Dean Gunnarson – The Coffin Escape Ordeal
[In honor of Dean Gunnarson's most ambitious escape yet, we thought we would re-publish his story from June 3, 2006.
He tells us what it is like to die during an escape].
Dean Gunnarson was kind enough to describe what it feels like to die in the course of an escape that went horribly wrong.
As loyal readers of Inside Magic know, we have a special fondness and respect for escape artists.
It could be because Houdini was an inspiration to all of us to study and perform magic.
Dean Gunnarson has long been a favorite practitioner of this ridiculously dangerous but exhilarating art.
The man is talented, able, charismatic and clinically insane. How dangerous are his escapes?
We was watching a video tape of his escape from a straight jacket while hanging by his toes over the top of Hoover Dam.
Now, we know that he survived the stunt. After all, he sent us the video tape.
But we were so nervous and tense that we actually turned it off half way through, took a break, and then we finished watching.
We don’t want to ruin the show for you but we can tell you that he successfully escaped and survived.
If you visit Mr. Gunnarson’s website, you will see that you can order a deck of bubblegum cards featuring his greatest escapes.
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Categories: Magic News, Magician Feature Tags: Dean Gunnarson, Escape Artist
Dean Gunnarson – Someone Stop Him!
We love Dean Gunnarson (strictly in a “fan of great escape artistry” sense) and love means acceptance but we wonder at what point we need an intervention.
(Check out the story leading to our concern in The Prince Albert Daily Herald).
He has hung over the Bolder Dam, been buried alive in concrete, been restrained by two tractor trailers pulling in opposite directions, and even performed the true Buried Alive live on television.
But frankly, we’re worn out. It is getting close to “tough love” time.
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Categories: Latest Magic News Tags: Dean Gunnarson, Escape Artist
Magic Babe Ning’s Controversial Escape Stunt Teases World Record Illusion Act
Inside Magic Favorite ‘Magic Babe’ Ning Cai literally elevated the risk level of her renown straight jacket escape last weekend.
Miss Ning is famous for her signature Straight Jacket Striptease routine. She describes the act as “Harry Houdini meets the Pussy Cat Dolls.”
Her most recent presentation, however, moved from tease to terrifying.
Inversion saw her completely restrained by a regulation straight jacket, blindfolded, and held upside down over a very real and very sharp bed of spikes.
Magic Seen calls Miss Ning “the sexiest woman in Magic” but this latest stunt could easily have ended in a decidedly less-than-sexy manner.
Honestly, we don’t know why they (escape artists) do this type of thing (risk their lives).
If our fellow performers risk their lives for our entertainment, they can skip it because we cannot handle it.
While we admire their skill, we tend to worry.
Inside Magic Favorite Dean Gunnarson sent us a video of an insane escape that took us a couple of hours to watch.
We kept stopping the video, visited our “happy place,” recalled that we were watching an event that happened in the past, and because Mr. Gunnarson sent us DVD himself, there was every reason to think he was not killed in the footage we were viewing.
Like Miss Ning, Mr. Gunnarson performed an inverted straight jacket escape.
Miss Ning was over very sharp and sturdy steel spikes.
Similarly, Mr. Gunnarson was high above The Hoover Dam while hanging from a free-swinging bar using only his feet; no tether, no strap to hold the top of his shoes in place as he contorted his body.
Yes it was an amazing feat, but it also brought us nightmares and an additional five weeks of therapy. And as many know, most insurance policies refuse to cover so-called “Puppet Psycho Therapy” beyond two weeks of visits. Our recovery was costly and left emotional scars.