![]() The bronze casket Houdini created for Buried Alive was used to transport Houdini's body from Detroit back to New York following his death on Halloween. The stunt was to be the feature escape of his 1927 season, but Houdini died on October 31, 1926. While there are posters advertising the escape (playing off the Bey challenge they boasted "Egyptian Fakirs Outdone!"), it is unclear whether Houdini ever performed Buried Alive on stage. ![]() The stunt would see Houdini escape after being strapped in a strait-jacket, sealed in a casket, and then buried in a large tank filled with sand. Houdini's final Buried Alive was an elaborate stage escape that was to feature in his full evening show. He repeated the feat at the YMCA in Worcester Massachusetts on September 28, 1926, this time remaining sealed for one hour and eleven minutes. Houdini claimed he did not use any trickery or supernatural powers to accomplish this feat, just controlled breathing. In any case, Bess and Harry wound up, by all accounts, entirely crazy about each other. If this family had been alive today, theyd make up 40 percent of TLCs programming. Houdini bettered Bey on August 5, 1926, by remaining in a sealed casket, or coffin, submerged in the swimming pool of New York's Hotel Shelton for one hour and a half. A Skeptical Inquirer piece details the scandal that arose when Leopold, another of Harrys brothers, married the ex-wife of Nathan, another of Houdinis brothers. He was suspended high above the ground and buried alive in the earth. By the turn of the century, Harry had graduated from jail cells to water-filled tanks, coffins, and straight jackets. Houdini's second variation on Buried Alive was an endurance test designed to expose mystical Egyptian performer Rahman Bey, who claimed to use supernatural powers to remain in a sealed casket for an hour. Amazingly, as Houdini’s reputation and fame increased, so did the difficulty and complexity of his stunts. Houdini wrote in his diary that the escape was "very dangerous" and that "the weight of the earth is killing." When his hand finally broke the surface, he fell unconscious and had to be pulled from the grave by his assistants. He became exhausted and panicky trying to dig his way to the surface and called for help. Houdini was buried, without a casket, in a pit of earth six feet deep. The first was near Santa Ana, California in 1915, and it almost cost Houdini his life. Houdini performed at least three variations on a "Buried Alive" stunt/escape during his career. ![]()
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