AN ENGLISH ESCAPOLOGIST almost came to a horrible end during a ‘buried alive’ escape attempt at a charity event.
Escape-expert Antony Britton was trying his hand at escaping from being buried, handcuffed, beneath six feet (six tonnes) of soil without a casket when he got into severe difficulty.
The event was being run at the in aid of Britton’s Escape for Life charity at the Slaithwaite Spa Park Festival in West Yorkshire, England, last Saturday 5 September.
The ‘buried alive’ escape is one that has confounded many escapologists, most famously Harry Houdini who came as close as breaking the topsoil with his hand before having to be rescued in 1915.
After Britton had been buried for nine minutes and his colleagues could no longer hear him breathing they dug him free using a mechanical digger.
After several minutes he was successfully revived by paramedics. He sustained cracked ribs and a collapsed lung during the ordeal.
“All I remember is, literally your life goes before your eyes. Really. And then I just passed out,” Britton told the Guardian.
The soil was landing on top of me and around the side of me. It was compacting and crushing me. Every single time another bucket came it was getting worse.
It’s unclear whether or not Britton will attempt the escape again, with some reports suggesting he is happy to leave it as a bridge better left uncrossed.
The Escape for Life Facebook page begs to differ however and says “Antony has vowed not to be beaten and that he will try the escape again”.
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