IMMERSION Buried alive ten feet underwater

Shackled, placed in a canvas bag, and locked within a 7 foot tall wooden coffin. If that's not enough, how about being submerged 10 feet underwater. Recently, magician, illusionist, escape artist, Jackson Rayne accomplished one of the most difficult challenges faced by an escape artist today. He had to escape 3 sets of shackles, iron cuffs, 15 feet of chain, 13 locks, and a canvas bag all while underwater. Rayne set out to create an escape that had the signature danger of Houdini's famous escapes combined with his own touch of originality. He took the Houdini Underwater Chain Escape and combined it with a popular escape called the Mailbag Escape. Jackson's personal touch was a 7 foot tall coffin with special vents built into the sides and coffin door. The front vents created the most danger for Jackson. In order to reach the two locks on the outside of the coffin, Jackson had to literally punch out two large vents on the front of the coffin. People came from all over the northwest to witness this event which took place in downtown Salem, Oregon. Crowds of people flooded the arena to witness the incredible stunt. People were crowded outside the gymnasium looking down through the windows throughout the entire performance. Jackson even made a point during the performance to communicate through the windows with the persistent onlookers. Jackson received great news coverage through the Associated Press, ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX News.

A MESSAGE FROM JACKSON
How It Was Done

I want to thank everyone for coming out to share this incredible experience with me. I am very appreciative of the news coverage and the help and support I received from my staff, friends, and family. Being locked underwater in a coffin is one of the most emotionally draining experiences I have ever encountered. There have been a lot of questions surrounding the escape itself and how it was done. I love to hear all of the theories and ideas out there. As pointed out in the performance, the entire coffin, and all of its contents, including the shackles and canvas bag were thoroughly examined prior to the show. Several people examined the entire box and its contents and were asked to make sure no air tanks of any kind were involved. The most popular theory I have heard is that I was breathing out of an air bubble that naturally formed at the top of the coffin. The funny thing is that while underwater I actually did discover an air bubble. There was about 1/16 of an inch of air at top of the coffin. There is no way anyone could ever breathe out of that pocket with the water moving back and forth. The air in that small space would probably last about 2 seconds anyway.

The Scare of A Lifetime
What a lot of people don't know about the escape is that I scared my crew to death. I went in to the Oregon State Capital the following morning to meet with channel 2 news for an interview. The reporter had the escape on slow motion and timed it down to the exact second. He said, "Jackson, do you know how long you were underwater? Two and a half minutes!" Up until this moment, I was not aware of how long I was really underwater. I could not believe I survived underwater for over two minutes! In training for the stunt, the longest I held my breath was for two minutes. So one can only imagine what was going on in the head of my associate producer and Stunt Coordinator. I told the audience 90 seconds was the maximum time I was allowing myself to escape the coffin. In all honesty, the real plan was to let a buzzer go off at 90 seconds and then stay underwater for another 10 seconds before coming up for the dramatic moment. To put it mildly, things did not go as planned. The shackles were very difficult to escape and my body was constantly floating up and down inside the coffin. For those of you not attending the performance the buzzer never went off. The clock was not working properly! The absence of the buzzer however, had a positive psychological effect on my mind. 2 minutes had just passed, but in my mind I was still waiting for the 90 second buzzer to go off. I continued to pick the locks while I waited for the buzzer. As I came closer to escaping I began to panic. I just did not know how much longer I could hold my breath. The last lock finally came undone on the coffin and I quickly raced to the surface. It was the freshest breath of air I have ever tasted. This escape created an incredible rush of adrenaline. The danger of being in a completely different atmosphere is very scary, but I also find it very intriguing. My production team and I are currently working on an underwater escape that every city in the world can come out and enjoy. I can't wait to share it with you!

Looking forward to the future where nothing is impossible.