It's Now Been 102 Years Since Houdini Cheated Death

Magicians and escape artists like David Blaine and Criss Angel pull in millions today with TV specials and Las Vegas shows. Before either of them or even 1970s daredevil Evel Knievel, there was one man who set the standard for feats of danger and showmanship -- Harry Houdini.

The Hungarian-American illusionist and stunt performer, challenged fate on a regular basis, locking himself in chains and straitjackets with often only minutes to escape before death.

Along the way he built up a fan base on the vaudeville circuit, toured Europe and was president of the Society of American Magicians.

It's been102 years since one of Houdini's most famous stunts -- being buried alive. Houdini had been interested in such a stunt for years, but wasn't quite sure how to go about turning into a practical and entertaining stunt.

In 1915, he submitted himself to the dangerous feat that had him buried in Santa Ana, California in a pit beneath six feet of earth. He barely made it out alive.

The stunt proved almost too much for the daredevil who began to panic as he struggled to claw his way up through the earth. He soon became exhausted and called for assistants to help him, but they were unable to hear his cries beneath the soil. Houdini mustered the strength to push one hand and above the earth's surface where he was then pulled out of the dirt unconscious by his team. He would later write in his journal describing the terrifying experience.

Risking his life being buried enough just once wasn't enough for he master escapist and he would perform the stunt two more times. In 1926 he was buried alive as a showing of endurance in order to disprove the magical powers claimed by Egyptian performer Rahman Bey who said his powers allowed him stay in an airtight casket for an hour. Houdini accomplished the same by staying submerged underwater in a casket for an hour and a half through controlled breathing.

He performed his final "buried alive"s stunt in a similar manner later that year, just one month before his untimely death from a  ruptured appendix.

As mentioned, the life of Harry Houdini has inspired a number of copycats who have attempted to out-do the master escapist, often with mixed results.

Antony Britton attempted to perform Houdini's buried alive stunt just has his hero had in 2015, by being buried in a grave beneath five tons of soil. After nine minutes in the dirt with no oxygen his team began to panic and Britton had to be pulled out of the ground unconscious and revived by paramedics. "The pressure of the soil was crushing around me," Britton said. "Even when I found an air pocket, when I exhaled the soil around me was crushing me even more."

Without a doubt the most notable successor to Houdini's throne has been David Blaine who catapulted escapism back into the entertainment mainstream with his TV specials.

One of his most notable was his 2000 stunt Frozen In Time, which saw the barely dressed Blaine encased in a block of ice for an astounding 63 hours, 42 minutes before being cut free with chainsaws. Blaine later said the stunt took him over a month to recover from and he had no intention of ever trying it again.