![]() ![]() There are ways to slow down the depletion, however: Taking shallower breaths helps, Lalley says, and swimmers and divers often hyperventilate before a task to lower the body’s carbon dioxide levels.īack at the pool in 1926, Houdini chose to stay in after Collins called and told him he had exceeded Bey’s timing. Once “used” by animals breathing, that percentage goes down until there is nothing beneficial to bind to the body’s hemoglobin. “You’re not very long for survival in an enclosed space,” he says. Normal air is about 20 percent oxygen. Lalley, emeritus professor of physiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told mental_floss he wouldn’t recommend trying this at home. Houdini’s assistant, James Collins, called down every few minutes to inform him how much time had passed. There was also a telephone line within the device. According to Mullin, the casket was wired with a buzzer he could press in case he felt imminent death. Houdini’s reputation was at stake, but he made an effort to ensure that his life wasn’t. He entered a metal casket, which his assistants lowered into a swimming pool. On August 5, 1926, Houdini performed the stunt in front of journalists at the Hotel Shelton in New York. Once again, Houdini managed 70 minutes before giving the signal to be let out. This time, the glass case was lowered into a pool of water. He feared, however, that some air may have seeped in, so he made a second practice attempt. ![]() On the first practice run, he spent one hour and 10 minutes in it, emerging sweaty and gasping. His assistants built a glass case, one that would allow Houdini to give a visual cue if he was about suffocate. Bey directly challenged Houdini to replicate the stunt.Īccording to Harry Houdini: Death-Defying Showman by Rita Thievon Mullin, Houdini practiced for weeks to regulate his breathing, taking shallow breaths in the hopes of conserving oxygen within an airtight container. ![]() After an hour, assistants pulled him out, alive. Bey was enclosed in a metal box, which was submerged in a swimming pool in New York’s Dalton Hotel. In July of that year, magician Rahman Bey performed a stunt that rivaled any of Houdini’s. But for arguably his greatest trick, one he performed at the age of 52 just months before he died, Houdini had to master his own physiology. The magician’s seemingly never-ending tricks were usually sleight-of-hand, the result of hidden features in his props, or exploitations of the weaknesses of his restraints. "I suppose anything is possible," he said.By 1926, the year he died, Harry Houdini had made an elephant disappear, walked out of a brick wall assistants had built around him, regurgitated needles and blades, swam out of a nailed-shut box into which he'd been shackled and thrown into the East River, and escaped countless handcuffs and straitjackets (often while hanging upside-down). It's unlikely this rendition of the Houdiniana auction will see any bidders break that record, though Fajuri wouldn't rule it out. The item was a mechanical device that Houdini used to create the illusion that a rose bush had grown on stage. Last year, Potter & Potter made what is believed to be the most expensive sale of a Houdini relic, at $324,000. "It really has a wide range of material available," he adds, noting that while some items are expected to sell for tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, others will go for as low as $100. "I'd say, arguably, it's the best Houdini sale we've ever put together," said Fajuri. The auction is slated for April 8 at the Potter & Potter gallery in Belmont Cragin. "I'm sure somebody's going to geek out on hanging it in their house and looking in the same mirror Houdini did before he got ready for a show," Potter & Potter President Gabe Fajuri said of the mirror, which is expected to sell for up to $9,000. A personal gilt-framed mirror that hung in the living room of his home is also up for auction. ![]() There are also more personal items, including love notes Houdini wrote to his wife, a family photo album and books that he gifted to other showmen. Other show items from the sale include Houdini's escape box, collar shackles, bottleneck handcuffs and skeleton key collection. ![]()
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