kill it

Joseph Burrus Aka The Amazing Joe was a children's magician in California. He performed an escape trick at blackbeard's family fun center in California that cost him his life. Joseph Burrus was a magician, an escape artist who had hoped to become the best magician ever. His main goal was to be better then Harry houdini who is considered to be one of the best for some even the best magician ever. Harry Houdini performed many magic acts, but was most known for his escape acts. But there was one escape act that even Houdini couldn't pull off and that was the buried alive act. Joseph Burrus wanted to prove to the world that he was as good or even better then Houdini by pulling off this stunt.

Erik Weisz Aka Harry Houdini was born on March 24, 1874. He was a Hungarian-American magician, escape artist. He was most famous for his escape acts in the early 1900. A small documentary on who Harry Houdini was.

He had performed many escape acts such as jump with handcuff escape, milk can escape and the straight jacket escape. But there was one act that even he was afraid to do and that was being buried alive. Where he would be buried alive in a coffin and he would have to escape from the coffin and dig his way out of the dirt.

He had this idea, because he knew that most people were afraid of coffins and being buried alive, so he knew that it would be a good act to perform on stage.

He was planning on performing this stunt on stage in front of people, but he abondened the idea when he failed to perform the stunt which almost cost him his life. Houdini attempted this act, where he was buried in a coffin shackled under 1.8 meter of dirt and he did manage to get out of the coffin, but he could not make his way through the dirt. Houdini panicked and passed out and his assistent's had to save him by pulling him out of the dirt. If it wasn't for his assistent's he would have died. No magician would try the buried alive act for decades. But this was the act that Joseph Burrus wanted to do, because the only way to prove that he was better then Houdini was to pull of a stunt that even Houdini himself couldn't pull off. But to prove that he was better then Houdini he would not only be buried under dirt, but cement as well. 0.9 meter of dirt and 1.2 meter of cement. Harry Houdini died from peritonitis on October 31, 1926. He was 52 years old when he died.

He's a legend among magician's and is still respected to this day and many magician's want to be like him like Joseph Burrus wanted to be. About 1 year before Joseph Burrus attempted the buried alive act, he practiced it by being buried alive under a small amount of dirt and he successfully pulled of the stunt. This is why he was confident that he could pull of the buried alive stunt with dirt and cement.

The Buried Alive Act

On Halloween night Oktober 31, 1990 the 64th anniversary year of Harry Houdini's death, Joseph Burrus planned to finally attempt the buried alive act. His 2 sons and parents were also present at the show. He was dressed up in a white tuxedo ready to go. His family, friends, onlookers and assistent's tried to talk him out of it, but Joseph was sure that he could do it. He was chained and put in the coffin. Right before they started to dump the dirt and cement, Joseph Burrus signaled his assistent's to stop and they pulled him out of the coffin. He said that his chains were too tight and that it needed to be reudjested. People were warning him again to not go through with this, that maybe it was a sign, but Joseph Burrus was determined to do it and went back in his coffin. He was lowered in the pit and was buried alive with first 0.9 meter dirt and then 1.2 meter of cement.

Video of the buried alive act

Joseph Burrus suffocated to death when the coffin broke, because of the weight of the dirt and cement. The coffin was strong enough to hold the weight of the dirt, but not the cement. The wet cement became hard and crushed the coffin and dirt poured in the coffin. The assistent's did their best to dig him out and reach him, but by the time they reached him he was already dead. It happened on live tv and his 2 sons and parents saw the accident happen in front of their eyes. Joseph Burrus was cremated.

Thanks for reading hope you enjoyed it. I will end it with a documentary of my favorite horror story teller. It's about 12 minutes long and contains more information and footage of the accident.