Martin Escape or Die

An Escape Artist Unlocks the Secret to Cheating Death
1. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-1-933591-14-8
Verlag: Genesis Publishing Group
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 144 Seiten

Few sane people would want to be locked in shackles, enclosed in a box, and thrown from a plane at 15,000 feet for fun. But for renowned escape artist Anthony Martin, whose fascination with locks began as a young boy, it's all in a day's work. Whether shackled in a bag with a python, padlocked in a cage beneath a frozen lake, or buried in a coffin under a ton of sand, Anthony regularly faces the risk of serious injury or death. However, unlike Houdini, who used illusion, Anthony's exploits are all true escapes. Interweaving stories of his over thirty years of daredevil feats with lessons he's learned in the 'school of hard locks,' Anthony unlocks the mystery of life after death-something Houdini had sought in séances to no avail. What happens when we die? Once we pass through the door of death, what's on the other side? Through fascinating parallels with his death-defying adventures, Anthony reveals the keys to making the greatest escape. With the lessons he shares in Escape or Die, you'll be well-equipped to take a leap of faith and defeat death once and for all.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Martin, Anthony

Leseproben

CHAPTER 2

HOUDINI, SPIRITS, AND PSYCHICS

“It is dangerous to let the public behind the scenes. They are easily disillusioned and then they are angry with you, for it was the illusion they loved.”

—WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM

The only light came from a flickering candle flame whose shadow danced ominously on the wall. Eight people sat clutching hands around the table in the tiny room. The atmosphere seemed more like a wake than a quest for answers. Scattered on the table were a bell, a tambourine, and a brass horn. The group anxiously exchanged glances as the candle was blown out. Now there was only darkness—a darkness so oppressive it could be felt.

The seekers shuddered in the room turned gateway—an entrance into what they hoped would be the supernatural. Suddenly, the bell was heard to ring with no apparent operator. The horn appeared luminous in the darkness, floating high above the now petrified onlookers. Then the voice, a deep monotone, addressed the group.

“Whom do you seek…what do you want from us…why do you disturb our rest?”

An elderly woman in the group began to shake and sob. “Our son Thomas,” she replied. “I must hear from Thomas.”

Vaudeville legend Harry Houdini spent the last years of his life involved in dramatic scenes such as this. He too was a seeker, but he found only parlor tricks and chicanery wherever he went. Houdini was looking in all the wrong places for the answers to what happens after death.

Fakes, Frauds, and Counterfeits

According to a 2009 CBS News poll, it is estimated that over half of Americans believe in psychic phenomenon. Among this group are those who take these beliefs a step further and seek personal guidance by such means. After the death of Houdini’s mother in 1913, he was to undertake a journey into a labyrinth filled with fraud and deceit. At that time it was not uncommon to seek the aid of “spirit mediums” who claimed to be able to speak to the spirits of dearly departed loved ones. The First World War had snatched thousands into eternity and people had become desperate to communicate with those they had lost. When Houdini attempted to contact his beloved mother on the other side and found empty trickery instead, he took matters personally. He went on a crusade to expose such charlatans and stop their attempts to prey on a gullible, unsuspecting public.

Although such séances still take place today, the majority of those seeking guidance from beyond turn to people who profess to have psychic abilities. A glance at the Yellow Pages will reveal that the practice continues unabated, and it has become quite lucrative for those who engage in it. Astrology, horoscopes, and psychic readings have captured the imagination of a public that is searching for answers. In 2011, Florida prosecutors, who were cooperating in a multistate investigation, say a fortune-telling scam amassed over $30 million for its practitioners. Those scammed forked over cash, gold, and jewelry in an attempt to receive supernatural guidance and comfort. Even the U.S. government managed to spend an amazing $20 million over several decades (beginning in the 1970s) in a vain attempt to gather intelligence from psychics before coming to its senses.

In an effort to refute such practices, I developed an act that duplicates much of this phenomenon that many people so readily put their trust in. In the act, I appear to know things I couldn’t possibly know and see things I couldn’t possibly see, which challenges the audience to question the validity of such belief systems.

There is, however, a paradox in all of this. It is difficult to reconcile how people can be thoroughly gullible in one area while at the same time being very skeptical and investigative in others. The answer may lie in what we want to believe. As a locksmith and escape artist, I’ve found that fakes, frauds, and counterfeits have extended far beyond the realm of just spirit mediums and psychics. They extend right into my own profession.

Some People Follow Illusions

Like a hammer to a carpenter or a brush to a painter, a straitjacket is a basic tool of the trade to an escape artist. To perform a straitjacket escape today is by no means original. The straitjacket escape was done in full view of the audience for the very first time by Houdini’s brother, Hardeen, in 1905. Prior to this, Houdini had always done the escape behind a curtained enclosure so that his methods would remain mysterious. It was Hardeen who discovered that the struggle was good theater and pioneered the full-view straitjacket escape that we are familiar with today. Houdini was later to adopt this practice himself, further improving on it by being suspended upside down from the ankles high over the heads of onlookers.

Over the years, I‘ve performed the straitjacket escape under every circumstance imaginable, including my 25th Anniversary Jail Cell Escape (from the Waushara County Jail) for Ripley’s Believe It or Not! For that escape I was laced in a straitjacket and, as an added obstacle, strapped to a ladder before being locked behind four prison doors. The Waushara County Jail in Wisconsin, at one time known for housing Edward Gein, “America’s Most Bizarre Murderer,” was able to hold me for just under three minutes.

Strapped to a ladder at the Waushara County Jail

Most people today don’t realize that the majority of straitjacket escapes they’ve seen were not genuine. Instead, the straitjackets were cleverly faked. I perform escapes using only real straitjackets and have been harshly criticized for revealing on national television how fake straitjackets work. People who use trick handcuffs and straitjackets are really the equivalent of actors who pretend to be singers and lip synch their songs. Television has further perpetuated the falsehood with audience plants, clever camera angles, and deceptive video editing techniques. Such mimicry cheats audiences, as well as cheapens the risk involved in the real thing. Imagine the humiliation of failing an escape attempt, or even worse, getting killed because the zipper got stuck on your fake straitjacket.

One thing I have noticed about the fake jackets is that they have more straps, making them look better to audiences—more secure, more menacing. Like the airbrushed photo of your favorite celebrity, they look almost perfect. When placed side-by-side with the real thing, however, subtle differences are apparent. The arm holes are larger in the fake jacket. The arm-retaining strap exits from inside the jacket instead of being attached to the outside. The material is thinner and more supple, among other telltale clues. Just like the methods used to identify counterfeit money, when the fake jacket is placed next to the real thing, the truth is told.

Before his death on Halloween in 1926, Houdini made a pact with his wife to attempt to communicate with her from beyond the grave. In his mind, this final test under his direction would conclusively reveal whether spirit communication was possible and, more importantly, reveal what’s on the other side of death. Despite repeated failures, Houdini’s wife faithfully followed his instructions and held séances every year thereafter. On October 31, 1936, Bess Houdini held the last Houdini séance. There, on the roof of the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood, she announced that she would stop all further efforts to contact her deceased husband. This decision finally brought to an end a full ten years of attempted spirit communication with the late magician. Unfortunately, some people never stop wasting their lives dealing with the disappointments of fakes, frauds, and counterfeits when it comes to spiritual beliefs.

I’ve developed an escape called the “Cangue Crypt” (a scaled-down version of the “Buried Alive: Crystal Crypt” escape described later). A cangue is an ancient Chinese instrument similar to the western pillory. It’s a large, flat board with a hole cut in the center big enough for a person’s neck. This challenge requires me to kneel while my hands are handcuffed behind my back. A hood is draped over my head, and the cangue is locked around my neck. Finally, a clear plastic box is placed over my head so that it rests on the cangue. The box, containing my head, is then filled with about twenty pounds of sand. I need to escape from the handcuffs in order to release myself so I can breathe again. This escape is indeed dangerous and conjures many fears in the minds of those watching (not to mention in my own).

Some people, it would seem, live their whole lives in a cangue. As the sands of time march on, they are edging ever closer to their own inevitable crypt. All they need is the key that can set them free and give them the breath of life. They are trapped and tragically unaware of the consequences.

Our pluralistic society has caused confusion by presenting many religious ideas as truths, even though these “truths” are not compatible and often contradict each other. Television celebrities, philosophers, authors, and religious gurus peddle varying views of eternity—all of which cannot be true. One view points to a god that is nonjudgmental where anything goes, while another points to a god that must be appeased by the good deeds that we do. One religion will teach that god is personal, another that god is an unknowable force. Some speak of an eternal paradise that we must work to merit, while others have their adherents strive through reincarnation to reach a point where their souls are absorbed and they cease...