself was out of town during the funeral), the Broken Wand mirrors the ethos of celebrant training, providing a unique look at who the decedent was and what his passions were.
Sanzo said it was wonderful to have Waters’ avocation “recognized in such a formal way, not just as a line in an obituary.”
The history of the ceremony was not lost on any of the participants. It represents an ongoing link to one of the greatest magicians in history, Houdini, whose life and death are still remembered today.
The Broken Wand ceremony is still performed on Halloween, the anniversary of Houdini’s death, every year at his gravesite. And, while the crowd is smaller than it was in 1926, Houdini still draws, Crabtree said.
About 100 people show up yearly.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The writer has known Sharon Waters for more than two decades. His wife and Sharon were coworkers at the Home News Tribune.