 As he escapes, he realizes that this creature is merely the paw of a much larger deity in whose image the Sphinx was carved.Houdini dismisses the events as a hallucination or a dream consequent of the strains of his kidnapping ordeal, despite the resemblance he sees between Khephren and his guide, Drogman.Facing financial problems, J. C. Henneberger, the founder and owner of "Weird Tales", wanted to associate the popular Harry Houdini with the magazine in order to boost its readership.