A Canadian man marked the 80th anniversary of the death of magician Harry Houdini on Tuesday by escaping from a sealed glass-and-metal box containing two tonnes of wet cement, according to reports.
Dean Gunnarson was handcuffed, his body wrapped in chains and his cell locked shut with six padlocks. He emerged after more than two minutes covered in wet cement, gasping for air, public broadcaster CBC said.
Houdini died in hospital of peritonitis from a ruptured appendix on Halloween in 1926 at the age of 52, one week after his last performance at the Garrick Theatre in Detroit, Michigan.
Born Ehrich Weiss, the Hungarian immigrant to the United States amazed audiences worldwide by freeing himself from handcuffs, chains, ropes and straightjackets, often while hanging from a rope or suspended in water.
In 1913, he introduced his most famous act, the Chinese Water Torture Cell, in which he escaped from a locked glass-and-steel cabinet full of water while suspended upside-down. He held his breath for three minutes during the stunt.
Gunnarson told reporters he planned his tribute to occur at the exact moment of Houdini’s death because “Houdini had a huge impact on my life”. — AFP