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Modern Day Houdini: Secrets of My 25 Greatest Escapes
For 30 years people have been calling Bill Shirk "crazy."
It doesn't seem fair. Just because he has buried himself alive 10 times, hung 1,600 feet from a helicopter in a straitjacket by an ice skate, run with the bulls in Pamplona (while in a straitjacket), and jumped off numerous bridges and cliffs.
He's been on 15 national TV shows; garned eight escape world records (including fastest time to get out of a straitjacket; highest escape from a straitjacket; and fastest jail escape), and laid claim to the title, world's greatest escape artist.
Everyone is fascinated by magic, and the mystique of Houdini-like performances have an even greater allure. How did he do that? Why did he do it? Now, for the first time, Bill Shirk reveals how he has done some of his greatest escapes. Some he stole from the great Harry Houdini (his hero), others he created himself. Each one different, each more spectacular and heart-pounding than the last. In an easy-to-read format supplemented by photographs of the event, Shirk gives the background to each escape, then details the method he used to accomplish each feat.
Learn how Shirk stuck his head in a bag with a hot rattlesnake; was run over by a train; or hung by an ice skate from a helicopter as he wiggled out of a straitjacket. Read how he survived being buried alive for three days with a python and a timber rattlesnake, and how he escaped from a jail while chained and handcuffed. See what happened when 10 tons of wet cement fell on top of him. How about hanging from a burning rope over a shark-infested pool? There are more examples. Lots more.
Of course, just because Shirk tells you how to get out of a straitjacket in four seconds doesn't mean you'll be able to do it. Once you know how to put your head in a bag with a rattlesnake, you'd rightly be crazy to try it. Leave it to the experts. As Shirk says, "If I was really crazy, I'd be dead."
It doesn't seem fair. Just because he has buried himself alive 10 times, hung 1,600 feet from a helicopter in a straitjacket by an ice skate, run with the bulls in Pamplona (while in a straitjacket), and jumped off numerous bridges and cliffs.
He's been on 15 national TV shows; garned eight escape world records (including fastest time to get out of a straitjacket; highest escape from a straitjacket; and fastest jail escape), and laid claim to the title, world's greatest escape artist.
Everyone is fascinated by magic, and the mystique of Houdini-like performances have an even greater allure. How did he do that? Why did he do it? Now, for the first time, Bill Shirk reveals how he has done some of his greatest escapes. Some he stole from the great Harry Houdini (his hero), others he created himself. Each one different, each more spectacular and heart-pounding than the last. In an easy-to-read format supplemented by photographs of the event, Shirk gives the background to each escape, then details the method he used to accomplish each feat.
Learn how Shirk stuck his head in a bag with a hot rattlesnake; was run over by a train; or hung by an ice skate from a helicopter as he wiggled out of a straitjacket. Read how he survived being buried alive for three days with a python and a timber rattlesnake, and how he escaped from a jail while chained and handcuffed. See what happened when 10 tons of wet cement fell on top of him. How about hanging from a burning rope over a shark-infested pool? There are more examples. Lots more.
Of course, just because Shirk tells you how to get out of a straitjacket in four seconds doesn't mean you'll be able to do it. Once you know how to put your head in a bag with a rattlesnake, you'd rightly be crazy to try it. Leave it to the experts. As Shirk says, "If I was really crazy, I'd be dead."
240 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2003
1 person want to read
About the author
Bill Shirk
1 bookBill Shirk (born May 3, 1945) is an escape artist, radio personality, broadcast entrepreneur and actor in Indianapolis, Indiana.
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