Magician Hoping To Replicate Houdini's Death-Defying Stunt Over Pittsburgh 100 Years Later
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Even though he died almost 90 years ago, Harry Houdini is still considered one of the greatest magicians of all time; and in just a few months, a magician from Pittsburgh will try to duplicate one of Houdini's most famous stunts.
Lee Terbosic is a full-time magician and part-time historian.
"People still have the same fascination with, not only the routine, but with just where it came from -- it being from Houdini," says Terbosic.
Houdini is known as a legendary escape artist, but he had other talents, too.
"He was a marketing genius. He really was," Terbosic says. "He knew how to sell a show. He knew how create a buzz about what he was doing. That's why we still talk about him today."
Watch Lee Terbosic on Pittsburgh Today Live:
In November, Terbosic hopes we will be talking about Houdini again when he tries to duplicate the legendary magician's famous straightjacket escape.
He will hang upside down, 50 feet above the intersection of Liberty Avenue and Wood Street in Pittsburgh. It comes 100 years to the day of Houdini doing the same stunt at the same place.
"Especially when you are confined in a straightjacket, you want to panic; but obviously, you can't panic," Terbosic says. "You remain calm, work the same way you do on two feet, but I am also having the added benefit of gravity."
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Terbosic will be fastened in the straightjacket, and then hung from his ankles upside-down.
KDKA's Rick Dayton: "You want to do this in front of hundreds or thousands of people?"
Terbosic: "Maybe thousands of people!"
If all goes according to plan on Nov. 6, Terbosic will be out of the real straight-jacket in about 10 minutes.
For more information, visit: http://www.houdini100.com/
