The escapologists who risked death when they buried themselves alive: Harry Houdini, Alan Alan and Anthony Britton nearly died in dangerous stunt but David Blaine lasted seven days in see-through coffin – as magician Dynamo looks to attempt feat on live TV
When Dynamo buries himself alive in front of millions of viewers later this week, he will be following in some rather unfortunate footsteps.
The magician, whose real name is Steven Frayne, is set to attempt a feat that some of the greatest names in magic tried and failed to pull off.
In 1915, great American escapologist Harry Houdini kicked off the trend when he was buried without a coffin beneath six feet of earth.
But he panicked while trying to dig his way out and, by the time his hand broke the surface, he had fallen unconscious and had to be pulled free by his assistants.
British magician Alan Alan attempted the stunt again in 1949, but he too had to be rescued and was moments from death when he finally emerged, shaken but alive.
And his countryman Antony Britton had a go in 2015 but also had to be saved by rescuers, with photographers capturing the moment his hand burst through the soil.
Illusionist David Blaine had more success with a variation on the stunt in 1999, which saw him spend a week underground in a see-through coffin.
After nearly four years off the nation’s TV screens due to severe health struggles, Dynamo making a comeback with a new one-off show, titled Dynamo Is Dead
Harry Houdini
Houdini performed at least three separate buried alive stunts.
After surviving his first attempt, he told in his diary how it was ‘very dangerous’ and the ‘weight of the earth is killing’.
However, in his first variation on the stunt in 1926, he opted to submerge himself in water while inside a coffin.
At New York’s Hotel Shelton, he spent more than an hour at the foot of a swimming pool and claimed not to have used any trickery.
Instead, he was said to have taken very short breaths to avoid using up all the oxygen in the coffin.
Houdini performed at least three separate buried alive stunts. After surviving his first attempt, he told in his diary how it was ‘very dangerous’ and the ‘weight of the earth is killing’. However, in his first variation on the stunt in 1926, he opted to submerge himself in water while inside a coffin
He repeated the feat the following month and was set to enact a fourth variation in 1927, but died before he could carry it out.
A promotional poster that was produced for the hyped-up event inspired Blaine to carry out his own feat in 1999.
Houdini died in 1926 from a ruptured appendix, just days after being repeatedly hit in the abdomen by a woman who had asked if it was true that he could resist punches to his chest.
Houdini was set to enact a fourth variation in 1927, but died before he could carry it out. A promotional poster that was produced for the hyped-up event inspired Blaine to carry out his own feat in 1999
Alan Alan
The British magician, who died aged 87 in 2014, was known during his career as the ‘British Houdini’.
His specialty involved escaping from a straightjacket while suspended from a burning rope high above the ground.
But he first made headlines with his attempt to echo Houdini in 1949.
In a stunt that was branded ‘Houdini II buried alive’ and filmed by British Pathe, Alan headed to Cobham, Surrey.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=37HBz4QEF7k%3Frel%3D0
British magician Alan Alan, who died aged 87 in 2014, was known during his career as the ‘British Houdini’
Alan is seen being tied up in a straightjacket for yet another daring escape attempt in 1959
After lying down in a freshly dug grave, he had a piece of cardboard placed over him before earth was shovelled back into the hole on top of him.
But, when there was no sign of him after several minutes, his assistants frantically dug him back out.
They soon realised that they had packed the earth too tightly.
Footage showed him grimacing in pain as he was pulled out of the soil.
Alan Alan hangs over the River Thames in a straight jacket, as Tower Bridge looms in the background
David Blaine
In what was his first public endurance feat, Blaine spent a whole week in a Perspex coffin underneath three tones of water outside the Trump building in Manhattan in 1999.
Then just 25, he garnered significant public attention with the stunt. Thousands of people came to watch him lying six feet beneath the ground.
When the tank that lay above him was lifted after a week, Blaine told onlookers: ‘I saw something very prophetic… a vision of every race, every religion, every age group banding together and that made all this worthwhile.’
In what was his first public endurance feat, Blaine spent a whole week in a Perspex coffin underneath three tones of water outside the Trump building in Manhattan in 1999
The escapologist did not eat any food and subsisted on just two to three tablespoons of water a day.
Speaking in 2022 about what inspired him to carry out the stunt, Blaine told Joe Rogan’s podcast: ‘There’s a poster of Houdini where he was buried alive, but he never did the stunt.
‘He died before he got to do it. But he was going to be buried alive underground in a coffin.
‘So I stared… I loved that poster since i was a kid, it’s like in the magic books you see that poster.’
He followed the feat a year later with a stunt that saw him live for three days entombed in a block of ice in New York’s Times Square.
Blaine’s other escapades include standing for 35 hours on a 90ft-high pillar in 2002 – again in Manhattan – and living for 44 days in a Plexiglas box above the River Thames in 2003.
Then just 25, he garnered significant public attention with the stunt. Thousands of people came to watch him lying six feet beneath the ground. Above: Blaine in the box, with Donald Trump standing next to him
Antony Britton
In what was the second attempt to emulate Houdini’s original stunt, British escapologist Antony Britton buried himself alive in 2015.
Britton went one step further than Houdini and Alan by opting to be handcuffed.
Despite insisting that he would be able to free himself, rescuers at the site in West Yorkshire had to leap into action after nine minutes passed without any sign of life.
He said afterwards: ‘I almost died. I was just seconds away from death. It was scary. The pressure of the soil was crushing around me.
In what was the second attempt to emulate Houdini’s original stunt, British escapologist Antony Britton buried himself alive in 2015
Despite insisting that he would be able to free himself, rescuers at the site in West Yorkshire had to leap into action after nine minutes passed without any sign of life
‘Even when I found an air pocket, when I exhaled the soil around me was crushing me even more.
‘I could feel myself losing consciousness and there was nothing I could do. I was pretty much dying.’
That stunt came a year after Britton nearly died when a stunt that saw him hang upside down in a straightjacket from a burning rope went wrong.
The rope burnt faster than expected and he was forced to dislocate his shoulders to free himself before he plummeted to the ground.
Dynamo
After nearly four years off the nation’s TV screens due to severe health struggles, Dynamo making a comeback with a new one-off show, titled Dynamo Is Dead.
‘Right now I feel happy to be alive. Albeit … I’ll be ultimately happier when I come out of that grave. Touch wood,’ he told the Sunday Times.
The magician is also set to ditch his long-time stage name, hence the title of the new programme.
The live show will air live at 9pm on Sky Max.
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