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Before Cosentino and Cris Angel, there was Harry Houdini. This old school stuntman pretty much started it all, escaping from chains, under water and underground. This is definitely not something to try at home!

Harry 'Handcuffs' Houdini

In the early 1900s, Houdini used to go around actually CHALLENGING the police to lock him up, before escaping from even the toughest cuffs. People were fascinated, so Houdini started amping up his show - adding crazier and crazier stunts and freaking out bigger and bigger audiences.

Buried Alive!

He once asked to be buried alive (under six feet of dirt!), only to escape hours later looking really roughed up! Suspicious peeps wondered whether he really was that exhausted, or whether the whole thing was for show, but either way, it worked. Houdini became a legend.

Underwater Escape

Harry was getting more and more famous every year, and had to come up with bigger and better stunts. He decided on an underwater escape in a river in New York. He was handcuffed his feet chained together, before being placed inside a lead-weighted crate that was nailed shut! The crate was lowered into the river, but not for long - Houdini escaped all of that in less than a minute.