Modern 'Houdini' Takes Stage At Oakmont Theater

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Escape Artist Michael Griffin showed off some of his tricks prior to a 7:30 show at the Oaks Theater in Oakmont.

"Sometimes I'm known as the 'Ambassador of Weird'" he says, as he demonstrates a scary looking rope trick on his neck. He's even figured out how to escape from handcuffs once owned by legendary escape artist Harry Houdini.

But he says his greatest escape is one he'll never try again. He was on the back of a horse with his hands tied.

"Then a regulation hangman's 13 knot noose was tied around my neck, cinched down tight, and the rope was tied up over a gallows and tied off.  At the count of ten, they slapped the horse, the horse goes out of there, and I come off he back of the horse and I'm hanging. So I had to get my hands out and before I passed out I had to get up there and get the ropes off," he said.

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For that trick, once was enough.