He would have to hold his breath for more than three minutes while he tried to escape, which he did successfully every time. In this spectacle, Houdini would be hung by his feet and lowered upside down into a locked glass container filled with water. In 1912, Houdini introduced the Water Torture Cell, which would come to define his already spectacular career. No one ever collected on that offer, though - Houdini could escape every time. He even offered $100 (a lot of money at that time!) to anyone who could come up with a set of handcuffs from which he couldn't escape. When he arrived in a new town, Houdini would challenge local police, claiming he could escape from any handcuffs they could provide. Houdini's handcuffs act impressed audiences around the country. He soon became well-known for his uncanny ability to escape from handcuffs. When he became a professional magician at the age of 17, he named himself “ Harry Houdini.'Īlthough he first specialized in card tricks, it wasn't long before he began experimenting with escape acts. Erik Weisz was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary, on March 24, 1874.

Houdini handcuff escape