On September 28, 1926 — exactly 100 years ago today — Harry Houdini climbed into an airtight casket and was submerged underwater for an incredible one hour and eleven minutes.
The remarkable endurance experiment took place in the swimming pool of the YMCA in Worcester, Massachusetts, and came during the final weeks of Houdini's life.
While Houdini is best remembered for escaping from handcuffs, straitjackets, jail cells and his famous Water Torture Cell, his later career also included experiments designed to test the limits of human endurance.
This was one of the most unusual.
Houdini Takes on the “Buried Alive” Challenge
Earlier in 1926, Egyptian performer Rahman Bey had attracted attention by claiming that supernatural abilities allowed him to survive for an extended period sealed inside a casket.
Houdini wasn't buying it.
A famous opponent of fraudulent supernatural claims, Houdini set out to demonstrate that such a feat could be accomplished through physical control rather than mystical powers.
On August 5, 1926, Houdini entered a sealed casket that was submerged in the swimming pool of New York's Hotel Shelton.
He remained inside for approximately 90 minutes.
Houdini attributed his success not to magic or supernatural powers, but to remaining calm and carefully controlling his breathing.
But he wasn't finished.
September 28, 1926 — The Worcester Experiment
Less than two months later, Houdini repeated the experiment.
On September 28, 1926, an audience gathered at the Worcester YMCA to watch as Houdini was once again sealed inside a casket and submerged underwater.
Reports indicate that the audience consisted largely of physicians and other scientifically minded observers.
Houdini remained submerged for an astonishing one hour and eleven minutes before the experiment ended.
There was no dramatic escape from chains or a last-second appearance on the other side of the room.
The challenge was simply to survive.
For 71 minutes.
Inside a sealed casket.
Underwater.
Part of Houdini's Fascination With Being Buried Alive
The concept of being buried alive fascinated Houdini for years.
He had experimented with a dramatically different version of the stunt in California in 1915, when he attempted to escape after being buried beneath several feet of earth without a casket.
That attempt nearly ended disastrously.
By 1926, however, Houdini had transformed the concept into an endurance demonstration involving airtight caskets.
Just two days after the Worcester YMCA experiment, he performed another airtight-casket test in Worcester, this time above ground and in public view outside Summerfield's Furniture Company.
Houdini was also developing a theatrical Buried Alive presentation involving a casket and a large quantity of sand.
An Eerie Connection to Houdini's Final Days
What makes today's anniversary particularly striking is how close it occurred to the end of Houdini's life.
The Worcester YMCA experiment took place on September 28, 1926.
Houdini died just over a month later, on October 31, 1926, at the age of 52.
His death brought an abrupt end to further development of his Buried Alive presentations and endurance experiments.
Today, a full century later, Houdini's name remains almost inseparable from the idea of impossible escapes.
But the Worcester experiment reminds us that Houdini wasn't always trying to escape.
Sometimes the challenge was simply seeing how long he could remain inside.
And exactly 100 years ago today, Harry Houdini climbed into a sealed casket, disappeared beneath the water of a Massachusetts swimming pool and remained there for 71 minutes.
It's another remarkable chapter in the career of the man whose name would become synonymous with escape itself.
On This Day in Magic History — September 28, 1926.
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